Abstract API alternative: Veriport and Abstract API compared on price, evidence and VIES outages
Abstract API is a utility-API catalogue where VAT validation is one product among many; this page is for the developer who needs the same VIES validation at a lower or irregular volume, wants prepaid calls instead of a subscription, or wants the degraded path (dated cached answers when a member state is down) explicit in the response. Abstract API’s entry paid plan is Standard $99/mo; Veriport starts at 100 free calls a month, then $9 for 2,000 prepaid calls. Prices as published on 2026-10-28; check the vendor’s page before deciding.
- Abstract API: Standard $99/mo; $19.80 if the 60,000 requests are per year as one block says, $1.65 if per month as the other says per 1,000; free tier: 100 requests at 1 request a second.
- Abstract API when VIES is down: Not stated; VIES named as the primary source, « supplemented with additional data ». Data residency: Not stated (« global architecture », SOC 2 Type II).
- Veriport: 100 calls a month with a key, 20 a day without, no card, no expiry; $4.50 (2,000 pack) → $3.00 (plan) → $2.90 (10,000 pack); tax included; Yes:
requester→consultationNumberon the paid tiers, live answers only. - Veriport when VIES is down: The answer of the last 30 days, dated and marked
stale; else a 503 that is not counted; a public per-member-state record. Functions and database in Paris, France (EU); publisher in the US.
Price per 1,000 validations
Prices are what each vendor’s public page said on 2026-10-28 (linked in the sources); they exclude VAT where the vendor says so, and Veriport’s include it. Per-1,000 figures assume full use of the included volume. Nothing here is benchmarked: uptime, latency and support are not measured by us.
| Offer | Price | Included | Per 1,000 | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Free | $0 | 100 requests, 1 request/s | — | No card |
| Abstract Standard | $99 / month | 60,000 requests per year (or per month: the page shows both), 3 requests/s | $19.80 (per year) · $1.65 (per month) | Subscription, paid annually |
| Abstract Enterprise | custom | 99.99 % SLA, SSO, onboarding | — | Contract |
| Veriport free tier | $0 | 100 calls a month, 20 a day without a key | — | No card |
| Veriport 2,000 pack | $9 once | 2,000 calls, 12 months | $4.50 | Prepaid, no renewal |
| Veriport 10,000 pack | $29 once | 10,000 calls, 12 months | $2.90 | Prepaid, no renewal |
| Veriport monthly plan | $15 / month | 5,000 calls + bulk | $3.00 | Subscription, cancel any time |
What is different, honestly
Abstract API has more: a catalogue of adjacent APIs under one key (e-mail, phone, IP, exchange rates), SOC 2 Type II, and an Enterprise tier with SSO and an account manager. Veriport has less, on purpose: deterministic endpoints, an OpenAPI document, prepaid calls that do not renew, and a response that states its own provenance (live, cache with stale, structure_only) so your code decides. The VAT rates table, the IBAN check and the French company registry come in the same call budget, which matters to a billing system that needs all of them. What neither can do: make VIES available. When a member state is down, Abstract API’s page says: not stated; VIES named as the primary source, « supplemented with additional data ». Veriport serves the answer it obtained for the same number in the last 30 days, dated and marked stale, never attaches a consultation number it did not obtain live, and publishes the per-member-state record.
Consultation numbers and evidence
Abstract API: not mentioned. Veriport: pass your own VAT number as requester on a prepaid pack or the plan and the live answer carries consultationNumber, the reference tax administrations ask for; every answer carries requestDate, source.kind and source.checkedAt, so a stored row says what was checked, when, and against what.
When to pick which
Pick Abstract API when you want several utility APIs from one vendor with an enterprise contract, or your legal team needs the SOC 2 report more than the provenance of each answer. Pick Veriport when you want to pay for what you use (a few hundred validations a quarter is the common case for a small SaaS), need rates, IBAN and French company data in the same call budget, or want the degraded path explicit and documented. The roundup puts Vatstack, vatlayer (apilayer), VATSense, vatcheckapi, VIES API (viesapi.eu), Stripe Tax in the same table.
Questions
- Is migrating from Abstract API hard?
- The response shapes differ; the fields you use (valid, name, address, the consultation number where the vendor returns one) exist in both. Budget an hour for a small integration. Keep your history: consultation numbers are evidence regardless of who obtained them.
- Where do these prices come from?
- Abstract API’s public page on 2026-10-28, linked in the sources below, and our own price table. We do not resell or benchmark their uptime; the VIES availability we publish is the Commission’s own status, measured by us.
- Which is cheaper?
- Below 100 checks a month, both are free. Between a few hundred and 2,000 a month, a prepaid pack is cheaper than any subscription that renews whether you use it or not. Above 10,000 a month every month, compare Abstract API’s larger tiers with the monthly plan; the roundup has the figures.
Free tier now; packs and plan when checkout opens.
See the pricingSources
- Abstract API — VAT Validation & Rates API: Free 100 requests (1 request/s), Standard $99/month (3 requests/s; the quota is shown as 60,000 per year in one block and 60,000 per month in another), Enterprise custom (99.99 % SLA); VIES as primary source; no consultation number, hosting region not stated — Abstract API, consulted 2026-10-28. The page contradicts itself on the Standard quota (per year vs per month); both readings are given where the figure is used.
- VIES REST API — check-vat-number, check-status (technical information) — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24
- VIES — help page: what the consultation number proves, member-state availability — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24