45 states + DC charge sales tax (46 max). Nexus is where you're obligated to collect.
States assign this based on your volume. Monthly is common once you're sizable.
Affects Numeral (~$150/state to register you). Off = steady-state annual.
Estimated filings per year: 60 = 5 states × 12 filings each
The honest part
NexusRadar does not file your returns. It monitors economic nexus across all 46 taxing jurisdictions and warns you before you cross a threshold — that's it. Every filing-inclusive vendor above is more expensive largely because that price buys the filing service, not because the monitoring is better.
So this isn't apples-to-apples, and we won't pretend it is. If you need someone to press "submit" on 60 returns a year, a file-for-you tool earns its fee. If you'd rather keep the money, you monitor with NexusRadar and file yourself.
Filing is cheap to do yourself or hand to a bookkeeper — that's the trade NexusRadar makes to stay flat.
How each estimate is built
All figures are approximations from published 2026 pricing and will vary by quote, volume, and plan tier. Filings per year = states × frequency.
- NexusRadar — flat $348/yr ($29/mo). Monitor-only, unlimited states, no filing.
- TaxJar (Starter) — $468/yr base + $50 per AutoFile filing. Files for you. (A higher Professional tier exists; this uses Starter.)
- Numeral — $75 per filing, plus a one-time ~$150/state registration in year one. Files for you.
- Anrok — roughly $100/state/month ($1,200/state/yr), filing included. Scales by state, not by filing count.
- TaxCloud (Premium) — $1,188/yr base + ~$25/return. Upper estimate: in SST member states some returns are filed free.
- Quaderno — ~$1,188/yr, calculation only. It does not file — filing is a separate custom-quote service — so it's monitor-class like NexusRadar, at 3.4× the price.
- Avalara — enterprise/custom. No honest fixed number exists for a self-serve profile; shown as a flagged estimate (~$7,400+/yr typical) and excluded from the "cheapest" math.
Keep going
Questions
How much does sales tax software cost per year?
It depends almost entirely on how many states you file in and how often. Monitor-only tools like NexusRadar are flat (~$348/yr regardless of states). File-for-you tools charge a base subscription plus a per-filing or per-state fee, so a business filing monthly in 5 states typically lands around $2,700–$6,000/yr, and Avalara-class contracts run higher. Model your own numbers above.
Does NexusRadar file my returns?
No. NexusRadar is monitor-only — it tracks economic nexus across every state and alerts you before you cross a threshold, but it does not file. That's the trade it makes to stay flat at $348/yr. Filing is cheap to do yourself in each state's portal or to hand to a bookkeeper; competitors' higher price largely buys the filing service.
How are these estimates calculated?
Each number applies the vendor's published 2026 pricing model to your inputs — base subscription plus per-filing or per-state fees, where filings/yr = states × frequency. They're approximations that vary by quote, volume, and plan tier, not binding prices. Avalara is enterprise/custom and shown as a flagged estimate.
What's the cheapest compliance option?
If you'll file returns yourself, monitor-only plus self-filing is by far the cheapest path: NexusRadar's flat $348/yr covers unlimited-state nexus tracking, and each state's filing is free or low-cost through its own portal. If you want filing handled for you, the cheapest file-for-you vendor depends on your state count and frequency — the calculator sorts them for your exact profile.