The Best Shipping Software Platforms (2023 Guide)

Choosing the right e-commerce shipping software for your business ensures access to the best discounts and carrier options. You can print your labels and ship your packages quickly and easily. This post will look at five of the best shipping software platforms on the market and the best for your needs.

What’s covered in this review

We will cover these services, pricing, carrier selection, and any additional features and unique qualities they bring to the table. At the end of each section, I’ll summarize a set of pros and cons. At the end of the review, I’ll make a couple of picks based on everything we’ve discussed. Let’s take a look at some of the best e-commerce shipping companies.

The Seller Journal’s Picks

I thought about this for a while and realized that I don’t think it’s possible to pick a single shipping service. We have a few different categories and offering levels that cater to different crowds and business sizes, so let’s break down my picks of the best shipping software platforms by how you might use them.

The Best Shipping Software

1. Easyship

Easyship is another powerhouse shipping platform that’ll tie well into just about anything you have. WooCommerce, Amazon, Shopify, you name it; Easyship will probably hook up.

Here’s a neat trick that considers Easyship at the top of the stack: the fulfillment network. Easyship offers fulfillment services and warehouse locations worldwide, and all the relevant taxes and duties are factored in automatically. No surprises.

I’m always a fan of super slick and clean UIs. Creating a shipment is similar to the other platforms in that it’s a multi-step process. Like the other platforms, I imagine most shipments will be generated through the originating e-commerce platform rather than by hand, so this may not matter.

Easyship comes with all the shipping carriers you could ever imagine. All the rates are pre-negotiated, and the pricing is friendly, too. If there’s a particular carrier you’re interested in, Easyship has a handy search tool here.

EasyShip is free to start and comes with 100 shipments per month out of the box (no pun intended). Move up to the paid plan starting at $29/month and get your hands on 500 shipments a month and a branded tracking page for your customers, along with additional users and courier account integrations. The free plan lets you tie in one carrier account of your choosing.

2. ShippingEasy

I know a few business owners that use ShippingEasy for shipping their online orders, and they have nothing but good things to say. ShippingEasy provides the deepest discounts you can get from all the major carriers and integrates with just about every platform.

As a potential Easyship alternative, I think of ShippingEasy as the entry-level version of ShipStation (the same company, Auctane, makes them). However, that doesn’t mean they’re skimping on features. ShippingEasy integrates with Shopify, BigCommerce, Etsy, eBay, Amazon, WooCommerce, Walmart, Squarespace, PayPal, OpenCart, Quickbooks, and more platforms.

Plans start at FREE for 25 labels per month. Paid plans offer branded tracking pages and SMS messages, custom logos on shipping labels, incredibly detailed reporting, and more.

3. ShipStation

When we start talking about big players, ShipStation is the first to come to mind. It’s as powerful as powerful can get, and the automatic UPS carrier discount is nice, too! (More on that in a bit) If you’re an e-commerce operator that has real volume, this is where I’d put my money and effort.

ShipStation integrates with all the carriers and makes getting quotes incredibly easy. This is probably my favorite interface for shipping management software out of all the quoting tools each provider offers. The user interface and how it flows will also feel familiar if you spend time dealing with inventory management.

ShipStation starts at $9.99 a month, which is a great deal if you’re want this level of integration.

4. Pirate Ship

Pirate Ship was my first. When I needed to ship packages, this was the first service I used, and to this day, I still pull them up when the time is right.

Pirate Ship is good at being an interface for USPS commercial rate pricing and always giving you the cheapest possible options.

The interface doesn’t have much to it, but it ties in well with eBay, Etsy, and Shopify, which is a massive plus for sellers. Bulk-create labels or do them one at a time by typing or pasting in an address. Pirate Ship will do its best to parse it out.

Enter what kind of packaging you’re using and its size, and presto-chango: pricing. Click another button, and boom, your label is ready to go.

Pirate Ship only provides two shipping carriers: The United States Postal Service (USPS) and UPS. Unlike some of the other shippers on this list, they do not charge any extra fees, so all you pay is the price for the shipping itself. This is the epitome of a “free shipping service.”  It’s as simple as that.

Pirate Ship vs. Stamps.com is also a no-brainer. I’m not sure I’ve ever thought Stamps.com to be a viable option as long as Pirate Ship is readily accessible.

Pirate Ship added UPS support in 2022, making them a lucrative option for those who want to send UPS packages without paying extra. Having your own UPS account is not required.

Wrapping Up

Any of these services could fit a large cross-section of businesses and users. What matters most is the features you need for your business right now and as your business grows. The last thing you’ll want to do is change shipping platforms every six months because you’ve outgrown them or need different carrier support. Once you’ve found the platform that ticks all the boxes that matter most, settle in and grow your business. You’ll start to forget that they’re even there, and that’s a good thing.