The cost comparison, honestly
TaxJar's value has always been two things bundled together: it calculates the right sales-tax rate, and through AutoFile it submits returns to the states for you. In 2026 the price of that bundle went up. The Starter subscription moved from $19 to $39 a month, and the per-filing AutoFile fee is now $50 on Starter ($55 on Professional), up from roughly $30–35. If you file monthly in several states, the filing fees — not the subscription — are what drive the bill.
Here is a representative seller: under $1M in revenue, nexus in 5 states, filing monthly. That's 60 filings a year. These are estimates from published pricing and will vary with your volume and state count, but the shape is stable.
| Tool | What you pay for | Representative annual cost |
|---|---|---|
| NexusRadar | Nexus monitoring + rate to collect (monitor-only) | ~$348 |
| Quaderno | Calculation only | ~$1,188 |
| TaxCloud | Calculation + some filing | ~$2,100–2,600 |
| TaxJar (2026) | Calculation + AutoFile | ~$4,270 |
| Numeral | Calc + filing (+ ~$750 first-year registration) | ~$4,500 |
| Anrok | Calc + filing (SaaS-focused) | ~$6,000 |
| Avalara | Calc + filing (enterprise) | $7,400+ |
Representative estimates from each vendor's published pricing, sized to the same 5-state / 60-filing seller. Real quotes vary by volume, state mix, and negotiation.
The gap between $348 and $4,270 isn't a discount. It's a different product. NexusRadar removes the single largest line item — per-filing fees — by not filing. That's the whole trade, and you should understand it before you switch.
The monitor-only tradeoff
NexusRadar monitors economic nexus across all states. It watches your sales against every state's threshold, alerts you before or when you cross one, and gives you the rate to collect. When it's time to file, it hands you (or your bookkeeper) a clean per-state summary of what you collected and owe. It deliberately does not submit the return.
For a lot of small sellers this matches how the work actually happens. Registration is a one-time step per state. Once you're registered, filing a return is a short form on the state's portal, or a five-minute task for the bookkeeper who already does your books. If you were paying TaxJar $50 a filing to automate that, you were paying to remove a small recurring chore — and paying a premium that scales with every state you add.
The honest version: monitor-only means the filing is on you or someone you delegate to. If you never want to touch a state portal and want zero involvement, that convenience has a price and TaxJar (or Avalara) sells it. NexusRadar sells knowing exactly where you owe, cheaply and continuously, and getting out of the per-filing treadmill.
You keep: accurate nexus tracking across all states, threshold alerts, and the correct rate to collect. You give up: automated return submission. NexusRadar is flat $29/mo with no per-filing fees, ever.
Who should switch — and who shouldn't
Switch if you…
- Sell on Shopify, Amazon, or Stripe under $1M and feel over-served by TaxJar
- Already have a bookkeeper or accountant who can file returns
- Have nexus in a handful of states and TaxJar's per-filing fees dominate your bill
- Mostly need to know where you owe and stop being surprised by new state thresholds
- Want a predictable flat cost instead of a bill that grows with every state
Stay on TaxJar if you…
- Need real-time rate calculation injected into checkout across many carts
- Want one vendor to both calculate and file every return with zero involvement from you
- File in a large number of states and value hands-off automation over cost
- Have complex product taxability (SaaS, digital goods, exemptions) that needs a calc engine
There's no shame in either answer. The mistake is paying full-service prices when what you actually needed was a reliable alarm and a number to collect.
The October 1, 2026 deadline matters here
If you're on TaxJar's legacy month-to-month pricing, you keep the old rates only until 1 October 2026, after which accounts auto-convert to current pricing — there's no permanent grandfathering. So "I'll decide later" has a real deadline attached. We wrote a plain, non-hyped explainer of exactly what's changing and your four options in the TaxJar 2026 price increase breakdown.
Try it before you commit
You don't need to sign up to see whether monitor-only fits you. The free nexus checker runs entirely in your browser — enter your sales by state and it shows where you've already crossed a threshold and where you're close. Nothing leaves the page. If the picture looks manageable to file yourself or hand off, the switch math is simple. You can also read our full vendor comparison or the economic nexus by state guide to check your exposure first, and the cost calculator to size your own numbers.