Is there really no monthly fee?

Really. GoatLabels has no subscription at any volume: you fund a prepaid wallet by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto and pay carrier rates label by label. Pro exists as an optional flat plan for high volume, but nothing about printing a label ever requires it.

How does GoatLabels make money without a subscription?

We make a small amount on each label instead of billing you monthly. That aligns the incentive: we only earn when you actually ship, which is why a quiet month costs you nothing.

Do I lose rate shopping by leaving ShipStation?

No. Every parcel is quoted against USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL at once, 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 and cheaper label pricing. 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?

Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, and TikTok Shop 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. There is no fee and no minimum on this side, so the overlap costs nothing: 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 has no subscription at any volume: you pay carrier rates from a prepaid wallet, keep four-carrier rate shopping, and get the REST API free and unlimited.

Create your account Log in

Four carriers, zero plan tiers

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

all quoted

Four 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 costs nothing.

Voids credited Back to the balance.

Side by side

Two ways to pay 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.	A monthly subscription — the meter starts before a label prints.
What a slow month costs	Nothing. The wallet only spends when a label prints.	The same subscription as a busy month — check their current plan pricing.
What happens as volume grows	Per-label rates get cheaper. An optional flat Pro plan exists when the math favors it.	Plan tiers scale upward with shipment volume.
Carriers rate-shopped	USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL with live all-in rates on every parcel.	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.

Three reasons shippers walk away from the fee.

A subscription is a bet on your busiest month

A monthly plan prices every month like your best one. Pay-per-label prices each month like itself: heavy months cost more because you shipped more, and quiet months cost zero because the wallet only moves when a label prints.

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 four-carrier rate shopping, 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 — we quote USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL, 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.

How pay-per-label works

The same pipeline. Without a meter running under it.

Orders arrive however they arrive — store sync from Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, or TikTok Shop, an API call, or a DM you paste in for Billy to draft. Every parcel is rate-shopped across USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL as four all-in prices, and the label you buy debits a prepaid wallet you topped up with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto. That is the entire cost structure: no subscription clearing monthly, no plan tier deciding which features you get, no per-call API pricing. Ship two hundred parcels in November and two in January, and each month bills exactly like itself.

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

TikTok Shop

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.

2 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, FedEx, and DHL at the all-in price
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 minimum to print. 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, and TikTok Shop 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.

Via AI tiles: an order that never became a record still becomes a label.

maya_boutique

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

Label ready

$12.47

13 connected today 2 via AI 8 coming soon

Connect a store Or use the API

Connected today 13 storefronts sync to To Ship

Shopify

Etsy

WooCommerce

TikTok Shop

Amazon

eBay

Squarespace

Wix

Walmart

Square

BigCommerce

Magento

Temu

Via AI

Instagram AI

Facebook AI

DM and screenshot parsing — the AI builds the label.

Coming soon

Shopify Plus Soon

Zapier Soon

NetSuite Soon

Ecwid Soon

Shein Soon

ChannelAdvisor Soon

SkuVault Soon

Zoho Inventory Soon

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 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 and no tier where it unlocks.

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
at any volume

Fund the wallet, pay per label, and let a quiet month cost nothing. Pro is an optional flat plan for when volume makes cheaper label pricing worth it — a choice you make when the math says so, not a gate on printing.

Shipment summary

UPS Ground $12.49

Insurance $0.75

Fuel surcharge $0.32

Total $13.56

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL
in one quote

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 & taxes paid

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 should also have no monthly ceremony. The queue, the four 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, FedEx, and DHL come back as four all-in prices on one screen.

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, FedEx, and DHL, 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.

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, nothing arriving the day after with an adjustment on it.

US → DE 2.6 lbs 12×8×4 in

USPS

Priority Mail Intl

10–15 days

$18.30

$10.00 of taxes & duties included

all-in · no surprises

Best balance

FedEx

Intl Connect Plus

3–5 days

$22.80

$11.00 of taxes & duties included

all-in · no surprises

DHL

Express Worldwide

1–2 days

$26.20

$12.20 of taxes & duties included

all-in · no surprises

No carrier invoice the day after 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": 1.2, "weight_unit": "kg" },
  "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 — we make a little on each label instead of billing you monthly. Pro is a flat plan for unlimited shipments and cheaper label pricing, 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 minimum to print

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL rate-shopped on every parcel

The full REST API with unlimited calls and signed webhooks

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

Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, and TikTok Shop sync included

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.

Bring the invoice you pay today

On Pro we will work with you to beat the label rates you are already getting from

ShipStationShippoPirate Ship

No contracts No monthly minimum to print Start in seconds

Label prices are quoted live from USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL and shown as one all-in number — the same number that leaves your wallet. ShipStation's plans move, so compare against their current pricing page rather than a figure on ours. 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, print all night, then pay nothing at all through the quiet weeks after it.

4 carriers per quote no monthly minimum 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. GoatLabels has no subscription at any volume: you fund a prepaid wallet by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto and pay carrier rates label by label. Pro exists as an optional flat plan for high volume, but nothing about printing a label ever requires it.
How does GoatLabels make money without a subscription?: We make a small amount on each label instead of billing you monthly. That aligns the incentive: we only earn when you actually ship, which is why a quiet month costs you nothing.
Do I lose rate shopping by leaving ShipStation?: No. Every parcel is quoted against USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL at once, 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 and cheaper label pricing. 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?: Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, and TikTok Shop 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. There is no fee and no minimum on this side, so the overlap costs nothing: 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, FedEx, and DHL rate against your current per-label cost with the subscription folded in.

Create your account Talk to us

A ShipStation alternative with no monthly fee

Four carriers, zero plan tiers

A wallet you fund, not a plan you rent

Two ways to pay 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

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 at any volume

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL in one quote

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

FedEx

DHL

Free API, and actually unlimited.

No plan to clear first.

Pro

Free

Billy is not a paid tier

API free on every plan

Bring the invoice you pay today

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
at any volume

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL
in one quote

The API without
a plan gate

Keep the carriers and the API.
Cancel the fee.