Micropay

Micropay is a pay per use image generation service that wraps OpenAI's Dalle 2 text to image model and sells individual generations rather than bulk credits. Its founders say it began when they gained access to Dalle 2 in late 2022 and found that OpenAI required a prepayment of $15 for 115 credits, so they built a wrapper that charges only for what is used. The defining feature is anonymity. Payments are accepted over the Lightning Network, a Bitcoin based payment layer that supports instant, low fee microtransactions, and no sign up is required to use the product. The founders describe it as a vending machine for software. The interface is a single prompt box with the prompt line "Type something you won't find online" and a choice between two generators. The tool is for people who want occasional AI images without an account, a subscription or a prepaid balance, and for those who prefer to pay with Bitcoin over Lightning. Micropay positions this as a solution to the fact that traditional credit card providers cannot handle very small transactions because of their fees. Pricing is shown directly on the page. A Dalle generation is listed at $0.16 per image. A non Dalle generator is listed as free, with a counter showing 0 of 3 uses. The vendor does not publish subscription plans or any other tiers.