TaxJar vs Avalara 2026: Sales Tax Pricing Compared

TaxJar is the cheaper choice for a seller registered in a few states that files quarterly, and Avalara wins once the state count or the filing frequency climbs. TaxJar Starter costs $39 a month for 200 orders and sells filings as credits. Avalara Core Compliance costs $799 per state a year with a three-state minimum, filings included. A 10-state seller filing monthly pays $8,599 a year on TaxJar and $7,990 on Avalara Core, by our arithmetic on October 2026 list prices.

Prices on this page were read on each vendor's own pages on October 17, 2026: TaxJar pricing, TaxJar's plan and filing price list, and Avalara's sales and use tax pricing. Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluated 42 tax software tools for its tax software ranking as of October 16, 2026, and Avalara is one of its top ten. The Avalara product page on Toolradar holds the rest of its profile.

At a glance

Plan	Best for	Price (October 2026)	What you get
TaxJar Starter	Sellers with a handful of channels and few returns	From $39 a month, or $419 a year, for 200 orders a month	Up to 3 data import integrations, jurisdiction-level reports, developer sandbox, 2 AutoFile credits a year, extra returns $50 each
TaxJar Professional	Sellers with many channels or an API integration	From $99 a month, or $1,069 a year, for 200 orders a month	Up to 10 integrations, 10,000 API calls a minute, up to 10 team users, economic nexus dashboard, a Customer Success Manager, 4 AutoFile credits a year, extra returns $55 each
Avalara Core Compliance	Multi-state sellers too small for the Custom tier	$799 per state a year, or $79 per state a month, three-state minimum	AvaTax calculation in 12,000+ jurisdictions, Managed Returns filing and remittance, nexus monitoring in all 50 states, exemption certificates
Avalara Core Compliance + SST Services	Remote sellers that qualify for Streamlined Sales Tax	$699 per state a year, or $69 per state a month, no state minimum	Everything in Core, plus state-funded calculation and filing in up to 25 participating states, one SST identification number
Avalara Custom	Businesses with $50 million or more in revenue	Quote only	Multi-entity management, consolidated reporting, 1-hour support response, the full product range

The two vendors meter different things, and that decides the comparison. TaxJar bills on orders per month and sells returns one credit at a time. Avalara bills per registered state and includes the returns. A seller with few states and many orders leans one way; a seller with many states and few orders leans the other.

How TaxJar meters its price

TaxJar's base price moves with order volume, not with states. Starter runs from $39 a month at 200 orders to $99 at 1,000, $319 at 5,000 and $429 at 10,000 orders, with annual billing cutting each tier by roughly 10%. Professional opens at the same 200 orders for more than twice the price and reaches $1,599 at 5,000, so the step from Starter to Professional costs five times as much at that volume. TaxJar counts sales, refunds and returns in the monthly figure, so a store with heavy returns sits a tier higher than its sales alone suggest.

Filing is the second meter, and it is where a multi-state TaxJar bill grows. Starter includes 2 AutoFile credits a year and Professional 4, which covers one or two states filing annually and nothing more. Every extra return costs $50 on Starter or $55 on Professional, and TaxJar also sells annual bundles: 25 filings for $1,125 to $1,250, 50 for $2,225 to $2,500, 100 for $4,500 to $5,000, and unlimited filings for $10,000 to $12,000, the lower figure on Starter and the higher on Professional. A 30-day trial needs no card, and flex fees move a store up a tier for a busy month and back down the next.

How Avalara meters its price

Avalara's two published plans charge per state and bundle the returns. Core Compliance costs $799 per state a year, and the plan carries a three-state minimum per filing entity, set out in Avalara's August 19, 2026 Select announcement. A one-state seller therefore pays for three states, the same bill as a three-state seller. Managed Returns prepares, files and remits in each state and handles state correspondence, so there is no per-return charge to add.

The SST plan is the cheaper rate, but only for sellers that qualify. Core Compliance + SST Services costs $699 per state a year with no state minimum. Avalara says most remote sellers with economic nexus in participating states qualify, as does a business with under fifty thousand dollars of payroll or property in a participating state. Avalara lists no free trial on these pages, and both plans stop at $50 million in annual revenue, where the Custom tier takes over at a quote. Our Avalara pricing page runs the per-state totals for 1, 3, 10 and 25 states if you want that detail on its own.

What a 3-state and a 10-state seller pay

The table takes two sellers on annual billing. The first is registered in 3 states and processes 1,000 orders a month. The second is registered in 10 states and processes 5,000 orders a month. Each is costed once with quarterly returns in every state and once with monthly returns, because filing frequency is the variable that flips the result. TaxJar rows use Starter's annual tier plus its 2 included credits, then extra returns at the single-credit rate or a filing bundle when it is cheaper, taking the lower end of each bundle range for Starter. Avalara rows multiply the per-state rate by the state count.

Seller	TaxJar Starter, a year	Avalara Core, a year	Avalara SST plan, a year	Cheaper, against Avalara Core
3 states, 1,000 orders a month, quarterly returns (12 a year)	$1,569	$2,397	$2,097	TaxJar by $828
3 states, 1,000 orders a month, monthly returns (36 a year)	$2,644	$2,397	$2,097	Avalara by $247
10 states, 5,000 orders a month, quarterly returns (40 a year)	$4,974	$7,990	$6,990	TaxJar by $3,016
10 states, 5,000 orders a month, monthly returns (120 a year)	$8,599	$7,990	$6,990	Avalara by $609

The arithmetic for the first row is $1,069 for the Starter 1,000-order tier plus 10 extra returns at the single-credit rate. The monthly-return row at 10 states is $3,199 for the 5,000-order tier, the 100-filing bundle at $4,500, and 18 more single returns. The two middle rows use the 25-filing bundle at $1,125 plus single returns for the remainder. The pattern is that TaxJar wins at low filing frequency and loses at high filing frequency, because Avalara's state fee already contains the returns. On Professional, every TaxJar row would be higher: the 5,000-order tier alone costs $15,999 a year, more than Avalara at 10 states before a single return is added.

Three caveats apply. Avalara's pricing FAQ says its cost also varies with transaction volume, integrated applications and SST enrollment, so a 5,000-order store may be quoted above the per-state list rate. TaxJar's totals assume every return is a separate credit, and a state with a single annual return costs less than the table shows. And neither total includes registration: Avalara charges $403 per location for sales tax registration on its pricing page, while TaxJar's pricing pages do not list a registration fee.

Who wins each dimension

Dimension	TaxJar	Avalara	Winner
Lowest entry price	$39 a month, $419 a year	$699 per state a year on the SST plan, three states at once on Core because of the minimum	TaxJar
Cost at 3 states with quarterly returns	$1,569 a year	$2,097 to $2,397 a year	TaxJar
Cost at 10 states with monthly returns	$8,599 a year	$6,990 to $7,990 a year	Avalara
Filing included in the base price	2 or 4 credits, then a fee per return	All returns included in the per-state fee	Avalara
Free trial	30 days, no card	None listed	TaxJar
State minimum	None	Three states on Core, none on SST	TaxJar
Jurisdiction coverage	11,000 jurisdictions	12,000+ jurisdictions, nexus monitoring in all 50 states	Avalara
Integrations on the entry plan	3 data imports on Starter, 10 on Professional	Business system integrations included, 1,400+ signed partner integrations on Custom	Avalara
Multi-entity and consolidated reporting	Not on the published plans	Custom tier only, at a quote	Avalara, with a quote
Price you can compute in advance	Yes, from two public tables	Per state, with volume priced privately	TaxJar

TaxJar takes five rows, Avalara takes five. Read the split by what your business looks like. A single-entity ecommerce store with a few registrations and a predictable order count can price TaxJar to the dollar. A company with ten or more registrations, monthly filing calendars, or several legal entities gets more from Avalara's bundled filing, and its finance team spends less time counting credits.

Where each one falls short

TaxJar's weak point is filing at scale. The included credits run out after two or four returns, and a 10-state seller filing monthly needs 120 returns a year. That is either 118 individual credits or a bundle, and both push the bill past Avalara's per-state total. TaxJar also lists no multi-entity feature on its plans, so a group with several filing entities has to run separate accounts or move elsewhere. Its API and team seats sit on Professional, so a store that wants its own checkout integration starts at the Professional rate rather than the Starter rate, with the 5,000-order tier at $1,599 a month.

Avalara's weak point is the floor. The three-state minimum means a one-state business on Core pays for three, and the SST plan removes that minimum only for sellers that qualify. Avalara publishes no free trial, and the per-state rate is a starting point: its own FAQ says the price scales with transaction volume and the number of connected applications. A controller should therefore ask for the transaction tier in writing before comparing the state fee with TaxJar's order tier. Our Avalara alternatives page covers what a team gives up when it leaves, and the best sales tax software ranking sets both against the rest of the category.

Who should pick which

• Pick TaxJar Starter if you are registered in three or fewer states, file quarterly or annually, and import orders from no more than three channels. At $419 a year plus a few single returns it is the lowest published bill in this comparison.
• Pick TaxJar Professional if you need the API, up to 10 team users or the economic nexus dashboard, and your order volume stays under about 1,000 a month. Above that, price the Professional tier against Avalara before you commit, because the gap widens fast.
• Pick Avalara Core Compliance if you are registered in ten or more states or file monthly, and you want returns, remittance and notices handled inside one fee. Confirm the transaction tier in the quote.
• Pick the Avalara SST plan if you are a remote seller that qualifies for Streamlined Sales Tax, because it is the cheapest per-state rate with no minimum.
• Pick neither yet if you sell SaaS rather than goods, where Anrok prices per market, or if your ledger is the bigger decision. The QuickBooks Online review and the NetSuite review cover the two systems both tax tools connect to, QuickBooks vs NetSuite compares them, and NetSuite pricing prices the larger one.

How we compared

We read TaxJar's pricing page and its plan and filing price list, Avalara's pricing page and its sales and use tax pricing page, and Avalara's August 19, 2026 Select post, all on October 17, 2026. Every price above comes from those pages or from our own multiplication of them. The 3-state and 10-state tables are arithmetic on annual list prices and are not quotes, and we did not use either product, so the verdict rests on the vendors' published terms. The Toolradar count comes from our tax software ranking, updated October 16, 2026. For 1099 filing rather than sales tax, the best 1099 tax software ranking covers that separate job, best accounting software covers the ledger, and best billing software covers the invoicing tools that feed the tax engine.

Cite this: CFOpresso, "TaxJar vs Avalara 2026: Sales Tax Pricing Compared", October 2026.

FAQ

Is TaxJar cheaper than Avalara?

At low filing frequency, yes. A seller registered in 3 states with 1,000 orders a month and quarterly returns pays $1,569 a year on TaxJar Starter, against $2,397 on Avalara Core Compliance. The order reverses once returns are monthly, because TaxJar charges for every extra return and Avalara includes filing in its per-state fee. Both figures are our arithmetic on list prices read in October 2026.

How much does TaxJar cost in 2026?

TaxJar Starter starts at $39 a month for 200 orders and rises by order volume, reaching $429 a month at 10,000 orders. Professional starts at $99 a month and reaches $1,999 at 10,000 orders. Starter includes 2 AutoFile credits a year and Professional 4, with each extra return priced as a single credit. Annual billing is about 10% cheaper, and a 30-day trial needs no card, per TaxJar's pricing pages read on October 17, 2026.

How much does Avalara cost per state?

Avalara charges $799 per state a year on Core Compliance, or $79 per state a month, with a three-state minimum per filing entity. Core Compliance + SST Services costs $699 per state a year, or $69 a month, with no minimum, for sellers that qualify for Streamlined Sales Tax. Larger businesses are quoted on a Custom tier. Avalara's sales and use tax pricing page showed those rates on October 17, 2026.

Does Avalara include filing?

Yes. Both Core Compliance plans include Avalara Managed Returns, which prepares, files and remits the returns and handles state correspondence, so the per-state fee covers the filing. TaxJar sells filing separately as AutoFile credits, which is the main reason its bill climbs faster than Avalara's as the state count grows.

Which one has a free trial?

TaxJar offers a 30-day trial with no credit card. Avalara lists no free trial on its pricing pages, though it provides a sandbox for testing an integration before going live. A controller who wants to see the product before paying starts with TaxJar, and asks Avalara for a demo.

Which should a company with several legal entities choose?

Avalara, but at a quote. Its Custom tier lists multi-entity management and consolidated reporting, and its three-state minimum applies per filing entity, so each entity on Core carries its own three-state floor. TaxJar's published plans list no multi-entity feature. A group with several entities should price Avalara Custom and compare it with a separate TaxJar account per entity.

This page is general information, not tax advice. Which states you must register in depends on your sales and your products, so confirm your nexus position with a tax adviser and get a written quote from either vendor before you sign.

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