How to make your SaaS sign-up work for AI agents

What the agent needs, in order

1. Public pricing page

   Publish a pricing page with real numbers in the HTML. "Contact us" pricing is a dead end for an agent.

2. A self-serve sign-up link

   Link a sign-up page from the homepage. Agents can't book a demo for a user.

3. Sign-up page opens for agents

   Don't block AI user-agents from the sign-up page. Rate-limit accounts instead of hiding the form.

4. A free plan or trial

   Offer a free plan or trial so an agent can show a user the product works before anyone pays.

5. No card needed to start

   Let people start without a card, and say "no credit card required" on the page.

6. SoftwareApplication data

   Add SoftwareApplication JSON-LD with applicationCategory and an Offer for each plan.

The gates that stop agents

1. CAPTCHAs and bot challenges

   An agent can't solve them, and shouldn't. Rate-limit by IP and email domain, and score risk after sign-up instead of before the form loads.

2. "Book a demo" as the only path

   An agent can fill a demo form, but nobody gets an account. Keep a self-serve path even if sales-led is your main motion.

3. Card before first use

   A card form is the point where the agent has to hand over to the person. Put it after the trial, not before.

4. Phone verification

   SMS codes need the person's phone. If you must verify, prefer email, which the person can forward or approve from the same device.

Verification an agent can hand over

1. Email codes over links

   A six-digit code is easy for a person to read back to their agent. A magic link opens in the person's browser, not the agent's.

2. Sign in with Google or Microsoft

   OAuth sign-in lets the person approve on a consent screen they trust while the agent waits.

3. auth.md

   An open protocol WorkOS published on 21 May 2026: a markdown file at /auth.md, plus your /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource metadata, that tells agents how to register. It supports agent-verified registration (a trusted agent provider signs an assertion about the user) and user-claimed registration (the person gives the agent a six-digit code).

A sign-up form agents can fill

<form action="/signup" method="post">
  <label for="name">Full name</label>
  <input id="name" name="name" autocomplete="name" required>

  <label for="email">Work email</label>
  <input id="email" name="email" type="email" autocomplete="email" required>

  <label for="password">Password (12+ characters)</label>
  <input id="password" name="password" type="password" autocomplete="new-password" minlength="12" required>

  <p id="terms">Free plan, no credit card required.</p>
  <button type="submit">Create account</button>
</form>

Questions