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Comparison · Finance

GOAT.tax vs Increase

A side-by-side editorial comparison of GOAT.tax and Increase — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

GOAT.tax vs Increase: at a glance

FeatureGOAT.taxIncrease
SectorFinanceFinance
Velocity score5.03.8
Sparks · 30d00
Top themestax-compliance, rd-credits, state-coverage, auditabilitybanking-as-a-service, payments, compliance, api
Last editorial update6d ago1mo ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is GOAT.tax?

State credit math keeps deepening while the study tables get easier to work in.

GOAT.tax runs R&D tax credit studies end to end, from wage and expense collection through business component allocation to a filed deliverable. This release tightens three state rules at once — Colorado now requires three years in the same Enterprise Zone, Indiana Research Activities fields get defaults so deliverables are never generated incomplete, and Minnesota picks up startup treatment that derives the applicable historical years and Fixed Base Percentage method dynamically. On the workspace side, R&D allocation percentages become directly editable in BC Allocation for single- and multi-state records, and the All Studies page and BC Allocation table are rebuilt on the newer design.

Read the full GOAT.tax trajectory →

What is Increase?

A banking-as-a-service API that now sells compliance and blockchain rails, not just payments

Increase ships a quarterly newsletter rather than a running changelog, so each entry bundles a quarter of API work. The last three quarters have moved past core payment rails into the surrounding infrastructure: managed compliance, entity onboarding sessions, 3D Secure, push provisioning and IP-restricted API keys. SDK coverage has widened to C#, PHP and Ruby, and the documentation was reworked to be readable by LLMs.

Read the full Increase trajectory →

GOAT.tax vs Increase: editorial side-by-side

G
GOAT.tax
FINANCE
5.0

State credit math keeps deepening while the study tables get easier to work in.

◆ Current state

GOAT.tax runs R&D tax credit studies end to end, from wage and expense collection through business component allocation to a filed deliverable. This release tightens three state rules at once — Colorado now requires three years in the same Enterprise Zone, Indiana Research Activities fields get defaults so deliverables are never generated incomplete, and Minnesota picks up startup treatment that derives the applicable historical years and Fixed Base Percentage method dynamically. On the workspace side, R&D allocation percentages become directly editable in BC Allocation for single- and multi-state records, and the All Studies page and BC Allocation table are rebuilt on the newer design.

◆ Where it's heading

The state coverage thread has shifted from adding jurisdictions to encoding their harder eligibility and computation rules — Enterprise Zone tenure, startup Fixed Base Percentage methodology, and visible reasons when a state credit is ruled ineligible. That last one, plus the new Fixed Base Percentage details view and override, points at the same goal from a different angle: making the calculation auditable by the person running the study rather than trusting it. Fee handling entered the product this window too, with an optional not-to-exceed percentage and cap threaded through the fee structure, credit and deliverable pages.

◆ Prediction

Fee logic just appeared across three pages at once, so the next step is likely the rest of the billing path — applying the not-to-exceed cap to invoicing or partner-facing fee reporting. The notes give no schedule.

I
Increase
FINANCE
3.8

A banking-as-a-service API that now sells compliance and blockchain rails, not just payments

◆ Current state

Increase ships a quarterly newsletter rather than a running changelog, so each entry bundles a quarter of API work. The last three quarters have moved past core payment rails into the surrounding infrastructure: managed compliance, entity onboarding sessions, 3D Secure, push provisioning and IP-restricted API keys. SDK coverage has widened to C#, PHP and Ruby, and the documentation was reworked to be readable by LLMs.

◆ Where it's heading

The arc runs from moving money to operating a bank program end to end. Early quarters added rails (FedNow, Push-to-Card, check transfers); recent ones add the compliance, onboarding and dispute machinery a customer would otherwise build or buy separately. Q2 2026 adds blockchain transfers alongside managed compliance, and flags cross-border payments and lending APIs as next.

◆ Prediction

Expect the cross-border payments and lending APIs named in the Q2 2026 letter to ship as the next quarter's headline, extending the same pattern of absorbing adjacent financial products into the core API.

Alternatives to GOAT.tax and Increase

Other Finance products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either GOAT.tax or Increase.

See all GOAT.tax alternatives → · See all Increase alternatives →

Recent activity from GOAT.tax and Increase

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 7d agoGOAT.taxMinnesota startup credit math and editable R&D allocation percentages
  2. 18d agoGOAT.taxMulti-company groundwork and California prior-credit questions
  3. 27d agoGOAT.taxSaved table views, supporting docs, and state credit fixes
  4. 1mo agoGOAT.taxPennsylvania state credit support added to deliverables
  5. 1mo agoIncreaseManaged compliance and blockchain transfers land in Q2
  6. 1mo agoGOAT.taxPrior-year R&D comparison columns land in BC Allocation
  7. 2mo agoGOAT.taxSME invitation flow and Business Component PDF export
  8. 4mo agoIncreaseEntity onboarding, 3D Secure and IP-restricted keys
  9. 8mo agoIncreaseFedNow, Push-to-Card and a Cards Disputes API
  10. 1y agoIncreaseEvent log filtering and check transfer work
  11. 1y agoIncreaseFile links, check deposit images, Apple Pay history
  12. 1y agoIncreaseOAuth applications, lockboxes and exports

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between GOAT.tax and Increase?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. GOAT.tax is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 3.8), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is GOAT.tax better than Increase?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. GOAT.tax is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 3.8), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Finance products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to GOAT.tax?

Top GOAT.tax alternatives in Finance are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "GOAT.tax alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/goat-tax for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Increase?

Top Increase alternatives in Finance are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Increase alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/increase for the full list with editorial commentary on each.