--- title: "Avalara Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice" description: "Reviews of Avalara. Learn how real users rate this software's ease-of-use, functionality, overall quality and customer support. Talk to our advisors to see if Avalara is a good fit for you!" source_url: "https://www.softwareadvice.com/sales-tax/avalara-profile/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- 1 million+ businesses helped. Get advice Get Free Advice [Home](https://www.softwareadvice.com/) / [CPA Accounting Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/cpa-software-comparison/) / [Avalara](https://www.softwareadvice.com/sales-tax/avalara-profile/) / Avalara Reviews Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee. [Overview](https://www.softwareadvice.com/sales-tax/avalara-profile/) Reviews [Alternatives](https://www.softwareadvice.com/sales-tax/avalara-profile/alternatives/) # Avalara User Reviews ## Reviews summary - Overall rating: 4.0/5 - Total reviews: 357 ### Secondary ratings - Ease of use: 3.8/5 - Customer support: 3.4/5 - Value for money: 3.5/5 - Functionality: 3.9/5 ### Rating distribution - 5 stars: 179 reviews (50%) - 4 stars: 92 reviews (26%) - 3 stars: 27 reviews (8%) - 2 stars: 16 reviews (4%) - 1 star: 43 reviews (12%) ### Most mentioned pros - We've relied on Avalara since October 2022 for sales tax compliance, tax return filing, and reporting at CivilGEO, Inc. Despite an initial learning curve, the platform has proven strong on security and given us excellent value for money as a small business. - The platform is highly reliable, continuously updated with changing tax regulations, and integrates well with various accounting and ERP systems. - The nexus tracking feature is especially useful now that economic nexus thresholds vary so much by state and can change over time. ### Most mentioned cons - Some configuration areas are not very intuitive, and troubleshooting tax mapping issues can take time. - Their Account Reps appear also, to not have the time to provide communication to their customers, since it is difficult to get an answer timely to questions. - The installed package contains locked-down flows, Apex classes, and process builders that have errors, but cannot be modified by admins. ## Avalara customer reviews Showing reviews 1-25 of 357 (page 1). ### Avalara keeps delivering - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Ananie B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Accounting - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Smooth processing of our sales tax returns for all of our clients and a solid platform that evolves constantly to match the changes in the field #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros they cover all of our sales tax needs regardless of complexity and address any issues in a timely manner #### Cons no issues with the platform and they also are proactive in ensuring no friction even arises throughout the service --- ### Strong Value, Solid Security, and Reliable Tax Filing, Worth the Learning Curve - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Prabhat K. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Computer Software - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. We've relied on Avalara since October 2022 for sales tax compliance, tax return filing, and reporting at CivilGEO, Inc. Despite an initial learning curve, the platform has proven strong on security and given us excellent value for money as a small business. AvaTax and ECM Pro work well together for calculations and exemption certificates, and their team supported our SST registrations as we crossed state thresholds. The one area outside its scope is payroll, which we handle with a separate tool. We're now working with Avalara on OSS registration for the EU and VAT registration for Canada, extending the same reliable compliance support internationally. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros As the accounting lead at CivilGEO, Inc. since October 2022, I've been very happy with the value for money Avalara provides, for a small business like ours, it's far more cost-effective than hiring additional tax staff. AvaTax handles tax calculations accurately, and the reporting is detailed and easy to pull for audits or internal reviews. ECM Pro makes exemption certificate management simple, and tax return filing across multiple states has become much smoother, including getting SST numbers whenever we cross a nexus threshold. Security has also been strong, we've never had concerns about how our financial data is handled or stored. #### Cons The learning curve is steep at first, particularly when setting up and connecting AvaTax with ECM Pro — it took real time for our small business team to get fully comfortable with the platform. One gap is payroll: Avalara doesn't offer payroll tax support, so we still manage that separately, which means payroll and sales tax return filing live in two different systems. International expansion (we're currently working with them on OSS registration for the EU and VAT for Canada) has also taken longer than we'd like. #### Vendor response Prabhat, thank you for sharing such detailed feedback about your experience with Avalara AvaTax and ECM Pro. We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with CivilGEO. We appreciate you highlighting areas where we can improve, including payroll support, as it helps guide our future product roadmap. Our team is fully committed to supporting your global expansion into Canada and the EU, and we look forward to continuing to serve you. Replied August 2026 --- ### 3.5 out of 5 - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: patrick m. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Textiles - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros Works great, until it doesn't. When it doesn't, it is very hard to get help. Most of the time, Avalara is great! #### Cons You can't get help, your account executive forwards you elsewhere and you have to send multiple emails for a reply. --- ### Reliable Tax Automation for Growing Ecommerce Businesses - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Sonu P. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Consumer Goods - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Overall, our experience with Avalara has been very positive. It provides strong value for money for medium to large businesses dealing with complex tax requirements. The platform improves efficiency for payroll-related tax handling, invoicing accuracy, and compliance management while reducing manual intervention. It is particularly useful for ecommerce and multi-subsidiary environments where tax compliance can otherwise become difficult to manage. Team collaboration has also improved because finance and operations teams can work from a more standardized process. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Avalara has made tax management much easier across multiple regions and sales channels. The automation around sales tax calculations, invoicing, and compliance reporting saves a significant amount of manual work for our finance team. Integration with ERP and ecommerce platforms is strong, and once configured properly, it runs reliably in the background. It has also helped reduce errors and improved confidence during audits and reconciliations. #### Cons The initial setup and learning curve can be quite complex, especially for businesses operating across multiple entities or countries. Some configuration areas are not very intuitive, and troubleshooting tax mapping issues can take time. Support response times can vary depending on the issue complexity. #### Vendor response Thank you for taking the time to share such thoughtful feedback! We’re glad to hear that Avalara has helped make tax management easier and reduced manual work for your team. We also appreciate your honest feedback around setup complexity and support response times as we continue to look for ways to improve the customer experience. Thanks again for being part of the Avalara community. Replied May 2026 --- ### Avalara support within Manufacturing - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Tiffany I. - Industry: Warehousing - Company size: 201-500 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 6 months - Reviewed: August 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Avalara University could be better to better understand but gives the basics for set up. More topics for moving forward and using the system would be good for non-CFO roles. Minimal frustrating moments with back filing directions/pricing. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 2/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros The comfort of knowing we are in compliance and filings are being done. Reporting makes it easy to see things if needed. Avalara University helps assist with learning how to use the system as a new employee/user. #### Cons Account Manager can be difficult to reach for a rapid response without having to create a case and wait for someone to connect. #### Vendor response Thank you for taking the time to write about your experience using Avalara, we appreciate your feedback. Replied August 2026 --- ### Avalara Tax Software Great- Avalara Support Not So Much - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: Cameron M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Wholesale - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2025 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Assuming you have no issues or questions, the functionality and automation of the sales tax calculation, tax filing and tracking of customer tax exemptions are fantastic, especially if you can integrate Avalara with your ERP system. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 2/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Avalara easily handles all the sales tax calculations for transactions, and is especially great since it integrates with our ERP system. It saves time in that it is able to automatically identify customers who have tax exemption certificates on file and processes transactions based on valid Tax Exemption Certificates on file that are valid. Avalara processes tax filings and has reporting capability allowing for easily identifying issues with transactions, summarizing monthly sales tax liabilities and managing customers. #### Cons Avalara support and customer interactions is lacking. It appears that that did a lot of investment in their product, but failed to identify the need for actual interaction with customers when they need help. Avalara requires you to use their AI support and knowledge base articles to solve problems, before you can speak to someone about your issue. Their Account Reps appear also, to not have the time to provide communication to their customers, since it is difficult to get an answer timely to questions. #### Reasons for switching to Avalara Prophet 21 sales tax calculation utility was very administrative heavy, requiring manual updates to tax rates, and was not specific to city, county and state taxes. At best Prophet 21 was a rough estimate of taxes. #### Vendor response Hi Cameron, thanks for taking the time to share such a detailed review. We're glad to hear the integration and automation have been a strong fit for your team. We also appreciate your honest feedback about the support experience. That kind of insight is really important, and we’ll make sure it’s shared with the right teams. Thanks again for being a customer. Replied October 2025 --- ### Terrible, terrible, terrible - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Chelsea B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Consumer Goods - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2025 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered For the cost and reputation Avalara carries, I expected professionalism and accountability, but experienced neither. Proceed with extreme caution if you rely on them for your business. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros Not much to say here. The idea of it is great, however, execution is lacking. If they could sharpen up their internal processes and filing procedures, I would have much better things to say. #### Cons Poor communication, lack of accountability, and overall not providing the true service you pay for. Their entire purpose is to file tax returns accurately and compliantly, yet our filings were submitted incorrectly and non-compliant. When I raised the issue, the team refused to take responsibility or offer a resolution. I have spoken with many state sales and use tax representatives who also spoke negatively of their own experience with Avalara. #### Reasons for choosing Avalara Payment process was better with Avalara for those outside of the US #### Vendor response Hi Chelsea, we’re sorry to hear your experience has been so frustrating. It’s clear we didn’t meet expectations here, and that’s not what we want for any of our customers. We appreciate you sharing this feedback and encourage you to reach out to customercare@avalara.com if you’d be open to a follow-up. Replied November 2025 --- ### Avoid unless you like constant trouble - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Jason M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Retail - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2025 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Its been a complete and total disappointment. I am absolutely livid with the disaster they have created for our business. They put all the work on me and handle nothing. Completely incompetent and horrible communicators #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros A Once it was set up it ran well, until it didn't. It seemed to do the job for the short time that it was running correctly #### Cons Complete disaster for us. Onboarding was a disaster. The expert they gave us had no experience. I had to figure it out and set it up. Then they disconnected the App that integrated with eComm and then never fixed anything. Completely incompetent staff. Indian that had no understanding of anything and very difficult to talk to. #### Reasons for choosing Avalara QBO couldn't apply location to sales tax so that didnt work #### Vendor response Hi Jason, thank you for sharing your feedback. I’m so sorry to hear how difficult this experience has been for you. That’s not the kind of service we aim to provide, and I can understand how frustrating it must feel when expectations aren’t met. Please reach out to our team at customercare@avalara.com so we can escalate your concerns to the right team. -Celina R Replied June 2025 --- ### The worst vendor and disrespectful group of individuals - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Brian T. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Consumer Goods - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: April 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered By far, the worst vendor experience ever. Zero respectful communication. There's zero context to every interaction. You will have to manage every representative like it's the first time you've met. They have no place to remove your ACH credentials, huge red flag. Avoid this company completely. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros They can file taxes correctly. For the 36-ish months we used them, they filed 32 of them correctly. One was a bug on their end that they neglected to compensate us for. #### Cons Customer service. When our renewal was coming up, I requested pricing and an updated contract. They ignored me. I sent a cancellation notice via the channels they required. They ignored me for over 2 months (until I started posting publicly... like this). They fraudulently withdrew funds via ACH and charged my credit card. Someone from the company contacts me after I post but every interaction fades into the ether and nobody takes responsibility for fixing the problem. #### Vendor response Brian, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re sorry for the frustration you’ve described, and this isn’t the experience we aim to provide. We’ve escalated your concerns internally and we understand our team is working with you directly to resolve. Replied April 2026 --- ### Must have tool for US tax compliance operating in overseas - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Gabby A. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Financial Services - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Ability to calculate US tax without having to worry about it. It has seamless connection to Netsuite so easy to use #### Cons Cost can be a burden for small company and customer service can improve but I find it mainly it is related to the time difference #### Vendor response Hi Gabby, thanks for taking the time to share your review. We’re glad to support your tax compliance so you can stay focused on your work. We appreciate your feedback and are grateful to have you as a customer! Replied June 2026 --- ### Service is Nonexistent - Broken Software - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Connor P. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Printing - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 6 months - Reviewed: February 2022 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Since they charged me over $7,000 dollars for a product that never worked - zero benefits. I would never recommend this company. Avalara has had a history of terrible customer service but from recent reviews, that had seemed to change. It hasn't. If you encounter issues, be prepared to suffer through basic IT troubleshooting multiple times before your issue isn't resolved. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Avalara could never get the connector to work to use the software. But the online interface seemed like it would have been useful had Avalara gotten their software to work with QuickBooks. #### Cons The implementation process was miserable. From day one, I received a nondescript error that was simply a large red question mark in a dialogue box from the QuickBooks Connector. The application would also attempt to open a hundred windows while using QuickBooks. Three separate engineers walked me through the exact same troubleshooting - uninstall, reinstall, change permissions, restart computer, etc. All concluded "huh, that's weird!" It took nearly five months of effort to get that response continuously and escalated to development. Then the whole team fell silent about the issue. So I cancelled the implementation. Then, Avalara decides to bill me almost $5,000 for tax returns filing and support services when they couldn't even get their own products and services to work. It is even against their terms of service but the billing department doesn't care. It is extremely unscrupulous to even bill for services that were never rendered and could never have been rendered. #### Reasons for choosing Avalara I went against my better judgement knowing that Avalara has a history of poor service. But they are supposed to be an industry leader in compliance and I needed a good solution. I was proven correct on one account and wrong on the other. #### Vendor response Connor, thank you for sharing your experience using Avalara. We're committed to offering our customers a reliable and easy-to-use solution, and we're sorry if we missed the mark in your case. We'd like to learn more about your specific experience with QuickBooks and how we can improve. Please contact us at customercare@avalara.com if you're open to a conversation. Replied February 2022 --- ### Avalara saves my staff time! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Jeff L. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Publishing - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2021 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Our experience with Avalara has been a good one. Though no-one really likes dealing with Sales tax, this software has allowed us to manage it without having to add any staff - and that is a HUGE plus in my book. We have had some issues, but once we addressed them with the support staff - they were eventually corrected. Avalara also had a connection to the software we are currently using - Sage 300. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The amount of time my staff is saved by using Avalara to calculate and maintain Sales tax is enormous. This software accurately calculates tax and we also use it to file the taxes. The software has worked very well for us. #### Cons There were a few bumps in the road when we started, but we worked through them. Some of that required that we stay on top of the issue - because the support staff was overloaded due to the enormous increase of customers that Avalara had. But now that things are moving along, IF we do run into an issue, their support people are always available to help out. #### Reasons for choosing Avalara The main reason was the existing connection to Sage 300. Avalara seemed to have a lot more than we needed at the time - and as it turns out, we are glad we went with them as our monthly reconciling is very smooth! #### Vendor response Hi Jeff, thank you for taking the time to write about your experience getting started with Avalara. We're committed to offering a reliable and easy-to-use solution, so we're happy to hear your connection issues have been resolved and the software is now working well for your team. Please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team with ways we can make your experience even better. Replied June 2021 --- ### Tax Accountant - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Bonnie G. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Plastics - Company size: 501-1000 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: December 2022 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 2/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Avalara reporting tools such as Credit Carry forward balance and liability worksheet. The reports are very detailed and would help in an audit situation. #### Cons I don't have any issues with the software It's the customer service that is lacking. #### Reasons for choosing Avalara We were currently on Vertex L servies and it didn't meet the demands of our growing company #### Reasons for switching to Avalara Looking for a better tax calculating and reporting tool #### Vendor response Bonnie, thanks for sharing your feedback with us. We work hard to deliver a reliable product, and so we're happy to read your team has benefited from our services. Replied December 2022 --- ### Avalara Review - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Diane S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Retail - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2025 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Ok, most of the time, but the customer service reps do not always communicate well. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros The variety of products, and the ability to customize to individuals. #### Cons Connectivity Issues that created lag time. #### Vendor response Thanks for the review, Diane! We are working to improve our overall customer support and appreciate your feedback. Replied February 2025 --- ### Extremely helpful in navigating the ins-and-outs of US sales tax - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Nico B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Medical Devices - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 12 months - Reviewed: May 2025 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered As a Uk company with a presence in the US we needed help to understand and US sales tax procedures, and after enquiring a few consultants and CPA's they all recommended Avalara. We then got in touch with them and organised the onboarding, which was a bit of a lenghty process, however once we launched it we never looked back. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Extremely helpful in navigating the ins-and-outs of US sales tax. From registering for sales tax in any US State to submitting returns, certificate management and generate reporting. #### Cons It takes a bit to undestand how the system work, especially for non US, but after that it's a walk in the park #### Vendor response Hi there, thank you so much for the thoughtful review! We know how complex US sales tax can be—especially when navigating it from overseas—so it’s wonderful to hear we’ve been able to help. We really appreciate your patience through onboarding, and we’re glad to hear things are running smoothly now. Thanks again for being part of the Avalara community! Replied June 2025 --- ### Avalara Cert and Tax - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Val K. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Retail - Company size: 10000+ employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: January 2025 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. ovaral great experience in the past 10 years #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Tsx calculations and tax return preparations for US SAles tax #### Cons customer service and su[[prt for clients #### Vendor response Thanks for sharing your feedback with us, Val! We are glad to support your team. Replied January 2025 --- ### Save your money - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Deborah M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Information Technology and Services - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2025 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Awful wouldn’t recommend to my worst enemy #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 2/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros Nothing, this was sold based on ease and integration, integration resulted in transaction coming through twice #### Cons Didn’t work properly, support useless and didn’t fix, I spent hours each month going through line by line correcting #### Vendor response Hi Deborah, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We apologize for the frustrations you experienced with integration and we'd like to learn more. Please reach out to us at customercare@avalara.com so we can address your concerns. Replied February 2025 --- ### Horrible Product. Horrible Service. - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Tom A. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Marketing and Advertising - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: August 2024 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Absolutely the worst company I've ever worked with. Avoid Avalara at all costs. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros What they said they would deliver, until it was obvious that they wouldn't. #### Cons First, the product: AvaTax doesn't work well. Avalara clearly doesn't care about maintaining an excellent product with their QBO integration. We had tax calculations change after we sent the invoice to a client, even though we didn't change anything on the invoice. Most recently, Avalara has failed to support an update the QBO rolled out, and now tax calculations tax 3-5 minutes to calculate... what a huge waste of time? You want to create an invoice, and then send it to your customer, right? Nope, create that invoice... sit around for 3-5 minutes, make sure the sales tax shows up, then send it. Absolutely horrible. Next, the service: Avalara's support is the worst I've experienced, of any company, ever. We paid for a higher level of support, and we were assigned an Account Manager. Our Avalara Account Manager will not respond to me unless I send at least 3 emails. Average response time is 8 days. Technical support is worthless as well. They just tell you what you already can see in the AvaTax dashboard and will not help you find meaningful answers. If your ticket gets escalated, be prepared to spend 4-5 hours showing Avalara how you QA'd their product and found their bug, and then once you've proven to them, multiple times, that the bug exists, they might just fix it. Finally, the price: Avalara will automatically upgrade you to higher usage tiers without your permission. They will charge exorbitant "Upgrade Fees". Because their QBO integration is so bad, you end up having to use 3x the usage you expected, which then costs you 3x what you expected. We literally paid more because their product was worse than expected. #### Vendor response Tom, we appreciate you sharing your concerns with us here, as well as other review sites. We sincerely apologize for the frustration you've experienced and we understand our team has since been in communication with you regarding a resolution. We remain committed to supporting you and we look forward to resolving and improving your experience. Replied August 2024 --- ### Horrible Software with even worse Customer Service - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Wholesale - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2022 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Awful, support staff has very clearly never used the software, some have never seen it. Software does not provide the basic functionality that is advertised. Our account manager is incredibly rude and ignores emails. So phenomenally frustrating. The few helpful people I have worked with that actually understands how the software is supposed to work have made it clear that the issue we are experiencing are back-end programming problems that need to be resolved by their back-end support team. Despite following up multiple times I have yet to receive any resolution. After putting in countess hours and way too much in subscription costs into getting this software setup I can honestly say it is more time and cost effective to manually calculate tax on each order than it is to use Avalara. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros After over a year of use, nothing. there is nothing redeemable about this software. #### Cons On an entirely basic level, the software does not function. It is advertised as integrating with QuickBooks Desktop but I have yet to see it function properly for an entire day. It has created such a phenomenal mess of our QuickBooks file and is completely unreliable to calculate taxes correctly to the point that each transaction has to be manually checked to ensure tax filings are correct. I have been told by numerous support staff that this is not normal but after spending literal hours working to try and rectify the issues, have come to realize that the software does not function as advertised and likely never has. Absolutely atrocious that this was ever advertised to work with QuickBooks Desktop. DO NOT USE THIS SOFTWARE. #### Reasons for choosing Avalara It was recommended by QuickBooks sales. #### Vendor response Thank you for taking the time to write about your experience, though it's not the type we aim to deliver. We're sorry to read you've experienced challenges with the QuickBooks integration. We understand it's been frustrating and we'd like to help. Please contact us at customercare@avalara.com so we can work to address the issue. Replied August 2022 --- ### Avalara is a nightmare - Overall rating: 2/5 - Reviewer: Sherri D. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Sporting Goods - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. We have spent a great deal of money having outside people help us with issues that Avalara customer support does not know how to fix. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 2/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 2/5 #### Pros It was available in the hosting environment we had #### Cons Their customer service is awful. They close claim tickets without even working with you to fix the problem. When you do get a zoom meeting you never talk with the same person twice so you have to start over. They point the blame to other platforms you use as the source of your problem. Some of our issue have gotten worse by the fixes that their customer service reps have implemented to fix other issues. #### Reasons for choosing Avalara We had to choose from what our hosting environment offered #### Vendor response Sherri, thank you for taking the time to write about your experience using Avalara. We strive to offer the best service possible and the frustrations you've described are not what we want. If you're open to a conversation, we'd like to address your concerns by learning more about your specific experience and how we can improve. Please contact us at custoemrcare@avalara.com Replied June 2023 --- ### Review of Avalara AvaTax and Returns - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Diana S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: E-Learning - Company size: 1001-5000 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2024 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Very good overall. We encounter very few issues with Avalara given the quantity and complexity of our transactions. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Avalara AvaTax and Returns is a must have given the quantity of our transactions and returns required. Additionally, Avalara stays on top of changes in the tax regulations so that we don't have to worry about that. #### Cons Their help desk is usually not very helpful unless it's a very basic question, like where is something located on the platform. Any questions regarding tax not being calculated correctly takes a long time to resolve with a lot of back-and-forth on tickets. #### Vendor response Diana, thanks for sharing your experience with us. We work hard to deliver a reliable product so you don't have to worry. We appreciate your feedback on our help desk and will share with our team so that we may continue to improve. Replied July 2024 --- ### Efficient and Reliable Tax Compliance Solution - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Tam N. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Oil & Energy - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2024 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Overall, my experience with Avalara has been positive. The software provides reliable tax compliance solutions and significantly improves efficiency. Although the initial setup was complex, the automation and responsive customer support made it worthwhile. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 2/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros What I liked most about Avalara is its seamless integration with various platforms and the automation of tax calculations, which significantly reduces manual effort and minimizes errors in tax compliance. #### Cons What I liked least about Avalara is the complexity of the initial setup and configuration, which can be time-consuming and may require technical support to ensure everything is correctly integrated and functioning. #### Vendor response Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Avalara with us, Tam! We are glad the experience with our solutions has been overall positive. We are always working to improve our onboarding experience and we appreciate your feedback. Replied July 2024 --- ### Watched this company go from great to terrible - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Sabine D. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Sporting Goods - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: April 2018 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Multi district/state tax calculation made easy. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Platform is flexible and mapping is intuitive, even for complex tax situations. Easy integration with Magento Enterprise. #### Cons Reports are difficult to run. Its more complex than it should be to add manual transactions and the UI needs a considerable update. But my biggest complaint has been in the lack of customer service. It has regularly taken WEEKS for our customer service rep to respond to my emails. And when I showed the "Customer Experience Manager" at Avalara the chain of emails that shows it has regularly taken weeks, I get no apology and refuse to honor my request for a new customer service rep to take over my account. They are forcing me to work with a rep who has failed to perform. That is simply unacceptable. I have recommended and installed Avalara, Ava Tax, Ava Reports for several organizations over the past 10 years and initially they were amazing to work with. I feel saddened that I can no longer recommend them due to the decline in their customer service. --- ### Absolute fraud of a service, costed us thousands in tax penalties - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Bella K. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Retail - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: January 2024 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered I can't even begin to explain how upset I am with Avalara and the position they put my company in. The program I was enrolled in called Returns for Small Business apparently shut down sometime in November, and our business was never notified. I was completely locked out of my account without any notice. I could not see any data on past returns filled and what was due. I attempted to reach out to multiple people to figure out what had happened and got no clarity. After going through all my account to make sure everything was in order, I discovered that all my returns for the last three quarters of 2023 had been filed with a $0 sales tax liability. The had deducted ALL of my sales as non-taxable. Not only did I have to go back and amend over 50 tax returns, I owed thousands in penalties and late fees. I am disputing all my Avalara invoices during that time as I was paying for a complete fraud of a service. I will also be reporting this as paid tax preparer fraud. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros Nothing, they are way better options out there. #### Cons Horrible customer service, and I would not trust them to file returns for you. #### Vendor response Bella, thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention. We anticipated the discontinuation of RSB to be a big transition for users, and so our team worked hard to properly communicate and offer alternatives to our customers. We'd like the opportunity to look into your account so that we can help resolve any issues that arose with this change. Please reach out to us at customercare@avalara.com. Replied January 2024 --- ### Run away! - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Printing - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 12 months - Reviewed: September 2022 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered A total nightmare. If I had a time machine, I would go back to the day before I signed up with Avalara and push myself off a cliff. I would be much better off. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 2/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Once everything is set up, the service performs its basic (and very important) task: it files accurate, timely sales tax reports. If you love having lots of zoom meetings, you'll love Avalara. Nothing gets done without several video calls. #### Cons If you ever encounter a problem (and we encountered MANY), do not count on anyone taking responsibility for the issues, or being able to fix them. Avalara's employees are hopelessly "siloed" ... sales does their thing and passes you off to implementation, who then leaves you in the hands of an account rep. In our case, none of these people did their job correctly, and they do not work together well. The sales team sold us a solution that wasn't feasible. The implementation specialist wreaked havoc in our account, and we haven't yet found out what the account rep is good for. Thankfully, there is a team of skilled, hard-working people overseas who do the actual filing. If you can break through the domestic veneer and reach the people who actually develop and run the solution, you'll find efficiency and accuracy that hasn't trickled back up to the customer-facing incompetents you'll deal with on a daily basis. #### Vendor response Thank you for taking the time to write and bring your experience to our attention. The frustrations you've described are not what we want. If you're open to a conversation, we'd like to learn more about your specific experience and how we can improve. Please contact us at customercare@avalara.com. Replied October 2022 ## More reviews [Next reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/sales-tax/avalara-profile/reviews/?page=2) --- Avalara Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice