# Best shipping and fulfilment APIs for AI agents (slim)

> Easyship (B), Sendcloud (B) and Shippo (C) lead the 9 ranked shipping and fulfilment APIs. Picks by need, strengths, weaknesses and prices from the Anchor benchmark.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/shipping/index.md (~6,000 tokens) · this version ~1,430 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/shipping/index.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/shipping/
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

All 9 ranked shipping and fulfilment APIs on the Anchor benchmark, with a pick for each need and where each one falls short. Scores come from public evidence, re-checked as vendors change.

- Ranked: 9 · agent-ready (BB or better): 0 · accept x402: 0 · hosted endpoints: 8
- Full ranked table: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/shipping.md
- Head-to-head comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shipping/index.md (36)
- Methodology: https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/index.md

## The shortlist

| # | Tool | Grade | Score | Best for | Price | Where |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [Easyship](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/easyship.md) | B | 68.8 | An agent that ships parcels for a small or mid-sized merchant, mostly cross-border, and wants rates, labels, duties and pickups from one account without carrier contracts. | $29 / mo | hosted and local |
| 2 | [Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendcloud.md) | B | 62 | An agent shipping parcels for a European shop that wants many carriers behind one account, including its own carrier contracts on paid plans. | $31.30 / mo | hosted |
| 3 | [Shippo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shippo.md) | C | 61.9 | An agent that quotes and buys parcel labels across USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL Express for a small or mid-size shipper, with a free test mode and public unit prices. | $0.07 / tx | hosted |
| 4 | [ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shipbob.md) | C | 60.8 | An agent working for a merchant that already stores stock with ShipBob, to create and track orders, check inventory, book inbound stock and handle returns. | Paid | hosted |
| 5 | [ShipStation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shipstation.md) | C | 59.3 | An agent working inside a merchant's existing ShipStation account (orders, batches, inventory, labels), or a developer who wants a free sandbox through the ShipStation API plans. | $75 / mo | hosted |
| 6 | [Ship24](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ship24.md) | C | 55 | An agent that only needs tracking events across many couriers, by webhook or by lookup, from a tracking number alone. | $39 / mo | hosted |
| 7 | [EasyPost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/easypost.md) | C | 54.3 | An agent that quotes rates across carriers, buys a label, verifies an address, follows tracking by webhook and requests a refund from one merchant account, mainly on US carriers. | $0.02 / call | hosted |
| 8 | [Karrio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/karrio.md) | D | 48.7 | A team that wants to host its own multi-carrier API with its own carrier contracts and can maintain a Django and PostgreSQL stack. | $499 / mo | local |
| 9 | [ShippyPro](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shippypro.md) | D | 48.7 | A European shipper or logistics platform with its own carrier contracts that already holds a ShippyPro Enterprise plan and wants rates, labels, pickups and tracking across many regional carriers through one API. | Paid | hosted |

## Picks by need

- Highest score overall: [Easyship](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/easyship.md), B, 68.8/100 on the benchmark. Also [Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendcloud.md), B, 62/100.
- Schema & documentation: [Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendcloud.md), 89/100 on schema & documentation, against 87 for the overall leader.
- Maintenance & community: [EasyPost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/easypost.md), 85/100 on maintenance & community, against 56 for the overall leader.
- Transparency & trust: [ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shipbob.md), 77/100 on transparency & trust, against 71 for the overall leader.
- Lowest paid price per call: [Easyship](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/easyship.md), $0.01 per call, the lowest of the 4 listings here with a paid price in this unit (free allowances aside). Also [Shippo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shippo.md), $0.01 per call.
- Self-hosting under an open licence: [Karrio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/karrio.md), self-hosted, LGPL-3 licence.

## How to choose

- Carrier coverage by lane: Check which carriers and services cover your origin and destination countries, since an agent can only quote services the API reaches.
- Refunds for unused labels: Check whether an unused label can be refunded through the API and how long the refund takes, since an agent that buys in error needs that money back.
- Tracking events and final scan: Check which tracking events are returned and whether the final scan is included, since an agent that reports arrival needs that event to be there.
- Fees charged through the API: Check how each label, fee and add-on is charged through the API, since an agent that quotes a rate without its surcharges will misstate the cost to its user.

- How the benchmark tests this category: The same parcel quoted between the same two addresses on each listing's test mode, a label bought for the cheapest tracked service and the shipment followed to delivery. We check the rates returned, address validation, tracking events and refund of an unused label. In this run listings are graded from public evidence against the published checklist.

Each listing's verdict, strengths and weaknesses: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/shipping/index.md