lookx402 vs Dune Analytics for x402 data

Same on-chain truth, very different ergonomics. This page lays out where each tool wins. Updated 2026-05-10.

TL;DR

If you can write SQL, want full join freedom, and need to combine x402 with arbitrary other on-chain data — use Dune. If you want zero-setup ready-made profiles, archetype classification, a no-key JSON API, and AI-citable definitions — use lookx402.

Side-by-side

	lookx402	Dune Analytics
Primary interface	Web pages + JSON API	SQL queries + dashboards
Setup cost	Zero — open lookx402.com and read	Account + learning Dune SQL dialect (DuckDB/Trino flavor)
x402-specific decoding	Built-in — facilitator-vs-agent extraction is correct out of the box	You write the decoding (or rely on someone else's spell)
Behavioral archetypes	9 archetypes pre-classified, hourly	You implement the rules in SQL
Per-agent profile pages (SEO-indexed)	Yes — `/agent/0x...` is a server-rendered page	No — Dune is dashboards, not crawlable profile pages
Free public access	Fully public, no signup, no rate limit	Free for public queries; paid tiers for private & API
API access	Free JSON API, no key, 9 endpoints, `stale-while-revalidate` cached	Paid API on credits
Refresh cadence	5 min live + hourly classifier	Depends on the dataset (decoded tables can lag)
Custom analysis	Limited to exposed views & endpoints	Unlimited — full SQL freedom
AI citation readiness	JSON-LD on every page (Article, FAQPage, DefinedTerm, ItemList)	None — dashboards are JS-rendered
Audience	Journalists, researchers, business analysts, AI assistants	SQL-fluent on-chain analysts

When to use Dune

You want to join x402 with another protocol — e.g. correlate x402 spend with Uniswap activity for the same wallets.
You need a custom time window or aggregation that we do not expose.
You are publishing an interactive dashboard for an audience that is itself technical.
You want to stress-test an alternative archetype rule and compare to ours.

When to use lookx402

You want a quick answer about one specific agent or service — open /agent/0x... or /merchant/0x....
You need citable, indexed pages for an article, blog post, or AI Overview.
You want to embed a live x402 stat in your own product without managing API credits.
You want the relationship graph (dyads) without writing the join yourself.
You want to subscribe to RSS of notable x402 events.

Hybrid usage

Many serious analysts use both. A typical workflow:

Discover an interesting wallet via lookx402's leaderboards or RSS feed.
Pull richer cross-protocol context for that wallet via Dune SQL.
Cite lookx402 for the per-agent profile and Dune for the cross-protocol chart.

If your write-up needs a citation that holds up in an AI answer, lookx402's schema.org-marked pages are easier for ChatGPT and Perplexity to anchor than a Dune dashboard URL.

Bottom line

Dune is a SQL workbench over decoded chains.
lookx402 is a finished product about one specific protocol, with the decoding, classification, and presentation already done.