GoodVat vs Quaderno for Cross-Border Sellers 2026
GoodVat and Quaderno are the closest pairing in this series that includes GoodVat. Both work with any payment processor, pull sales in from many channels, send compliant invoices, charge a flat monthly fee and offer to file returns for you. Both are aimed at online businesses, not enterprise finance teams.
The differences are in the details. They show up in how returns get filed, how precisely US jurisdictions are resolved, whether e-invoicing is live, and whether you can sign up on your own.
1. Local VAT / Sales Tax Filing
Section titled “1. Local VAT / Sales Tax Filing”GoodVat: Files local returns, including UK VAT through MTD. GoodVat prepares the return from the transaction data it already holds and submits it every period.
Quaderno: Doesn’t submit UK VAT returns through MTD. It produces a clean UK VAT report from all your channels, and the Xero integration moves that data into the software that does the filing. Quaderno’s managed filing covers OSS and US sales tax, but domestic UK VAT still goes through your accounting software or accountant.
Verdict: GoodVat wins for sellers who want their domestic return filed as well as their cross-border ones. Quaderno’s Xero route works well if you already file through Xero.
2. EU IOSS
Section titled “2. EU IOSS”GoodVat: Applies destination-country VAT on EU orders of €150 or less across every connected channel, then prepares and files the monthly IOSS return. GoodVat is not a registered IOSS intermediary. EU-established sellers don’t need one. Non-EU sellers, including UK sellers, must appoint one, and GoodVat prepares the return for that intermediary to submit.
Quaderno: Calculates IOSS across all connected channels and produces a consolidated IOSS report to hand to your intermediary. It doesn’t act as an intermediary either.
Verdict: Close. Both consolidate IOSS across channels. GoodVat goes a step further by preparing and filing the return itself. Non-EU sellers need a separate intermediary with either tool.
3. EU OSS
Section titled “3. EU OSS”GoodVat: Union and Non-Union OSS. Threshold tracking, registration, destination-rate calculation and quarterly filing.
Quaderno: Full Union and Non-Union OSS support, with a report laid out to match the OSS portals, threshold alerts and a managed filing option.
Verdict: Tie. Both register, calculate and file OSS for you.
4. US Sales Tax
Section titled “4. US Sales Tax”GoodVat: Economic nexus tracked in every state, calculation at rooftop level and state filing. GoodVat resolves jurisdictions with its own address and geocoding data, not ZIP-code approximations. That matters in states like Colorado, Louisiana and Alabama, where one ZIP code can span several local rates. GoodVat also leaves out sales where Amazon or Etsy has already collected tax as the marketplace facilitator.
Quaderno: Calculation based on your nexus states, threshold monitoring and managed US filing. Quaderno’s roots are in EU VAT, and US sales tax is a solid secondary capability.
Verdict: GoodVat has the edge on US accuracy thanks to rooftop resolution and marketplace awareness. Both will file US returns for you.
5. VAT Calculation at Checkout
Section titled “5. VAT Calculation at Checkout”GoodVat: Real-time calculation through the API or native integrations, by product, location and B2B or B2C status. It includes VAT number checks and reverse charge.
Quaderno: Real-time calculation across connected stores and processors, independent of how you’re paid. Users report that the WooCommerce plugin needs Classic Checkout (Checkout Blocks aren’t supported) and has limited support for variable subscriptions.
Verdict: Functionally equivalent for most sellers. GoodVat’s API-first design suits custom stores and platforms. Quaderno’s hosted Checkout suits creators who don’t have a store at all.
6. Platform Integrations
Section titled “6. Platform Integrations”GoodVat:
- E-commerce and marketplaces: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Amazon FBA, Etsy
- Payments: Stripe, Square, Adyen, PayPal, Braintree, Amazon Pay, GoCardless, Mollie, Checkout.com, Razorpay
- Accounting: Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage, Zoho Books
- API: REST API for custom stores and platforms
Quaderno:
- E-commerce: Shopify, WooCommerce (Classic Checkout), Amazon FBA
- Payments: Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, GoCardless, Square
- Creator platforms: Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific
- Accounting: Xero
- Other: Zapier, API
Verdict: GoodVat covers more payment processors (Adyen, Mollie, Checkout.com, Razorpay) and more accounting systems. Quaderno wins for course creators on Kajabi, Teachable or Thinkific.
7. Pricing Model
Section titled “7. Pricing Model”GoodVat: Flat monthly plans starting at $20/month, with no percentage of each transaction. Registration and filing are quoted per jurisdiction.
Quaderno: Flat monthly tiers based on the number of documents created (invoices, receipts, credit notes):
| Plan | Monthly fee | Transactions included |
|---|---|---|
| Startup | $49/month | 250 |
| Business | $99/month | 1,000 |
| Growth | $149/month | 2,500 |
| Enterprise | Custom | 2,500+ |
Go over your limit two months in a row and Quaderno automatically moves you up a tier.
Verdict: GoodVat’s entry price is lower. Both are predictable. On either tool, check how filing is priced for the jurisdictions you’re registered in, because that’s where the totals differ most.
8. Setup Complexity
Section titled “8. Setup Complexity”GoodVat: Sales-led. You book a call and GoodVat configures the account with you. There’s no self-serve signup, so you can’t get started at 11pm on a Sunday.
Quaderno: Self-serve signup with an optional personal onboarding call. You connect each channel, set up jurisdictions and choose product types yourself. One common mistake is connecting both a store and its payment processor, which creates duplicate invoices.
Verdict: Quaderno is quicker to start on your own. GoodVat does more of the configuration for you but needs a call first.
9. Reporting and Records
Section titled “9. Reporting and Records”GoodVat: A per-calculation audit log showing the rule, rate and jurisdiction applied to each sale, plus the filed returns themselves, all in one place.
Quaderno: Strong, filing-shaped reports: UK VAT, OSS by country and rate, IOSS, US by state, and zero-amount reports for periods with no sales.
Verdict: Close. Quaderno’s reports are mature and well-structured. GoodVat’s transaction-level audit trail goes deeper when an auditor asks why a specific rate was charged.
10. Ecosystem / Wider Product
Section titled “10. Ecosystem / Wider Product”GoodVat: Registration, calculation, invoicing and filing in 190 countries and 14,000+ jurisdictions, plus address standardisation and geocoding APIs. E-invoicing is on the roadmap but not live.
Quaderno: Invoicing, Quaderno Checkout for selling digital products directly, managed filing, registration services and live e-invoicing: Peppol (Belgium), Verifactu and SII (Spain), NF525 (France).
Verdict: Quaderno wins today on e-invoicing. If you sell in Belgium, Spain or France, or will soon, that’s a real reason to pick Quaderno while GoodVat’s e-invoicing is still in development.
11. Support
Section titled “11. Support”GoodVat: Onboarding call, then human tax experts over email, chat and Slack. GoodVat is a new product, so there aren’t many public reviews yet.
Quaderno: Onboarding call and human support over email and chat, with consistently good reviews over many years.
Verdict: Similar models. Quaderno has the longer track record. GoodVat adds Slack and configures the account for you.
Beyond Sellers: White-Label Tax for Platforms
Section titled “Beyond Sellers: White-Label Tax for Platforms”GoodVat also sells its compliance engine as a white-label API to platforms that want to offer tax to their own users:
- Online marketplaces: calculate tax on every product sold, meet marketplace facilitator and deemed-supplier obligations, and give each seller threshold tracking, invoices and reports.
- Payment processors: PSPs such as Adyen, along with acquirers and PayFacs, can add tax calculation, invoicing and filing to their checkout and merchant dashboard under their own brand.
- Merchant of Record platforms: MoRs expanding into new countries get calculation, registration and filing infrastructure without building a local tax team for each market.
Quaderno is built for individual businesses managing their own tax. It isn’t positioned as white-label infrastructure for platforms to resell.
12. Best For: The Honest Verdict
Section titled “12. Best For: The Honest Verdict”Choose GoodVat if:
- You want every return filed for you, including domestic UK VAT through MTD
- You sell into the US and care about rooftop-level accuracy
- You take payments through Adyen, Mollie, Checkout.com or Razorpay
- You want a lower entry price than Quaderno’s $49 Startup plan
- You’re a marketplace, PSP or MoR that needs white-label tax
Choose Quaderno if:
- You need mandatory e-invoicing (Peppol, Verifactu, SII, NF525) today
- You sell courses or digital products through Kajabi, Teachable or Thinkific
- You’d rather sign up and set things up yourself tonight than book a call
- You want a tool with years of public customer reviews behind it
Neither if:
- You’re outside the EU and need an IOSS intermediary. Use EAS Project, SimplyVAT or Taxually
- You’re an enterprise running SAP or Oracle. Look at Vertex or Avalara
Quick Reference
Section titled “Quick Reference”| Criteria | GoodVat | Quaderno |
|---|---|---|
| Local filing | ✓ Files local returns, including UK MTD | ✗ Reports + Xero sync; no direct MTD filing |
| EU IOSS calculation | ✓ Multi-channel | ✓ Multi-channel |
| EU IOSS filing | ✓ Prepares and files the return; not an intermediary | ✗ Report only; needs intermediary |
| EU OSS | ✓ Registration, calculation + filing | ✓ Calculation + managed filing |
| US sales tax | ✓ Rooftop accuracy, marketplace-aware, filing | ✓ Good, managed filing available |
| Checkout calculation | ✓ Any channel, API-first | ✓ Any channel |
| Automatic invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| E-invoicing (ViDA) | Roadmap | ✓ Peppol, Verifactu, SII, NF525 |
| Payment processors | Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, Mollie, Checkout.com, Razorpay + more | Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, GoCardless, Square |
| Creator platforms | Via API | ✓ Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific |
| White-label for platforms | ✓ Marketplaces, PSPs, MoRs | ✗ |
| Pricing | Flat, from $20/month; filing quoted per jurisdiction | $49–$149/month by transaction volume |
| Setup complexity | Sales-led, configured for you | Self-serve, optional onboarding call |
| Reporting | Per-calculation audit log + filed returns | Filing-ready reports, zero-period reports |
| Support | Onboarding + tax experts on email/chat/Slack | Onboarding + human support, strong reviews |
| Best for | Done-for-you filing, US accuracy, platforms | E-invoicing, creators, self-serve SMBs |
Related Guides
Section titled “Related Guides”- Stripe Tax vs Quaderno — payment-integrated vs SMB tax automation
- GoodVat vs Stripe Tax — full compliance service vs payment-native tax
- GoodVat vs Taxually — global compliance vs EU VAT filing specialist
- IOSS Intermediary Comparison — EAS, SimplyVAT, AVASK and others compared
- UK Domestic VAT Guide — the rules for domestic VAT and MTD filing
- EU VAT Number Checker — free tool to validate EU B2B customer VAT numbers