Is there really no monthly fee?

Really, on Free: you fund a prepaid wallet by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto and pay carrier rates label by label, and Free covers 50 shipments a month with no monthly fee. Past 50 a month, Pro is a flat $40 a month for unlimited shipments.

How does GoatLabels make money without a subscription?

On Free we make a small amount on each label instead of billing you monthly, so a quiet month on Free costs you nothing. Past 50 shipments a month, Pro is a flat $40 a month with no minimum term.

Do I lose rate shopping by leaving ShipStation?

No. Every domestic parcel is quoted against USPS, UPS and FedEx at once (DHL joins on international lanes), each as one all-in price, and the number you pick is the exact amount that leaves your wallet. If you need a carrier outside those four, ShipStation's broader list is a fair reason to stay.

Is the API really free? ShipStation gates API access by plan.

Yes — REST and JSON with Bearer auth, real idempotency keys, signed webhooks, and unlimited calls on every plan, including Free. Automating your shipping never requires moving to a paid tier.

What is the catch on the Free plan?

Free covers 50 shipments a month; past that, Pro is a flat monthly plan with unlimited shipments. That is the entire structure — no seat fees, no per-store fees, no API metering, no minimum to print.

Can I keep my store connections?

Store connectors, Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix, sync into the To Ship queue and get tracking pushed back when you print. Orders that never became store records, DMs, screenshots, voice notes, are drafted by Billy, the built-in AI assistant.

How do I compare real costs before switching?

Run both for a week. Free has no monthly fee and no minimum for up to 50 shipments a month, so the overlap costs only the labels: send a few real orders through, note the all-in rates, add ShipStation's subscription divided by your monthly label count, and compare per-label totals.

Pay-as-you-go shipping software.

A ShipStation alternative with no monthly fee

Pay for labels. Not for months.

GoatLabels Free has no monthly fee for up to 50 shipments a month, and Pro is one flat plan above that: you pay carrier rates from a prepaid wallet, compare USPS, UPS and FedEx on every domestic parcel with DHL on international lanes, and get the REST API free and unlimited.

Create your account Log in

Four carriers, zero plan tiers

USPS, UPS and FedEx live on every domestic parcel, DHL on international lanes, all-in rates with nothing to subscribe to first.

DHL: international

Live quotes One all-in price each.

Quote = debit No day-after invoice.

Same via API Dashboard or endpoint.

A wallet you fund, not a plan you rent

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto — one prepaid balance, spent label by label.

Prepaid Spent label by label.

No minimum A quiet month on Free costs nothing.

Accepted voids credited Back to the balance.

Side by side

How do the two pricing models compare for the same label?

Both tools print multi-carrier labels, so the real comparison is the billing model underneath: a subscription that runs whether you ship or not, versus a wallet that only spends when a label prints. Which one is cheaper depends entirely on how even your months are.

	GoatLabels	ShipStation
What you pay before the first label	Nothing. Fund a prepaid wallet with any amount and buy your first label from it.	Nothing during a 30-day free trial; after it, a monthly plan bills whether or not a label prints.
What a slow month costs	Nothing on Free (up to 50 shipments a month): the wallet only spends when a label prints. Pro ($40 a month, past 50) bills monthly like any plan, with no minimum term.	The same subscription as a busy month — check their current plan pricing.
What happens as volume grows	Free covers 50 shipments a month. Past that, Pro is one flat $40 plan with unlimited shipments.	Plan tiers scale upward with shipment volume.
Carriers rate-shopped	USPS, UPS and FedEx with live all-in rates on every domestic parcel; DHL on international lanes.	Broad multi-carrier list — see their site for current coverage.
API access	Free and unlimited on every plan, including Free — REST, webhooks, idempotency keys.	Tied to plan level — check which tier yours requires.
How orders get in	Store sync, the API, or a pasted DM, screenshot, or voice note drafted by Billy AI.	Store sync, CSV import, or an API call.

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

Updated 2026-10-17

Three reasons shippers walk away from the fee.

A subscription is a bet on your busiest month

A tiered plan prices every month like your best one. On Free each month is priced like itself, and a quiet month costs zero; a month past 50 shipments needs Pro at a flat $40, which has no minimum term, so you can cancel it when volume drops.

No fee means no break-even anxiety

Under a subscription, every label carries an invisible share of the monthly bill, and the fewer you print the bigger that share gets. With a wallet, the all-in carrier rate is the whole cost — there is no overhead to amortize and no tier threshold to watch.

The free tier is not a demo

Free covers 50 shipments a month with USPS, UPS and FedEx rate shopping (DHL on international lanes), the store connectors, Billy AI, and the full REST API, all unlimited. It is a working shipping stack, not a trial with the useful parts removed.

And when ShipStation is the right choice

You ship at a volume where ShipStation's automation rules, batching, and multi-warehouse workflows earn back the subscription every week — that operational depth is what the fee buys.
You need a carrier GoatLabels doesn't rate-shop: our carriers are USPS, UPS and FedEx on domestic parcels and DHL on international lanes, and that is the honest list.
Your team is trained on ShipStation and the retraining cost outweighs the fee. A pricing page is not a reason to disrupt a working operation.

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

ShipStation sells three monthly plans priced by shipment volume, after a 30-day free trial: Starter starts at $14.99, Standard at $29.99 and Premium at $349.99 a month, each at 50 shipments a month. (ShipStation pricing page)
The price rises with the shipment tier inside each plan, for example Starter is $79.99 and Standard is $149.99 a month at 1,000 shipments a month. (ShipStation pricing page)
Its pricing FAQ says it charges nothing beyond the subscription unless you add users or certain add-ons, and that postage and insurance are paid separately. (ShipStation pricing page)
Bringing your existing carrier accounts is listed as a Standard plan feature, while Starter lists only Worldwide Express or Unishippers LTL accounts. (ShipStation pricing page)
The plan comparison marks API access as not included on Starter and included on Standard and Premium. (ShipStation pricing page)
The separate ShipStation API product has a Free plan that uses its own discounted carrier rates, and its Advanced plan, from $75 a month for 1,000 labels, adds your own carrier accounts and complete API access. (ShipStation API pricing page)
Refunds for voided labels are issued by the postage provider you bought the label from, under that provider's void and refund policy, and voided labels still count toward your plan's shipment limit. (ShipStation Help: Void Labels)
A subscription can be cancelled at any time and stays active until the end of the current billing cycle, after which access is limited to the Payment and Subscription settings and reports can no longer be run. (ShipStation Help: Cancel Subscription)
For US accounts, a remaining ShipStation Balance is refunded automatically within 14 business days once the subscription has been closed for 30 days. (ShipStation Help: Cancel Subscription)
The copyright line on ShipStation's pricing page reads ShipStation Global, 2026 Auctane Inc. (ShipStation pricing page)

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

How pay-per-label works

The same pipeline. Without a meter running under it.

Orders arrive however they arrive: store sync from any of the store connectors, an API call, or a DM you paste in for Billy to draft. Every domestic parcel is rate-shopped across USPS, UPS and FedEx as all-in prices (DHL on international lanes), and the label you buy debits a prepaid wallet you topped up with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto. Every carrier, connector and API call is on both plans, and there is no per-call API pricing. Ship two parcels in January on Free and January bills two labels; a November past 50 shipments needs Pro's flat monthly fee, not a per-label meter.

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, no import mapping.

Billy AI

Included on Free, not sold as a tier.

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 monthly fee on Free, up to 50 shipments a month. The carrier rate is the whole cost — there is no fee to amortize across it.

Every channel, one billing model.

Connectors for the storefronts, AI for everything else.

Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix sync into To Ship and get tracking pushed back when you print, with no per-store fee attached to any of them. Orders that never became store records get pasted or screenshotted in, and Billy drafts the label without a connector existing at all.

Shopify

Etsy

WooCommerce

eBay

Wix

Connect a store Or use the API

Everything the subscription bought. Nothing it billed for.

What you keep when the fee goes.
More than you'd guess.

Dropping a subscription usually means dropping features with it. This is the list that stays: four carriers, the connectors, the API, and an AI assistant — every one of them on the Free plan, every one of them without a meter.

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.

Wallet balance

$1,247.36 USD

AI drafting for orders
that are not JSON

A DM, a comment thread, a voice note, a screenshot — Billy reads any of them and drafts the whole label, unlimited on the Free plan. There is no assistant surcharge; Pro adds Billy on Telegram.

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
on Free

Fund the wallet, pay per label, and let a quiet month cost nothing. 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 side by side, and the number you see is the exact amount that leaves your balance. That is the honest carrier list — if you need one outside it, ShipStation's broader network is a fair reason to stay. Every quote is final at purchase: no fuel line, no residential line, no carrier bill arriving the day after.

Compare rates

UPS $12.48

FedEx $13.22

DHL $14.10

USPS $11.79

Duties inside the quote where DDP applies

The API without
a plan gate

REST and JSON, one Bearer header, idempotency keys so a retry cannot double-buy a label, and signed webhooks for tracking events. ShipStation ties API access to plan level; here it is unlimited on Free.

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

No desktop leg of the trip

The whole workflow fits in your pocket.

A tool with no monthly fee on Free (up to 50 shipments a month) should also have no monthly ceremony. The queue, the carrier quotes, and the buy button all fit on the phone in your hand: paste an order at the packing table, buy the cheapest all-in rate, and print without ever opening a laptop.

Paste the DM, snap the thread, or drop the screenshot — Billy pulls the name, the address, and the parcel out of it.

No import mapping and no CSV step: the message is the order record.

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 on every plan

Talk to Billy, free tier included.

Assistants are the classic upsell tier. Billy runs unlimited on Free: hold the mic, say who the parcel is going to, and it looks up the buyer, rate-shops USPS, UPS and FedEx (DHL on international lanes), and queues the label against your prepaid balance, then answers for it afterwards. 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.

Carriers quoted on the same parcel, each an all-in number that is the exact amount leaving your prepaid balance. No fee means the quote is the entire cost of the label — nothing amortized on top, and a carrier re-weigh posts as its own line on that shipment.

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

Free API, and actually unlimited.

No per-call pricing, no plan tier deciding whether you get webhooks. REST, JSON, one Bearer header, real idempotency keys so a retried request cannot double-buy a label, and signed webhooks for tracking and label events instead of polling. The dashboard and the API buy from the same prepaid balance.

Create, rate-shop, and buy — three calls, no plan gate in front of them

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 }
}

The whole pricing model, on one card

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 plan for unlimited shipments, worth it only when your volume says so. Neither one is a minimum you have to hit before a label prints, and that is the entire structure.

Pro

Free

$0 / forever

A working shipping stack with no 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

ShipStationShippoPirate Ship

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. ShipStation's plans change, so check the dated source block above against their current pricing page. Full pricing details

Who pay-per-label actually fits

The fee hits hardest when volume is uneven.

A subscription averages out fine for warehouses shipping every day. These are the sellers whose months don't average — and for whom a wallet that spends only when a label prints changes the math.

Seasonal and drop-driven sellers

TikTok Shop & live commerce

Prepaid

Volume that arrives in bursts fits a prepaid wallet better than a plan. Pre-fund before a drop and print all night; on Free (up to 50 shipments a month) the quiet weeks after cost nothing.

4 carriers in one account no monthly fee bulk print

GoatLabels shipments queue with purchased labels

Side businesses and part-timers

Shipping a few days a week

When shipping is not your full-time job, a monthly fee is overhead on a hobby's margins. Pay for the labels you print and nothing else — the tool costs zero on the days you don't use it.

One queue, connector or not

Order #1024 · pasted from a comment thread

Sellers living in the DMs

The orders that never became JSON

got the dress! can you ship to Austin?

Label drafted · CL-1024

Devs priced out of API tiers

REST and the UI, one balance

for unlimited API calls, on every plan

Real sellers, real words

Sellers who stopped paying for the quiet months.

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

No monthly fee, answered

Is there really no monthly fee?: Really, on Free: you fund a prepaid wallet by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto and pay carrier rates label by label, and Free covers 50 shipments a month with no monthly fee. Past 50 a month, Pro is a flat $40 a month for unlimited shipments.
How does GoatLabels make money without a subscription?: On Free we make a small amount on each label instead of billing you monthly, so a quiet month on Free costs you nothing. Past 50 shipments a month, Pro is a flat $40 a month with no minimum term.
Do I lose rate shopping by leaving ShipStation?: No. Every domestic parcel is quoted against USPS, UPS and FedEx at once (DHL joins on international lanes), each as one all-in price, and the number you pick is the exact amount that leaves your wallet. If you need a carrier outside those four, ShipStation's broader list is a fair reason to stay.
Is the API really free? ShipStation gates API access by plan.: Yes — REST and JSON with Bearer auth, real idempotency keys, signed webhooks, and unlimited calls on every plan, including Free. Automating your shipping never requires moving to a paid tier.
What is the catch on the Free plan?: Free covers 50 shipments a month; past that, Pro is a flat monthly plan with unlimited shipments. That is the entire structure — no seat fees, no per-store fees, no API metering, no minimum to print.
Can I keep my store connections?: Store connectors, Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix, sync into the To Ship queue and get tracking pushed back when you print. Orders that never became store records, DMs, screenshots, voice notes, are drafted by Billy, the built-in AI assistant.
How do I compare real costs before switching?: Run both for a week. Free has no monthly fee and no minimum for up to 50 shipments a month, so the overlap costs only the labels: send a few real orders through, note the all-in rates, add ShipStation's subscription divided by your monthly label count, and compare per-label totals.

Want the full head-to-head? Read GoatLabels vs ShipStation, see how ShipStation's pricing is structured, or run the numbers for your shop size on the small-business break-even page. Ready to move? Here is the switch, step by step.

Prove it on one real order before you decide.

Keep the carriers and the API.
Cancel the fee.

Fund a wallet with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto, send one real order through, and compare the all-in USPS, UPS and FedEx rates (DHL on international lanes) against your current per-label cost with the subscription folded in.

Create your account Talk to us

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

A ShipStation alternative with no monthly fee

Four carriers, zero plan tiers

A wallet you fund, not a plan you rent

How do the two pricing models compare for the same label?

Three reasons shippers walk away from the fee.

A subscription is a bet on your busiest month

No fee means no break-even anxiety

The free tier is not a demo

And when ShipStation is the right choice

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

The same pipeline. Without a meter running under it.

Included on Free, not sold as a tier.

Connectors for the storefronts, AI for everything else.

What you keep when the fee goes. More than you'd guess.

One prepaid wallet, five ways to fund it

AI drafting for orders that are not JSON

No monthly fee on Free

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL in one account

The API without a plan gate

The whole workflow fits in your pocket.

Talk to Billy, free tier included.

The quote is the debit.

USPS

UPS

FedEx

Free API, and actually unlimited.

No plan to clear first.

Pro

Free

Billy is not a paid tier

API free on every plan

Compare on your own invoice

The fee hits hardest when volume is uneven.

Seasonal and drop-driven sellers

Side businesses and part-timers

Sellers living in the DMs

Devs priced out of API tiers

Sellers who stopped paying for the quiet months.

No monthly fee, answered

Keep the carriers and the API. Cancel the fee.

What you keep when the fee goes.
More than you'd guess.

One prepaid wallet,
five ways to fund it

AI drafting for orders
that are not JSON

No monthly fee
on Free

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL
in one account

The API without
a plan gate

Keep the carriers and the API.
Cancel the fee.