Overview
To be honest, shipping is the most critical part of the entire business. You have worked hard and been successful in making customers land at your store and hit the buy button. But, if you don’t pay your utmost attention to this part, you’ll most likely lose those shoppers and never make them purchase again from your brand. One wrong experience will encourage them to switch to your competitors. When the competition in the eCommerce industry is fierce, you can’t afford to make these mistakes.
That’s why businesses rely on shipping software. These tools ensure streamlined shipping and on-time delivery of each order to the end recipient, which further increases your brand reputation and gives customers that “wow” moment.
In this article, we’ll discuss what shipping software is, the top 20 shipping software solutions available on the market, and how to choose the right one among them.
Ready? Let’s start!
What Is Shipping Management Software?
Shipping software is a tool or platform designed to manage businesses’ end-to-end logistics operations, from pre-dispatch to post-delivery. They help predict Estimated Delivery Dates (EDD), manifest orders across carriers, monitor customer orders, manage failed shipments and customer returns, and do much more. At the same time, they also help improve customers’ shipping experiences by offering them automated delivery alerts and flexibility to control their orders.
These shipping software systems integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, and API solutions to automate most logistics tasks. In essence, the main goal behind adding shipping software is to effectively handle order fulfillment and create a memorable post-purchase experience.
20 Best Shipping Software Comparison + Important Features
If you try to find the best shipping software solutions available on the market, you’ll be bombarded with tens of thousands of tools. That’s why we have made the process easier for you. We have done our own research and created a comprehensive list of the 20 best shipping software solutions with their key features.
Let’s get into them one by one.
1. ClickPost
Trusted by 450+ brands worldwide, ClickPost is a multi-carrier shipping software. It comes pre-integrated with 400+ carriers, online storefronts, warehouse management systems, order management systems, and 40+ communication gateways. As a result, you can streamline all logistics-related activities in a better way.
It offers a suite of AI-powered features to handle the entire shipping process — from pre-dispatch to post-dispatch. These include carrier allocation, order creation, order tracking, and failed delivery management. Its features are designed not only to improve businesses’ shipping operations but also to boost customers’ shopping experience. For instance, it helps show estimated delivery dates on the product and checkout pages, sends them checkpoint-specific delivery updates, offers a branded tracking page, and eases customer returns.
Because of these diverse offerings, ClickPost can cater to any sector — from D2C brands, retailers, marketplaces to B2B and banks/fintech.
Key Features:
- Predicts Estimated delivery dates that have a >90% higher adherence rate
- Automates the entire logistics operations
- Uses an ML algorithm to assign the most suitable carrier as per your requirements and creates customer orders
- Uses both the pull and push APIs to improve delivery visibility
- Sends checkpoint-specific updates to customers via multiple channels like WhatsApp, SMS, and emails
- Predicts delivery exceptions
- Lets you customize the tracking page
- Manages failed deliveries and reduces RTO%.
- Offers a self-serve return portal and manages customer exchanges and refunds
- 20+ in-depth reporting
- Offers a dedicated return app for Shopify users named Shopify Returns Plus.
Best for: Medium to large-sized businesses looking to improve their logistics workflow and improve customers’ post-purchase experience
Pricing: Available upon request
How ClickPost stands out as one of the best shipping software
- IGP, a gift company, uses ClickPost’s carrier integration feature to solve problems like limited flexibility on carriers, constrained scalability, and failed delivery issues. As a result, they have achieved 100.0% carrier control and 100.0% order visibility across careers and reduced NDRs. Click here for more on this case study.
- Arvind Fashions, an apparel brand made a 23.0% reduction in RTO, and a 28.0% increase in delivery rate after using ClickPost’s NDR module. Check the entire case study here.
2. AfterShip
AfterShip is a shipping solution that especially focuses on improving customers’ post-purchase experience. With AfterShip, you can track shipping across 1194 carriers worldwide. When it comes to its offerings, it helps you fetch EDD that you can show on the product, checkout, and tracking pages, track each customer order, offer a branded tracking page to shoppers, and so on.
However, for shipment manifestation, AfterShip only supports 116 carrier providers. Through its order management system, you can create shipping labels, generate AWB numbers, and offer a number of delivery options to customers at checkout.
Key features:
- Offers a single shipping API integration for 1194 carriers
- Sends customized delivery messages to shoppers
- Lets you calculate real-time shipping rates
- Automates customer returns and exchanges
- Provides shipment visibility across diverse carriers in a centralized dashboard
- Reduces return frauds
Best for: Businesses looking to improve customers’ post-purchase experience
Pricing: It has different plans for different products. Its pricing for shipping and tracking management software starts from $9/month.
3. ShipStation
To improve the order fulfillment process for eCommerce businesses, Shipstation was launched. Shipstation is connected with hundreds of carriers and selling channels. As a result, you can easily import online orders from your store and easily manage the next steps.
At the same time, ShipStation lets you compare shipping rates and gives you access to discounted shipping rates from well-known carriers like UPS, FedEx, USPS, and more. It also takes care of your brand awareness by providing a white-labeled tracking page to shoppers and keeping customers updated throughout the process with SMS and email notifications.
Key Features:
- Helps you combine, split, and filter orders
- Lets you compare shipping rates
- Helps generate shipping labels and customs forms
- Sends email and SMS notifications to shoppers
- Lets you customize shipping labels
Best for: Businesses looking to optimize their shipping costs
Pricing: Its paid plan starts from $9.99/month (free plan available)
4. Shippo
Shippo is also a multi-carrier shipping solution that aims to automate the logistics operations for businesses, so they can improve their day-to-day fulfillment workflow. With Shippo, you can create and monitor orders across 40+ shipping carriers.
It offers a range of shipping tools, like store integration, label creation, international shipping management, shipment visibility, branding options, and more. Customers can access Shippo’s offerings in two ways — through its app and the APIs provided by this shipping software.
Key Features:
- Bulk label creation
- Provides up-to-date estimated time of arrival of packages
- Real-time shipping updates
- Lets you track packages outside of Shippo
- Offers niche delivery options
- Address validation option for US addresses
Best for: Small-sized businesses
Pricing: Free, paid plans start from $19/month (for Shippo App)
5. ShippingEasy
ShippingEasy is a cloud-based shipping platform that is well-known among businesses for providing discounted shipping rates across carriers like USPS, UPS, GlobalPost, etc.
This platform helps merchants import orders from their stores, create shipping labels, choose the best carrier for shipments, and keep customers in the loop throughout the shipping journey. To improve customer satisfaction, it also provides a configurable tracking portal.
Key features:
- Easy integrations with shopping carts and eCommerce platforms
- Filter and create customer orders
- Sends tracking information in real time to shoppers
- Helps offer a personalized tracking link
- Automates and manages customer returns
Best for: Merchants looking for discounted shipping rates
Pricing: Free, the paid plan costs 19.99/month
6. Easyship
Founded in 2014, Easyship is a leading shipping software solution. To help online merchants improve shipping operations, It has launched an array of solutions under its product suite. These include flat-rate services, pickup schedules, customer notifications, EDD estimation, and so on.
Easyship allows merchants to display serviceable carriers, EDD, and insurance at checkout, so they can maximize the conversion rate. Moreover, it lets you split and merge customer shipments, and customize the tracking page and packing slips.
Key features:
- CSV order upload
- USPS scan form generation
- Print multiple shipping labels simultaneously
- Show carriers at checkout
- Validate customer orders to reduce failed deliveries
- Get in-depth visibility of orders
Best for: Businesses looking to optimize their checkout process and delivery
Pricing: Free, paid plans start from $29/month
7. Stamps.com
Stamps.com helps businesses import orders from various eCommerce platforms and marketplaces, including Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Volusion, Shopify, BigCommerce, and more.
In addition, Stamps.com offers big discounts on UPS and USPS shipping rates, selects the best USPS delivery option for your shipments, helps track packages, and does more.
Key features:
- Easy order import from online stores and marketplaces
- Email notifications to reduce Where-Is-My-Order calls
- Automatically detects domestic address errors
- Batch label printing
- Helps you hide the postage value on your labels
Best for: Businesses shipping with USPS and UPS carriers
Pricing: Starting from $19.99/month
8. Pirate Ship
If you prefer USPS and UPS logistics providers to ship customer orders, Pirate Ship can fulfill your needs best. Besides that, it also allows you to compare shipping rates between these two carriers, so you can get the best deal.
Apart from providing pre-negotiated shipping rates, it creates shipping labels and tracks customer orders, from start to finish. You can integrate Pirate Ship with storefronts and shopping carts to make order fulfillment even easier.
Key features:
- Pre-negotiated UPS and USPS shipping rates
- Configurable tracking updates through emails
- Automated address correction and suggestion feature
- Offers discounted shipping insurance
Best for: Brands shipping with USPS and UPS logistics providers
Pricing: Free
9. ShipTime
To simplify the shipping process and provide the best shipping rates to merchants, ShipTime entered the market. In essence, it’s an all-in-one shipping platform that offers a host of functionalities, including LTL freight shipping, international shipping, eCommerce integrations, and more.
ShipTime is integrated with well-known carrier partners such as DHL, FedEx Freight, NationEx, Loomis Express, and more and lets you compare shipping rates across them. If you integrate ShipTime’s API, you can create shipping labels, offer branded tracking options, and get pre-negotiated shipping rates.
Key features:
- Easy integration with eCommerce platform
- Display shipping rates at checkout to avoid unnecessary surprises
- Order manifestation and pickup scheduling options
- Offers shipping insurance
- Refunds for parcel discrepancies
- Return label generation
Best for: Small-sized eCommerce businesses
Pricing: Free
10. ShipBob
ShipBob is a global omnifulfillment solution by nature. Along with providing third-party logistics fulfillment services like pick, pack, and ship, it also provides automated inventory management and replenishment solutions. ShipBob’s cloud fulfillment solution provides end-to-end visibility of the orders, manages customer returns, and does much more.
All major eCommerce platforms, warehouse management systems, ERP systems, and marketplaces are integrated with ShipBob’s solution, so merchants can easily manifest orders and import their product SKUs.
Key features:
- Lets you filter orders by consignment numbers, order type, order date, and destination country
- Easy order import functionality
- Manages inventory labels
- Returns management solution
- Optimized fulfillment costs across major carriers like FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc
Best for: Businesses looking for an inventory management solution along with a shipping software
Pricing: Available upon request
11. ShippyPro
ShippyPro was founded in 2016, aiming to positively transform the delivery experience for customers and automate every aspect of the shipping mechanism. Its product suite promises four different solutions - Fulfillment, Delivery Experience, Product suite, and API suite.
Each solution again comprises of diverse options. For instance, the Fulfillment solution offers options, such as automated label generation, carrier selection, rate comparison, COD management, etc.
Under the Delivery Experience option, you will find features to improve customers’ post-purchase experience. While the Data Suite offers reporting and analytics, the API suite offers API integrations for ShippyPro’s solutions.
Key features:
- Label generation and label customization
- COD management
- Carrier selection through preset rules
- Tracking email & branded tracking page
- API integration
- Post-purchase marketing options
- Returns management
- Advanced shipping automation
Best for: E-commerce businesses with higher shipping budget because Shippypro is highly expensive according to the market rate
Pricing: Starting from $220/month
12. Sendcloud
SendCloud is a specialized eCommerce shipping platform. It has established connections with over 100+ logistics providers and other platforms like eCommerce storefronts, marketplaces, automation software, and more.
With this shipping management platform, you can print labels in bulk, create preset rules before allocating shipping automation and carrier for orders, generate customs documents, schedule pickups, and so on. Its Checkout API helps merchants improve the conversion rate by showing diverse shipping methods and transparent shipping costs at checkout. Alongside, it offers branded tracking and returns management solutions to shoppers.
Key features:
- Bulk label generation
- Checkout optimization
- Let customers choose the delivery date
- Delivery updates via email and SMS
- Comprehensive reporting and analytics across different carriers
Best for: Small to Mid-sized online businesses
Pricing: Starting from €25/month+€0.10/label
13. Veeqo
Veeqo is a multi-channel shipping company launched by Amazon. It has been integrated with shipping companies and platforms like UPS, USPS, FedEx, Amazon shipping, eCommerce marketplaces, online storefronts, 3PL platforms, and POS channels.
Via Veeqo’s shipping software, you’ll benefit from the lowest rates across carriers, get cashback with Veeqo credits, and generate 100 shipping labels with a single click. Additionally, it offers shipment insurance, speeds up shipment creation, lets you view orders from multiple channels, and helps in sorting and filtering orders.
Key features:
- Manage multiple selling channels with ease
- Rate shopping across carriers
- Keep track of orders by tagging them
- Access to pre-negotiated rates
- Automated inventory management system
Best for: Businesses that sell across multiple channels
Pricing: Free, paid plans start from $250/month
14. eShip
eShip integrates with carriers like DHL Express, UPS, FedEx, and Estafeta and offers a host of shipping functionalities to improve business logistics operations. For instance, it creates shipping labels, helps you track orders in real time, and schedules pickups.
eShip also offers a centralized dashboard, where you can view ship graphics, delivery and exception statistics, and other reports. Besides, merchants will get the option to autocomplete customer addresses, send delivery notifications to shoppers, and obtain proof of delivery from customers.
Key features:
- Label generation and order tracking
- Create return labels
- Email and SMS notifications
- White-labeled tracking page
- Address-autocomplete option
- Comprehensive shipping analytics
Best for: Businesses looking for a budget-friendly shipping solution
Pricing: Free, paid plan starts from $14.99/month
15. Narvar
Business owners who have been in this field for quite some time must have heard about Narvar. After all, it’s one of the renowned post-purchase shipping companies available on the market.
From providing AI-powered delivery estimates and offering a branded tracking page to encouraging post-purchase sales and sending delivery notifications, it offers pretty much everything. The best part about Narvar is it has 200k+ drop-off locations to ease customer returns.
Key features:
- Offers a customized tracking page and sends SMS notifications
- Helps create region-specific marketing campaigns
- Diverse return options including store dropoff, drop-off locations, home pickup, and so on
- Proactive customer notifications via multiple channels
- Smart routing option to optimize returns
Best for: Businesses looking to provide a top-notch post-purchase experience to shoppers
Pricing: Available upon request
16. ShipRush
ShipRush is a cloud-based multi-carrier parcel shipping platform. It offers a range of integrations with logistics providers, webstores, CRM systems, and warehouse management systems. Since it’s already connected with the eCommerce platform, it’ll automatically import orders, so you can manifest shipping as soon as possible.
ShipRush provides discounted shipping rates, helps conduct rate shopping, and offers comprehensive shipment visibility to customers. Even if you handle a higher volume of orders, ShipRush can easily manage it.
Key features:
- Consolidated view of all shipments on a single interface
- Automated shipment processing
- Customize email, tracking page, and shipping labels
- Carrier rate shopping
- Pre-negotiated shipping rates
Best for: Small-medium businesses and omnichannel retailers
Pricing: Starting from $9.95/month
17. ShipSaving
ShipSaving presents itself as an all-in-one shipping software, providing significant off on carrier rates. ShipSaving offers diverse shipping options for businesses of all sizes. This shipping platform provides two different solutions based on plans.
One is for startups and another is for enterprise businesses. The starter plan offers solutions like a rate calculator, shipping label generation, shipping with USPS QR codes, and so on. Now, if you opt for the Enterprise plan, you’ll get advanced automated shipping options.
Key features:
- Shipping rate calculation
- Shipping with QR codes
- Shipping automation and real-time tracking
- Label customization
- Exclusive carrier discounts
- Auto-inventory update
Best for: Small businesses with a constraint shipping budget
Pricing: Free, the Pro plan costs $0.05/label
18. ShipWorks
ShipWorks is an on-premise shipping software for Windows. Since it has integrated a number of innovative and automated functionalities, it can easily handle a higher volume of orders.
For instance, you can automate repetitive daunting tasks, intelligently route orders from multiple inventories, and automatically import orders from your stores without any downtime. Furthermore, you will get special discounts on carrier rates — even up to 84% off.
Key features:
- Intelligent order routing
- Shipping automation features
- 70+ built-in integrations with carriers, eCommerce platforms, payment gateways, and more
- Discounted carrier rates
- Insurance coverage
Best for: Businesses dealing with higher volume of orders
Pricing: Starting from $149/month
19. ShipHawk
ShipHawk has been specially designed to work with ERP-connected businesses. Its automated shipping software helps these businesses find the best carrier rates, create better SLAs, and rate orders automatically.
Moreover, ShipHawk has also come up with a Smart Packing solution, that helps you choose the right box for every order. It will further help you better manage shipping costs.
Key features:
- Shipping rate optimization
- Delivery package optimization
- Freight and parcel audit
- Automated order fulfillment
- Real-time shipping analytics
Best for: Businesses looking to improve their warehouse management and order fulfillment tasks with a single solution
Pricing: Available upon request
20. Starshipit
Starshipit is one of Australia’s top-rated shipping companies. It offers a single dashboard where you can manage all orders and carriers without much back and forth. To date, Starshipit is connected with over 60+ carriers. You can also print shipping labels, compare shipping rates, and autocorrect delivery addresses across these carriers with Startshipit.
With this platform, businesses can optimize their checkout processes by giving shoppers diverse delivery choices. At the same time, it provides customers with a branded tracking page, so they can monitor the orders on their own. Businesses can also build a self-serve return experience for customers with this tool.
Key features:
- Automated order processing and carrier allocation
- Checkout optimization
- Display transit times
- Bring in your rates to find the best carrier
- Branded tracking and returns
- Shipping notifications
Best for: Small to medium-sized e-commerce stores
Pricing: Starting from $40/month
When Choosing Shipping Software, You Can Consider Things Like:
1. Carrier and Platform Integration
This is the first thing you need to look at while selecting shipping management software. If a solution comes integrated with a range of carrier companies, you will get access to a number of delivery options to choose from, compare shipping rates across carriers, and create the best SLAs for your shipments.
Plus, you need to check if the solution is integrated with eCommerce storefronts and other systems. It will help in real-time data synchronization and consolidate the entire process.
2. Real-Time Tracking and Notifications
Every shipping software comes up with a tracking system. However, you need to look at whether or not its shipment tracking software provides on-time delivery updates without any downtime. Also, make sure it displays the tracking updates across multiple carriers in a consolidated manner on a centralized dashboard.
This, in turn, will assist you in keeping track of every shipment and help reduce customers’ WISMO queries. Not only that, it should also send checkpoint-specific delivery alerts to improve shoppers’ post-purchase experience.
3. Automation Features
As the business grows, so do the order volume and complexity of logistics. Without automation, managing this growing number of orders is next to impossible.
Enterprise Shipping software provides automated functionalities to perform repeated tasks like carrier allocation, label generation, EDD prediction, order tracking, return request acceptance, customer notifications, etc. When you put these tasks on autopilot, it saves you time, so you can focus on other important tasks of your business. Plus, it also reduces unnecessary human errors.
4. Look for multi-channel order management
For businesses that sell products through multiple channels ( like E-commerce websites, marketplaces, or other platforms), it’s extremely difficult to manage all incoming orders and fulfill them on time. Most of the time, shipping software solutions provide multi-channel order management functionality through which you can view all customer orders across channels on a single dashboard.
Typically, they help you consolidate all shipments and take action immediately, so you can reach customers on time. Hence, you need to look for a solution that provides this multi-channel order management option.
5. Consider custom labels and slip printing
Next, look at the customization options the shipping company offers. For instance, it must let you customize the shipping labels and packing slip, so they align with your brand identity. This further will enhance your professionalism in the market and improve shoppers’ delivery experience.
6. Branded Experience
The shipping software you’re looking to invest in must offer branding functionalities to help your brand set apart in the market. For instance, it must offer a branded tracking page, a configurable return portal, product recommendations on the tracking page, and customized delivery notifications. These will not only differentiate your brand from others but also will help create an unforgettable impression among your customers.
7. Return and Refund Management
Along with taking care of your forward logistics, the shipping software must take care of customer returns and refunds. It should offer automation functionalities like a self-serve return portal, return review automation, return tracking updates, refund automation, and more. If that’s the case, you can save a significant amount of time and improve customer retention rates.
8. International Shipping Capabilities
If you’re aiming for international growth, you should opt for a shipping software that offers international shipping features. However, most of the solutions we have mentioned in this list offer international shipping capabilities.
These include global carrier integration, customs generation, tracking across borders, and so on. When you choose shipment management software that offers such flexibility, it helps you grow your business in the long run.
9. Analytics and Reporting
Last but certainly not least, a shipping tool should offer comprehensive reporting and analytics on each aspect of your shipping operations. These mostly consist of carrier performance analytics, SLA breach analysis, in-transit order analytics, NDR and NPR analytics, and so on. These granular-level analytics will help you identify the potential loopholes in the shipping journey and strategize your business in a better way.
Final Conclusion
Shipping software plays an important role in the growth of eCommerce business. Without these tools, it becomes quite challenging to ensure on-time order fulfillment. Now, if you look at the other side, shipping software is also important to enhance customers’ shopping experience. With this, we wrap up our article on the best shipping software. We have also given some tips, so you can make the right decision while choosing the best shipping software. However, if it still feels challenging to choose the right shipping management software, let us make the process even easier for you. ClickPost provides all the qualities we have mentioned like diverse carrier integration, real-time tracking, branding options, notifications, etc. So, you can try and book a demo if you want to take your business to the next level.
FAQ's
-
1. How does shipping software work?
Shipping software gets integrated with eCommerce platforms and carriers to pull order data in real time. It also uses APIs and AI to perform tasks like order creation, tracking, sending notifications and returns management.
-
2. What are the benefits of using shipping software?
Integrating a shipping software can benefit a business on multiple levels. These include increased shipping efficiency, automation of repetitive logistics tasks, cost-saving on carrier rates, and most importantly, enhanced post-purchased experience. These, in turn, boost businesses' customer retention rate and annual recurring revenue.
-
3. Which businesses can benefit from shipping software?
Be it startups or enterprises, any type of business can use shipping software to improve their logistics operations and customers’ shopping experience.
-
4. Does shipping software integrate with eCommerce platforms?
Yes! Shipping software comes pre-integrated with eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Etsy, and BigCommerce, and marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, etc. It also offers custom API integrations, so you can connect your preferred platform with shipping software.
-
5. Can shipping software handle international shipments?
Yes, shipping software can generate shipping labels for international orders, generate customs forms and invoices, track shipments across borders, and manage international returns.
-
6. What carriers do shipping software platforms integrate with?
Shipping software integrates with every domestic and international carrier to improve business shipping operations. These include UPS, USPS, FedEx, and more. You can also request the customer support team of the shipping software company to offer custom integration with your preferred carriers.
-
7. How does shipping software handle multi-carrier shipments?
Shipping software provides a unified API that is connected with all the integrated carriers. When businesses implement this API, they can manifest and handle multi-carrier shipments and manage them in a centralized dashboard.