AS2 vs VAN Costs in 2026: Where CFOs Actually Save Money

If you’re a CFO or IT leader in manufacturing, you’ve probably asked yourself: are you bleeding more money in EDI VAN costs than you need to, or is moving to AS2 a real path to savings—or just another hidden headache? Choosing the right EDI approach for 2026 is a budget line debate, a risk calculation, a supply chain reliability question, and a tactical move in managing your partner relationships. Let's break it down from your side of the desk: where the spend happens, where the value leaks, and how the cost picture has evolved for real-world manufacturers like you.

Understanding Your EDI Cost Drivers

Most mid-sized manufacturers don’t choose EDI out of love for file standards. You do it because your partners demand it, your customers expect it, and you want order flow without human error. But your cost lines are shaped by how much you move, who you trade with, and which connections you need. That’s where the real differences between AS2 and VAN start to matter.

What Makes Up Your VAN Bill?

• Mailbox fees: These often hit you as recurring, sometimes hidden, charges just for having a connection.
• Per-transaction costs: You see charges on every EDI order, invoice, or document—even if you’re sending automated acknowledgments.
• Partner surcharges: The more customers or suppliers you deal with, the more you pay. Some pricing models even scale up unreasonably fast with additional partners.
• Setup or integration costs: Migration pain, new mapping requirements, or onboarding a single retailer often come with separate fee structures—rarely predictable, always annoying.
• Feature add-ons: Want archive access, compliance dashboards, or reporting? That could be extra.

If you process high enough volumes, those dimes and dollars per transaction multiply fast. You feel them in your margins, especially when rates creep up annually and onboarding new trading partners takes longer than it should.

The Real Math Behind Traditional VAN Costs (With SMB Examples)

You don’t have to imagine what getting off legacy VAN pricing looks like—manufacturers in your shoes have already paved the way. When Spanx moved away from an outdated VAN setup, they saw an 83% drop in EDI costs. Endust cut their bill by 50%. Razor USA and Torani both reported over 50% savings, with the added bonus of better visibility and fewer support headaches. These are not Fortune 500 enterprises with armies of IT specialists—these are SMBs making and moving goods, worried about every point of margin.

• Spanx: 83% monthly EDI cost reduction. Predictable pricing after the switch.
• Endust: 50% cut on monthly expenses plus easier document retrieval.
• Torani: 54% ongoing savings. No lost orders or downtime during migration.

You see a pattern here: the legacy VAN was costing far more than necessary, and the switch wasn't just about price—it was about gaining control and removing operational friction.

AS2 in Plain English: Where You Actually Save (and Where You Don’t)

AS2 is a protocol—a way for two sites to communicate directly over the internet in a secure, encrypted way. For EDI pros, you already know legacy VANs are always in the middle; with AS2, you connect directly to your partners, cutting out most per-transaction costs. But what’s the catch?

• Setup Investment: You need software, certificates, IT hours, and a strategy for handling variations between partner systems. Initial setup can be a serious project, both in time and budget.
• Ongoing Maintenance: With dozens or hundreds of trading partners, managing each certificate, tracking expiring credentials, and auditing communication health becomes a daily IT task—especially if you’re adding or losing partners regularly.
• Not Always Either/Or: Some partners (think big-box retailers) demand AS2 only, while smaller vendors or certain 3PLs stick with VAN. In reality, you may end up running a hybrid model for years.

When Does AS2 Become Cheaper?

If you’re handling very high document volumes and have a robust IT team ready to manage security and integration complexities, your ongoing costs with AS2 do drop—often to near zero per transaction once the system is set up. Where many SMBs miscalculate is in underestimating the operational lift and the unpredictable issues: partner-specific quirks, certificate expiration, and the reality that networks change, compliance evolves, and your team is busy with other projects.

Hybrid Models: The New Reality for Modern Supply Chains

Most manufacturers in 2026 find themselves straddling both worlds. Some partners force you onto AS2, others remain on VAN, and some even require legacy protocols for unique integration scenarios. Managing all of this yourself can become a maze of passwords, security checks, and endless emails to partner onboarding teams.

Modern managed services (including what we do at BOLD VAN) cut through this: you connect to one portal, whether your partners require AS2, traditional VAN, or another protocol. You keep your choices open, simplify migrations, and gain access to predictable, transparent pricing models—no more black-box line items that erode your margin.

How to Actually Calculate What You’re Paying (and Where to Trim)

All the cost analyses in the world don’t matter if you’re not comparing apples to apples. Here's how you can get honest about your current EDI spend:

• Open your existing VAN bill. Don’t just check the total—scrutinize every line: per-transaction, mailbox, partner, migration, support, and “special” connection fees.
• Total those costs for a rolling 12-month period so you catch all seasonal spikes and new partner onboarding surges.
• Factor in internal IT/support hours spent troubleshooting, contacting your VAN, or manually fixing errors due to slow support.
• If you’re considering AS2, get real about your IT bandwidth—not just today, but during holiday surges, supply chain crises, or rapid growth periods.

Many CFOs find they’re paying at least 2-3x more than expected once everything is tallied up. That’s before counting the "soft" costs of delayed orders and manual workarounds.

EDI in 2026: Which Path Makes Sense For You?

You’ll want to lean toward a VAN model if:

• Your transaction volume is low (under 1,000 monthly) and you only work with a handful of partners.
• Your staff is not set up for IT maintenance and you value quick support over total control.
• Your supply chain partners haven’t yet pushed for AS2—or you just want the least complexity possible.

Choose full AS2 (do-it-yourself) if:

• You’re handling enormous volume (think 50,000+ transactions per month).
• Your IT team already manages critical infrastructure and has strong security/compliance skills.
• You demand end-to-end control, and have partners equally committed to direct connection management.

For everyone else (that’s most SMB manufacturers):

• A hybrid managed model—single portal, transparent pricing, one integration point—lets you bridge old and new, avoid vendor lock-in, and adapt as your trading partners evolve.

Beyond monthly savings, teams reclaim staff hours, improve data control, and reduce operational friction. And when big new partners knock, you’re ready—no matter what protocol they demand.

EDI Cost Risk: The One Thing CFOs Can’t Ignore

There’s risk buried in every EDI option. Traditional VANs may be slow to migrate away from, with partner complexity and potential order disruption. DIY AS2 brings security, compliance, and support risks—plus all on you if something breaks. Managed hybrid services shrink both risk and cost by letting you move quickly, gain real-time visibility, and keep your migration, data, and onboarding managed by experts who’ve done it many times.

Next Steps: Get Your Actual Cost in Focus

• Gather your last 12 months of VAN bills. Highlight every line item and create your own total annual spend—including IT labor and downtime costs.
• Ask yourself honestly: are you paying for real value, or for legacy infrastructure, opaque support, and hidden complexity?
• Explore whether a hybrid managed EDI provider can deliver a cost analysis and show you guaranteed savings. For most, the switch pays for itself in months—not years.

For more on implementing modern EDI strategies and making smooth trading partner onboarding work, check out our deep dive on trading partner onboarding in EDI. If you’re ready for best practices around governance and system integration, our insights on achieving seamless EDI-ERP integration are a strong place to start.

Your EDI solution should fit your strategy—not the other way around. If you’re curious how much you could save without compromise or hassle, BOLD VAN makes it easy to upload your bill for a guaranteed price beat. No pushy sales, just a transparent look at the numbers.