As of November 2026, the published prices for sales tax software for ecommerce start at 24 a month for Quaderno’s smallest plan (its page does not state the currency), $39 a month for TaxJar Starter, and $79 per state a month for Avalara’s Core Compliance plan. Stripe Tax charges 0.5% per transaction on its no-code option, and Shopify Tax is free on your first $100,000 of lifetime sales. I teach high-ticket dropshipping at Ecommerce Paradise, and this guide compares what each tool is, how each one prices, and what a small store would pay, using only the vendors’ own pages.
This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Sales tax rules depend on your state, your products, and your business, so confirm anything important with a state revenue department or a qualified accountant. I have no affiliate links for Avalara, TaxJar, or any other tool in this article, and I am not claiming any partnership with these companies.
Where a price is not shown on a vendor’s page, I write “not shown” and say where to ask. Some of what I found surprised me: Avalara and TaxJar both publish prices on pages I could load, even though many people assume they are quote-only. Prices change often, so check the live page before you buy.
If you are still choosing what to sell, my guide to what high-ticket dropshipping is shows why tax thresholds matter more when each order is large. If you want the Shopify setup steps instead of a software comparison, start with my guide to setting up taxes on Shopify.
Sales Tax Software at a Glance (November 2026)
| Tool | Price shown on its own page | What it does | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avalara (Select plans) | Core Compliance $79 per state a month, or $799 per state a year; Core Compliance + SST Services $69 per state a month; custom for $50M+ revenue | Rate calculation, nexus tracking, returns filing, exemption management | Stores that want calculation and filing handled in several states |
| TaxJar | Starter $39 a month, Professional $99 a month, shown for the 200 orders a month tier | Calculation, reporting, and AutoFile returns credits | Small stores that want a monthly plan with filing credits |
| Stripe Tax | Tax Basic: 0.5% per transaction (no-code) or 50 cents per API transaction; Tax Complete from $90 a month | Monitoring, registration, calculation, collection, filing | Stores that take payments through Stripe or can call its API |
| Shopify Tax | Free on first $100,000 of lifetime sales, then 0.35% on orders to states where collection is on | US sales tax calculation, collection, and reporting inside Shopify | Shopify stores that sell in the US |
| Quaderno | Hobby 24, Startup 41, Business 83, Growth 124 a month; currency not stated in the text I loaded | Sales tax, VAT and GST calculation, invoices, tax reports | Stores that also sell digital goods or sell abroad |
| Zonos | Not shown; the page sends you to a demo or pricing consultation | International shipping, tax and compliance products | Stores shipping across borders |
| Sovos | Not shown; “Book a Call” | Indirect tax suite with determination and filing | Larger or more complex sellers |
Two cautions before you compare. First, these tools price in different units: per state, per order, per transaction, or as a percent of the sale. Second, “price shown” is the entry price on the page, not necessarily what you will pay once you add states, order volume, or filings.
Tax software is one cost on a long list when you launch a store. If you want a high-ticket store built for you, with products, suppliers, and the setup already lined up, start here. See the done-for-you store build →
What Sales Tax Software Does
Sales tax software handles up to four jobs. It tracks whether you have crossed a state’s sales threshold, calculates the right rate for each customer’s address, collects the tax at checkout, and in some cases registers you and files your returns. Tools differ mainly in which of those four jobs they cover and how they charge for them.
Shopify’s own help page makes the responsibility point clearly: it says tax is your responsibility, and that it does not file or remit taxes for you unless you use its eligible tax services. Software can calculate and file, but you still decide where you are registered and you still carry the legal duty. That is why I treat these tools as helpers, not as a substitute for an accountant.
Economic Nexus Basics
Economic nexus means a state can require an out-of-state seller to collect sales tax once its sales into that state pass a set threshold, even without a warehouse or office there. The Streamlined Sales Tax site explains that after the 2018 Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, states can require sellers with no physical presence to collect and remit tax on goods delivered there.
Thresholds differ by state, so I checked two state revenue department pages to show how much. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue says a remote seller must collect once gross sales into Wisconsin exceed $100,000 in the previous or current calendar year. It adds that the old 200-transaction test was removed on February 20, 2021, and that gross sales include taxable, exempt, and resale sales.
The Texas Comptroller uses a different number and a different window: a $500,000 safe harbor based on total Texas revenue over the preceding twelve calendar months. Once you exceed it, you need a Texas permit and must start collecting no later than the first day of the fourth month after the month you crossed.
Here are two examples built from those rules, labeled as illustrations.
- Wisconsin: a store sold $82,000 into Wisconsin in 2025 and has sold $104,500 so far in 2026. The current-year total passes $100,000, so Wisconsin’s test is met.
- Texas: a store crosses $500,000 of trailing twelve-month Texas revenue during March. The fourth month after March is July (April, May, June, July), so collection must start by July 1.
High-ticket stores reach these lines with far fewer orders. At a $2,500 average order, $100,000 is 40 orders, since $100,000 divided by $2,500 is 40. The $500,000 Texas line is 200 orders, since $500,000 divided by $2,500 is 200. My high-ticket niches list covers categories where orders at that size are common.
The Streamlined Sales Tax marketplace page adds that many states require a marketplace facilitator, not the seller, to collect tax on marketplace sales, but a marketplace seller may still need to register. It also notes that most states use $100,000 in sales and that several states have dropped the transaction test. The SBA tax page does not cover nexus in detail; it tells you that rules vary by location and points you to your state department of revenue. That is the right starting point for your own state.
Avalara Pricing
Avalara is the biggest name here, and it does publish prices for its Select plans. The Avalara plans page lists three options. Core Compliance is $79 per state a month and is aimed at companies with annual revenue under $50M. Core Compliance + SST Services is $69 per state a month for the same revenue group. A Custom plan is for $50M+ revenue and shows no price.
| Plan | Monthly price | Annual price (billed annually) | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Compliance | $79 per state a month | $799 per state a year, 15% saving per the page | Rooftop-accurate calculation across 12,000+ US jurisdictions, nexus tracking, automated filing and remittance with no per-return fees, notice management, exemption management |
| Core Compliance + SST Services | $69 per state a month | $699 per state a year, 15% saving per the page | Everything in Core plus state-funded calculation and filing in up to 25 states for qualifying sellers, one SST registration ID, audit liaison support |
| Custom ($50M+ revenue) | Not shown | Not shown | Full Avalara portfolio, multi-entity management, 1,400+ integrations, dedicated team |
The page’s FAQ says pricing is set per state and per legal entity with no transaction counting or usage tiers, that Core Compliance has a 3-state minimum, and that the SST plan has no state minimum. It also says there are no per-return fees and that returns are unlimited. For the SST route, the page says you pay $0 for participating SST states and $69 per state a month for other states where you file.
The SST route has conditions. The page says qualifying means being a remote seller with economic nexus and no significant physical presence in the participating states, and it links to eligibility terms. The page says Avalara is a Certified Service Provider in 24 SST member and associate states, plus Pennsylvania, which runs a similar state-funded program. The SST site lists Avalara among six Certified Service Providers.
The separate AvaTax product page shows no price. It describes AvaTax for rate calculation and nexus tracking, Avalara Returns for filing, and Exemption Certificate Management, and it routes you to a form to talk to a specialist. AvaTax standalone pricing is therefore not shown on the pages I could load. The AvaTax product page names Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Adobe Commerce among its ecommerce integrations, and the plans page says there are 1,400+ signed partner integrations, so check that your platform is on the live integration list.
Here is a worked example of the Core plan. A store registered in 3 states pays 3 times $79, or $237 a month, which is $2,844 over 12 monthly payments. Paid annually, it is 3 times $799, or $2,397, so the annual route saves $447. If the store qualified for the SST plan and 2 of its 3 states were participating SST states, it would pay for 1 state: $69 a month, or $699 for a year billed annually. Whether you qualify is Avalara’s and the states’ call, so treat that as a best case.
TaxJar Pricing
The TaxJar pricing page shows two plans. Starter is $39 a month and is positioned for new businesses and marketplace sellers. Professional is $99 a month and is positioned for most small-to-mid-sized businesses that need real-time calculations and multi-state reporting and filing. Both show a 200 orders a month tier, and higher order tiers are not shown in the text I loaded.
| Item | Starter | Professional |
|---|---|---|
| Price shown | $39 a month | $99 a month |
| AutoFile credits included each year | 2 | 4 |
| Extra AutoFile credit | $50 | $55 |
| Integrations | Up to 3 data import integrations | Up to 10 total integrations |
| Free trial | 30 days, no credit card required | 30 days; main button reads “Contact sales” |
The page says annual billing saves “10% or more” but does not show annual prices. It also says a high-sales month can move you to a higher tier for that month, then return you to your plan the next month. The page does not define how many credits a single return uses, so ask before you assume that 2 credits covers 2 returns.
The page also says that Stripe customers might find Stripe Tax a good fit and links to a page about the two. It does not say whether TaxJar is still sold to new customers, so confirm availability before you plan around it. At the listed prices, Starter is 12 times $39, or $468 a year, and Professional is 12 times $99, or $1,188 a year, before extra credits.
Stripe Tax Pricing
Stripe Tax describes itself as covering obligation monitoring, registration, calculation and collection, and filing. The page says it supports over 100 countries and all US states, and that you can use its API for payments processed outside Stripe. It lists threshold monitoring with alerts, but the page I loaded did not mention Shopify as an integration.
The Stripe Tax pricing page splits into two products. Tax Basic is pay-as-you-go with no recurring fees: 0.5% per transaction on the no-code integrations (Billing, Checkout, Invoicing, and Payment Links), or 50 cents per transaction created through the API, with each transaction including 10 calculation calls and extra calls at 5 cents. Both rates apply where you are registered to collect tax, and Tax Basic covers calculation and collection, not registration or filing.
| Tax Complete tier | Per month, 1-year contract | Registrations a year | Transactions a month | Filings a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | $90 | 2 | 200 | 4 |
| Tier 2 | $430 | 4 | 1,000 | 12 |
| Tier 3 | $1,000 | 6 | 2,500 | 20 |
| Tier 4 | $1,500 | 10 | 5,000 | 32 |
A tier for 10+ registrations is listed without a price. The page warns that additional fees may apply for registrations and filings outside the US or if you exceed a plan’s limits, and it does not show a separate per-registration price. Because high-ticket orders are large, the percent route can cost far more than the flat per-transaction route. On a $2,500 order, 0.5% is $12.50, while the API fee is $0.50. Twenty such orders a month in registered states cost 20 times $12.50, or $250 a month, on no-code, versus 20 times $0.50, or $10 a month, through the API. The API route needs developer work, and Tax Complete at $90 a month sits between them and adds registration and filing.
Shopify Tax Pricing
The Shopify Tax page describes a US sales tax service inside the Shopify admin, with automated collection, liability insights, and reporting. It says all Shopify merchants on any plan can use it for products sold to the United States. The page states that Shopify Tax is free on your first $100,000 of lifetime sales, then charges a 0.35% calculation fee (0.25% for Shopify Plus merchants) on orders shipped to states where you have activated tax collection.
That pricing is described as applying to stores created on or after May 13, 2026, with under $25,000,000 in yearly sales. Older stores see separate pricing that is not shown in the text I loaded. Filing is not listed as a feature: the page says registration and filing are handled by third-party services in the Shopify App Store and that you remain responsible for filing and remitting.
The page’s own example is a $30 order in a collection state, which carries a fee of about $0.11 since 0.35% of $30 is $0.105. For a new store with $240,000 in first-year sales, all shipped to collection states, the fee would be 0.35% of the $140,000 above the free $100,000, or $490. My Shopify fees guide covers the other charges that sit next to tax on a Shopify bill.
Quaderno, Zonos and Sovos
The Quaderno pricing page lists Hobby at 24 a month for 25 transactions, Startup at 41 for 250, Business at 83 for 1,000, and Growth at 124 for 2,500, with Enterprise for 2,500+ transactions. The text I loaded shows no currency symbol and no yearly prices, so I cannot tell you the currency or the annual discount. All plans list a 7-day trial with no credit card required. Features include international tax calculations, nexus and threshold alerts, automatic invoices, and tax reports, and the page says Quaderno can register and file for you through a booked call.
Quaderno is the better fit when you sell digital products or sell to buyers outside the US, because its page stresses sales tax, VAT, and GST. A summary of the page’s FAQ says that exceeding your plan’s limit moves you up a tier automatically, so check that before a busy season.
Zonos lists products such as Checkout, Landed Cost, Brokerage, and Classify and describes itself as offering international shipping, tax, and compliance solutions. The page shows no prices and asks you to request a demo or pricing consultation. Sovos describes an Indirect Tax Suite with tax determination and filing and reporting, shows no pricing, and offers a “Book a Call” option on its site. The Streamlined Sales Tax site lists Sovos among its Certified Service Providers.
What a Small High-Ticket Store Might Pay
Here is one example store, with all assumptions stated. It sells 20 orders a month at a $2,500 average order, so $50,000 a month and $600,000 a year. It ships into 2 states where it is registered, and all orders go to those states. These figures use only the listed software fees and exclude filing add-ons, tax itself, and anything not shown.
| Tool and route | Math | Software cost in year one |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify Tax | ($600,000 minus $100,000 free) x 0.35% | $1,750 |
| Stripe Tax Basic, no-code | $600,000 x 0.5% | $3,000 |
| Stripe Tax Basic, API | 240 orders x $0.50 | $120 |
| Stripe Tax Complete, Tier 1 | $90 x 12 | $1,080 |
| TaxJar Starter | $39 x 12 | $468 |
| Avalara Core Compliance (3-state minimum, annual) | 3 x $799 | $2,397 |
| Quaderno Startup (currency not stated) | 41 x 12 | 492 |
Read the table with care. Percent-based fees (Shopify Tax and Stripe no-code) grow with your average order, while flat or per-transaction fees do not. The Tier 1 Stripe plan lists only 4 filings a year, which is fewer than quarterly returns in 2 states would need, so the page’s note about exceeding plan limits could apply. The Avalara figure uses the 3-state minimum even though the example store is registered in 2.
If you are still deciding whether to register under a company at all, my guide to business formation for high-ticket dropshipping explains the legal structure that many tax registrations are tied to. Tax software fees are normally a business expense, but ask your accountant how to record them.
How to Choose
- Shopify store selling mainly in the US with modest volume: start with Shopify Tax because it is built in and free on your first $100,000 of lifetime sales.
- Stripe-based checkout or a custom store: look at Stripe Tax, and model the API fee against the percent fee at your average order size.
- Several states and you want filing handled: compare Avalara’s per-state pricing, the SST option if you qualify, and Stripe Tax Complete.
- Small store that wants a monthly plan with filing credits: TaxJar Starter or Professional, after confirming availability and how credits work.
- Digital goods or sales abroad: Quaderno, or Zonos for cross-border shipping, after asking for a quote.
These are my opinions based on published pricing, not test results. I did not install or test any of these tools. Dropshippers should also ask their suppliers what documentation they need from you, which is a topic in my guide on how to find suppliers for high-ticket products.
Costs and Limits to Watch
- Per-state pricing grows with your footprint: Avalara’s Core plan multiplies by the number of states you file in.
- Percent fees scale with order value: this matters for any store with large orders.
- Filing limits: TaxJar uses AutoFile credits and Stripe Complete lists filings per year, so count your returns.
- Registration: Avalara says registration outside participating SST states is a separate service, and Stripe lists registrations per plan.
- Eligibility: the SST plan and Shopify’s pricing both have conditions, so read them.
- Marketplace sales: if you sell through a marketplace, the facilitator may collect for you in many states, which affects how much software you need.
What I Could Not Confirm
- AvaTax standalone pricing: not shown; ask Avalara.
- Avalara Custom plan price ($50M+ revenue): not shown.
- TaxJar order tiers above 200 a month and annual prices: not shown. Whether TaxJar is sold to new customers: not stated.
- Stripe Tax per-registration filing fees outside the US and the 10+ registration tier: not shown. Shopify as a Stripe Tax integration: not mentioned on the page I loaded.
- Shopify Tax pricing for stores created before May 13, 2026: not shown.
- Quaderno currency and yearly prices: not shown in the text I loaded.
- Zonos and Sovos prices: not shown.
- Your state’s current threshold: check your state’s revenue department, since I only checked Wisconsin and Texas.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Avalara cost?
As of November 2026, Avalara’s plans page lists Core Compliance at $79 per state a month ($799 a state billed annually) and Core Compliance + SST Services at $69 per state a month for companies under $50M in revenue. Custom pricing for larger companies and AvaTax standalone pricing are not shown.
What is the best sales tax software for ecommerce?
It depends on your platform, your number of states, and your order size. Shopify stores can start with the built-in Shopify Tax, while stores that want registration and filing support compare Avalara, Stripe Tax Complete, and TaxJar. I cannot call one best for everyone.
Is TaxJar free?
No. Its pricing page shows Starter at $39 a month and Professional at $99 a month, with a 30-day free trial that needs no credit card. Higher order tiers and annual prices are not shown in the text I loaded.
What is economic nexus?
It is a state rule that makes an out-of-state seller collect sales tax after its sales into the state pass a threshold. Wisconsin uses $100,000 in gross sales in the previous or current calendar year, and Texas uses $500,000 over the preceding twelve months. This is not tax or legal advice, so check your own state.
Does Shopify collect sales tax for me?
Shopify can calculate and collect US sales tax using Shopify Tax, which is free on the first $100,000 of lifetime sales and then 0.35% on orders to collection states. Its help page still says tax is your responsibility, and filing is handled by third-party services.
The Bottom Line on Sales Tax Software
The entry prices run from Shopify Tax at $0 for the first $100,000 of lifetime sales to Avalara at $79 per state a month, with TaxJar at $39 a month, Stripe Tax at 0.5% or 50 cents per transaction, and Quaderno from 24 a month. For a high-ticket store, the unit that each tool charges in matters as much as the headline price, because a percent fee on a $2,500 order is far larger than a flat fee.
Start with the nexus rules in the states where you actually sell, then pick the cheapest tool that covers calculation, registration, and filing in those states, and ask your accountant before you rely on any of it.
Would you rather build a store with the products, suppliers, and setup already sorted before you worry about tax tools? Let my team do the build. Get your store built →
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Related Articles
If you found this useful, these guides go deeper on related topics:
- How to Set Up Taxes on Shopify: Complete Guide for US Sellers
- Dropshipping Taxes and Legal Requirements in 2026: A US Checklist
- Best AI Accounting Tools for Ecommerce in 2026
- How to Use AI for Ecommerce Tax Compliance and Automation
- Shopify Fees in 2026: Every Charge, Rates by Plan and Real Examples
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
