ShipVAT review
A low-cost tax API with broad coverage, but not a complete filing and registration service.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
ShipVAT is a cloud tax-compliance API for developers and businesses selling across multiple jurisdictions. It calculates VAT, sales tax and GST, looks up tax rates and economic-nexus thresholds, validates addresses and VAT IDs, records transactions, manages exemptions, and produces compliance reports. Coverage spans 93 jurisdictions, including the EU, UK, United States, Canada and Australia. Its REST endpoints, OpenAPI specification and TypeScript SDK make it a natural fit for product teams that want tax logic integrated into software rather than managed through a standalone finance interface.
The pricing structure is straightforward. The Free plan costs $0 and lasts forever, with the tax calculation API, address validation, TypeScript SDK and compliance reports. Pro costs $49 per month when billed monthly and adds transaction recording, VAT ID validation, batch operations and webhooks alongside the calculation API. A 3-day free trial is also published. Enterprise includes unlimited API calls, webhooks, dedicated support, a 99.99% SLA and an on-premise option coming soon, while its price is not shown in the listed plan details. For an early-stage product or a team validating a tax workflow, the free tier keeps the initial cost low; Pro is the clearer fit when transaction workflows and event delivery matter.
ShipVAT also fits teams working with Paddle, LemonSqueezy or PayPal, and supports TypeScript and OpenAPI-based development. Its standout value is the combination of calculation, provenance-backed tax-rate lookup, nexus threshold lookup, address normalization, exemption management and reporting in one API-oriented service. The boundary is important: the documented scope centers on calculation, records and reports, not end-to-end compliance operations. Teams that need return filing, tax registration or marketplace-specific workflows should choose a product built around those services, or use ShipVAT only for the calculation layer. It suits developers prioritizing affordable API access and broad jurisdiction coverage more than businesses seeking a full-service compliance provider.
ShipVAT pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free plan includes tax calculation, address validation and compliance reports
- 93-jurisdiction coverage with nexus threshold and tax-rate lookups
- REST, OpenAPI and TypeScript support plus payment integrations
- Where it doesn't
- Return filing and tax registration are outside its documented scope
- Marketplace-specific workflows are not part of the documented offering
- Enterprise pricing is not published with the listed plan details
ShipVAT fact sheet, pricing and score →
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