Shipstation vs ShipHero Compared

Last Updated on April 22, 2023 by Ewen Finser

ShipStation vs ShipHero are both excellent shipping services. They allow you to manage your inventory, keep track of orders, and find your customers’ cheapest and quickest possible shipping options. Both can help make the process of shipping and handling so much easier to deal with, especially if you’re dealing with large quantities of orders.

It’s hard to compare them directly, as they’re pretty different from each other in terms of what features they have to offer. However, I’ve looked at both of them, so hopefully, you can work out which one works best for your business. We’ll take a look at them in detail, including their key shipping features, customer support, and pricing. If you’re in a hurry, read the next section to see which shipping service is my top pick for today!

The Bottom Line Up Front

It’s hard to compare ShipStation and ShipHero to pick the best one: they’re both very different platforms. However, in my opinion, ShipStation is going to be my top pick today. It has some fantastic features, including in-depth reporting, a shipping cost calculator, and other tools to make shipping much easier.

However, ShipHero is a good platform in a lot of ways. If you have a large business with many products, you may find it much easier to use ShipHero’s warehouses, allowing them to take care of fulfillment. Their inventory management tools are great, too.

Main Differences Between ShipStation vs ShipHero

The main differences between Shipstation vs ShipHero are:

• ShipStation has a shipping cost calculator, whereas ShipHero automates the process of choosing the best carrier
• ShipStation has a slightly less attractive platform, whereas ShipHero’s platform is slightly nicer to look at
• ShipStation offers a free trial and upfront pricing, whereas ShipHero offers a demo, but you can only use it (and find out about pricing) by requesting a quote
• ShipStation makes it easy to apply branding to landing pages, invoices, etc, whereas ShipHero’s process of setting up branding is a little harder to figure out.
• ShipStation doesn’t offer fulfillment or warehouse management, whereas ShipHero has some strong warehouse and fulfillment features.
• ShipStation is more well-established, with many users, whereas ShipHero is a smaller company.

What Is ShipStation?

ShipStation is a service designed to make every process to do with shipping easier. It has automation, great analytics, and a shipping cost calculator to make working out total costs much easier.

ShipStation works well for any-sized eCommerce business, including large businesses with a lot of orders to handle.

What Is ShipHero?

ShipHero is a shipping and fulfillment service aimed at companies dealing with large volumes of orders. It’s designed to increase accuracy, reduce warehouse costs, and make things easier for you and your customers.

I’d recommend ShipHero for larger companies dealing with a lot of orders and multiple warehouse locations.

The Main Features of ShipStation

Here’s what I thought of ShipStation.

UX

ShipStation is pretty simple to use. You can find everything you need on the left-hand side, and I like how easy the onboarding process is. ShipStation helps to guide you when you first get started, but experienced users can easily skip the tutorials if they want to dive right in.

The downside is that I don’t like the way it looks. That’s a personal thing, but I think it looks a little dated and cluttered.

Shipping

Let’s talk about how ShipStation makes the shipping process easier.

You can view your orders at each stage of the process. I like the automation features. Setting shipping rules can make dealing with a large number of orders much easier. You can have as many rules running as you want, and you can add several steps to each rule. For example, you can choose items coming from one particular warehouse to add a tag, so you can easily find them.

This is a core strength of ShipStation and something that you should take advantage of if you want to make life easier. For larger, more established businesses, taking some time to set up shipping rules can save a lot of time and effort.

You can view orders, sort them by different metrics, and edit imported orders. You can set up customized alerts, too, so you can keep an eye on certain products or orders as they are shipped.

It’s easy to batch-print labels to save time, and the label generation is pretty good, too.

Branding

I like the branding features offered by ShipStation. Having consistent branding across every communication to your customers is super important for building familiarity and helping your customer to feel that they are engaging with you. You can customize landing pages, invoices, packing slips, SMS notifications, and return pages. All of these can be customized by adding your brand colors, logo, and social media links too.

The real-time tracking page is useful for your customers, and you can send out automated emails to update them, too, saving you time trying to set this up with an email marketing service.

Couriers

ShipStation partners with a good few couriers, offering you some good discounts – up to 78% with some of them! You can ship parcels worldwide using different international couriers. Here are a few familiar couriers you can use:

• USPS
• UPS
• FedEx
• DPD
• Stamps.com

eCommerce Platforms

If you’re using an eCommerce platform, you can link it to your ShipStation account easily. They integrate with some big eCommerce services, including the following:

• Amazon
• eBay
• Shopify
• Salesforce
• Squarespace
• Wix
• WooCommerce
• ZenCart

Taxes

I like ShipStation’s rate calculator. Working out costs can become complicated, especially if you’re shipping parcels overseas. The calculator allows you to quickly compare prices between different couriers, making it much easier for you to keep an eye on costs and stay on top of your accounts. (If you need more advice on this, check out our guide to the best accounting software, which may make your life a lot easier.)

Analytics and Reporting

In my opinion, a core strength of ShipStation is the Insights section. The analytics are great: you can see your overall performance, including some obvious metrics you would want to keep an eye on (new orders, orders shipped, etc).

I like that you can track customer engagement: this allows you to see if your customers are reading your shipping update emails, etc. You can run a huge range of reports, too. Comparing countries, checking on your low stock, and other reports are very easy to run, and you can share them with other team members, too.

The Main Features of ShipHero

So, how does ShipHero compare?

UX

ShipHero’s dashboard is pretty good. It’s clear and easy to navigate, and I think I prefer the way it looks compared to ShipStation. The dashboard gives you all the key information you need at a glance: orders to be shipped, orders sent, late orders, etc.

Overall, it’s easy to find where you need to go.

Shipping

The features of ShipHero are slightly different from those offered by ShipStation. Their inventory management system is excellent, especially if you have a large amount of stock to keep an eye on. You can use ShipHero’s warehouses, and the fulfillment workers will take care of everything for you: they’ll replenish stock when it runs out, update the system to reflect changes, etc.

Clicking on a product will bring up all the details you need along the left-hand side, including the barcode, tariff code, tags, size, price, and so on.

You’ll get real-time updates on your inventory, and it will accurately predict delivery times. It’s also designed to give you the most value for money, as well as the most streamlined experience. It makes it super easy to observe whether certain carriers are working for you or not, making it easier to make key decisions.

They have a cool feature called ParcelView, which automatically takes a snapshot of the inside of a package before it is shipped. This helps to protect your business in the case of a dispute, and you just need to set up a camera with a long arm near your shipping station to use it.

Like ShipHero, you can automate certain processes. It also makes it way easier to manage returns, and you can set up a customized returns portal to make it easier for customers.

Warehouse Management

I like the warehouse management offered by ShipHero. For example, their Putaway feature automatically works out where the best place is to keep new products, indicates which products need replenishing, and provides ongoing status updates for products.

Couriers

ShipHero has a Real-Time Carrier Rate Shopping service, which gives you the latest shipping rates from certain couriers. They also have a system where they find and print the cheapest label possible while still ensuring the package will get to the customer on time. This is a powerful tool, making it so much easier to make budget-friendly decisions.

Couriers include the following:

• DHL/DHL Express
• DPD
• UPS
• USPS

eCommerce Platforms

You can integrate ShipHero with your eCommerce platform, which makes the process of managing orders much easier. Integrations include:

• BigCommerce
• Magento 2
• MyStoreNo
• Shopify
• WooCommerce

Analytics and Reporting

The Reports and Insights page is very useful. You can see an overview of key metrics and run reports in a variety of areas of your business, including inventory reporting, operational reporting, shipments reporting, sales reporting, and more.

ShipStation vs ShipHero – Support

When things go wrong, you’ll need a decent customer support team behind you. Let’s see how ShipStation and ShipHero compare.

ShipStation

The knowledge base for ShipStation is good. They have a Help Guide for new users and Workflow Guides for more advanced users to make the most of the platform. It will also help you to integrate with your chosen eCommerce platform and should help if you get stuck at any stage of the process.

The support is good: you can contact them via email or live chat, depending on your price tier. They’re friendly and quick to respond to problems.

ShipHero

ShipHero has two separate knowledge bases for fulfillment and software, with both offering tutorials and guides on how to make the most of the platform. The support is pretty good. You can contact them via email, and they’re friendly and responsive.

ShipStation vs ShipHero – Pricing

Let’s have a look at how they compare in terms of pricing.

ShipStation

There are 6 options for pricing on ShipStation:

Starter – $9.00 per month

• 50 shipments
• 1 user
• Email and community forum support

Bronze – $29 per month

• 500 shipments per month
• 1 user
• Email and community forum support

Silver – $49 per month

• 1500 shipments per month
• 2 users
• Live chat, email, and community forum support

Gold – $69 per month

• 3000 shipments per month
• 3 users
• Live chat, email, and community forum support

Platinum – $99 per month

• 6000 shipments per month
• 5 users
• Live chat, email, and community forum support

Enterprise – $159 per month

• Unlimited shipments
• 10 users
• Live chat, phone support, email, and community forum support

You can take advantage of their free 14-day trial, which should give you plenty of time to figure out if it works well for you. Find out more details on their pricing page.

ShipHero

It’s hard to say how ShipHero compares to ShipStation in terms of pricing. They don’t advertise their prices, and you need to contact them for a quote.

In some ways, this is a good thing: you know that ShipHero will create a package that suits you, which is nice. On the other hand, it’s frustrating if you don’t want to take the time to contact them for a quote.

You can read more about their thought process behind this on their pricing page.

ShipStation vs ShipHero – Pros and Cons

Here’s a quick overview of the highlights of each platform, as well as some features I think could be improved!

ShipStation

Pros

• Offers decent rates for a range of couriers
• Easy-to-use platform
• Can link to some big eCommerce platforms
• Strong analytics and reporting
• Good branding options to build brand familiarity

Cons

• The interface could be updated/less cluttered

ShipHero

Pros

• Good range of couriers to choose from
• Easy-to-navigate platform
• Links to eCommerce platforms
• Good reporting and analytics
• Excellent warehouse management tools

Cons

• Pricing isn’t clear without a quote

ShipStation vs ShipHero – Alternatives to Try

If you want to keep looking, here are some alternatives you can try:

• ShipRush – ShipRush is designed for small-to-medium-sized businesses. It’s pretty similar to ShipStation, and it integrates with a lot of popular eCommerce platforms. Read more in our ShipRush vs ShippingEasy comparison.
• Shippo– Shippo is another user-friendly platform, and it speeds up a lot of repetitive processes when it comes to shipping. Read more about it in our Shippo vs EasyPost comparison.
• Stamps.com – Stamps.com is better for smaller businesses. You can use it with USPS to print and send letters and packages. Find out more in our Shippo vs Stamps.com comparison.

To Sum Up …

It’s hard to compare ShipStation and ShipHero. They both have very different strengths, and you might find that one suits you better than the other because of the logistics of your business. If I had to pick a favorite, I’d go with ShipStation. It has some incredible features: the shipping cost calculator is so useful, and the reporting is in-depth, so you can understand what’s happening in every area of your business.

Having said that, I think that the warehouse and fulfillment features offered by ShipHero are excellent. If you have a large business and you’re having to keep track of a lot of stock, it’s worth contacting them to try a demo. I hope this has helped you to figure out which one works best for you!

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