VAT Sense vs Vatstack

VAT Sense is a REST API for VAT number checks and tax-related data, intended for use in other services. It validates numbers against live records in the UK, EU, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, and Brazil, and provides EU VAT rates plus VAT and GST rates from other countries. It also supplies country data, currency conversions to GBP and EUR using official HMRC and European Central Bank rates, and VAT-compliant invoicing information. A validation can include an official government consultation number when the requester provides its own VAT number. The API requires HTTPS and HTTP Basic Auth. VAT Sense says client-side CORS requests are not supported because they could expose account API keys, and says the service uses 256-bit SSL. Client libraries are available for Python, Node.js, PHP, Go, Ruby, C#/.NET, and Java; the documentation also links to Postman collections. General limits are 300 requests per minute, with UK VAT validation limited to 3 requests per second. A free plan is available, and the pricing note lists paid plans from $6.99/mo. Plan prices exclude VAT, and payment can be in GBP, USD, or EUR.

Vatstack is a VAT API for businesses selling telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services to customers around the world. It provides rates for domestic and cross-border sales, updating them when government changes take effect. The API can calculate VAT-inclusive or VAT-exclusive prices, determine customer location from an IP address or billing address, verify VAT numbers for exemption, and adjust rates for some digital products such as ebooks. Real-time VAT and GST checks cover the 27 EU member states, Australia, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. EU and UK checks include a consultation number, and validation records are stored in the cloud and replicated between EU data centers on AWS. Users can import a CSV for bulk checks. Vatstack compiles VAT OSS and EC Sales List reports using European Central Bank exchange rates, and integrates with Stripe to sync invoices, location evidence and tax IDs and to adjust reports after refunds. A free plan is available; paid plans start at $15/mo.