# Bitcoin Benji Fee Estimates API

> Bitcoin Benji Fee Estimates API is a paid API for AI agents from api.bitcoinbenji.com, paid per call via x402, $0.01/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-15).

Returns real-time Bitcoin mempool fee estimates via a Lightning-native pay-per-call endpoint

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://api.bitcoinbenji.com/fees
- Price: $0.01/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-15
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/bitcoin-benji-fee-estimates-api-de437f6c
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_v_-tvP0J8TTloDuph2yeW

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability bitcoin-benji-fee-estimates-api-de437f6c
```

Example prompt: What are the current Bitcoin mempool fee rates — I need to know the recommended sat/vbyte for fast, medium, and slow confirmation right now.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need real-time, pay-per-call Bitcoin fee estimates without committing to a subscription or API key. It is ideal for agents making infrequent or sporadic fee lookups, or for privacy-conscious workflows where no account registration is desired. Prefer it over free mempool explorers when you need programmatic access with guaranteed availability and Lightning-native micropayment billing.

## Known failure modes

- 402 Payment Required if Lightning/L402 payment not provided or invalid
- Network timeout if mempool data source is unavailable
- Stale data if mempool indexer is lagging
- Malformed JSON if upstream mempool provider returns unexpected format

## How this service works

L402-gated APIs: real-time Bitcoin mempool intelligence and private AI inference. Pay-per-call via Lightning. Zero API keys. Zero subscriptions.

## Output

A JSON object containing real-time Bitcoin mempool fee estimates, typically broken down by confirmation priority tiers (e.g. fastest, half-hour, one-hour) expressed in satoshis per virtual byte (sat/vbyte).

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json"
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/bitcoin-benji-fee-estimates-api-de437f6c/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from api.bitcoinbenji.com](https://www.zero.xyz/host/api.bitcoinbenji.com/llms.txt)