Choose the task before the provider
A comparison of agentic commerce solutions works best when the purchase is specific. “Sell to AI” is too broad to establish whether a connector fits your store. “Let an authorized assistant buy one digital report and return working access” gives the comparison an observable result and a manageable set of requirements.
Use a fictional $29 research report as the common scenario. The buyer authorizes a one-time purchase up to $35. The merchant needs a current offer, a total that fits the approval, a payment outcome and a delivered entitlement. These amounts make the scenario concrete; they are not provider prices or evidence of an executed transaction.
Then choose the question you need to answer. A Shopify merchant may need to understand its channel settings. A WooCommerce merchant may need an extension compatibility review. A custom store may need a checkout adapter. Comparing these options as if they are interchangeable payment gateways would hide the work that actually determines success.
Choose the comparison you need
Hold the scenario constant across options
For each route, record the product type, seller location, buyer location, currency and fulfilment method. Keep those inputs constant. A provider that supports a physical product in one market has not necessarily demonstrated support for a digital license in another. Where the documentation does not answer your scenario, mark the answer unknown.
Use the same operational questions as well. Who recalculates the total when a buyer changes an input? Who checks the customer's authority? Who owns the order if the final response is lost? Who retries delivery? A concise response with a documented owner is more useful than a general promise of frictionless commerce.
Distinguish four kinds of evidence: a published specification, product documentation, vendor marketing and a reproducible test of your own configuration. A specification can prove what an interface defines. A product document can explain a vendor's supported route. Neither automatically proves that your merchant account is eligible or that your combination of extensions works.
Compare checkout location and operational ownership
A referral route sends the customer toward the merchant checkout. A native channel route can keep the customer in the shopping surface. Both can be useful, but their integration and measurement boundaries differ. In particular, an AI-generated recommendation should not be counted as a native completed checkout simply because it produced a click.
Shopify's current documentation makes this distinction concrete: ChatGPT is a referral surface for its merchants, while eligible direct checkout is described for other named channels. Use that as a dated platform-specific fact. Avoid turning it into a general rule about every merchant's ChatGPT experience, because other integrations and eligible products can have different routes. [1]
Stripe describes merchant-facing agentic commerce infrastructure spanning catalog publication, checkout and payment. That product scope is relevant to a shortlist, but the merchant still needs to verify onboarding, supported markets and the exact channel path. Its broader payment network should not be used as a substitute for those product-specific answers. [2]
Match each comparison to a decision
The standards comparison explains the responsibilities of commerce protocols and payment authority. The platform comparison helps you find the store-specific integration boundary. The payment gateway guide focuses on credentials, financial results and operational events. The provider comparison turns a store's requirements into a shortlist rather than assigning a universal winner.
For ACP and UCP, compare the capabilities your integration needs and the documented contract you must implement. UCP's modular capability model is different from treating one checkout endpoint as the entire purchase journey. The useful choice depends on your target surface and the services your store already exposes. It is not settled by the largest collection of protocol acronyms in a vendor description. [3]
A comparison should answer a question
Scroll the table to compare all columns.
| Guide | Decision it supports | Evidence to bring |
|---|---|---|
| Platform paths | Where should the integration attach? | Current platform, extensions and order flow |
| ACP versus UCP | Which contract fits the intended channel? | Target surface and required capabilities |
| Payment gateways | Who owns credential and financial operations? | Supported payment route and recovery needs |
| Checkout providers | Which option meets this store’s requirements? | Same product, geography and acceptance scenarios |
Ask for evidence that can change the shortlist
Before a sales call, send the provider your concrete scenario and the unresolved requirements. Ask for current documentation or a supported demonstration of each material claim. If the provider cannot show paid-but-undelivered recovery, record that gap. If it says geography is account-dependent, obtain an answer for your actual seller entity and intended buyers.
Review commercial terms using your expected order mix. Separate one-time integration work, recurring platform charges, payment processing and any channel fees that apply. Do not compare a headline transaction fee from one option with the full cost of another. Avoid publishing an estimated saving unless the inputs, source date and calculation are visible.
Also ask how you leave. Determine whether you can export product mappings and order references, disable a channel without corrupting existing orders and keep support access to historical transactions. A route that works during normal checkout can still create avoidable operational dependence if its recovery data is inaccessible.
Finish with a bounded acceptance plan
Choose one product and one supported route for the first implementation. Define the expected result for success, a changed total, a rejected payment, a duplicate request and delivery failure. Assign an owner to each scenario. The aim is a clear record of what the merchant can support, including exceptions.
The readiness checklist helps turn the unanswered questions into concrete work. It does not produce a magic readiness score or certify security. A store with one unresolved payment ownership question can be less ready for a purchase than a store with several minor catalog issues. Prioritize by consequence and the stage where the order would stop.
Return to the comparison after the acceptance exercise. Replace unknowns with observed results or verified documentation and keep the date. Your strongest choice is the route that meets the specific purchase requirements with accountable operations, rather than the option that looked most complete on its first marketing page.