A fair, side-by-side look at how Sertone differs from traditional API platforms.
See the differences at a glance.
| Feature | Sertone | RapidAPI | AWS API Gateway | Stripe Billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | None | Free tier, then $20+/mo | Pay-as-you-go | 2.9% + $0.30/txn |
| Revenue share | 5% from owner (keeps 95%) | 20% of revenue | 3–5% listing fee | Per-transaction fee |
| Sign-up required | No | Yes (email, name) | Yes (AWS account) | Yes (full KYC) |
| Your data visible? | No — end-to-end encrypted | Yes — proxied through them | Depends on setup | N/A (billing only) |
| They hold your money? | Never | Yes (30-day payout) | Yes (monthly payout) | Yes (rolling payouts) |
| Self-hosted | Yes — your server | No — their cloud | No — AWS cloud | Billing only |
| AI agent support | MCP + LangChain + CrewAI | Limited | Via Bedrock | None |
| Lock-in | None — withdraw and leave | Migration effort | AWS ecosystem lock-in | Billing migration |
These are not features we added. They are how the system was designed from day one.
Traditional platforms proxy your traffic through their servers — they see everything. Sertone encrypts everything end-to-end. We cannot see your data even if we wanted to.
Traditional platforms collect payments, hold the money for 30+ days, then pay you after taking their cut. Sertone sends money directly to your account. We never hold it.
Traditional platforms require you to expose your API to their infrastructure. With Sertone, your service stays on your server, behind your firewall. Only your Sertone node talks to it.
Traditional platforms require email, name, company, and payment details. Sertone requires nothing. We do not know who you are and we do not want to.
We believe in being honest. Here is when other options might work better for you.
Sertone requires you to run your own server. If you want someone else to host your API, a traditional cloud platform might be simpler.
All payments are in USDC (digital dollars). If your customers can only pay with credit cards, Sertone is not the right fit today.
Because we collect no personal data, there is no customer list to export. If you need to know who is using your API by name or email, a traditional platform gives you that.
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