Home / Partner Picks / Shippo
Best for: US e-commerce sellers needing discounted multi-carrier shipping
Last updated: September 04, 2026
Shippo is one of the simplest ways for a US online store to ship cheaply: compare deeply discounted rates — often 50–90% off retail — across 40+ carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL, then create labels, track shipments and handle returns from one dashboard or a clean API. There's a genuinely free Starter plan and unlimited store integrations. The honest catches: the free plan caps at 30 labels a month, so growth forces an upgrade; surcharge transparency is weak (budget 20–40% over the quoted label cost for carrier adjustments); per-label fees and volume tiers make costs harder to predict; and it's strongest in the US.
STARTS AT
Free–$199/mo
Three tiers. Starter is free (no subscription), capped at 30 labels/mo, with a $0.05/label fee only if you connect your own carrier account — waived on Shippo's own discounted rates. Pro starts ~$17/mo annual (~$19 monthly) for 1–200 labels and climbs via a volume slider to ~$199/mo for 5,001–10,000 labels, with ~$0.08/label overage. API Premier is custom (volume discounts, dedicated account manager). Since Pro is volume-based, your real cost tracks your label count.
A genuine free plan and a great start — but the 30-label monthly cap is the catch. For a brand-new shop shipping a few orders it's perfect: discounted rates, label creation, tracking and store integrations at no subscription cost. Get traction, though, and 30 labels runs out fast, pushing you to Pro. Support on Starter is email-only (chat/phone are paid). Treat it as a real way to validate the rates and workflow, then budget for Pro as volume picks up.
Rate discounts are the core draw. Through its carrier network you access deeply discounted rates — often 50–90% off retail — across USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL and more, without your own negotiated contracts. For most small and mid-sized sellers those discounts alone can outweigh the subscription. The caveat is surcharges: carriers apply dimensional-weight, residential and fuel adjustments after the fact, so budget ~20–40% over the quoted label price and reconcile invoices rather than trusting the initial quote.
Shippo connects to 40+ carriers — USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL at the core — and compares live rates from one dashboard or the API. On the store side it integrates with major platforms and marketplaces (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Amazon, eBay, Etsy) with unlimited store connections even on lower tiers. Developers can use the API for label creation, rating, tracking, address validation, returns and insurance, so it doubles as shipping infrastructure you build into your own systems.
It supports international shipping, but its centre of gravity is the United States. The deepest discounts and smoothest workflows are around US carriers like USPS, UPS and FedEx, making it an excellent fit for US-based sellers and US-bound parcels. If most of your shipments move within Europe, a Europe-focused platform such as Sendcloud usually gives better regional coverage. Think Shippo = US-first, regional specialists = better where their carrier network is denser.
US-based e-commerce sellers and developers wanting discounted multi-carrier rates without negotiating their own contracts — small and mid-sized stores shipping domestically, and teams that want a clean shipping API to build label creation and tracking into their own systems. The free Starter plan, discounts and unlimited integrations make it low-risk to start. Weaker fit for EU-first sellers better served by regional platforms, very high-volume shippers with direct carrier contracts, and anyone needing fully predictable, surcharge-free costs.
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