avalara-vs-vertex-cloud

Avalara and Vertex Cloud are both online tax compliance tools. These are point solutions designed to help organizations constantly calculate the correct tax amounts to apply, usually to customers buying the business’s product. 

Avalara emphasizes automated tax compliance and e-commerce tax filings. Its review base is more centralized around midsize companies. In contrast, Vertex Cloud emphasizes its support for self-service compliance functions that mitigate the need for IT resources to manage the tool. This approach to management makes it more broadly usable across midsize companies and enterprises. 

Features

Both Avalara and Vertex Cloud have strong tax compliance features that help each product stand out. 

Avalara’s reviewers highlight its reporting robustness and customization. In particular, Avalara helps multi-state vendors break down various tax insights on a state-by-state basis, and can adjust compliance rules accordingly. The user interface is also very accessible and easy to learn for end-users. 

In contrast, Vertex stands out for its constant updates and information it provides users. Vertex enables automated real-time tax calculations, which can be invaluable to online retailers. Vertex also stays up to date with the most recent tax rules and compliance concerns, to ensure that businesses remain compliant. 

Limitations (h3)

There are also some limitations to both Avalara and Vertex Cloud that are worth considering. 

Avalara has been identified as one of the more expensive tax compliance tools. Its pricing structure, which is based on volume, can be particularly burdensome on high transaction volume organizations. Avalara is also not as tailored to more niche industries, such as construction, that have very unique tax compliance requirements. Training and implementation have also not been very well supported by the vendor. 

Vertex Cloud is criticized for its customer support. Reviewers have noted instances where reps have been unable to assist on software or platform-specific questions, as opposed to financial tax issues. The tool’s integrations with 3rd party software, such as some CRMs, have also been inconsistent or unreliable at times. 

Pricing

Avalara’s core offering, AvaTax, starts at $50/year for small businesses, then scales up in price based on the number of businesses and back-office systems used, sales transaction volume, and the number of jurisdictions where tax is being collected. Final pricing is available by quote from the vendor. 

Vertex Cloud’s pricing is customer-specific. Concrete pricing is available by quote from the vendor.