Avalara vs. NetSuite ERP

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Avalara
Score 8.6 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
We did not evaluate other software platforms. Avalara was the recommended solution and integrates well with Net Suite.
Chose Avalara
TaxJar is integrated with Kaseya autotask, and this integration is very inefficient and was not easy to set up. Neither TaxJar nor Kaseya support was helpful at all, "rude" is the only word to describe that, whereas Avalara has always tried to be helpful and has been very …
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
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 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
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 …
Features
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Type of tax
Comparison of Type of tax features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
8.2
362 Ratings
5% above category average
NetSuite ERP
-
Ratings
Sales and Use Taxes9.2356 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-border Taxes8.377 Ratings00 Ratings
VAT / GST Taxes7.269 Ratings00 Ratings
Energy and Fuel Taxes8.028 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Reporting & Compliance
Comparison of Tax Reporting & Compliance features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
8.4
341 Ratings
7% above category average
NetSuite ERP
-
Ratings
Geolocation for Tax Assessment9.1206 Ratings00 Ratings
3rd-Party Software Integrations8.3277 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Data Reporting8.5306 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance Administration Management8.7235 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Exemption Processing8.4247 Ratings00 Ratings
Tax Document Management8.6234 Ratings00 Ratings
Complex Tax Scenario Management7.5163 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
1.1
15 Ratings
148% 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
21% above category average
API for custom integration00 Ratings9.164 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
15% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings9.762 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings9.880 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
9.9
72 Ratings
30% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings9.971 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings9.970 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings9.970 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
313 Ratings
3% above category average
Accounts payable00 Ratings8.3307 Ratings
Accounts receivable00 Ratings8.4283 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
9.1
48 Ratings
14% above category average
Inventory tracking00 Ratings10.047 Ratings
Automatic reordering00 Ratings8.928 Ratings
Location management00 Ratings9.635 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
9.4
252 Ratings
19% above category average
Pricing00 Ratings9.953 Ratings
Order entry00 Ratings7.9248 Ratings
Credit card processing00 Ratings8.937 Ratings
Cost of goods sold00 Ratings9.548 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
249 Ratings
6% above category average
Billing Management00 Ratings8.5238 Ratings
Cash and Asset Management00 Ratings9.927 Ratings
Travel & Expense Management00 Ratings9.831 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
52% 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
81% below category average
Award Lifecycle Management00 Ratings3.57 Ratings
Procurement
Comparison of Procurement features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
-
Ratings
NetSuite ERP
3.3
19 Ratings
72% below category average
Bids Analyzed and Compared00 Ratings3.58 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
72% below category average
Risk Repository00 Ratings3.58 Ratings
Control Management00 Ratings1.911 Ratings
Control Efficiency Assessments00 Ratings3.57 Ratings
Issue Detection00 Ratings3.58 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
75% 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
8.4
167 Ratings
16% above category average
Forecasting00 Ratings8.817 Ratings
Inventory Planning00 Ratings7.7164 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
60% below category average
Proposal Management00 Ratings2.610 Ratings
Product Master Data Management00 Ratings3.29 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Small Businesses
TaxJar
TaxJar
Score 8.1 out of 10
Zoho One
Zoho One
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
LOVAT
LOVAT
Score 9.1 out of 10
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 7.5 out of 10
Enterprises
ADP SmartCompliance
ADP SmartCompliance
Score 8.7 out of 10
24SevenOffice
24SevenOffice
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(472 ratings)
8.4
(410 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(35 ratings)
8.8
(50 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(464 ratings)
7.9
(272 ratings)
Availability
8.0
(11 ratings)
9.0
(16 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(11 ratings)
8.0
(15 ratings)
Support Rating
5.6
(24 ratings)
6.4
(217 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.0
(2 ratings)
7.3
(2 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(4 ratings)
6.4
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.9
(199 ratings)
5.4
(17 ratings)
Configurability
8.9
(8 ratings)
8.7
(5 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.9
(14 ratings)
7.3
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.9
(10 ratings)
9.0
(8 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.4
(11 ratings)
4.8
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.9
(11 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
AvalaraNetSuite ERP
Likelihood to Recommend
Avalara
I find Avalara well-suited in the majority of situations when it comes to tax calculation. The only issues we run into are with more complex tax situations. It may be less appropriate for invoices that have significant variability that affects taxability. For example, if there is a business that sometimes is an installer and other times is not, there may need to be different tax codes set up for each situation. This requires the users to know how tax needs to be charged in different situations, rather than having Avalara do this automatically.
Read full review
NetSuite
Best suited for mid-market to lower scale enterprises (under 2,000 employees) especially if migrating from Quickbooks or another fragmented small business system. Also, multi-entity and global operational businesses are very well suited as there is robust functionality around multi-subsidiary, multi-currency and multi-tax controls. Finally, businesses with inventory & supply chain heavy businesses would find the functionality very useful as the system allows warehouse management, lot/batch tracking, fulfillment, etc. Not well suited for startups (a lot of functionality not needed) or very small businesses (under $3mm in revenues). Overkill in complexity and cost and implementation leg-work is necessary relative to the underlying operations of the business. Also, companies with a heavy manufacturing business (shop floor execution) lacks depth with true manufacturing ERPs like Epicor, Infor, etc. and companies expecting consumer grade UX feels like the interface isn't modern or very intuitive right out of the box.
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
  • It gives high flexibility to maintain different kind of financial data with ease. It also support 606 standard.
  • Customisation is a key, whereas we can do as many customisation based on our critical financial need.
  • It is cloud based and easily scalable.
Read full review
Cons
Avalara
  • Reporting could be more flexible - I'd like to customise what columns I want to export.
  • Adding bulk transactions is a bit cumbersome, and the user interface for required fields could do with some improvement.
  • It would be good to have more options to pay for tax settlements.
Read full review
NetSuite
  • The area for the largest improvement needed is the implementation process. Especially when it comes down to an accounting based ERP setup rather than a CRM model. The experts should have accounting backgrounds in addition to the system knowledge for implementation.
  • There should be more training focused on the Dashboards and the maneuverability of the data focused for each graph or report within the dashboards.
  • The AP system is a little problematic with more complex company hierarchy. Due to the AP Invoice headers being driven by "main line" but the expense distribution being driven by journal entries - the AP aging is hard to verify the accuracy and can be distorted by different types of transactions.
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Likelihood to Renew
Avalara
Avalara is the best sales tax compliance product on the market. Avalara allows us to accurately comply with our sales and use tax obligations in an accurate and timely manner for a reasonable cost. Avatax is a versatile and helpful product. We also are looking forward to implementing the cross-border product.
Read full review
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
Avalara is hands down the best product available when it comes to what they offer, the robustness of their systems, and the diversity of their offerings. -All while being very cost-competitive. Avalara's tech is best in class while providing a total solution and integration between products and our systems, making processes much more convenient.
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NetSuite
NetSuite is a cloud tool, and is easy to implement for mid-sized organizations. It comes with standard forms/ printing layouts, and financial reporting (both summary and detailed), which are very handy for business users. In addition to these, with 99.99% service availability, NetSuite makes it one of the most reliable ERP tools available on the market.
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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
Read full review
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
TaxJar is integrated with Kaseya autotask, and this integration is very inefficient and was not easy to set up. Neither TaxJar nor Kaseya support was helpful at all, "rude" is the only word to describe that, whereas Avalara has always tried to be helpful and has been very friendly to work with. TaxJar has no similar capability to retain their tax-calculated transactions and file the returns; TaxJar would calculate the taxes in Kaseya autotask and you would still have to manually import the data into TaxJar if you wanted to subscribe and have them file your returns. Needless to say that was a non-starter.
Read full review
NetSuite
QuickBooks Online is, by far, a better and easier-to-use product for smaller companies. Only switch to Netsuite if you have to. We switched to NetSuite because we have numerous subsidiaries, and QuickBooks would not be able to handle the complexity.
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Scalability
Avalara
It is usable across all departments
Read full review
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
  • We went from two staff members down to one staff member dedicated to monitoring and reconciling sales tax with the G/L.
  • It takes the one staff member less time to monitor sales tax than having to go through and calculate and file in each state.
  • Avalara gives us confidence that the returns are filed accurately and timely every month.
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NetSuite
  • NetSuite ERP has allowed us to see more clear details around where our business is financially which leads to smarter business decisions.
  • NetSuite ERP has freed up time that was spent on certain functions in our old accounting software, leading to more efficiency.
  • NetSuite ERP has given us more visibility across business divisions.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Avalara Screenshots

Screenshot of the Avalara portal homepageScreenshot of returns, appearing in the Avalara portalScreenshot of transactionsScreenshot of reportsScreenshot of jurisdiction details

NetSuite ERP Screenshots

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