Kobaru

What is Paperwall?

Paperwall is an open protocol that enables micropayments for web content — letting readers pay tiny amounts (as low as one penny) per article. No subscriptions needed. Anyone can build on it, run their own infrastructure, or just use Kobaru's implementation.

How much does it cost?

Publishers set their own prices. Most articles cost between $0.01 and $0.10. A $5 deposit can last months.

Is my money safe?

Your funds are stored in an encrypted wallet on your device. Only you can access them with your password.

How do publishers get paid?

Instantly. When you pay for an article, the publisher receives the money right away. No waiting 30-60 days like traditional ad networks.

What about AI agents?

AI agents can use our CLI tool to automatically pay for and access content. Perfect for research, data gathering, and automated workflows.

Do I need cryptocurrency knowledge?

For readers: we're doing everything we can to abstract crypto complexity and deliver a state-of-the-art UX. One of our core principles is the grandma test — the extension should be so easy to use that even your grandma can use it. That said, Paperwall is in early stages, and users will need to fund their account manually. We'll guide you through the process with simple, step-by-step instructions. For publishers: Kobaru abstracts everything. No crypto knowledge needed — just add a script tag and you're done.

What if I don't like an article I paid for?

At one penny per article, the risk is minimal. And we're currently developing allowlists and denylists — so you'll be able to set up automatic payments for publishers you trust and block ones you don't, without ever having to think about it.

Is Paperwall open source?

Yes. Paperwall is an open-source protocol licensed under GPL-3.0. You can inspect the code, contribute, fork it, or run your own instance entirely independent of Kobaru.