The Top 4 Alternatives To ShipStation

ShippingEasy is best for small businesses looking for a shipping solution with a small learning curve and generous features, such as real-time inventory tracking and a free starter plan.

One of the most important things we like to do is check independent consumer review sites, and these were overwhelmingly positive, which is a good sign. On review sites, such as Capterra, G2, Trust Radius, and even within the Shopify platform, merchants rate ShippingEasy highly at 4.7 to 4.8 out of 5 stars. I have no doubt that this company would be a great fit for most small businesses because of the rich feature-set and solid customer reviews across the many platforms we checked.

ShippingEasy Pricing & Packages

• Starter: $0/month for up to 50 monthly shipments
• Basic: $29/month for up to 500 monthly shipments
• Plus: $49/month for up to 1,500 monthly shipments
• Select: $69/month up to 3,000 monthly shipments
• Premium: $99/month up to 6,000 monthly shipments

The ShippingEasy features list is both generous and lengthy, so the list below is by no means exhaustive. That said, here is an overview of what you can expect with ShippingEasy:

• Automation Tools: Shipping rules, saved selections, tracking status updates, instant labels, auto-split orders
• User Management: User permissions support, reports by user
• Return Management: USPS scan-based and prepaid return labels, PDF return labels to customer
• Carrier & Rate Management: USPS commercial plus pricing; flat-rate green cubic pricing; discounted insurance rates; USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL Global; International Consolidator support
• Shipping Labels: Label support, a rubber stamp for SKUs
• International Support: Custom forms automation
• Peripherals: Thermal/laser printer support, multi-printer support, bar code scanner support
• Customer Marketing: Unlimited subscribers, automated marketing emails, contact import, drag-and-drop template editor, and more
• Pick-And-Pack Products: Customizable packing slips, barcodes, multilocation support, warehouse/bin location
• Product Management: Product catalog and image support, auto-save new products
• Order Management: Split, combine, and recombine orders, batch orders, ID duplicate recipients, filter by order type, edit orders, manage gift orders, ship from multiple locations
• Integrations: Over 70 integrations available, unlimited shopping carts, unlimited marketplaces, QuickBooks, and more
• Bar Code Scanning: Auto-generated bar codes, unlimited carrier default shortcuts
• Sub Accounts: Integrate carriers on a per-merchant basis

As far as the feature-set, it is safe to say that ShippingEasy should cover everything you need to get started and offers even more features when your business grows. Where pricing is concerned, we are happy to see that ShippingEasy has both a free trial and a free starter plan (capped at 50 shipments).

ShippingEasy VS ShipStation

When we compared ShipStation pricing with ShippingEasy, we found that they are nearly identical, except ShipStation limits users by tier and does not offer a free basic plan. For businesses that want to try before they buy or have limited monthly shipments, ShippingEasy comes out ahead with its free plan.

The ShippingEasy platform is fairly similar overall to ShipStation, with a few key differences that may or may not be the deciding factor. Some of the main reasons merchants choose ShippingEasy is for stronger customer support, real-time inventory tracking, and that initial free plan for smaller businesses that only send out fewer than 50 parcels a month.

ShippingEasy offers plenty of great features with a low price point, and its UI boasts one of the shortest learning curves of its kind. This platform would be an excellent choice for most small businesses needing an easy, trustworthy shipping solution with plenty of room to grow.

ShipWorks is best for high-volume shippers that want plenty of options to customize. With over 100 built-in integrations, ShipWorks mainly supports business operations within one office — multilocation support is not included in beginning plans.

Unlike our other options, ShipWorks is a desktop solution that boasts "2x the downloading speed compared to SaaS-only solutions." While there can certainly be some benefit to a solution such as ShipWorks, keep in mind that multilocation support will be difficult since your data is not saved in the cloud. You can only ship from one location until you hit the Warehouse Professional plan, which costs $599/month.

When I checked independent consumer review sites for ShipWorks, I found they were overwhelmingly positive on both G2 and Capterra, with 4.4 and 4.5 out of 5-star reviews. People cite customer service as being consistently excellent, but some reviewers thought that it was frustrating to use at times due to a complicated interface and some issues with configuring printers. However, with strong customer support, these issues could potentially be balanced out and easily overcome.

Here is how much ShipWorks costs for each tier:

• eCommerce Essential: $49/month for up to 1,500 monthly shipments
• eCommerce Professional: $149/month for up to 5,000 monthly shipments
• Warehouse Essential: $349/month for up to 12K monthly shipments
• Warehouse Professional: $599/month for up to 25K monthly shipments
• Warehouse Elite: $799/month for up to 50K monthly shipments
• Enterprise Custom: Unlimited shipments, quotes upon request

As far as features go, ShipWorks is geared toward eCommerce businesses that have complex shipping operations. Features include:

• Automation tools
• Fast label processing
• Batch processing
• Barcode shipping
• Automated Intelligence System with AI learning to reduce human error
• Order routing based on warehouse location
• Unlimited number of computers, workstations, and users
• Advanced customizable reporting
• Shipping preferences
• Combine and split orders
• Filters to improve workflow
• Shipment email notifications to customers
• UPS discount
• USPS discount
• ShipWorks insurance
• Best rate tool
• Data backups
• User permission controls and auditing

ShipWorks does have a unique feature-set that is worth looking into if your business is big enough. The AI learning tool is an interesting feature that complements the other tools geared for improving workflow at every stage of the shipping process.

ShipWorks VS ShipStation

For smaller businesses and startups, ShipStation is probably a better fit because you just can't find the low-volume rates and plans anywhere else like you can with ShipStation. For the right kind of higher-volume business, however, ShipWorks could help you improve your workflow. With its AI learning and order routing built for complicated workflows, ShipWorks is designed with bigger businesses in mind.

That said, you won't find the sheer number of built-in integrations that ShipStation has — over 300. You also won't have the multilocation support you may need with ShipWorks (at least in the first few tiers). ShipStation is strong with customer service and support, however, and that can be the deciding factor for many. It all comes down to your type of business and what support you may need along the way.

We recommend ShipWorks for high-volume businesses that are looking for automated inventory management and stronger support for their complex shipping operations.

Ordoro is best for eCommerce businesses that need to sync multiple sales channels. An easy-to-use platform with generous features, Ordoro is a good choice when it is time to scale.

As a platform, Ordoro favors higher-volume businesses when it comes to its plan options, pricing, and feature-set. When I took a look at consumer review sites, such as Capterra and G2, I found that Ordoro has very high ratings, comparatively. With 4.8 and 4.5 out of 5 stars, most merchants are happy with this service, citing friendly support and great functionality for the price.

I like that Ordoro does not charge extra for Amazon orders or barcode scanning and branding, and phone support is available on every plan.

Express starts at $59/month. Here are some feature highlights of the Express plan:

• Discounted USPS shipping rates
• Automation rules
• Shipping presets
• Barcode scanning
• No SFP (seller-fulfilled prime fees)
• User permissions
• Advanced analytics
• USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and Canada Post Shipping
• Printer integration
• Logos on shipping labels
• Data import via CSV

Unfortunately, you won't get inventory management or dropshipping until you upgrade to the Pro plan.

Pro is $499/month and includes everything in the Express plan, plus:

• Initiate and track return merchandise authorizations (RMAs)
• Create and email return labels
• Receive and restock returned goods
• Dropshipping features
• Supplier management features
• Inventory management features
• Purchasing features

Ordoro also offers an Enterprise plan for custom pricing. You'll get all the features in Pro, plus:

• Dedicated account manager
• Custom workflows and integrations
• Vendor portals
• Supplier management

We think Ordoro's feature-set should put it on your list if you have a larger operation or you plan to scale soon.

Ordoro VS ShipStation

ShipStation offers much more flexibility with price points based on volume. So businesses that are in growth mode are likely better off choosing ShipStation. With generous built-in automations and a mobile app, ShipStation may be the favored choice on the face of things. However, Ordoro is also a feature-rich option for thriving eCommerce businesses.

Ordoro would be suitable for a business that has multiple sales channels and eCommerce shops. With the Pro plan, you'll have all that you need to speed up your operations with dropshipping, supply management, and inventory management features. And considering that Ordoro consistently earns high ratings with consumer review sites, it is likely to be a great choice for a higher-volume business but a bit overkill for a business that is experiencing a slow build.

Stamps.com is an easy-to-use option that's best for businesses that only ship via USPS. Because pricing is affordable, but features are limited beyond purchasing and printing labels, we think Stamps.com would be a great integration with an existing platform (such as Shopify).

Overall, Stamps.com is well-liked by most merchants. It earns a 4.3 out of 5-star rating with G2 and 4.4 out of 5 stars with Capterra. Customers like that it saves them time and offers quite a bit of function for the price.

Stamps.com has low cost and straightforward pricing — here are the highlights of each plan:

The Pro plan is $17.99/month and comes with:

• One user
• One location
• 10 reference codes
• Phone and email customer support

The Premier plan is $24.99/month and comes with everything in the Pro plan, plus:

• Three-user access
• One location
• Printable certified mail forms
• 50 reference codes

Enterprise pricing requires a call to Stamps.com and includes everything in the previous plans, plus:

• Three+ user access
• Multiple locations
• Dedicated account manager
• 1,000 reference codes

Let's take a look at features. Stamps.com integrates with and gives you access to all USPS mail classes and special services (including APO) and discounts on first-class and priority mail. Additionally, you'll find the following:

• Contact imports
• Return letters sent via email
• Combine or split orders
• Multiple label processing and generation
• Complete shipment automation
• Customized customer communication
• Real-time package tracking
• Print labels on any printer
• Postage and user reporting
• API integrations
• Sync with most major marketplaces (e.g., Amazon, eBay, Etsy)
• Hidden postage
• Postage codes
• Multiuser accounts
• Multilocation accounts (Enterprise)
• Free digital scale with USB connection
• Print multiple letters at once
• Postage payment options (invoicing, credit cards, procurement card accounts, ACH, check, PayPal)
• Print from existing software, including QuickBooks
• US-based telephone support
• Tech team response 24/7 (Warehouse Shipper plan)
• Dedicated account managers (Warehouse Shipper plan)
• Shopping cart and management integrations available

We think that for sellers who only ship via the USPS, Stamps.com offers a rich feature-set that would provide what you need to save money on shipping and save time processing orders.

Stamps.com VS ShipStation

Both ShipStation and Stamps.com give you discounts of up to 40% off at the USPS. ShipStation, however, gives you more options in carriers and discounts as well. Stamps.com would probably work better for smaller merchants, as ShipStation was designed for the multichannel business. Both of these options have the potential for slower or unresponsive customer service based on the customer feedback we've reviewed via Capterra, but these types of complaints are also common with platforms of this size.

Not sure which one to choose? You may not have to! You can always connect Stamps.com to your ShipStation (or other) account as you grow or scale. We think Stamps.com would certainly save an eCommerce seller money and time with its discounts and simple design. Though, on its own, it is probably best for a smaller business. Integrated with another platform, however, Stamps.com is recommended as an excellent addition.