Shippo vs ShipStation – Which is better Shipping Software in 2023?

Shipping is the last thing on your mind when it comes to running an online business, only because there are so many obstacles that have to be overcome before you can actually get your products out of the door.

But if you don’t take care of this part of your operation, you could find yourself losing customers or even going out of business entirely. Shipping management is an important facet of running a successful business, but it’s not always easy to get all pieces in place.

This is especially true if you’re just starting out and your online shop has a limited customer base. This Shippo vs ShipStation comparison will look at two of the most popular options for ecommerce small business owners who need a simple shipping solution.

Shippo vs ShipStation: Shippo Overview

Shippo is a shipping management platform that helps businesses to ship products faster and more efficiently. It integrates with a variety of marketplaces, shopping carts, carriers, and fulfillment services.

Using Shippo, businesses can create shipping labels, print packing slips and invoices, track shipments, and receive shipment notifications. Shippo features include:

• Multiple carrier shipping – Shippo lets you print labels for a variety of carriers in one place, so you can ship faster.
• Automated order tracking – Shippo automatically updates your customers on the status of their order, from the time it’s placed to when it’s delivered
• Order management – Shippo lets you manage and track your orders in one place, so you can keep track of what needs to be shipped and when
• Customer notifications – Shipment notifications can be sent via email, text message, or a custom URL, so customers are always up-to-date on their order’s status
• Automated shipping – Shippo can automatically create shipping labels and packing slips, so you spend less time on paperwork

Shippo vs ShipStation: ShipStation Overview

ShipStation is a web-based shipping software that helps eCommerce businesses automate their shipping process. It integrates with a variety of marketplaces and shopping carts, as well as with carriers like USPS, FedEx, and UPS.

Using ShipStation, businesses can create shipping labels, print packing slips and invoices, track packages, and receive shipping notifications.

Some features of ShipStation are as follows:

• Wide range of supported carriers – ShipStation integrates with over 50 carriers, so you can easily ship with the one that’s most convenient for you.
• Multi-carrier shipping – ShipStation lets you print labels for a variety of carriers in one place, making shipping faster and easier.
• Automated shipping – ShipStation can automatically create shipping labels and packing slips, so you spend less time on paperwork
• Automated order tracking – ShipStation automatically updates your customers on the status of their order, from the time it’s placed to when it’s delivered
• Order management – ShipStation lets you manage and track your orders in one place, so you can easily keep track of what needs to be shipped and when
• Customer notifications – Shipment notifications can be sent via email, text message, or a custom URL, so customers are always up-to-date on their order’s status

Shippo vs ShipStation: Ease of Use

Shippo Ease of Use

Shippo connects to your e-commerce site and allows you to oversee the order fulfillment procedure from start to finish. Also, it helps you keep in touch with your customers by providing status updates whenever necessary.

Connecting Shippo to your ecommerce platform is pretty straightforward. It takes less than five minutes to connect Shippo to your favorite ecommerce platform.

For Shopify store owners, integrating a Shopify app store is very simple, and you just need to enter your site’s URL, and the system will automatically connect to your store. For other e-commerce platforms, Shippo provides a quick and easy setup guides that will help you integrate with just a few clicks.

Shipping with Shippo is quite easy as well, the courier rates calculated on the website are accurate and reliable and there’s no need to set up separate accounts or do anything complex.

What makes Shippo stand out from its competitors is that it offers an extremely flexible interface for creating shipping labels. You can either do it manually or make use of the automation feature which will take care of a lot of the hard work for you.

You can also easily check your order status and shipping details. You can even share these updates with your customers via email or text message, which will impress them and motivate them to shop again on your site.

ShipStation Ease of Use

ShipStation’s user interface is designed with simplicity in mind so you can easily create shipping labels, print packing slips and invoices, track shipments, and receive shipment notifications.

Connecting ShipStation to your online store is easy. You just need to provide your store’s URL and ShipStation will automatically connect to it.

Shipping with ShipStation is also easy. You can choose from a variety of shipping services and carriers, and you don’t need to have separate accounts or set up anything complex.

ShipStation lets you print packing slips for each order, so you can give your customers better customer service. These packing slips include all the important information about their orders, such as what was ordered, the shipping address, and the contact information for the customer.

ShipStation also sends shipment notifications to your customers whenever an order ships, so they’re always up-to-date on the status of their order.

Lastly, ShipStation offers automation features that allow you to create shipping labels and packing slips with just a few clicks. This will save you time and energy, so you can focus on your business.

Shippo vs ShipStation: Label creation

Shippo Label creation

Shippo Label creation Shippo’s user interface is designed with simplicity in mind, so you can easily create shipping labels, print packing slips and invoices, track shipments, and receive shipment notifications.

Shippo lets you print packing slips for each order, so you can give your customers better customer service. These packing slips include all the important information about their orders, such as what was ordered, the shipping address, and the contact information for the customer.

ShipStation Label creation

ShipStation’s label creation process is designed to be simple and efficient. You can create shipping labels for all your orders with just a few clicks, and you can also print packing slips for each order.

ShipStation also offers automation features that allow you to create shipping labels and packing slips with just a few clicks. This will save you time and energy, so you can focus on your business.

Shippo vs ShipStation: Order management

Shippo Order management

Shippo offers order management features that allow you to manage and track your orders in one place, so you can keep track of what needs to be shipped and when.

After you’ve linked your Shopify store to Shippo, it will connect with it and immediately download any new orders. However, if you have any prior orders that need to be delivered, you may do so by uploading the transactions using a CSV file in your Shippo admin area.

Shippo offers shipping rates that are usually lower than others when they’re available, based on the countries you’re sending to and from. You may link your carrier’s account to see pricing and generate shipping labels.

Shippo lets you create shipping labels for all your orders with just a few clicks, and it also allows you to print packing slips for each order. Shippo also lets users keep track of the shipping cost and compare it to other carriers in order to find the best deal.

Shippo also offers a variety of shipping services and carriers that users can choose from, so they can find the best shipping option for their needs. You may even make branded tracking pages that your customers may use to view and track order data as well as receive tailored notification emails from you.

ShipStation Order management

 ShipStation is capable of importing order details from a variety of channels and marketplaces such as eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Shopify, and Magento. ShipStation can print shipping labels for a number of carriers including the United States Postal Service (USPS), FedEx, DHL Express, and UPS.

ShipStation’s automation features allow you to create rules and presets for shipping orders. For example, you can create a rule that automatically prints a shipping label for any order that is over $50.

In a nutshell, it allows you to automate various aspects of the order fulfillment procedure by simply defining the criteria for qualifying orders. You have control over how the system uses data to filter incoming orders before executing pre-determined activities.

ShipStation has a bulk printing option, along with label batch printing and layout customization. You may put your logo and company name on the package labels as well.

For large volumes of purchases, the ShipStation pick list tool is a fantastic way to organize them. It may filter your orders to help you identify those that fulfill certain requirements. 

Shippo vs ShipStation: Carrier Management

Shippo Carrier Management

Shippo supports a wide range of carriers, which gives you the freedom to choose the shipping service that best suits your needs. With Shippo, you have access to a variety of carriers including USPS, FedEx, and UPS.

Shippo lets you compare shipping rates between different carriers, so you can find the best deal that will save you money. Shippo also sends your customers tracking numbers for all their orders, so they can rest assured knowing exactly where their orders are in transit.

Shippo offers an easy-to-use dashboard interface where your shipping workflow is more transparent and straightforward. Shippo’s dashboard allows you to view all of your order information in one place, so you can have a better idea of where orders are at any given time.

To save you time while fulfilling, Shippo now automatically pre-populates your shipping forms with data that customs and delivery services may require. Shippo also keeps track of shipments and predicts when they’ll arrive using its proprietary algorithm.

ShipStation Carrier Management

ShipStation provides a centralized platform for managing your shipping carriers and their associated shipping rates. It has a list of integrations with all the major services, from where you may select as many as you like. The objective is to maximize shipping efficiency by lowering shipping costs while maintaining quality standards.

DHL, FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), Canada Post, Royal Mail, UPS, FedEx, and USPS have all teamed up with ShipStation. You’ll have access to a wide range of domestic as well as international shipping options.

To keep fulfillment expenses low, ShipStation includes a tool that lets you compare the carriers’ real-time rates. As a result, you should be able to choose the most suitable options for each order.

However, if you proceed with USPS, you may benefit from special discounted rates as a result of their collaboration. Other options for saving money include DHL Express, FedEx Advantage Program, Hermes, and GlobalPost.

Shippo vs ShipStation: Inventory Management

Shippo Inventory Management

Shippo works with a variety of inventory management systems such as Ecomdash, ShopMaster, SKULabs, and Fishbowl to give you a seamless experience that allows you to manage your sales orders, stock levels, and process shipping.

You may complete all of these activities from the Shippo admin dashboard. Shippo also provides a partial fulfillment service, which allows you to split an order into several shipments.

This function is particularly useful if consumers have made a purchase from your store and the item is most likely out of stock. You can fulfill the order in that scenario by splitting it up into multiple shipments.

ShipStation Inventory Management

Keep track of your inventory more successfully right in the app or on a mobile device using ShipStation’s inventory management system. Inventory management on ShipStation includes dynamic inventory reports.

You can get real-time information on how much inventory you have on hand at a specific moment and when to order more or less merchandise with inventory reporting.

When stock levels fall below a specific level, an alert will go off to notify you that it’s time to place another order. You may also use the stock allocation feature to set aside inventory for orders queued for delivery so that inventory is optimized.

Shippo vs ShipStation: Integrations

Shippo Integrations

For Shippo, integrations are a breeze. Shippo has a list of over 55 shipping carriers in its directory that bring with them a host of convenient integrations with other services you use on your eCommerce store.

The Shippo carrier directory makes it easy to find the right shipper for each shipment. Shippo’s Shipment Accelerator service makes it easy to ship with popular carriers such as USPS, FedEx, UPS, Canada Post, ParcelForce and OnTrac.

In addition, Shippo allows you to connect with any carrier that Shippo doesn’t currently integrate with via API integrations. Shippo provides a simple API for integrating your existing order management system, shopping cart, or warehouse management system with Shippo.

ShipStation Integrations

ShipStation offers a wide range of options for connecting ShipStation to the other services you use in your business, from marketplaces and shopping carts to accounting software and customer relationship management (CRM) tools.

They total up to more than 270 integrations in all. Some of the more popular integrations include: eBay, Amazon, Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, WooCommerce, Squarespace, MailChimp, and Salesforce.

On the one hand, there are shipping carrier integrations such as Amazon Fulfillment by Vendor (FBA), FedEx, UPS, USPS, Stamps.com, DHL Express and DHL eCommerce, Canada Post and Shipsurance etc.

Shippo vs ShipStation: Reporting and Analytics

Shippo Reporting and Analytics

Shippo includes a reporting and analytics tool that lets you see an overview of your order fulfillment process over time. By selecting a certain date range, you can view the number of labels purchased, overall shipping spent, and your average price per package.

This data can help you make better decisions about your shipping process and optimize it for your business. You can also see a breakdown of your packages by shipping carrier, which can help you choose the most cost-effective carrier for each shipment.

ShipStation Reporting and Analytics

ShipStation comes with a wide range of built-in reports to help you measure the success of your shipping operations. These reports include data such as total sales, shipping costs, shipping revenue, order size and items sold per order.

ShipStation’s reporting and analytics feature offers more than just shipment tracking. You can also view your Shipment Activity, Shipped Orders, Ship Arrivals, Shipment Fees, back order alerts, Order Export History, Shipment Overview, Sales Rep Performance Report etc.

Shippo vs ShipStation: Customer Support

Shippo Customer Support

Shippo offers customer support in the form of an online ticketing system and email service. Shippo also has a blog, video tutorials, and a comprehensive knowledge base to help you get started.

Customers who are on professional and premium plans can use live chat, but you may submit a support request and have someone contact you via email if you’re on a free plan.

If you need to talk with the Shippo team right away, check out their social media accounts, such as Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook. You’ll be assigned a dedicated customer care representative if you’re on the Premier plan.

ShipStation Customer Support

ShipStation has a team of technical experts who may be contacted through phone calls, web forms, email, and live chat. They also have a comprehensive knowledge base and video tutorials.

You may also engage with and learn from other ShipStation users. Share tips, methods, workflows, and best practices with others. You may also reach out to enterprise accounts support team through the Help menu icon if you have an enterprise account.

Shippo vs ShipStation: Pricing

Shippo Pricing

Shippo has basic to advanced plans accessible for small ecommerce businesses, and a pro plan for large enterprises. The number of shipments you send out each month will determine the plan you choose.

Pay As You Go Plan

The pay as you go plan is great for small ecommerce merchants, as there are absolutely no commitments attached to this plan. This plan costs you $0.05 per shipment (plus the cost of postage) and includes:

• Up to 5,000 shipments per month
• One user account
• No monthly fees
• USPS discounts
• API access
• Global carrier discounts
• Use your negotiated rates
• Unlimited carrier accounts
• Unlimited platform integrations
• Web app
• API  for Orders Endpoint
• Email support
• US address validation
• Global Address Validation @ $0.09 per validation

Professional Plan

Shippo professional plan is loaded with extra features and starts at just $10/month, and it doesn’t charge $0.05 cents per label fee. This plan will cost you more depending on how much shipping labels you want to print per month, and it costs between $10-$125 per month (plus the cost of postage). For up to 60 labels, the cost is $10/mo, for 200 labels its $25/mo and for up to 10000 labels its $200/mo.

This plan includes everything in the Pay As You Go plan, plus:

• 0 per-label fee
• Five user accounts
• Custom Branding for Packing Slips
• Custom Branding Email Notifications
• Custom Branding for Tracking Pages
• Custom text for email notifications
• Global Address Validation @ $0.08 per validation

Premier Plan

Premier plan provides everything in the Professional plan, as well as technical implementation assistance, dedicated customer support, and up to 15 user accounts. The Premier plan is comes at custom pricing and with everything in the Professional plan and:

• Technical implementation assistance
• Dedicated customer support
• 15 user accounts
• APIs for Order Endpoint and Batch Endpoint
• Multi-piece shipments
• Integration specialist
• À la carte package tracking
• À la carte address verification
• Global Address Validation @ $0.06 per validation

ShipStation Pricing

ShipStation offers a 30-day free trial for all of their plans. After the trial, you’ll be moved to the cheapest plan that meets your needs, or you can upgrade to a higher plan. The pricing plans are as follows:

• Starter – $9 per month – The starter package includes all the integrations, as well as inventory management, branding, order management, and shipping management tools. It is limited to one user and 50 shipments a month. Labels and box seals are branded, while support is provided via email and the ShipStation community forum.
• Bronze – $29 per month – The Bronze plan, includes one user and 500 monthly shipments, is the most basic. The labels and package slips are still branded, and customer support is accessible via email and the ShipStation community forum.
• Silver -$49 per month – The Silver offer increases the number of users to two and the amount of monthly shipments to 1500. Customization of labels and package slips, as well as customer support through live chat, email, and the community forum are all included in this plan.
• Gold – $69 per month – The Gold package is for groups of up to three people, who will use ShipStation to handle no more than 3,000 deliveries each month. It also includes custom labels and packing slips, as well as live chat assistance, email assistance, and a community forum.
• Platinum – $99 per month – The Platinum package extends things even further, with support for 5 users and 6,000 shipments every month.
• Enterprise – $159 per month – This is the most advanced plan since it supports up to 10,000 shipments a month and ten users per account. In addition, phone assistance is available.

Shippo vs ShipStation: Conclusion

Shippo and ShipStation are both eCommerce shipping software that allows you to manage your orders. Shippo is known as a multi-carrier platform because it supports multiple carriers, while ShipStation is primarily known as a USPS shipping management solution.

In conclusion, Shippo and ShipStation are both great shipping management software with their own unique features that make them stand out from the competition. It is important to consider your business needs and decide which platform would be the best fit for you. Our recommendation is as follows:

• For small to medium ecommerce business – Go with Shippo as it is easier to use and more affordable.
• For large and enterprise businesses – Go with ShipStation as it has more integration and offers advanced automation rules.