---
title: "Allowance"
slug: "allowance"
status: "active"
last_checked: "2026-07-05"
categories:
  - "money"
---

# Allowance

Allowance issues one-time virtual cards with spend limits so AI agents can make purchases without seeing the user's real card number.

- Status: active
- URL: https://useallowance.com/
- Last checked: 2026-07-05
- Freshness: 1 days
- Founded: 2026
- Funding: not published

## Offerings

### Money

- Offering status: live
- What you get: Users link a personal Visa or Mastercard, and for each agent purchase Allowance issues a one-time virtual card scoped to a spend limit, merchant restriction, and expiration, which the agent uses at checkout instead of the real card.
- Acquisition: self_serve
- Geographies: US
- Pricing: Allowance is free to use right now.
- Pricing URL: not published
- API: not published
- SDK: not published
- MCP: not published
- Standards: not published

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| offering_type | card |
| custody_model | not published |
| partner_bank | not published |
| fdic_passthrough | not published |
| rails | Visa, Mastercard |
| spend_controls | per-transaction spend limit, merchant lock, auto-expiring approval, instant revocation |
| fees | Free during beta |
| who_can_open | Individuals in the US with a personal Visa or Mastercard card; business cards and Chase cards are not supported |

Gotchas:
- Personal cards only; Chase cards and business cards are not supported
- US only
- Purchases cannot be reversed once the virtual card is charged
- Agent needs browser control to complete checkout

## Sources

- https://useallowance.com/
- https://useallowance.com/faq
- https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/allowance
- https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/QS4-allowance-virtual-cards-for-ai-agents