ZBD vs ln.bot: Lightning Developer API Comparison

This is the closest apples-to-apples comparison in the set. ZBD and ln.bot are both Lightning developer APIs. They overlap on the basics — invoices, payments, Lightning addresses. Where they diverge is who they were built for.

ZBD started as Zebedee, a Bitcoin gaming company. The DNA shows: gamertags, a Rewards SDK for Unity, "Login with ZBD" OAuth, withdrawal QR codes that players scan to claim sats. The consumer app has a loyal user base. The developer platform is built around bringing Bitcoin rewards into games and apps where users have ZBD accounts.

ln.bot is wallet infrastructure for code. No consumer app, no gaming SDK, no user-facing login. Instead: programmatic wallet creation, L402 paywalled APIs, an MCP server for AI agents, and SDKs in five languages. Built for systems that move sats autonomously — agents, platforms, services — not for players earning rewards in a game.

What ZBD does well

ZBD has been at this since 2019 and it shows in the gaming-specific tooling.

The ZBD app has an active user base earning and spending sats across games. Gamertags (user@zbd.gg) double as Lightning addresses and in-game identities — build on ZBD and you get access to those users.

"Login with ZBD" is OAuth2 that connects wallets, not just accounts. Users authenticate and your app can send them sats via gamertag. If "Sign in with Google" connects email, Login with ZBD connects money.

The Unity Rewards SDK is purpose-built for mobile gaming — Bitcoin delivery during gameplay, anti-fraud protections, no separate payment integration. Withdrawal requests flip the invoice model: instead of "pay this QR to send money in," it's "scan this QR to pull money out." Makes sense for reward claim flows.

They also have vouchers (single-use redeemable codes for promotions) and static charges (LNURL-pay endpoints that accept payments indefinitely without regenerating invoices).

Where the paths diverge

The pricing difference is worth a pause. ZBD's free tier caps at 1M sats volume per month — roughly $0.50–1.00 depending on the Bitcoin price. Cross that, and it's $499/month. ln.bot has no monthly fee and no volume caps — you pay per outbound transaction.

When to choose ZBD

• You're building a game with Bitcoin rewards for players
• You want OAuth login that doubles as wallet connectivity
• You need the Unity Rewards SDK for mobile gaming
• You want access to ZBD's existing user base and gamertag ecosystem
• You need withdrawal QR codes or voucher flows
• Your users are humans with ZBD accounts

When to choose ln.bot

• You need programmatic wallets — create hundreds via API, not through a dashboard
• You're building AI agent infrastructure — MCP integration, autonomous payments
• You need L402 paywalled APIs — ZBD has no L402 support
• You need multi-tenant isolation where each tenant gets its own wallet and Lightning address
• You want published SDKs in five languages (ZBD has two official, three community)
• You need real-time event streaming (SSE) rather than callback URLs
• You'd rather not pay $499/month for production volume

Code comparison

Creating an invoice to receive a payment:

ZBD:

import { zbd } from "@zbd/node";

const ZBD = new zbd("API_KEY");

const charge = await ZBD.createCharge({
  amount: "1000",
  description: "Payment for service",
  expiresIn: 300,
  callbackUrl: "https://your-app.com/webhook",
});

ln.bot:

from lnbot import LnBot

ln = LnBot(api_key="key_...")

invoice = ln.invoices.create(
    amount=1000,
    memo="Payment for service",
)

Similar enough on the surface. The gap opens up when you need more than one wallet:

# Create isolated wallets — no dashboard, no manual setup
agent_wallet = ln.wallets.create(name="research-agent")
user_wallet = ln.wallets.create(name="user-12345")

# Real-time event streaming
for event in ln.events.stream():
    if event.event == "invoice.settled":
        print(f"Received {event.data.amount} sats")

# L402 — charge per API request
from lnbot_l402 import l402
app.use("/api/data", l402.paywall(ln, price=10))

Can you use both?

Sure. A game studio might use ZBD for player-facing rewards — gamertags, withdrawal QR codes, the Unity SDK — and ln.bot for the backend: treasury wallets, L402-gated premium APIs, agent operations. They don't step on each other.

Getting started

npm install @lnbot/sdk

Full setup in the quickstart guide. SDKs for five languages.

The short version

ZBD grew out of gaming and it shows — the consumer app, the gamertag system, the Unity SDK, the OAuth login. If that's your world, it's a mature platform. ln.bot grew out of developer infrastructure — wallets as API primitives, L402, MCP for agents. No gaming layer, no consumer app, just the wallet operations. They share Lightning as the payment rail. Everything above that rail points in different directions.