# vatlayer (apilayer) alternative: Veriport and vatlayer (apilayer) compared on price, evidence and VIES outages

Source: https://veriport.io/alternatives/vatlayer (published 2026-10-28)

vatlayer (apilayer) is the long-standing marketplace API, priced by monthly request tiers; 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. vatlayer (apilayer)’s entry paid plan is Basic $9.99/mo, 1,000 requests; 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.

- vatlayer (apilayer): Basic $9.99/mo, 1,000 requests; $9.99 (Basic) → $7.50 (Professional $29.99, 4,000) → $5.00 (Enterprise $99.99, 20,000) per 1,000; free tier: 100 requests a month, non-commercial use only.
- vatlayer (apilayer) when VIES is down: Not stated; the response carries `valid`, `format_valid`, `company_name`, `company_address`. Data residency: Not stated.
- 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` → `consultationNumber` on 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| vatlayer Free | $0 | 100 requests, non-commercial | — | No card |
| vatlayer Basic | $9.99 / month | 1,000 requests | $9.99 | Subscription |
| vatlayer Professional | $29.99 / month | 4,000 requests | $7.50 | Subscription |
| vatlayer Enterprise | $99.99 / month | 20,000 requests | $5.00 | Subscription |
| **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

**vatlayer (apilayer) has more:** a VAT rates endpoint and a price calculation endpoint on the same key, the apilayer marketplace account that holds a dozen other APIs, and years of integrations and code samples in every language. **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, vatlayer (apilayer)’s page says: not stated; the response carries `valid`, `format_valid`, `company_name`, `company_address`. 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](/vies-status).

## Consultation numbers and evidence

vatlayer (apilayer): not mentioned on the product page. 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 **vatlayer (apilayer)** when you already hold an apilayer account for other APIs and want one invoice, or you need their price-calculation endpoint next to the validation. 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](/alternatives/eu-vat-validation-apis-compared) puts Vatstack, Abstract API, VATSense, vatcheckapi, VIES API (viesapi.eu), Stripe Tax in the same table.

## Questions

### Is migrating from vatlayer (apilayer) 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?

vatlayer (apilayer)’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 vatlayer (apilayer)’s larger tiers with the monthly plan; the roundup has the figures.

## Read next

- [EU VAT validation APIs compared (2026)](https://veriport.io/alternatives/eu-vat-validation-apis-compared)
- [EU VAT number validation API (VIES)](https://veriport.io/vat-validation-api)
- [Reference: GET /vat/validate](https://veriport.io/docs/vat-validation)
- [Is VIES down? Availability by member state](https://veriport.io/vies-status)
- [Vatstack alternative](https://veriport.io/alternatives/vatstack)
- [Abstract API alternative](https://veriport.io/alternatives/abstract)
- [VATSense alternative](https://veriport.io/alternatives/vatsense)

## Sources

- vatlayer (apilayer) — product and pricing: Free $0 (100 requests/month, non-commercial), Basic $9.99 (1,000), Professional $29.99 (4,000), Enterprise $99.99 (20,000); response: valid, format_valid, company_name, company_address; « EU Commission » databases as source; no consultation number, hosting and VIES fallback not stated — https://vatlayer.com/product (2026-10-28)
- VIES REST API — check-vat-number, check-status (technical information) — https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/technical-information (2026-10-24)
- VIES — help page: what the consultation number proves, member-state availability — https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/help (2026-10-24)