Overview

Vatstack is a VAT API with a web dashboard for businesses selling telecommunications, broadcasting, or electronic services across borders. It is best suited to teams building tax checks into their sales flow; the free entry point is useful, but included monthly capacities and per-use fees matter as volumes grow.

Key features

Rates and calculations

Vatstack centralizes domestic and cross-border VAT rates and updates them when government changes take effect at midnight local time. It can locate a customer through an IP address checked with MaxMind GeoIP2 or through a billing address, then calculate VAT-inclusive or VAT-exclusive prices. It also checks VAT numbers for exemption eligibility and adjusts rates for some digital products, including ebooks. That makes it a focused fit for digital sellers; it is not a general-purpose tax suite on the evidence available.

Verification and records

Real-time VAT and GST checks cover the 27 EU member states, Australia, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. EU and UK checks receive a unique consultation number, and validation records are stored in the cloud and replicated between EU data centers on AWS. Bulk CSV validation through the dashboard saves repetitive entry for teams processing many IDs.

Reporting and Stripe

Vatstack compiles VAT OSS and EC Sales List reports, converting amounts with European Central Bank exchange rates. Its Stripe integration syncs invoices, location evidence, and tax IDs, and adjusts reports when customers are refunded. Those links can reduce manual reconciliation for Stripe-based sellers, while the reporting focus is specifically VAT OSS and EC Sales List.

Pricing

The Developer plan is Free for life at 0.00 USD per free and provides unlimited quotes, dummy validations, and dummy supplies. It is a sandbox-style starting point, not a substitute for live monthly usage.

Launch starts at $0/mo* and includes 100 VAT validations and 20 VAT sales per month; extra validations cost $0.09 each and extra sales $0.45 each. It suits low-volume live use, but the small allowance means charges can accumulate as activity rises.

Small Business starts at $15/mo* with 500 VAT validations and 100 supplies per month, then charges $0.03 per extra validation and $0.15 per extra supply. This is the clearest fit for a growing seller that needs meaningful live capacity without the Enterprise starting price.

Enterprise starts at $150/mo* and includes 15,000 VAT validations and 3,000 supplies per month. Additional validations are $0.01 each and additional supplies $0.05 each; the plan also includes a 99.95% SLA. Its larger quotas and lower overage rates suit higher-volume operations that value a stated service level. The published transaction limit is 100 transactions/mo, so buyers should clarify how that relates to their expected usage before committing. Vatstack also lists support at support@vatstack.com. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt, and the privacy policy describes its security procedures as reasonable and commercially acceptable.

Platforms

Vatstack is offered through an API and web dashboard. API access and real-time calculation suit teams integrating VAT checks into software; the dashboard adds a route for bulk CSV validation. The company launched in 2018 and identifies Gatemill, Inc. in Lewes, Delaware, as its operator.

Who it's for

Vatstack is a strong match for businesses selling digital services internationally that need VAT and GST number checks, location-based calculations, and VAT reporting in one workflow. It is less compelling for teams whose tax needs extend beyond the VAT-centered capabilities described here, or whose volumes make per-use charges hard to predict.

Pros and cons

Pros: Broad real-time VAT and GST verification coverage, with consultation numbers for EU and UK checks and cloud-stored validation records.
Pros: VAT OSS and EC Sales List reporting, ECB currency conversion, and Stripe refund adjustments connect sales activity with compliance reporting.
Pros: A free live-use tier and a free dummy-data plan let teams start without a monthly base charge.
Cons: Launch includes only 100 validations and 20 sales monthly, with per-use charges beyond those amounts.
Cons: The published 100 transactions/mo limit may constrain usage and warrants clarification alongside the plan quotas.
Cons: The positioning and feature set are specialized around VAT and digital services rather than broad tax administration.

Alternatives

Tax Engine Software and VAT Software are useful starting points for comparing category options. Consider Zamp for a U.S.-focused compliance workflow: it offers a 30-day sandbox and a U.S. plan for teams scaling audit-ready compliance. Kintsugi is worth considering when global nexus monitoring, historical liability audits, and risk assessment are the priority. CCH SureTax offers choices spanning technology alone through filing and remittance, for buyers seeking those service levels. Sovos Tax Determination is a paid API and web alternative with pricing requiring a call. ONESOURCE Certificate Manager is a paid API, self-hosted, web, and Windows option with a free demo. ONESOURCE Determination is another web alternative. Avalara VAT Registration is a paid API and web option with a demo. Numeral is a freemium API alternative whose Monitoring plan includes nexus monitoring, alerts, and liability audits.

Verdict

Choose Vatstack if your business sells digital services across borders and needs VAT calculations, verification evidence, and VAT reporting accessible through an API. Its combination of live checks, reporting, and Stripe synchronization is the main reason to pick it. Look elsewhere if you need broader tax workflows or cannot comfortably forecast usage beyond the included monthly capacities.

	OpenSalesTax	Vatstack
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	Free	$15/mo
Open source	No	No
Platforms	api, self-hosted	api, Web
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Tax types	sales_tax	multiple
API access	Yes	Yes
Paid from	—	15 /mo
Transaction limit	—	100 transactions/mo
Real-time calculation	—	Yes
Commerce connectors	—	Yes

OpenSalesTax vs Vatstack

OpenSalesTax

Vatstack