← Back home · Compare
Njord vs L402 (Lightning HTTP 402)
On-chain alternative: Lightning Network + LSAT macaroons for per-request paywalls
L402 and Njord both sit in the "on-chain payments for things that used to be invoiced" space, but they answer different questions. L402 is built for the buyer-pays-seller direction (e.g., paying for an API call). Njord is built for the multi-party attribution direction (company → affiliate, mediated by a conversion). Both can coexist in a stack.
| Feature | Njord | L402 (Lightning HTTP 402) | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Affiliate attribution & multi-party payout | Per-request HTTP paywalls | Comparable |
| Settlement chain | Solana (USDC / SOL) | Bitcoin / Lightning Network | Comparable |
| Settlement latency | ~3 seconds (slot-bounded) | Sub-second on Lightning, when channels route | L402 (Lightning HTTP 402) |
| Per-tx cost | ~$0.00025 | ≤ a few sats on Lightning | L402 (Lightning HTTP 402) |
| Native multi-party flow | Yes — campaign / affiliate / bridge | No — two-party paywall by design | Njord |
| Fiat on-ramp | Bridge operator network | Bring-your-own Lightning service provider | Njord |
| Token / fee model | NJORD utility + 2.5% / 1% | No native token; just Lightning fees | Comparable |
| Maturity | Devnet live, mainnet pending | Spec stable; multiple production implementations | L402 (Lightning HTTP 402) |
Pick Njord when
- ▸You need three-party attribution (campaign owner, affiliate, customer) rather than a two-party paywall
- ▸You want USDC-denominated commissions for accounting predictability
- ▸You want fiat-bridge support out of the box for the customer side
- ▸Your settlement asset preference is Solana rather than Bitcoin / Lightning
Pick L402 (Lightning HTTP 402) when
- ▸You are paywalling per-request API endpoints or per-inference AI calls
- ▸You want Bitcoin and Lightning as the settlement asset by deliberate choice
- ▸You need the open LSAT / macaroon ecosystem and existing L402 server libraries
- ▸You have no notion of a "campaign" or "affiliate" — your model is buyer pays seller directly
Still deciding?
Most teams run more than one rail in parallel during a transition. Try Njord behind a feature flag for the affiliate segment where latency-to-cash matters most and keep L402 (Lightning HTTP 402) for the rest.