We identified the charge carrier compensation mechanism in Te-doped GaAs with atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscopy. Three types of defects were found: tellurium donors (TeAs), Ga vacancies (VGa), and Ga vacancy–donor complexes (VGa–TeAs). We show quantitatively that the compensation in Te-doped bulk GaAs is exclusively caused by vacancy–donor complexes in contrast to Si-doped GaAs. This is explained with the Fermi-level effect as the universal mechanism leading to Ga vacancy formation in n-doped GaAs, and a Coulomb interaction leading to the formation of the complexes. The quantification of the carrier compensation yields a −3e charge state of VGa in bulk GaAs.