# Alter

Aiolum story: https://aiolum.com/story/alter/ · added 2026-11-12 · updated 2026-11-12

**In short.** Alter (Access-control proxy for AI agents, United States): Paid plans on sale, October 2026. Evidence grade E: no revenue figure was checked. Team: 2 founders; Y Combinator lists a team of 2; headcount today not published. Launched March 2025; still running.

Access-control proxy for AI agents · United States · AI-native · team of 2 to 10 · still running · group: Developer tools and coding agents

- Outcome: Paid plans on sale, October 2026 (evidence grade of the headline number: E; no revenue figure)
- Launch: March 2025; months from launch to the outcome: 19
- Team: 2 founders; Y Combinator lists a team of 2; headcount today not published
- Outside funding: Y Combinator Summer 2025; amount not shown
- Main factor: Own problem
- Meters, 1 to 4: evidence strength 1, copyable pattern 1, capital needed 2
- Tags: AI-native, Small team, Funded, Running, B2B, Cybersecurity

Links:

- Visit alterauth.com: https://alterauth.com/

**The product.** A proxy that sits between an AI agent and the outside services it calls, such as a CRM or a billing system. It holds the credentials, checks each request against a policy and asks a named person to approve sensitive calls. Every call is logged.

**Why it worked.** A founder who had worked at Goldman Sachs described the problem on Hacker News: agents that act for many users usually share one API key. The company's answer is a proxy that checks who the agent acts for on every call, and that holds the key itself.

Evidence grades: A = disclosed by a public company, a filing or a payment processor, or verified by one; B = two or more independent reports agree, or a journalist confirmed it; C = a founder claim that no one else verified; D = reported, not verified: one founder claim or a third-party estimate with no second source; E = no revenue figure found, so the headline is a non-money fact and the other facts carry their own grades; calc = computed on this page from graded facts.

## Summary

Alter sells an auth proxy for AI agents. A proxy is a server that passes requests on behalf of another program, and an auth proxy also decides whether each request is allowed. The proxy holds an OAuth token (a permission a user grants to an app) or an API key, and checks each call against a policy. The CTO wrote in the Hacker News thread that the agent never sees the key.

Srikar Dandamuraju is Co-Founder and CEO and Kevan Dodhia is Co-Founder and CTO, as the company's page lists them. The Y Combinator company page says the company was founded in 2025. It lists the Summer 2025 batch and a team of 2 in New York City. The pricing page in October and November 2026 lists a free plan, Starter at US$50 a month and Growth at US$250 a month.

No revenue figure was found, so this story has grade E. The best-supported facts are the published prices, the Stripe billing named in the terms and a self-serve sign-up. No source states that a customer has paid.

## Why did Alter work?

### A founder met the missing access control at work

The Hacker News post says the CEO worked at Goldman Sachs. In the post he describes how costly it was for a developer to write custom auth for agents that act for many users. The post presents this as the reason the founders started the company.

### It prices by calls and lets a team start free

The pricing page gives a free plan of 10,000 calls a month and charges US$0.50 per 1,000 extra calls on paid plans. The founders wrote that the plan rests on usage-based pricing. The page does not say how many teams moved from Free to a paid plan.

### It launched on Hacker News with a demo and open code

The post links a demo video and a GitHub plugin that the founders say they built for their own team. A reader asked about prompt injection and cross-user cases, and the CTO and CEO answered in the thread. No source says how many customers the launch brought.

## How it was built

These details come from the company's own pages and the Hacker News thread. They are grade C.

- Requests from an agent pass through the proxy. The home page says it stores the credentials, applies a policy and writes an audit record for each call.
- A Python package, installed with pip install alter-sdk, sends the calls. The home page lists more than 140 supported providers.
- The sub-processor list names Amazon Web Services for hosting and Porter for deployment. It names Sentry, PostHog and Cloudflare for error tracking, analytics and edge protection.
- An optional AI review by TypeSafe AI can judge a call before it asks for human approval. The list says it is off by default.
- The company site is built with Astro, as a comment in its robots.txt file says. Stripe processes the billing.

Sources: [9, 5, 3, 11]

## Who tried this before Alter, and why did they fail?

Two companies in our database of failed startups sold developer plumbing that teams would otherwise build themselves. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.

The failed startups come from our database of dead startups, retold here in our own words; Its entries are AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so they carry no evidence grade.

### Parse (2011 to 2017; funding US$7.0M burned; cause: Shut down by its acquirer)

- Promise: A backend service with user authentication, push notifications and storage, so a small team could skip building servers.
- Why it died: The record says Facebook bought it in 2013 for about US$85M and shut it down in 2017.
- Record: 

### DotCloud (2008 to 2012; funding US$18.0M burned; cause: Pivot)

- Promise: A platform that hid the work of running servers, so developers could focus on application code.
- Why it died: The record says the company pivoted to Docker, and the original platform lost out to it.
- Record: 

## What changed

Both companies took over a job that developers did not want to build themselves. Parse sat under the apps of others. DotCloud was overtaken by a tool that came out of its own work.

Alter also sits under the agents of others, and it holds their credentials. The pricing page lists a free plan and two flat monthly plans. Whether teams pay for it is not shown by any independent source. The founders' own claim is that startups and a defense contractor use it.

## Can one person copy Alter now?

**Verdict: The structure, yes. The market is not proven.**

A product that sits between agents and the services they call can start free and bill by call volume. A buyer sees the price before talking to anyone. No source here shows that buyers pay.

1. Pick one gap that agent builders hit, such as a shared API key.
2. Show the whole request path in one page and in one demo.
3. Offer a free plan with a clear call limit.
4. Add a flat monthly plan and a custom plan for large teams.

**What is still open.** Other controls that sit on the path of an agent call: spending limits, data masking and approval queues for specific tools.

## How much revenue does Alter make? The numbers, graded

No revenue figure is public. The facts below show a priced plan, a two-person team and a Y Combinator batch. The company, its founders or Y Combinator state all of them

| Fact | Value | Grade | Note | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company start | 2025 | C | The Y Combinator company page reads Founded: 2025, Batch: Summer 2025. The company page and terms name Alter Labs, Inc. and give no founding date. | [6, 1] |
| Earlier page on the same domain | AlterAuth, 7 January 2025 | C | An Internet Archive copy titled "AlterAuth - Authentication & Authorization Platform". It lists plans at US$0 and US$49 a month. Two quotations on it are signed Innovative Tech Co. and Dev Solutions Inc. It names no owner, so a link to Alter Labs is not shown. | [7] |
| Founders | Srikar Dandamuraju (CEO), Kevan Dodhia (CTO) | C | The company page. It says the CEO led platform engineering at Goldman Sachs. It says the CTO was a technical co-founder of Compute.ai, a different company. | [1] |
| Team size | 2 on the Y Combinator page; headcount today not published | C | The Hacker News post is signed by the two founders. The company page lists only them. | [6, 3, 1] |
| Funding | Y Combinator, Summer 2025; amount not shown | C | The company page says Alter is backed by Y Combinator. No round size and no investor besides Y Combinator was found. | [1, 6] |
| Launch post on Hacker News | 21 October 2026 | C | Titled Launch HN: Alter (YC S25). The founders wrote that the business plan rests on usage-based pricing, with a free tier up to 10,000 requests. | [3] |
| Prices in October and November 2026 | Starter US$50 a month, Growth US$250 a month | C | The live page of 12 November 2026 and an Internet Archive copy of 21 October 2026 show the same two prices. The Free plan has 10,000 calls a month. | [2] |
| Billing named in the terms | Stripe, fees due in advance, automatic renewal | C | Terms of service, section 5. The sub-processor list names Stripe for payment processing and billing. | [4, 5] |
| Self-serve sign-up and upgrade | Sign-up page; checkout in the developer portal, as the documentation states | C | The home page links to portal.alterauth.com/sign-up, which shows a Create account form. The billing documentation says an admin upgrades through checkout. The checkout itself was not opened. | [9, 2, 13] |
| Customers, as stated by the founders | several startups and a defense contractor | C | Hacker News launch post. The post names none of them. | [3] |
| Customer logos on the home page | 4 logos under the label Trusted by | C | The image names are Cardinal Robotics, Shor, Accelera Solutions and Antinode. The page gives no quotation, case study or payment. | [9] |
| Time from the first page to the October 2026 prices | 21 months | calc | Calculated: January 2025 to October 2026. | [7, 2] |

How to read this table. Grade C is a statement by the company or its founders, or a copy of its own page. A grade E story has no dated money figure, so no row here is a revenue number. A "calc" value was computed on this page.

## Pricing

Alter prices in November 2026, from the company's pricing page (grade C)

| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 0 | 10,000 API calls a month; unlimited users, agents and apps; 30-day audit log |
| Starter |  | 50 | 100,000 API calls a month; unlimited audit log; custom branding |
| Growth |  | 250 | 1,000,000 API calls a month; support with a service-level agreement |
| Enterprise | custom, annual commitment |  | custom call volume, deployment and networking |

The page bills by API calls, not by seats. Starter and Growth are billed monthly with no commitment, and each extra 1,000 calls costs US$0.50. The Free plan stops at its limit. Annual billing is offered by email. Every plan button on the page opens a booking calendar. The Start free button on the home page leads to a sign-up page. The billing documentation says an admin upgrades through checkout in the developer portal.

## When did Alter launch, and how did it grow? Timeline

From an earlier page on the same domain in January 2025 to a priced developer product in October 2026. Each entry carries its grade.

- **7 January 2025** (grade C [7]): An Internet Archive copy of alterauth.com shows a page named AlterAuth, with plans at US$0 and US$49 a month. Two quotations on it are signed Innovative Tech Co. and Dev Solutions Inc.
- **25 March 2025** (grade C [8, 10]): The company's blog index dates a post named Introducing Alter Vault to this day. The Substack copy of the same title is dated 27 May 2026.
- **Summer 2025** (grade C [6]): Alter joins the Y Combinator Summer 2025 batch, as the Y Combinator page states.
- **11 May 2026** (grade C [14]): An Internet Archive copy of the home page shows the name Alter Vault and buttons labelled Early Access.
- **22 September 2026** (grade C [5]): The sub-processor list is last updated. It names Stripe as the payment processor, with Amazon Web Services and others as hosting and tool vendors.
- **21 October 2026** (grade C [3, 2]): Launch HN post by the two founders. The company's pricing page shows Starter at US$50 and Growth at US$250 a month the same day.

## What could go wrong for Alter?

- **What is not verified.** No revenue figure was found. The pages read were the company's site, its terms, the Y Combinator page and the Hacker News launch thread. No payment-processor profile, filing or interview with revenue was found. The terms name Stripe and the pricing page shows prices, but every plan button opens a booking calendar. The billing documentation describes an upgrade through checkout, which was not opened. No source states that a customer has paid. The customers are the founders' own statement.
- **Logo wall and unnamed customers.** The home page shows four customer logos under Trusted by. The Hacker News post speaks of several startups and a defense contractor without names. No source here confirms that any of them pays. The home page also says SOC 2 is in progress. The company states this itself.
- **Earlier page on the same domain.** An Internet Archive copy of 7 January 2025 shows a page named AlterAuth with plans at US$0 and US$49 a month. Under Trusted by Teams it prints two quotations signed Innovative Tech Co. and Dev Solutions Inc. No source shows that these are real customers, and the text reads like template filler. No source ties that page to Alter Labs, and the page is not on the site today. The company's blog lists Introducing Alter Vault on 25 March 2025, and Substack dates the same title 27 May 2026. An archive copy of 11 May 2026 still shows Early Access buttons.
- **Whether AI is the product.** The product controls what an AI agent may do. It is not itself a model. Its core checks are fixed policies. The AI review by TypeSafe AI is optional and off by default, as the sub-processor list says.

## Sources

1. Alter company page — https://alterauth.com/company/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the founders, their earlier jobs, the location and the Y Combinator backing.
2. Alter pricing page, with an Internet Archive copy of 21 October 2026 — https://alterauth.com/pricing/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. The archive copy shows the same two prices. Source for the plans, the call limits and the booking buttons.
3. Hacker News, 21 October 2026: Launch HN: Alter (YC S25) - Access control for multi-user agents — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50176908 (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. The founders' post and replies. Source for the motive, the customer statements and the pricing plan.
4. Alter terms of service — https://alterauth.com/legal/terms-of-service/ (grade C). Read the sections on fees and payment. Source for Stripe, advance payment and automatic renewal.
5. Alter sub-processors, last updated 22 September 2026 — https://alterauth.com/legal/sub-processors/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for Stripe, hosting, deployment, monitoring and the optional AI review vendor.
6. Y Combinator company page: Alter — https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/alter (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the year founded, the batch, the team size of 2 and the location.
7. Internet Archive copy of alterauth.com, 7 January 2025 — https://web.archive.org/web/20250107104219/https://www.alterauth.com/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the earlier AlterAuth page. A copy of 31 March 2025 reads the same.
8. Alter blog index on alterauth.com — https://alterauth.com/blog/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the post dated 25 March 2025.
9. Alter home page — https://alterauth.com/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the product description, the logo wall, the sign-up link and the SDK.
10. Alter Substack: Introducing Alter Vault, 27 May 2026 — https://blog.alterauth.com/p/introducing-alter-vault (grade C). Read the opening sections. Source for the date that differs from the blog index.
11. Alter robots.txt — https://alterauth.com/robots.txt (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. A comment in it names Astro as the site's build tool.
12. Database of failed startups, local export — /method/#dead (grade C). Record pages read on the website on 12 November 2026. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.
13. Alter documentation: Billing — https://docs.alterauth.com/admin/billing/ (grade C). Read the billing section, 12 November 2026. Source for the upgrade through checkout in the developer portal.
14. Internet Archive copy of alterauth.com, 11 May 2026 — https://web.archive.org/web/20260511144142/https://alterauth.com/ (grade C). Read in full, 12 November 2026. Source for the Early Access buttons in May 2026.

Contact: aiolum@livyden.com. Run Alter? Send corrections or a verified figure to aiolum@livyden.com (subject: Correction: Alter).