vatnode vs Vatstack – More VAT Data in Every Validation Call

One vatnode call returns everything an invoice template needs: the VIES result, company data enriched from national registries, the local VAT name, abbreviation, currency and all four rate tiers, plus a VIES consultation number on every qualified check once you set your own VAT as requester. Register a number for monitoring and vatnode tells you by webhook when it becomes invalid or the company's name or address changes. Vatstack's public documentation describes none of the enrichment fields, the country VAT block or those change events.

Last updated: September 2026

Competitor facts on this page verified 11 September 2026 against vatstack's public documentation and pricing page (sources cited inline below); vatstack may have changed its product since.

One Call, One Self-Contained Record

vatnode treats every validation as a stateless REST call that returns a self-contained record – VIES consultation number, source authority, verifiedAt timestamp and the country VAT block – and treats monitoring as an opt-in layer on top. If you only need the validation primitive, you stop at the primitive; if you need change alerts, you add them without a second vendor.

What One Validation Call Returns

{
  "valid": true,
  "vatId": "FI23365096",
  "countryCode": "FI",
  "countryName": "Finland",
  "companyName": "SUPERCELL OY",
  "companyAddress": "JÄTKÄSAARENLAITURI 2, 00180 HELSINKI",
  "companyRegistrationDate": "2010-05-06",
  "companyForm": "Oy",
  "industryDescription": "Publishing of computer games",
  "registryCode": "2336509-6",
  "registryCodeName": "Y-tunnus",
  "taxId": "2336509-6",
  "taxIdName": "Y-tunnus",
  "source": "VIES",
  "checkId": "019d2a8c-5f3a-7d12-a901-bc23de456f78",
  "verifiedAt": "2026-04-16T10:00:00.000Z",
  "consultationNumber": "WAPIAAAAZ27qPadm",
  "countryVat": {
    "vatName": "Arvonlisävero",     // print on Finnish invoices
    "vatAbbr": "ALV",
    "currency": "EUR",
    "standardRate": 25.5,
    "reducedRates": [10, 14],
    "superReducedRate": null,      // included for all 27 countries
    "parkingRate": null,           // included for all 27 countries
    "vatNumberFormat": "FI + 8 digits",
    "vatNumberPattern": "^FI\d{8}$",
    "countryVatUpdatedAt": "2026-04-16"
  }
}

Vatstack's public documentation does not describe vatName, vatAbbr, currency, companyRegistrationDate, and industryDescription, registryCode, or registryCodeName in its validation response. With vatnode they arrive in the same call, so there is no separate lookup table or second API call to maintain.

Feature Comparison

Feature rows sourced from vatnode's own API and vatstack's public documentation and pricing page, retrieved 11 September 2026. A cross or "Not documented" means we could not find the capability documented publicly, not that the product lacks it.

On the consultation number, vatnode's difference is delivery: set your EU VAT once in Account details and every response carries the number with no code change, and with a requester configured vatnode returns either a success with a consultation number or a typed error – never a silent success that drops the audit reference.

National Registry Integrations

When VIES is unavailable, vatnode automatically answers from the national VAT register for the member states that expose one, and the source field in every vatnode response tells you which register answered. When VIES does answer, national company registers add the data VIES leaves out, such as registration date and legal form.

Vatstack documents no national-registry fallback or enrichment of its own.

Granular Webhook Events

Register a VAT number and vatnode re-checks it on a schedule, sending a webhook when something changes – so your customer records and invoice settings stay current without a re-check job of your own.

Current Rates in Every Response

EU VAT rates move – Finland raised its standard rate from 24% to 25.5% in September 2024. Vatstack's public docs don't describe how often its VAT-rate data refreshes (checked 11 September 2026). vatnode pulls from the European Commission TEDB on a daily cron, so the rate on every validation call reflects the current published rate – no dashboard or separate job for you to run.

Audit Reference per Call, Not per Subscription

Every vatnode response includes a checkId (UUID) and a verifiedAt timestamp. Store both next to the invoice record, and every invoice links back to the exact validation event behind it – a reference for your own records, not evidence by itself.

Your requester VAT is set once in Account details and applies to every check by default, so every qualified call returns a consultation number or a typed error – nothing depends on remembering a requester per request.

Of everything in the response, only the consultation number comes from VIES itself. The checkId and verifiedAt fields are useful for your own record-keeping – looking up a specific call, timestamping when it ran – but they don't carry evidentiary weight on their own. Retention requirements vary by country, so confirm yours with a tax advisor.