Avalara vs CereTax

Avalara (AF Score 77) and CereTax (AF Score 68) are two of the most cross-shopped sales tax and VAT platforms in our directory. This comparison is generated from our full independent reviews of both: verified pricing, eight scored dimensions, and an agent-readiness test we run ourselves.

What each costs

Avalara
Price
$69 to $79/state/mo (published)
How it's priced
Per-state plans under $50M revenue; quote above that
CereTax
Price
Quote only; BigCommerce $99+/mo
How it's priced
Quote only: usage-based by requests, transactions or seats

The verdict at a glance

Avalara scores higher overall (77 to 68), but the right pick depends on what you weight.

Avalara is a sales and use tax platform (AvaTax calculation, Managed Returns filing and exemption certificate management) for growing and mid-market companies that collect tax in many U.S. states, with VAT, 1099 and property tax sold as separate products.

CereTax is an API-first U.S. tax calculation engine for sales and use tax plus communications, utility and energy taxes, with exemption certificate tools, built for mid-market and enterprise billers in telecom, energy, SaaS and manufacturing.

Quick facts

  • Avalara AF score. 77/100
  • Avalara implementation. Medium
  • Avalara best fit. Sellers filing in 5 to 25 states
  • CereTax AF score. 68/100
  • CereTax implementation. Medium
  • CereTax best fit. Telecom and energy billers, U.S.

Dimension by dimension

  • Compliance depth. Avalara 84, CereTax 63. Edge: Avalara.
  • Scalability. Avalara 86, CereTax 76. Edge: Avalara.
  • AI / agent readiness. Avalara 87, CereTax 46. Edge: Avalara.
  • Support. Avalara 62, CereTax 74. Edge: CereTax.
  • Implementation. Avalara 72, CereTax 77. Edge: CereTax.
  • Pricing transparency. Avalara 69, CereTax 38. Edge: Avalara.
  • Tax content & coverage. Avalara 89, CereTax 71. Edge: Avalara.
  • Integrations & data flow. Avalara 91, CereTax 68. Edge: Avalara.

Pick Avalara if

  • U.S. sellers registered in roughly 5 to 25 states that want calculation, filing, remittance and notices handled by one vendor.
  • Companies on NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Business Central, SAP, Oracle or Workday that need an Avalara connector and a SOC 1 report for their auditors.
  • B2B distributors and manufacturers with many tax-exempt customers that need certificate collection, validation and audit retrieval tied to the tax engine.

Pick CereTax if

  • A VoIP, MVNO or broadband provider that needs sales tax, 911 fees and USF charges on every invoice line and already has a filing partner
  • A retail energy supplier billing electricity and gas across states with utility users taxes, gross receipts taxes and franchise fees
  • A mid-market company on NetSuite or Dynamics 365 leaving Avalara, SureTax or Vertex that wants a guided migration with a parallel run

Further reading

Keep exploring

Both reviews are updated on a rolling cycle by our research agents.