Avalara vs. NetSuite ERP

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Avalara
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Avalara AvaTax connects to the software that businesses already have and delivers sales tax decisions based on precise geo-location in more than 12,000 taxing jurisdictions in the U.S.N/A
NetSuite ERP
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
NetSuite is a suite of ERP and accounting modules which is sold in various editions aimed at different size customers. The multi-country, multi-currency version is an additional module called OneWorld. Netsuite is a SaaS system and is not offered in an on-premise edition.N/A
Pricing
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsUsers subscribe to NetSuite for an annual license fee. The license is made up of three main components: core platform, optional modules and the number of users. There is also a one-time implementation fee for initial setup. New modules and users and can be added as a business grows.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Considered Both Products
Avalara
Chose Avalara
When I first started my position, we were already in the process of going into Avalara. I am unsure why our previous Controller selected Avalara, but I do believe it was because of the ease of use and aiding with determining nexus in states where we ship our products.
Chose Avalara
I also researched and compared Vertex but ultimately decided Avalara was a better fit for our company.
Chose Avalara
None. AvaTax was recommended by our contract CFO, so it was the only product that I evaluated. It met our needs, price was somewhat within reason, and we have been happy since.
Chose Avalara
Avalara came highly recommended and we did not seek alternative solutions.
Chose Avalara
We only looked at Avalara. I was easily sold after a short chat with a sales rep. Fair price, well known product, no reason to look at others.
Chose Avalara
We knew we wanted AvaTax from the start. Several people in our organization had previous experience with AvaTax and it was a very natural fit for us since we use NetSuite and are a SaaS company.
NetSuite ERP
Chose NetSuite ERP
NetSuite is much more modern and robust system when compared to Exact Macola.
Chose NetSuite ERP
100 percent better and more customizable
Chose NetSuite ERP
NetSuite ERP is user friendly and allows for us to implement and deploy solutions without much help from the IT department. It also is a "fluid" solution that utilizes a relational database which allows for transactions and records to be connected.
Chose NetSuite ERP
Does not require Dev to get the system built
Chose NetSuite ERP
NetSuite ERP is leaps and bounds above their competitors in both functionality and design.
Chose NetSuite ERP
Some of the we use, it seems that NetSuite is starting to close the gap vs other external applications in terms of features which is good but at the same time, some of those required a significant investment so i would not be able to switch easily given the heavy investment. …
Chose NetSuite ERP
In my opinion, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise edition has better accounting functionality than NetSuite ERP and can handle both cash and accrual reporting on even the most basic edition. I think NetSuite ERP provides some better functionality than Intacct but again doesn't …
Chose NetSuite ERP
NetSuite has the tools to be the go-to ERP system for mid-sized companies. The reporting features are customizable and expansive. It is more user friendly than SAP
Chose NetSuite ERP
Zuora - does one thing and not that well. The best thing about it is consolidated invoicing. It's a point solution that thinks it's a platform. It's difficult to navigate, the navigation doesn't make much sense, and any customization is really just a deceptive crutch. NetSuite …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Type of tax
Comparison of Type of tax features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
7.8
338 Ratings
2% below category average
NetSuite ERP
-
Ratings
Sales and Use Taxes8.8331 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-border Taxes7.571 Ratings00 Ratings
VAT / GST Taxes7.060 Ratings00 Ratings
Energy and Fuel Taxes8.026 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Reporting & Compliance
Comparison of Tax Reporting & Compliance features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
8.2
316 Ratings
5% above category average
NetSuite ERP
-
Ratings
Geolocation for Tax Assessment8.5190 Ratings00 Ratings
3rd-Party Software Integrations8.1253 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Data Reporting8.3282 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance Administration Management8.6215 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Exemption Processing8.4229 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Document Management8.1219 Ratings00 Ratings
Complex Tax Scenario Management7.5150 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
1.1
15 Ratings
147% below category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings1.013 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings1.010 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings1.39 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
9.2
74 Ratings
19% above category average
API for custom integration00 Ratings9.264 Ratings
Plug-ins00 Ratings9.947 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
9.7
81 Ratings
18% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings9.662 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings9.780 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
9.8
72 Ratings
30% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings9.871 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings9.870 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings9.870 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
7.9
275 Ratings
3% above category average
Accounts payable00 Ratings8.3269 Ratings
Accounts receivable00 Ratings8.2248 Ratings
Global Financial Support00 Ratings9.926 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings9.928 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings9.341 Ratings
Configurable Accounting00 Ratings9.935 Ratings
Standardized Processes00 Ratings9.937 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
9.0
48 Ratings
13% above category average
Inventory tracking00 Ratings10.047 Ratings
Automatic reordering00 Ratings8.928 Ratings
Location management00 Ratings9.535 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
9.3
220 Ratings
17% above category average
Pricing00 Ratings9.853 Ratings
Order entry00 Ratings8.0216 Ratings
Credit card processing00 Ratings8.937 Ratings
Cost of goods sold00 Ratings9.448 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings9.921 Ratings
Subledger and Financial Process
Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
7.9
216 Ratings
6% above category average
Billing Management00 Ratings8.3205 Ratings
Cash and Asset Management00 Ratings9.927 Ratings
Travel & Expense Management00 Ratings9.731 Ratings
Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting00 Ratings8.927 Ratings
Period Close00 Ratings9.935 Ratings
Project Financial Management
Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
6.6
32 Ratings
14% below category average
Budgeting and Forecasting00 Ratings6.026 Ratings
Project Costing00 Ratings6.023 Ratings
Cost Capture00 Ratings6.022 Ratings
Capital Project Management00 Ratings4.014 Ratings
Customer Contract Compliance00 Ratings9.913 Ratings
Project Revenue Recognition00 Ratings6.922 Ratings
Project Execution Management
Comparison of Project Execution Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
4.1
17 Ratings
51% below category average
Project Planning and Scheduling00 Ratings8.914 Ratings
Task Insight for Project Managers00 Ratings3.311 Ratings
Project Mobile Functionality00 Ratings3.010 Ratings
Definable Resource Pools00 Ratings3.68 Ratings
Grants Management
Comparison of Grants Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
3.1
12 Ratings
82% below category average
Award Lifecycle Management00 Ratings3.47 Ratings
Procurement
Comparison of Procurement features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
3.3
19 Ratings
71% below category average
Bids Analyzed and Compared00 Ratings3.48 Ratings
Contract Authoring00 Ratings1.910 Ratings
Contract Repository00 Ratings3.58 Ratings
Requisitions-to-Purchase Orders Integrated00 Ratings3.613 Ratings
Supplier Management00 Ratings9.913 Ratings
Risk Management
Comparison of Risk Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
3.1
11 Ratings
73% below category average
Risk Repository00 Ratings3.48 Ratings
Control Management00 Ratings1.911 Ratings
Control Efficiency Assessments00 Ratings3.57 Ratings
Issue Detection00 Ratings3.48 Ratings
Remediation and Certification00 Ratings3.58 Ratings
Logistics
Comparison of Logistics features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
3.1
17 Ratings
73% below category average
Transportation Planning and Optimization00 Ratings2.89 Ratings
Transportation Execution Management00 Ratings2.88 Ratings
Trade and Customs Management00 Ratings2.88 Ratings
Fulfillment Management00 Ratings9.914 Ratings
Warehouse Workforce Management00 Ratings2.511 Ratings
Manufacturing
Comparison of Manufacturing features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
9.4
16 Ratings
23% above category average
Production Process Design00 Ratings8.912 Ratings
Production Management00 Ratings8.914 Ratings
Configuration Management00 Ratings9.910 Ratings
Work Execution00 Ratings9.912 Ratings
Manufacturing Costs00 Ratings8.914 Ratings
Supply Chain
Comparison of Supply Chain features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
8.3
141 Ratings
16% above category average
Forecasting00 Ratings8.817 Ratings
Inventory Planning00 Ratings7.5138 Ratings
Performance Monitoring00 Ratings8.914 Ratings
Product Lifecycle Management
Comparison of Product Lifecycle Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
3.9
13 Ratings
59% below category average
Proposal Management00 Ratings2.510 Ratings
Product Master Data Management00 Ratings3.29 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Small Businesses
TaxJar
TaxJar
Score 8.2 out of 10
Acumatica
Acumatica
Score 8.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
LOVAT
LOVAT
Score 10.0 out of 10
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 6.0 out of 10
Enterprises
ADP SmartCompliance
ADP SmartCompliance
Score 8.5 out of 10
SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign
Score 8.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(450 ratings)
8.4
(375 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(30 ratings)
9.0
(49 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(442 ratings)
8.5
(234 ratings)
Availability
8.0
(9 ratings)
9.0
(16 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(9 ratings)
8.0
(15 ratings)
Support Rating
5.4
(21 ratings)
7.1
(216 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.0
(2 ratings)
7.3
(2 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(4 ratings)
6.4
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(198 ratings)
5.8
(17 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(6 ratings)
8.7
(5 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(12 ratings)
7.3
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(8 ratings)
9.0
(8 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.2
(9 ratings)
4.8
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(9 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Likelihood to Recommend
Avalara
Avalara is well suited for us because it makes it easier for us to navigate sales tax and filing state sales tax returns for multiple states. I appreciate how simple they made this process for us, helps save us a great amount of time and allows us to focus on the business. Less appropriate, is that most of our customers are sales exempt and it can be a bit challenging at times with AvaTax overriding our tax calculation within NetSuite. Overall, that issue has been less and less, so we are moving in the right direction.
Read full review
NetSuite
Netsuite ERP is well suited to helping facilitate a smooth procurement process, raising purchase orders and managing invoices. We use it to set up new suppliers and for global organisations with multiple cost centres, suppliers, agencies, activities etc. it is very good at managing a high volume of different suppliers and activities. It has a relatively navigable interface but could stand to be a bit more simple / modern and automated. It is quite aggressively busy on screen vs some other simplified interfaces
Read full review
Pros
Avalara
  • Sales tax rates at a "roof top" level
  • Has extensive research and documentation on telecommunications industry
  • Research is always up to date
  • The ability to ask questions and get clarification on specific situations with no limit as to how you ask a question and often get the answer the same day
Read full review
NetSuite
  • Revenue recognition. We get information from Salesforce and we build the revenue recognition engine that I'm really pleased. We avoid a lot of manual work by doing this.
  • We send out invoices electronically from the system. We use it for the fixed asset now with the new lease opinion that we just adopted in January 2022. We leveraged technology, specifically the features in NetSuite to help us account for that.
Read full review
Cons
Avalara
  • Avalara needs to be able to provide tax and legal advice, so we don't have to go to an outside source.
  • Some states we file in have more than just sales tax on the return. For example, Washington has B&O tax, tire tax, sales and use tax. It would help a lot if Avalara could report all of these taxes, so we don't have to file manually.
Read full review
NetSuite
  • Certain exports out of the system. There are some pages that you can export to Excel and some pages you can't, I don't know why. So it seems like it should be all functionalities there.
  • Some of the bank feeds have broken quite a bit and I'm not sure why. So we have to constantly go in there and readjust that on the reconciliation tab. I know that's new and robust and it's going well. It's more of taking out GL data instead of what's remaining in that account. As far as if I'm looking at a rec for a particular asset, I know there's GL data that goes through there. What I want to know is what's the balance in that account made up of as far as what's remaining there. So that's the kind of stuff I would buy with advice.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Avalara
We need their help with filing and keeping track of things. It is very likely we are in the process of renewing right now. Autumn is our case manager and she has been a great help in keeping us updated on our usage and renewal. I feel we will be using this for a very long time.
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NetSuite
NetSuite is able to cover all of our needs, spanning multiple departments and managerial levels. We use it daily for a multitude of functions, including creating promotions, estimating inventory, pulling historical reports, forecasting sales, and more. Overall, we're very satisfied with NetSuite as an ERP solution and recommend it to medium to large businesses.
Read full review
Usability
Avalara
I only say this because we had no real training on the system at all. We requested it multiple times, and no one could give us that. We had to figure a lot out for ourselves, got a rep change and finally got someone to help us navigate a bit better. Please make sure any onboarding clients get proper training and resources before going live.
Read full review
NetSuite
As a user, it is a steep learning curve with little to no guidance. Oracle relies pretty much only on their massive documentation library and does very little to guide users in context. As an Administrator, it's frustrating that field naming is totally different depending on your context.
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Reliability and Availability
Avalara
I have been using Avalara for years and do not remember ever having an outage during working hours. The service is accurate and dependable.
Read full review
NetSuite
It has been very reliable. I can only think of 1-2 times in 4.5 years that we have had issues getting in, and in each case were able to get back in within 1 hour. There has not been a major downtime
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Performance
Avalara
We do have trouble tying Avalara's reporting back to our POS, but we just got a new POS system and there are bugs we are still trying to work out within the POS system. I do not believe this is an Avalara issue
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NetSuite
Most of the time the performance is very good. Pages load in a few seconds; financial reports take less than 5 seconds; basic searches take a few seconds. But performance can be sporadic throughout the day and cause the run time to triple.
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Support Rating
Avalara
In my experience, numerous questions, and particularly those regarding billing issues are just ignored, and it is impossible to get to someone to discuss. Your account manager will tell you they are taking care of it and then it just goes into a black hole.
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NetSuite
I would like to give 8 rating for NetSuite support and reason for that is below: Whenever we faced any technical or functional issues we tried to reach out to NEtSuite support but response was not immediate. We told them about the urgency of the issue but still we were not getting response on time. Then, we have to reach out to AE to get things resolved.
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In-Person Training
Avalara
I wasn't here when they first started with Avalara.
Read full review
NetSuite
I had in person training for a day when first got the software. The training was good. The challenge was that there was a large gap between training and when we went live so we forgot quite a lot
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Online Training
Avalara
The documentation online we informative and helpful. The videos from the Avalara institute and the help tab if we have any questions and the search too were helpful. We like the ease of using the click here for more information tool about nexus and the information for the ECM Pro training were helpful. Whenever we have a question we normally get an email along with the tool as to where to find our answer. We also like that it shows information about nexus status of the states we maybe approaching and we can look more into it.
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NetSuite
Online training is quite strong. I have used for specific pieces of functionality.However it is not sufficient in all areas.
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Implementation Rating
Avalara
The implementation team from Avalara was very knowledgable and did a good job of passing along information so that we could maintain the system and be able to make future changes ourselves. We had asked for some custom tax setup and they worked with us to get additional taxes set up that they didn't previously have. They worked with us to pull our documentation on tax rules and make sure those were included. I had hoped more scenarios would be there out of the box to cut down on the configuration time.
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NetSuite
I felt NetSuite Professional Services did an excellent job of guiding us in the implementation. I also felt our internal teams were a little resistant to the change and engagement of new software. Had we performed better engaging and buying into the new software, I would be able to rate the implementation better. Therefore, the lower number should not be viewed as a deficiency with the software or the professional services teams, but as an reminder of how important complete buy-in from the local users is.
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Alternatives Considered
Avalara
We selected Avalara because our prior service did not have the range of tax codes required for our products. They had nothing related to medical devices or supplies, so we used a generic 'taxable' tax code. Customers were unhappy because some states exempted the product we sold, even if the customer was not tax-exempt. It caused many issues, including credit memos to refund sales tax charges.
Read full review
NetSuite
We came from an AS400 system. NetSuite is supremely advanced and more capable than our old system. We initially selected NetSuite for its reporting and analytics capabilities. From there, we looked at its automation and manufacturing capabilities. It has really outclassed our old system at every turn—it is not even close.
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Scalability
Avalara
There is no change that has to happen as your company grows, Avalara continues to do it's job for any size company
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NetSuite
We have been able to scale our business 25X without any major overhaul with Netsuite. Its dashboard setup makes onboarding new employees very easy and allows data to be shared across multiple offices. Its cloud setup does not put any pressure on IT to scale servers or other infrastructure. We have been able to become much more efficient in all aspects of the business.
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Return on Investment
Avalara
  • With Wayfair, our tax obligation increased 300% and still growing. Avalara was an extremely valuable resource in helping us manage those requirements.
  • Avalara has allowed us to maintain staff levels without increasing our overhead for any new associates to focus on those tax issues.
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NetSuite
  • Really it's been nothing but positive for us right now. My team is super excited to get to use it every day. They love the interface is easy to use. The fact that we've got all the security and audit logs in there gives me comfort as the senior finance person to be able to understand what's going on to track it, but it's also not bogged down in unnecessary bureaucratic processes or administrative processes. It allows our team to be very responsive and dynamic and that's great for us.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Avalara Screenshots

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NetSuite ERP Screenshots

Screenshot of one view into the most critical business processes.Screenshot of Netsuite's mobile-friendly design