What does GoatLabels charge instead?

The quoted label price is what you pay. You fund a prepaid wallet, every label debits the all-in rate you accepted, and there is no monthly fee on Free. Free covers 50 shipments a month; past that, Pro is one flat monthly plan with unlimited shipments.

Is the quoted rate the final price?

Yes. Each quote is a single all-in number and that exact amount leaves the wallet balance when you buy. Nothing is added at checkout, and an accepted void credits the amount back to the balance.

What does a month with no shipments cost?

Nothing. There is no subscription on the free plan and no monthly fee, so the wallet simply sits where you left it until the next label.

Does the API cost extra?

No. The REST API is free with unlimited calls on every plan, including Free — no request budget, no API tier, and signed webhooks included.

When is a Shippo Pro tier actually cheaper?

Against Shippo Starter, Pro is what you need once you pass 30 labels a month; it does not unlock different carrier discounts, because Shippo lists discounted USPS, UPS and FedEx labels plus DHL Express on every plan. Against GoatLabels, Shippo Pro's two lowest bands cost less per month than GoatLabels Pro, so a steady 51 to 500 labels a month can favour Shippo on plan fees. Run your last three months of labels through the fee calculator rather than your best month.

Can I compare both on a real order?

Yes, and it is the only comparison worth making. Put one real shipment through GoatLabels, note the all-in rate, and compare it against the carrier rate plus whatever your current plan adds. Free has no monthly fee for up to 50 shipments a month, so the overlap stays cheap.

Two moving parts: a fee and a tier.

Shippo pricing, explained

And what a carrier-rate model costs instead.

Shippo's free Starter plan covers up to 30 labels a month, its Pro plans bill monthly by label volume, and its API charges per label after 30 free a month. On GoatLabels the quoted label price is what you pay from a prepaid wallet.

Create your account Log in

The carrier rate, and nothing on top

USPS, UPS and FedEx quoted as one all-in number on a domestic parcel, DHL on international lanes, the exact amount debited.

DHL: international

Live quotes One all-in price each.

No label fee Nothing added at checkout.

Same via API Dashboard or endpoint.

A prepaid wallet, not a subscription

Top up with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto and spend it label by label.

Prepaid Spent label by label.

No minimum A quiet month on Free costs nothing.

Accepted voids credited Back to the balance.

The two moving parts

How does Shippo pricing work?

Shippo's pricing has two components that behave very differently. One is charged per label, so it scales with how much you ship. That part applies to API labels after the first 30 a month, to Starter labels bought through your own carrier account, and to Pro labels beyond 10,000 a month; web app labels at Shippo's own rates carry none. The other is the plan: Starter is free up to 30 labels a month, and Pro bills by label band, so it scales with the calendar and with the band you choose. Which of the two hurts depends on how you buy labels and whether your volume is steady, seasonal, or nonexistent this month.

	GoatLabels	Shippo
The per-label component	None. The all-in carrier rate you accept is the whole price of the label.	None on web app labels bought at Shippo's rates. Per-label fees apply to Starter labels on your own carrier account, to Pro labels beyond 10,000 a month, and to API labels after the first 30 each month.
The subscription component	None on Free (50 shipments a month). Past that, Pro is a flat $40 a month with unlimited shipments, also billed for its period whether or not you shipped.	Starter is free up to 30 labels a month. Above that, Pro is billed monthly or annually by label band, whether or not you shipped.
The month you don't ship	$0 on Free: no monthly fee and nothing to cancel. Pro bills its flat $40 for the month.	Nothing on Starter. A Pro plan still bills for its period.
What the quote means	The number on screen is the number debited from the wallet. Nothing is added at checkout.	The label price, with any plan fee billed separately and, through the API, a per-label fee after the first 30 labels a month.
Where a refund goes	An accepted void credits the prepaid balance, spendable on the next label.	Request it within 90 days; Shippo processes it within 14 business days and credits your Shippo account on the next invoice.
API access	Free and unlimited on every plan, including Free.	API Starter is free for 30 labels a month, then charges per label, with standalone tracking, rating and address validation calls billed per call. API Premier is custom-priced.

Shippo is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with GoatLabels. Their plans, fees, and carrier list change — compare against their current pricing page before you decide.

Updated 2026-10-17

Where do Shippo's fees show up on your invoice?

The per-label fee is a tax on order count

Shippo charges one on API labels after the first 30 a month and on Starter labels bought through your own carrier account. It does not care whether a label costs $4 or $40, so it takes the largest proportional bite out of your smallest parcels. Integrations that print many small parcels feel it first.

The subscription is a tax on the calendar

A Pro tier bills for the month, not for the labels. That is fine at steady volume. When your year has one enormous quarter and three quiet ones, you either pay the peak band through the trough or change bands each cycle, since Shippo applies a downgrade at the end of the billing cycle.

The label price is not the whole cost

When a fee sits between the quote and the charge, the number you see while rate-shopping is not the number that lands on the bill. On Shippo that gap is the API's per-label fee, Starter's fee on your own carrier account, or a Pro plan billed by band. GoatLabels shows one all-in figure per carrier and debits exactly that from your prepaid wallet, so margin maths uses the number on screen.

And when Shippo's pricing is the right choice

You print 30 or fewer labels a month at Shippo's rates, where Starter is free, or a steady 51 to 500, where Shippo Pro's band costs less per month than GoatLabels Pro. The fee calculator shows where that flips.
You need a carrier outside USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL, or you run your own negotiated carrier accounts. Their network and bring-your-own-account support are broader than ours.
The cost is already budgeted, the integration works, and nobody on your team is complaining. A pricing page is not a reason to migrate.

What Shippo's own pages say, checked 2026-10-17

Shippo's Starter web plan is free for up to 30 labels a month, with one user login and email support. (Shippo pricing page)
Pro is priced by monthly label band, from $19 a month (or $205 a year) for 1-200 labels to $199 a month (or $2,149 a year) for 5,001-10,000 labels, and Premier is quoted by Shippo's sales team. (Shippo pricing page)
On Starter, labels bought through your own connected carrier account cost $0.05 each, while connecting your own account is free on Pro and Premier. (Shippo pricing page)
Pro labels beyond 10,000 a month are billed at $0.08 per label. (Shippo pricing page)
Shippo's pricing FAQ lists postage, a subscription plan fee where one applies, optional insurance and an optional global address validation fee per lookup as the charges, with no hidden fees. (Shippo pricing page)
Discounted USPS, UPS and FedEx labels plus DHL Express are included on every web app plan, Starter included. (Shippo pricing page)
API Starter includes 30 free labels a month, then charges $0.07 per label, and API Premier is custom-priced. (Shippo API pricing page)
Standalone API calls are billed per use at $0.02 per tracking request, $0.01 per rate generation, $0.03 per delivery estimate, and $0.02 per US or $0.08 per non-US address validation. (Shippo API pricing page)
For labels on Shippo's own carrier accounts, refunds for unused labels must be requested within 90 days of purchase, are processed within 14 business days, and are credited to your Shippo account on your next invoice. (Shippo help: refund a label created in Shippo)
Plans can be changed or cancelled at any time from the Plan page in the app or through Shippo support, and a downgrade takes effect at the end of the billing cycle. (Shippo pricing page)

Checked on 2026-10-17 from Shippo's own pages. Plans, fees and policies change, so confirm on the vendor's current page before you decide. Shippo is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with GoatLabels.

What a no-fee model looks like

One number per carrier. That number leaves the wallet.

Here is the whole pricing model, end to end. Orders arrive however they arrive (a store connector, an API call, a DM, or a screenshot you drop in), and Billy drafts the label from any of them for you to confirm. Rate-shopping returns live all-in prices from USPS, UPS and FedEx (DHL on international lanes), and the price you accept is debited from a prepaid wallet funded with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto. There is no platform fee inserted between the quote and the debit, no monthly fee on Free, and nothing to cancel on Free if you stop shipping for a season. Void a label and, after the carrier accepts the void, the amount is credited back to the balance rather than refunded through a billing cycle. Free covers 50 shipments a month; past that, Pro is a flat monthly fee with unlimited shipments.

Any order shape in

Store sync, API, DM, or screenshot

maya_boutique

Hey! 2x hoodies (M) 1x tee (L) 😅 Ship to: Maya R. Austin, TX 78701

Shopify

Synced into To Ship

Etsy

Synced into To Ship

DM screenshot

Order: #1847
Customer: Jordan Lee
Items: 1x Hoodie (L)
Address: Brooklyn, NY

Drop the screenshot or paste the DM

Connectors, REST API, DMs, and screenshots — one queue and one prepaid balance behind all of it.

Billy AI

Drafted before a cent moves.

Reads a DM, comment thread, voice note, or screenshot
Fills the addresses and the package details
Rate-shops USPS, UPS and FedEx at the all-in price, DHL on international lanes
Hands the drafted label back for you to confirm

Drafted. Checked. Yours to confirm.

Clean label out

Bought from the wallet

Paid from your prepaid balance

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto

$12.47

Label purchased

USPS Priority Mail — all-in rate

$12.47

No platform fee between the quote and the debit. No monthly fee on Free, up to 50 shipments a month.

What you get without paying a tier for it.

Connectors on the free plan, not behind one.

Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix sync into To Ship and get tracking pushed back when you print, included rather than unlocked. The orders that never became records go into the same queue by paste or screenshot, and the REST API is free and unlimited alongside both.

Shopify

Etsy

WooCommerce

eBay

Wix

Connect a store Or use the API

The pieces that are priced, and the pieces that are not.

One price line: the label.
Everything else is included.

The clearest way to read a pricing page is to ask what has a meter on it. Here the answer is short: the label, at the carrier's all-in rate. The API, the connectors, the AI assistant, and the dashboard do not have meters, and Free covers 50 shipments a month without a subscription.

One prepaid wallet,
five ways to fund it

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH bank transfer, and crypto all top up the same balance, and every method buys identical rates, carriers, and features. Void a shipment and, after the carrier accepts the void, the credit lands back in the wallet rather than being refunded through a statement cycle.

Wallet balance

$1,247.36 USD

AI drafting for orders
that are not JSON

The assistant that turns a DM, a screenshot, or a voice note into a drafted label is not a paid add-on and not a Pro feature in the web app. It runs unlimited on Free, because the thing we charge for is the label.

Billy LIVE

Where's the package to Maya?

It's in transit via UPS. Expected Friday, Aug 7.

1Z8923A6B05G4123456

In transit

Austin, TX → Dallas, TX

Ask Billy anything...

No monthly fee
to print

Fund the wallet, pay per label, and ship nothing in February without paying for February. Free covers 50 shipments a month; past that, Pro is one flat monthly plan with unlimited shipments.

Shipment summary

UPS Ground $12.49

Insurance $0.75

Fuel surcharge $0.32

Total $13.56

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL
in one account

Live all-in rates from USPS, UPS and FedEx side by side on every domestic parcel, DHL on international lanes, and the number on screen is the exact amount that leaves your balance, that is what makes the pricing legible. That is also the honest carrier list; if you need one outside it, Shippo's broader network is the reason to stay. Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix sync into To Ship and push tracking back when you print, at no additional cost and behind no tier.

Compare rates

UPS $12.48

FedEx $13.22

DHL $14.10

USPS $11.79

Duties inside the quote where DDP applies

The API you did not
want to give up

REST and JSON, one Bearer header, idempotency keys so a retry cannot double-buy a label, and signed webhooks instead of polling — free and unlimited on every plan. The dashboard and the API buy from the same balance, so there is one number to reconcile rather than two.

POST /v1/shipments

{

"to": { "name": "Maya" },

"from": { "name": "Alex" },

"service": "ups_ground",

"label_format": "pdf"

}

Webhook delivered

GoatLabels mobile shipments queue with all-in carrier prices

Billy drafting a label from a pasted DM on mobile

Label ready

CL-1038 · Brooklyn, NY

Where the fee model gets personal

A small parcel deserves a small price.

A flat fee per label is hardest on the shipment that was already cheap. If your average parcel is a padded mailer rather than a pallet, the fee is a meaningful share of what you paid — and it is charged again on the next one. A carrier-rate model keeps the cheap parcel cheap.

Paste the order or drop a screenshot — Billy pulls the name, the address, and the parcel out of it.

No import mapping and no CSV step, and neither one is a paid feature.

USPS, UPS and FedEx come back as all-in prices on one screen, DHL on international lanes.

Buy from the prepaid balance and one-tap print to a share sheet or a thermal printer over Wi-Fi.

Hold the mic at the packing table and say the address — Billy drafts it and reads the rate back.

Included, not upsold

Talk to Billy, on the free plan.

Assistants are usually the thing a pricing page puts behind the top tier. Hold the mic, say who the parcel is going to, and Billy looks up the buyer, rate-shops USPS, UPS and FedEx (DHL on international lanes), and queues the label against your prepaid balance, unlimited in the web app on Free. This is the real product, not a render.

Billy reading back a parcel's tracking history over the purchased labels list

Listening

"Where's Maya's package?"

Out for delivery

CL-1039 · Austin, TX · by 6 PM

Plain English in — names, addresses, weights, carriers, services · nothing to import and nothing to map · reads the all-in rate back before a cent leaves the wallet · phone, browser, or Telegram on Pro.

All-in quotes

The quote is the debit.

Three carriers on the same parcel, each an all-in number that is the exact amount leaving your prepaid balance. That equality is the entire pricing model: no platform fee on the way through, a carrier re-weigh posted as its own line on that shipment, and an accepted void credits the wallet rather than a card statement weeks out.

CA → NY 2.6 lbs 12×8×4 in

USPS

Ground Advantage

2 to 5 days

$11.40

all-in · no surprises

Cheapest

UPS

Ground

1 to 5 days

$9.85

all-in · no surprises

FedEx

Ground

1 to 5 days

$11.20

all-in · no surprises

No carrier invoice the day after Accepted void → credit back to the wallet you funded Multi-currency display

Public API v1

The API has no price line.

REST, JSON, one Bearer header, real idempotency keys so a retried request cannot double-buy a label, signed webhooks for tracking and label events instead of polling, and errors that name what to fix. Unlimited calls on Free and on Pro — it is not a tier, an add-on, or a metered resource.

Create, rate-shop, and buy — the same three calls you already write

Signed webhooks for tracking and label events instead of polling

Real idempotency keys — a retried request never buys two labels

OpenAPI 3.1 spec, no SDK lock-in, unlimited calls on every plan

Read the API docs Get an API key $0 on every plan

curl https://api.goatlabels.io/api/v1/shipments

201 Created · 187ms

request response

POST /api/v1/shipments
Authorization: Bearer sk_live_…
Idempotency-Key: ord_8421

{
  "to": { "name": "Joyce", "city": "Berlin", "country": "DE" },
  "parcel": { "weight": 2.6, "weight_unit": "lb" },
  "service": "fedex_intl_priority"
}

← 201 Created // buy it with POST /api/v1/shipments/{id}/purchase
{
  "id": "shp_44819",
  "status": "draft",
  "amount": { "subtotal": 72.25, "duty_and_tax": 14.20, "total": 86.45 }
}

No plan to clear first

No plan to clear first.

Free covers 50 shipments a month with the public API, the store connectors, and Billy all unlimited underneath it — the quoted label price is what you pay from a prepaid wallet. Pro is a flat monthly fee for unlimited shipments: the plan for the months when the label count stops being the point. Neither one is a minimum you have to hit before a label prints.

Pro

Free

$0 / forever

Enough to run a real shop without a subscription under it.

50 shipments a month, no monthly fee

USPS, UPS and FedEx on every domestic parcel; DHL on international lanes

The full REST API with unlimited calls and signed webhooks

Billy AI in the web app, unlimited — paste, screenshot, or speak

Store connectors included: Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix

Start free

Billy is not a paid tier

The assistant that reads a DM, a screenshot, or a voice note into a drafted label runs unlimited in the web app on Free. Pro adds Billy on Telegram.

Web, every plan

Telegram, Pro

API free on every plan

GET /api/v1/shipments

200 OK · plan: free

Unlimited calls on Free — still unlimited on Pro.

Compare on your own invoice

Quote last month's parcels here and compare them line by line against the invoice you pay today on

ShippoPirate ShipShipStation

No contracts No monthly fee Free to sign up

Label prices are quoted live from USPS, UPS and FedEx (plus DHL on international lanes) and shown as one all-in number, the same number that leaves your wallet. Shippo's fees and plans change; the Shippo figures on this page were checked against Shippo's own pricing pages on 2026-10-17, so confirm them there before you decide. Full pricing details

Who the fee structure hits hardest

Not every Shippo customer is overpaying.

Whether Shippo's per-label fees or its Pro plan matter depends on how you buy labels and the shape of your volume. These are the shapes where a carrier-rate model wins, and the ones where it does not are named on this page too.

Seasonal and drop-driven sellers

Peak-shaped volume, flat-shaped bill

Prepaid

A subscription priced for your busiest month keeps billing through the quiet ones until you change it. A prepaid wallet only moves when a label prints, so on Free (up to 50 shipments a month) the trough costs nothing, and Pro, needed past 50, has no minimum term, so you can cancel it for the trough.

4 carriers in one account no monthly fee bulk print

GoatLabels shipments queue with purchased labels

High order count, low order value

Where a flat fee bites hardest

A per-label fee takes the same amount from a $6 order as a $600 one. Shops selling many small things pay it many times, on the parcels that could least afford it.

One queue, connector or not

Order #1024 · pasted from a comment thread

Sellers living in the DMs

Orders no plan tier accounts for

got the dress! can you ship to Austin?

Label drafted · CL-1024

Devs pricing an integration

Unit economics that survive scale

wallet behind the API and the dashboard

Real sellers, real words

Sellers who read the invoice and did the arithmetic.

A video took off and I had 80 TikTok Shop orders by morning. I printed every label from my phone on the bus to the post office.

Early customer · TikTok

TikTok Shop seller

TikTok Shop

I run my Etsy shop from the kitchen. The AI reads the order, picks the carrier, the label prints. That's the whole workflow now.

Early customer · Etsy

Etsy maker

Etsy

The API is what every shipping API pretends to be. Idempotency that actually works.

Sasha R.

Staff engineer, marketplace

API user

Shippo pricing FAQ

How does Shippo pricing work?: The web app has three plans. Starter is free for up to 30 labels a month, with a per-label fee only on labels bought through your own carrier account. Pro is billed monthly or annually by label band, with a per-label overage only beyond 10,000 labels a month, and Premier is quoted by Shippo's sales team. The API is priced separately: 30 labels a month free, then a fee on every label, with standalone tracking, rating and address validation calls billed per call. Shippo's own figures, checked 2026-10-17, are in the dated block on this page.
What does GoatLabels charge instead?: The quoted label price is what you pay. You fund a prepaid wallet, every label debits the all-in rate you accepted, and there is no monthly fee on Free. Free covers 50 shipments a month; past that, Pro is one flat monthly plan with unlimited shipments.
Is the quoted rate the final price?: Yes. Each quote is a single all-in number and that exact amount leaves the wallet balance when you buy. Nothing is added at checkout, and an accepted void credits the amount back to the balance.
What does a month with no shipments cost?: Nothing. There is no subscription on the free plan and no monthly fee, so the wallet simply sits where you left it until the next label.
Does the API cost extra?: No. The REST API is free with unlimited calls on every plan, including Free — no request budget, no API tier, and signed webhooks included.
When is a Shippo Pro tier actually cheaper?: Against Shippo Starter, Pro is what you need once you pass 30 labels a month; it does not unlock different carrier discounts, because Shippo lists discounted USPS, UPS and FedEx labels plus DHL Express on every plan. Against GoatLabels, Shippo Pro's two lowest bands cost less per month than GoatLabels Pro, so a steady 51 to 500 labels a month can favour Shippo on plan fees. Run your last three months of labels through the fee calculator rather than your best month.
Can I compare both on a real order?: Yes, and it is the only comparison worth making. Put one real shipment through GoatLabels, note the all-in rate, and compare it against the carrier rate plus whatever your current plan adds. Free has no monthly fee for up to 50 shipments a month, so the overlap stays cheap.

Want the model rather than the teardown? Read how label pricing works here or the full pricing page. Comparing the tools directly? See GoatLabels vs Shippo or the step-by-step migration guide. Working out your own volume? Use the Shippo fee calculator.

Price one real parcel before you decide.

Keep the carriers.
Lose the fee and the tier.

Fund a wallet with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto, quote the next parcel you were going to ship anyway, and compare the all-in USPS, UPS or FedEx number (DHL on international lanes) against the carrier rate plus whatever your current plan adds to it.

Create your account Talk to us

No contract. No card required. No monthly fee on Free, up to 50 shipments a month.

Shippo pricing, explained

The carrier rate, and nothing on top

A prepaid wallet, not a subscription

How does Shippo pricing work?

Where do Shippo's fees show up on your invoice?

The per-label fee is a tax on order count

The subscription is a tax on the calendar

The label price is not the whole cost

And when Shippo's pricing is the right choice

What Shippo's own pages say, checked 2026-10-17

One number per carrier. That number leaves the wallet.

Drafted before a cent moves.

Connectors on the free plan, not behind one.

One price line: the label. Everything else is included.

One prepaid wallet, five ways to fund it

AI drafting for orders that are not JSON

No monthly fee to print

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL in one account

The API you did not want to give up

A small parcel deserves a small price.

Talk to Billy, on the free plan.

The quote is the debit.

USPS

UPS

FedEx

The API has no price line.

No plan to clear first.

Pro

Free

Billy is not a paid tier

API free on every plan

Compare on your own invoice

Not every Shippo customer is overpaying.

Seasonal and drop-driven sellers

High order count, low order value

Sellers living in the DMs

Devs pricing an integration

Sellers who read the invoice and did the arithmetic.

Shippo pricing FAQ

Keep the carriers. Lose the fee and the tier.

One price line: the label.
Everything else is included.

One prepaid wallet,
five ways to fund it

AI drafting for orders
that are not JSON

No monthly fee
to print

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL
in one account

The API you did not
want to give up

Keep the carriers.
Lose the fee and the tier.