How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- ShipStation ($14.99/month Starter) is the most complete shipping workstation for growing stores with automation rules.
- Pirate Ship is completely free, charging only postage, and is the cheapest way to get discounted USPS and UPS rates.
- Shippo and Easyship offer free plans with multi-carrier rate shopping; Easyship specializes in international shipping.
- ShippingEasy, Ordoro, and ShipWorks serve higher-volume and inventory-heavy operations.
- Stamps.com suits offices and sellers that print postage directly rather than running a fulfillment workflow.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 ShipStation | Growing stores with automation | $14.99/month (Starter) | Free trial (30 days) |
 Pirate Ship | Free USPS and UPS labels | $0 (free, pay postage only) | Yes |
 Shippo | Multi-carrier rate shopping | See website | Yes (free plan) |
 Easyship | International shipping | See website | Yes (free plan) |
 ShippingEasy | SMBs wanting guided setup | See website | Free trial |
 Ordoro | Inventory plus shipping | See website | No |
 ShipWorks | High-volume desktop shipping | See website | No |
 Stamps.com | Postage printing for offices | See website | No |
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Starting price$14.99/month (Starter)
Free planFree trial (30 days)
ShipStation is the shipping workstation most growing stores graduate to. Orders import automatically from Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, WooCommerce, and dozens more channels. Automation rules pick the cheapest carrier per order, batch printing handles hundreds of labels at once, and branded tracking pages keep customers informed.
Pricing is published and scales with volume: Starter from $14.99 per month for 50 shipments, Standard from $29.99, and Premium from $349.99, with per-label fees at zero across plans. A 30-day free trial and 90-day satisfaction guarantee lower the risk of trying it. ShipStation fits stores shipping 50 or more orders monthly that want automation rather than manual label work.
What we like- Automation rules and rate shopping across carriers
- Imports from 100+ sales channels
- Scales from 50 to 100,000 shipments monthly
Watch out for- Pricing rises with shipment volume
- API access requires higher tiers
Starting price$0 (free, pay postage only)
Free planYes
Pirate Ship has one job: cheap labels with no subscription. The platform is entirely free; you pay only postage, and the rates are USPS Commercial and discounted UPS pricing with no markup. Order imports from Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and eBay, batch label printing, and tracking notifications cover the essentials.
The limits are clear. Only USPS and UPS are supported, there is no rules engine for automation, and high-volume sellers will miss advanced workflows. But for small sellers, side businesses, and anyone shipping under a few hundred packages a month, Pirate Ship delivers the best rates in this guide at literally zero software cost.
What we like- No monthly fees, no minimums, no contracts
- Deeply discounted USPS and UPS rates
- Unlimited users
Watch out for- USPS and UPS only, no FedEx or DHL
- Minimal automation compared to ShipStation
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes (free plan)
Shippo combines a merchant app with a developer API. The app offers discounted rates across more than 40 carriers, one-click label printing, address validation, shipment tracking, and return labels. Automation rules run on every plan, and a free plan lets small sellers start without a subscription.
Shippo's pricing page describes plan tiers but does not display prices in plain text, so we wrote "See website". The free plan plus pay-for-postage model keeps entry costs at zero. Shippo fits sellers who want broader carrier choice than Pirate Ship's two, plus an API path if they later build custom workflows.
What we like- Discounted rates across 40+ carriers
- Free plan with automation rules
- API for developers
Watch out for- Published plan prices not shown on pricing page
- Advanced features need paid tiers
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes (free plan)
Easyship is the cross-border specialist. It calculates duties and taxes at checkout so international buyers see landed costs upfront, generates customs documentation automatically, and offers rates from hundreds of courier services worldwide. Crowdfunding creators and global DTC brands use it to ship to dozens of countries without a freight forwarder.
A free plan is available, though its pricing page did not render a public price list when we checked, so confirm current rates directly. Domestic-only sellers will find ShipStation or Pirate Ship simpler, but if international orders are a meaningful share of revenue, Easyship's landed-cost tooling earns its place.
What we like- Built for cross-border: duties and taxes calculated at checkout
- 550+ courier services
- Free plan available
Watch out for- Pricing page did not load a public price list
- Domestic-only sellers have simpler options
Starting priceSee website
Free planFree trial
ShippingEasy targets sellers who want shipping handled without a learning curve. Guided setup walks new stores through carrier connections, discounted USPS Commercial rates apply automatically, and built-in email marketing tools help small sellers re-engage customers. Inventory management covers basic stock tracking.
Pricing is not published on its site, and a free trial is available. As part of the Stamps.com group, it shares infrastructure with its sister products. ShippingEasy fits small sellers who value hand-holding over raw feature depth.
What we like- Beginner-friendly with strong onboarding
- Marketing tools bundled in
- Discounted USPS rates
Watch out for- No published price on the pricing page
- Owned by Stamps.com, so roadmap follows that group
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Ordoro combines inventory management with multi-carrier shipping, which suits sellers whose real problem is stock accuracy across channels. Kitting, bundles, supplier management, and dropshipping workflows run alongside label printing and rate shopping, so the warehouse and the shipping desk share one system of record.
Pricing is quote-based. Pure shippers who just need labels will find it heavier than necessary, but merchants juggling inventory across Shopify, Amazon, and wholesale channels often find the combined system cheaper than separate inventory and shipping tools.
What we like- Inventory management and shipping in one system
- Kitting and bundles
- Dropshipping support
Watch out for- No published pricing
- More system than pure shippers need
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
ShipWorks takes a different approach: a Windows desktop application built for warehouses shipping thousands of orders. Local processing makes it fast, automation rules and order filtering are deep, and it connects to every major carrier and sales channel. Businesses with dedicated shipping PCs and barcode-driven workflows swear by it.
The desktop model is also the limitation: no cloud access, Windows only, and pricing is not published. ShipWorks fits high-volume operations with an established warehouse setup that values speed and control over cloud convenience.
What we like- Powerful desktop app for very high volumes
- Deep automation and filtering
- No per-label fees
Watch out for- Desktop software, not cloud
- Pricing not published on its site
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Stamps.com is the veteran of online postage. It lets offices and small sellers print official USPS postage, including discounted commercial rates, directly from a printer, with address verification and package tracking built in. For businesses that mail letters, documents, and light parcels rather than running ecommerce fulfillment, it remains the simplest option.
It is USPS-centric rather than a multi-carrier shipping platform, and full features require a subscription whose price is not published on the pricing page. Stamps.com fits offices, law firms, and light shippers; ecommerce sellers with real volume should look at ShipStation or Shippo instead.
What we like- Print official USPS postage from your desk
- Long-established and trusted
- Works for offices and light shippers
Watch out for- USPS-focused rather than multi-carrier
- Subscription required for full features
Volume is the main variable. Under 50 shipments a month, Pirate Ship's free model or Shippo's free plan is all you need; paying a subscription would waste money. From 50 to a few thousand monthly, ShipStation's automation starts paying for itself in saved labor, and its $14.99 Starter plan is the natural entry point.
International sellers should shortlist Easyship regardless of volume, because landed-cost calculation and customs paperwork matter more than label price. Inventory-heavy sellers should look at Ordoro, and warehouse operations with dedicated shipping stations should evaluate ShipWorks. Whatever you choose, compare the discounted carrier rates, not just the subscription: a free tool with worse rates can cost more than a subscription with better ones.
How we chose these eight
We selected shipping platforms that serve US ecommerce sellers across the volume spectrum, from free label tools to warehouse-grade systems. Every product above exists today and accepts new customers. We checked each vendor's own website on October 13, 2026. ShipStation publishes its pricing, which we verified; Pirate Ship's free model is stated plainly on its site; where other vendors showed no price, we wrote "See website".
We read product documentation and feature lists, and we read public reviews on G2, Capterra, Reddit, and ecommerce communities for recurring praise and complaints. We did not invent ratings, user counts, awards, or customer names, and we made no claims of hands-on testing. The "best for" labels reflect where each platform's carriers, pricing model, and target seller fit most naturally.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest ecommerce shipping software?
Pirate Ship is free: no monthly fees, no minimums, you pay only postage at discounted USPS and UPS rates. Shippo and Easyship also offer free plans. For sellers under a few hundred shipments monthly, free tools beat subscriptions on total cost.
How much does ShipStation cost?
ShipStation's Starter plan starts at $14.99 per month for 50 shipments, Standard starts at $29.99, and Premium starts at $349.99, with pricing scaling by monthly shipment volume. A 30-day free trial is available.
Do I need shipping software if I only sell on Etsy or eBay?
Marketplaces offer their own discounted labels, which is fine at very low volume. Shipping software becomes worthwhile when you sell on multiple channels, want automation rules, or need carrier rate comparison. Pirate Ship's free tier is a good first step.
What is the difference between ShipStation and Shippo?
ShipStation is an operations workstation with deep automation rules, batch workflows, and team features, priced by shipment volume. Shippo is a lighter multi-carrier platform with a free plan and a developer API, suited to smaller sellers and businesses building custom integrations.
Can shipping software handle international orders?
Yes. Easyship specializes in cross-border shipping with duties and taxes calculated at checkout and automatic customs forms. ShipStation, Shippo, and others also support international carriers, but Easyship's landed-cost tooling is the most complete.
How do discounted carrier rates work?
Shipping platforms negotiate commercial rates with carriers based on aggregate volume, then pass those rates to users. USPS Commercial pricing, for example, is available through approved software and is consistently cheaper than retail post office rates. The platform earns through subscriptions or small rate margins.
Sources we checked (10)
- https://www.shipstation.com/pricing/
- https://www.pirateship.com/
- https://goshippo.com/pricing/
- https://www.easyship.com/
- https://www.shippingeasy.com/
- https://www.ordoro.com/
- https://www.shipworks.com/
- https://www.stamps.com/
- https://www.aftership.com/blog/shippo-vs-pirate-ship
- https://outvio.com/blog/best-ecommerce-shipping-software-us/
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.