Tool overview
Allowance is listed under Finance AI tools.
What is Allowance?
Allowance gives AI agents temporary, one-time payment credentials without exposing a user’s real card number. Users approve each task and set merchant, amount, and expiry controls before an agent completes checkout.
Best for
Consumers testing AI-agent purchases while retaining transaction-level spending control
Who is it for?
Decision note
Suitable for evaluation after confirming final commercial terms, permissions, data handling, lifecycle status, and edit-screen aliases. Keep Needs Review enabled until a human verifies the published profile.
Key features
One-time virtual credentials for individual agent purchases
Merchant, spending-limit, and expiry restrictions
Real-time approval or denial from the user
Existing cards and rewards remain in use
Revocable permissions for shopping, travel, food, and tickets
Transactional push and SMS activity notifications
Use cases
Letting agents book travel within fixed limits
Buying products when price or inventory conditions match
Ordering food without sharing a permanent card
Holding reservations and buying event tickets
Testing guarded agentic-commerce workflows
Pros
- Real card numbers remain hidden from agents
- Controls are scoped to a specific purchase
- Users retain approval and revocation authority
- Public beta is live for practical agent workflows
Cons
- Commercial and fee terms are not published
- Availability currently centers on iPhone approval
- Payment success still depends on merchants and networks
Limitations
Allowance reduces credential exposure but cannot eliminate fraud, merchant, payment-network, or agent errors. Users should verify merchant, amount, expiry, refund terms, transaction details, and every approval before payment.
Pricing details
Pricing note
Allowance is in public beta, but its official website and legal pages do not publish user subscription fees, card charges, a permanent free plan, or a defined trial. Pricing controls are explicitly cleared rather than inferred from beta access.
Supported languages
- English
Integrations
AI desktop agents
Payment cards
Merchant checkout flows
Push notifications
SMS
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