{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "taxcloud", "name": "TaxCloud", "vendor": "The Federal Tax Authority, LLC (TaxCloud)", "vendorUrl": "https://taxcloud.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "tax", "summary": "TaxCloud is a US sales tax service from The Federal Tax Authority, LLC. Its v3 REST API calculates tax on carts, records orders and refunds for filing, stores exemption certificates, verifies addresses and searches product tax codes.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/taxcloud", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/taxcloud.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/taxcloud.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/taxcloud.json", "repo": "https://github.com/FedTax/taxcloud-agent-skills", "license": "Proprietary service under TaxCloud's terms of service. The agent skills repository on GitHub is Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.v3.taxcloud.com", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "A self-serve API key, generated by a signed-in user at Developer \u003e API in the web app and sent as `X-API-KEY`. Each request also carries a connection ID in the path, created at Integrations \u003e Custom API. The v3 APIs accept a JWT as `Authorization: Bearer` too, and the docs direct integrations to the key. Keys can be listed, created and deleted through the Management API, where creating one needs a signed-in user token. No OAuth, app review or partner approval applies.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "The API needs the Premium plan, from $79 a month for 200 orders, with eight public tiers up to $1,299 for 40,000. Each calculation or address verification counts as a tenth of an order. A 30-day trial with Premium access needs no card, so an agent's owner can start without a contract. There is no sandbox (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$79 / mo", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the API reference, the guides or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 0, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.taxcloud.com/", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.taxcloud.com/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://docs.taxcloud.com/openapi/api-reference.json", "capabilities": [ "tax.calculate", "tax.transactions", "tax.exemptions", "shipping.address-validation" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "closed-source", "api-key", "openapi", "llms-txt", "no-card", "us-only", "status-page", "agent-skills" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-24", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 57.4, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 475, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 6, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 64, "maintenance": 57, "payments": 34, "reliability": 66, "schema": 75, "security": 45, "transparency": 51 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "A 30-operation REST API with a public OpenAPI 3.1 contract, llms.txt, Markdown docs and a 30-day trial that needs no card. The vendor publishes no rate limit numbers, no SLA, no API changelog and no official v3 client library, and the security page names no audit or certification.", "bestFor": "An agent working for a US seller that needs tax on a cart at checkout, a record of orders and refunds for filing, and exemption certificates by customer.", "strengths": [ "OpenAPI 3.1 documents for the Sales Tax API (16 operations) and Management API (14), plus llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every docs page", "30-day trial with Premium plan access, the API included, and no card or payment method needed", "Refunds take an `idempotencyKey`, carts upsert by `cartId`, and a repeated void returns 204", "Errors are `application/problem+json` with `title`, `status`, `detail` and an `errors` list, which we confirmed on a 401", "Access keys can be listed, created and deleted through the Management API, and the bulk product delete needs a `confirm_delete` parameter" ], "weaknesses": [ "No rate limit numbers are published. The API page says only that the threshold is high and subject to change", "The security page says TaxCloud does not offer an SLA, and the terms supply the service as is", "No API changelog or deprecation policy was found, and the legacy v1 API has no published end date", "No official client library for v3 was found. The vendor's PHP library targets v1 and was last changed in June 2024", "Each calculation or address check counts as a tenth of an order against the plan, test connections included" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `X-API-KEY` on every call and put the connection ID in the path, as in `/tax/connections/{connectionId}/carts`. A wrong ID returns 404", "Mark nexus states active in the account first. With none active the API returns zero tax and no error", "Use a separate test connection. There is no sandbox, and orders on a live connection go into filing", "Pass a stable `idempotencyKey` on refunds, and never convert the same cart twice. A second conversion creates a duplicate liability", "Void a wrong order before 12:00 AM Eastern on the 10th of the month after its `completedDate`. Later requests return 422" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 57.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 64, "maintenance": 57, "payments": 34, "reliability": 66, "schema": 75, "security": 45, "transparency": 33 }, "provenanceScore": 69 }, "connect": { "install": "npx skills add FedTax/taxcloud-agent-skills", "http": "curl https://api.v3.taxcloud.com/tax/connections/\u003cconnectionId\u003e/ping \\\n -H \"X-API-KEY: \u003capiKey\u003e\" \\\n -H \"Accept: application/json\"", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http taxcloud-docs https://docs.taxcloud.com/_mcp/server" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/tax.calculate", "tool": "https://letme.dev/taxcloud" }, "area": "domain-data", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Premium, 200 orders a month", "unit": "month", "usd": 79, "note": "the plan with API access; a calculation or address verification counts as a tenth of an order" }, { "item": "Premium, 400 orders a month", "unit": "month", "usd": 149, "note": "monthly billing" }, { "item": "Premium, 1,000 orders a month", "unit": "month", "usd": 299, "note": "monthly billing" }, { "item": "Premium, 10,000 orders a month", "unit": "month", "usd": 749, "note": "monthly billing" }, { "item": "Starter, 100 orders a month", "unit": "month", "usd": 19, "note": "no API access" }, { "item": "Filing subscription, one return a month", "unit": "month", "usd": 39, "note": "separate from the order plan; surcharges for Colorado and Louisiana" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "The Federal Tax Authority, LLC (d/b/a TaxCloud)", "domain": "taxcloud.com", "domainRegistered": "2003-10-06", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://taxcloud.com/legal/tos/", "privacy": "https://taxcloud.com/legal/privacy-policy/", "statusPage": "https://status.taxcloud.com", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The terms of service (last updated March 2025) are with The Federal Tax Authority, LLC, a Washington limited liability company, and govern access to and use of the services. No separate API terms were found.", "The privacy policy (last updated 1 February 2025) covers the website including the TaxCloud platform. No data processing agreement or sub-processor list was found on the legal page.", "The API host is api.v3.taxcloud.com and the legacy host is api.taxcloud.net. RDAP gives a registration date of 2003-10-06 for taxcloud.com, with Network Solutions, LLC as registrar.", "status.taxcloud.com redirects to https://taxcloud.statuspage.datadoghq.com, a Datadog status page created on 28 January 2026.", "taxcloud.com/.well-known/security.txt returns 404.", "No changelog was found. docs.taxcloud.com/changelog returns 404." ], "score": 69 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/taxcloud.json", "live": { "slug": "taxcloud", "probe": { "target": "https://api.v3.taxcloud.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:23.03593912Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 337, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 339, "p95ms24h": 377, "samples24h": 21, "samples30d": 21, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 21, "ok": 21 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.taxcloud.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T19:39:15.801163493Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:23.03593912Z" } }, "answer": "TaxCloud scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against Vertex O Series's 54.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Vertex O Series leads on security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "vertex-tax", "name": "Vertex O Series", "vendor": "Vertex, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://www.vertexinc.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "tax", "summary": "Vertex O Series is indirect tax software from Vertex, Inc. that calculates sales tax, use tax and VAT for a transaction and records it for reporting. Agents reach it through REST v2 APIs with OAuth client credentials.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-tax", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-tax.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-tax.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vertex-tax.json", "license": "Proprietary service under a customer agreement with Vertex, Inc. that isn't published", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://calcconnect.vertexsmb.com/vertex-ws/v2", "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "Access is granted through a sales contract. OAuth 2.0 client credentials follow. A Cloud Partition System Administrator creates an API credential under Account Settings, Security \u0026 Credentials, choosing the API and the partition it maps to. The client id and secret are exchanged at https://auth.vertexcloud.com/oauth/token with audience `verx://migration-api` for a bearer token that lasts 3,599 seconds. The secret is shown once and a credential can't be edited. Token requests are limited to 10 per 8 hours, and a caching endpoint at tokenguard.vertexcloud.com returns unexpired tokens. On-Premise and On-Demand deployments use a service account with the API User role and their own token URL.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "No public prices. www.vertexinc.com/pricing returns 404 and the O Series product page asks visitors to book a demo. No free tier, trial or self-serve sandbox was found, and the security guide says to work with the Vertex sales team to establish an account. O Series Online Commerce documents a sandbox host that uses the same contracted credentials (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "Paid", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the developer docs or the OpenAPI specs (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://developer.vertexinc.com/oseries/docs/quick-start", "openapi": "https://developer.vertexinc.com/oseries/openapi/vertex-tax-calculation-and-tax-gis-api.json", "capabilities": [ "tax.calculate", "tax.transactions", "tax.exemptions", "tax.invoicing" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "enterprise", "oauth", "openapi", "sales-led", "status-page", "soc2", "on-premise", "vat", "sales-tax" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-25", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 54.7, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 526, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 7, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 51, "maintenance": 62, "payments": 0, "reliability": 65, "schema": 74, "security": 57, "transparency": 68 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Public OpenAPI 3.0 specs cover calculation, transaction management, tax area lookup and tax configuration, and guides are served as Markdown. Access needs a sales contract. No price, free tier, sandbox signup, calculation rate limit, idempotency key or official SDK was found in the reviewed documentation.", "bestFor": "An agent working inside a company that already has an O Series licence, for quotes, invoice tax, tax area lookups and tax configuration across sales tax, use tax and VAT.", "strengths": [ "OpenAPI 3.0 specs download without a login. Calculation and Tax GIS is version 2.9.0 with 14 operations, Tax Configuration v2.1.0 with 29", "Every guide page is served as Markdown when .md is added to its URL", "Each Cloud API credential maps to one API and one partition, and token requests carrying credentials in the URL are rejected", "status.vertexinc.com lists 26 components, and no incident from 10 July to 8 October 2026 names O Series Cloud", "The trust centre lists SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II reports for 2025 and five sub-processors with locations" ], "weaknesses": [ "No public price, free tier or self-serve signup. The security guide sends new users to the Vertex sales team for an account", "No rate limit for the calculation API and no idempotency key were found in the reviewed documentation", "The standard token endpoint allows 10 access token requests per 8 hours for each client", "No official SDK, MCP server or llms.txt on the developer site was found", "The customer agreement, DPA and Service Level Exhibit sit behind an access request in the trust centre" ], "agentNotes": [ "Cache the access token for its 3,599-second life. The standard token endpoint allows 10 requests per 8 hours, and tokenguard.vertexcloud.com returns a cached token", "Send no `Authorization: Bearer` header to /oauth/token, and put the client id and secret in the body or a Basic header. Credentials in the URL are rejected", "Set `saleMessageType` to QUOTATION for an estimate. INVOICE is stored for reporting and remittance", "Call GET /v2/transaction-exists/{transactionid} before retrying a failed INVOICE. No idempotency key is documented", "Delete, reverse or roll back a Cloud transaction within 90 days of calculation. Later requests can cause calculation errors or duplicates" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 54.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 51, "maintenance": 62, "payments": 0, "reliability": 65, "schema": 74, "security": 57, "transparency": 52 }, "provenanceScore": 84 }, "connect": { "http": "curl --location 'https://auth.vertexcloud.com/oauth/token' \\\n --header 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \\\n --data-urlencode 'client_id=\u003cyour-client-id\u003e' \\\n --data-urlencode 'client_secret=\u003cyour-client-secret\u003e' \\\n --data-urlencode 'audience=verx://migration-api' \\\n --data-urlencode 'grant_type=client_credentials'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/tax.calculate", "tool": "https://letme.dev/vertex-tax" }, "area": "domain-data", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Vertex, Inc.", "domain": "vertexinc.com", "domainRegistered": "1998-09-01", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.vertexinc.com/terms-of-use", "privacy": "https://www.vertexinc.com/vertex-privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.vertexinc.com", "changelog": "https://developer.vertexinc.com/oseries/docs/os-release", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The website terms of use and the privacy notice name Vertex, Inc., 2301 Renaissance Blvd., King of Prussia, PA 19406, and the terms choose Pennsylvania law. The privacy notice was last updated on 19 August 2026.", "Cloud API calls go to calcconnect.vertexsmb.com and auth.vertexcloud.com, which the vendor's developer docs name as its hosts. We didn't check the registration of those two domains. On-Demand deployments answer on \u003ccustomer\u003e.ondemand.vertexinc.com.", "www.vertexinc.com/.well-known/security.txt and /security.txt return 404.", "The terms URL is the website terms of use. The customer agreement, DPA, Security Exhibit and Service Level Exhibit are listed in the trust centre behind an access request.", "RDAP for vertexinc.com gives a registration date of 1998-09-01." ], "score": 84 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-tax.json", "live": { "slug": "vertex-tax", "probe": { "target": "https://calcconnect.vertexsmb.com/vertex-ws/v2", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:24.993385287Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 401, "lastMs": 333, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 337, "p95ms24h": 399, "samples24h": 64, "samples30d": 64, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 64, "ok": 64 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.vertexinc.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T21:06:29.370481684Z" }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://vertexinc.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:42.909167355Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://developer.vertexinc.com/oseries/docs/os-release", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:17:20.759088603Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "dbf33e43de24" }, { "url": "https://www.vertexinc.com/vertex-privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:31:23.444238352Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "a77bfa05dfc0" }, { "url": "https://www.vertexinc.com/terms-of-use", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:31:21.326104819Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "8a38170a4aef" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:24.993385287Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "The Federal Tax Authority, LLC (TaxCloud)", "b": "Vertex, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.v3.taxcloud.com", "b": "https://calcconnect.vertexsmb.com/vertex-ws/v2", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "OAuth", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Paid", "b": "Paid", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service under TaxCloud's terms of service. The agent skills repository on GitHub is Apache-2.0", "b": "Proprietary service under a customer agreement with Vertex, Inc. that isn't published", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-24", "b": "2026-09-25", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2025-03-01", "b": "no date given", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2025-02-01", "b": "no date given", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "0 stars", "b": "none", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "TaxCloud scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against Vertex O Series's 54.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Vertex O Series leads on security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, TaxCloud or Vertex O Series?" }, { "answer": "TaxCloud needs an API key. Vertex O Series uses an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do TaxCloud and Vertex O Series need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. TaxCloud has a hosted endpoint at https://api.v3.taxcloud.com and Vertex O Series at https://calcconnect.vertexsmb.com/vertex-ws/v2.", "question": "Can an agent call TaxCloud and Vertex O Series without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 64 against 51", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 34 against 0" ], "also": [ "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "An agent working for a US seller that needs tax on a cart at checkout, a record of orders and refunds for filing, and exemption certificates by customer.", "slug": "taxcloud", "watchFor": "No rate limit numbers are published. The API page says only that the threshold is high and subject to change" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Security \u0026 auth, 57 against 45", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 62 against 57", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 68 against 51" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "An agent working inside a company that already has an O Series licence, for quotes, invoice tax, tax area lookups and tax configuration across sales tax, use tax and VAT.", "slug": "vertex-tax", "watchFor": "No public price, free tier or self-serve signup. The security guide sends new users to the Vertex sales team for an account" } ], "job": { "capability": "tax.calculate", "name": "Tax calculate" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anrok-vs-taxcloud.json", "title": "Anrok vs TaxCloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anrok-vs-taxcloud" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anrok-vs-vertex-tax.json", "title": "Anrok vs Vertex O Series", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anrok-vs-vertex-tax" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/avalara-vs-taxcloud.json", "title": "Avalara AvaTax vs TaxCloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/avalara-vs-taxcloud" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/avalara-vs-vertex-tax.json", "title": "Avalara AvaTax vs Vertex O Series", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/avalara-vs-vertex-tax" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fonoa-vs-taxcloud.json", "title": "Fonoa vs TaxCloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fonoa-vs-taxcloud" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fonoa-vs-vertex-tax.json", "title": "Fonoa vs Vertex O Series", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fonoa-vs-vertex-tax" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kintsugi-vs-taxcloud.json", "title": "Kintsugi vs TaxCloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kintsugi-vs-taxcloud" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kintsugi-vs-vertex-tax.json", "title": "Kintsugi vs Vertex O Series", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kintsugi-vs-vertex-tax" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/numeral-vs-taxcloud.json", "title": "Numeral vs TaxCloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/numeral-vs-taxcloud" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/numeral-vs-vertex-tax.json", "title": "Numeral vs Vertex O Series", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/numeral-vs-vertex-tax" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/quaderno-vs-taxcloud.json", "title": "Quaderno vs TaxCloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/quaderno-vs-taxcloud" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/quaderno-vs-vertex-tax.json", "title": "Quaderno vs Vertex O Series", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/quaderno-vs-vertex-tax" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-taxjar.json", "title": "TaxCloud vs TaxJar", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-taxjar" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-zamp.json", "title": "TaxCloud vs Zamp", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-zamp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxjar-vs-vertex-tax.json", "title": "TaxJar vs Vertex O Series", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxjar-vs-vertex-tax" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vertex-tax-vs-zamp.json", "title": "Vertex O Series vs Zamp", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vertex-tax-vs-zamp" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 1, "edge": "taxcloud", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "taxcloud": 66, "vertex-tax": 65, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 1, "edge": "taxcloud", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "taxcloud": 75, "vertex-tax": 74, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 13, "edge": "taxcloud", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "taxcloud": 64, "vertex-tax": 51, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 12, "edge": "vertex-tax", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "taxcloud": 45, "vertex-tax": 57, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 34, "edge": "taxcloud", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "taxcloud": 34, "vertex-tax": 0, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 5, "edge": "vertex-tax", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "taxcloud": 57, "vertex-tax": 62, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 17, "edge": "vertex-tax", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "taxcloud": 51, "vertex-tax": 68, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "TaxCloud scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against Vertex O Series's 54.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Vertex O Series leads on security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do tax calculate.", "verdicts": { "taxcloud": "A 30-operation REST API with a public OpenAPI 3.1 contract, llms.txt, Markdown docs and a 30-day trial that needs no card. The vendor publishes no rate limit numbers, no SLA, no API changelog and no official v3 client library, and the security page names no audit or certification.", "vertex-tax": "Public OpenAPI 3.0 specs cover calculation, transaction management, tax area lookup and tax configuration, and guides are served as Markdown. Access needs a sales contract. No price, free tier, sandbox signup, calculation rate limit, idempotency key or official SDK was found in the reviewed documentation." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-vertex-tax", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-vertex-tax.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-vertex-tax.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-vertex-tax.min.md" }, "markdown": "TaxCloud scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against Vertex O Series's 54.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Vertex O Series leads on security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do tax calculate.\n\n- TaxCloud: grade C, 57.4/100, rank #475 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/taxcloud.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/taxcloud.json\n- Vertex O Series: grade C, 54.7/100, rank #526 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-tax.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vertex-tax.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### TaxCloud (C)\n\nGood for: An agent working for a US seller that needs tax on a cart at checkout, a record of orders and refunds for filing, and exemption certificates by customer.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 64 against 51\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 34 against 0\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: No rate limit numbers are published. The API page says only that the threshold is high and subject to change\n\n### Vertex O Series (C)\n\nGood for: An agent working inside a company that already has an O Series licence, for quotes, invoice tax, tax area lookups and tax configuration across sales tax, use tax and VAT.\n\nAhead on:\n- Security \u0026 auth, 57 against 45\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 62 against 57\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 68 against 51\n\nWatch for: No public price, free tier or self-serve signup. The security guide sends new users to the Vertex sales team for an account\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | TaxCloud | Vertex O Series | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 66 | 65 | TaxCloud +1 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 74 | TaxCloud +1 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 51 | TaxCloud +13 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 45 | 57 | Vertex O Series +12 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 34 | 0 | TaxCloud +34 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 57 | 62 | Vertex O Series +5 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 51 | 68 | Vertex O Series +17 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **57.4 · C** | **54.7 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | TaxCloud | Vertex O Series |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | The Federal Tax Authority, LLC (TaxCloud) | Vertex, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.v3.taxcloud.com` | `https://calcconnect.vertexsmb.com/vertex-ws/v2` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | OAuth |\n| Pricing | Paid | Paid |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under TaxCloud's terms of service. The agent skills repository on GitHub is Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under a customer agreement with Vertex, Inc. that isn't published |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| Last release | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-25 |\n| Terms last updated | 2025-03-01 | no date given |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-02-01 | no date given |\n| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 0 stars | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**TaxCloud.** A 30-operation REST API with a public OpenAPI 3.1 contract, llms.txt, Markdown docs and a 30-day trial that needs no card. The vendor publishes no rate limit numbers, no SLA, no API changelog and no official v3 client library, and the security page names no audit or certification.\n\n**Vertex O Series.** Public OpenAPI 3.0 specs cover calculation, transaction management, tax area lookup and tax configuration, and guides are served as Markdown. Access needs a sales contract. No price, free tier, sandbox signup, calculation rate limit, idempotency key or official SDK was found in the reviewed documentation.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### TaxCloud\n\n1. Send `X-API-KEY` on every call and put the connection ID in the path, as in `/tax/connections/{connectionId}/carts`. A wrong ID returns 404\n2. Mark nexus states active in the account first. With none active the API returns zero tax and no error\n3. Use a separate test connection. There is no sandbox, and orders on a live connection go into filing\n4. Pass a stable `idempotencyKey` on refunds, and never convert the same cart twice. A second conversion creates a duplicate liability\n5. Void a wrong order before 12:00 AM Eastern on the 10th of the month after its `completedDate`. Later requests return 422\n\n### Vertex O Series\n\n1. Cache the access token for its 3,599-second life. The standard token endpoint allows 10 requests per 8 hours, and tokenguard.vertexcloud.com returns a cached token\n2. Send no `Authorization: Bearer` header to /oauth/token, and put the client id and secret in the body or a Basic header. Credentials in the URL are rejected\n3. Set `saleMessageType` to QUOTATION for an estimate. INVOICE is stored for reporting and remittance\n4. Call GET /v2/transaction-exists/{transactionid} before retrying a failed INVOICE. No idempotency key is documented\n5. Delete, reverse or roll back a Cloud transaction within 90 days of calculation. Later requests can cause calculation errors or duplicates\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, TaxCloud or Vertex O Series?\n\nTaxCloud scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against Vertex O Series's 54.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Vertex O Series leads on security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Do TaxCloud and Vertex O Series need an API key?\n\nTaxCloud needs an API key. Vertex O Series uses an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call TaxCloud and Vertex O Series without installing anything?\n\nYes. TaxCloud has a hosted endpoint at https://api.v3.taxcloud.com and Vertex O Series at https://calcconnect.vertexsmb.com/vertex-ws/v2.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-vertex-tax.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-vertex-tax.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"taxcloud\", \"b\": \"vertex-tax\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare taxcloud vertex-tax`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/taxcloud.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vertex-tax.json\n\n## Other comparisons with TaxCloud or Vertex O Series\n\n- [Anrok vs TaxCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anrok-vs-taxcloud.md)\n- [Anrok vs Vertex O Series](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anrok-vs-vertex-tax.md)\n- [Avalara AvaTax vs TaxCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/avalara-vs-taxcloud.md)\n- [Avalara AvaTax vs Vertex O Series](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/avalara-vs-vertex-tax.md)\n- [Fonoa vs TaxCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fonoa-vs-taxcloud.md)\n- [Fonoa vs Vertex O Series](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fonoa-vs-vertex-tax.md)\n- [Kintsugi vs TaxCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kintsugi-vs-taxcloud.md)\n- [Kintsugi vs Vertex O Series](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kintsugi-vs-vertex-tax.md)\n- [Numeral vs TaxCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/numeral-vs-taxcloud.md)\n- [Numeral vs Vertex O Series](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/numeral-vs-vertex-tax.md)\n- [Quaderno vs TaxCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/quaderno-vs-taxcloud.md)\n- [Quaderno vs Vertex O Series](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/quaderno-vs-vertex-tax.md)\n- [TaxCloud vs TaxJar](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-taxjar.md)\n- [TaxCloud vs Zamp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-zamp.md)\n- [TaxJar vs Vertex O Series](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxjar-vs-vertex-tax.md)\n- [Vertex O Series vs Zamp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vertex-tax-vs-zamp.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-08", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "TaxCloud vs Vertex O Series", "url": "" } ], "description": "TaxCloud scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against Vertex O Series's 54.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Vertex O Series leads on security \u0026 auth, maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do tax calculate. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent…", "facts": [ "TaxCloud C 57.4", "Vertex O Series C 54.7", "scores" ], "h1": "TaxCloud vs Vertex O Series", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-taxcloud-vs-vertex-tax.png", "path": "/compare/taxcloud-vs-vertex-tax", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "TaxCloud vs Vertex O Series for AI agents, C 57.4 vs C 54.7", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/taxcloud-vs-vertex-tax" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2250, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }