# EasyPost vs Karrio

> EasyPost scores 54.3 (C) on agent readiness against Karrio's 48.7 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Karrio leads on reliability, schema & documentation and payments & pricing. Both do shipping rates. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-karrio
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-karrio.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-karrio.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-karrio.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

EasyPost scores 54.3 (C) on agent readiness against Karrio's 48.7 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Karrio leads on reliability, schema & documentation and payments & pricing. Both do shipping rates.

- EasyPost: grade C, 54.3/100, rank #531 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/easypost.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/easypost.json
- Karrio: grade D, 48.7/100, rank #617 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/karrio.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/karrio.json

## Which one, for what

### EasyPost (C)

Good for: 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.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 63 against 57
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 29
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 56

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- No incidents deducted, where Karrio loses 7 points for them

Watch for: No OpenAPI spec was found in the docs or in the EasyPost GitHub organisation. The reference is prose and tables, with a Postman workspace

### Karrio (D)

Good for: A team that wants to host its own multi-carrier API with its own carrier contracts and can maintain a Django and PostgreSQL stack.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 76 against 53
- Schema & documentation, 68 against 55
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 22

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: No release since 2026.1.32 on 23 June 2026, 107 days before this check, and fix pull requests opened in September 2026 were still open


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | EasyPost | Karrio | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 53 | 76 | Karrio +23 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 68 | Karrio +13 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 57 | EasyPost +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 47 | 44 | EasyPost +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 22 | 40 | Karrio +18 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 29 | EasyPost +56 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 56 | EasyPost +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -7 | |
| **Total** | | **54.3 · C** | **48.7 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | EasyPost | Karrio |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Simpler Postage, Inc. (d/b/a EasyPost) | Karrio, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.easypost.com/v2` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the EasyPost Master Customer Agreement. The official client libraries on GitHub are MIT, with the Go library under ISC | LGPL-3.0 for the server, SDK and modules. Code under `ee/` is under the Karrio Enterprise licence and needs a subscription for production use. The MCP package in `packages/mcp` is Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-06-23 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-25 | 2025-04-08 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-25 | 2025-04-08 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 149 stars, 100k npm/wk, 42k PyPI/wk | 799 stars, 338 PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**EasyPost.** Docs written for agents (llms.txt, a Markdown copy of each page, a JSON page index), seven official SDKs and free test keys make the REST API easy to start on. No OpenAPI spec or idempotency keys were found, every key has full account access, and the status page shows a connectivity outage on 23 July 2026 that affected all operations.

**Karrio.** A current OpenAPI 3.0.3 contract with 65 paths, a free LGPL-3.0 server and 30 carrier connectors suit a team that hosts it. The last release was 23 June 2026, the `@karrio/mcp` package the docs install is absent from npm, and `api.karrio.io` didn't resolve on 8 October 2026.

## Before you call either

### EasyPost

1. Use a test API key while building. It buys no postage and contacts no carrier, and test tracking codes simulate each tracking status
2. Don't blind-retry `POST /shipments/:id/buy` after a timeout. Retrieve the shipment first and check for `postage_label`, since no idempotency key exists
3. Send the API key as the HTTP Basic username with an empty password on the REST API, and as a Bearer token on the MCP server
4. Handle `errors` as either an array of objects or an array of strings. The docs say both shapes occur
5. Pass a scoped `carrier_accounts` list when rating. Only the first 60 accounts are rated and the call doesn't fail when more are enabled

### Karrio

1. Run your own instance with Docker Compose and call it at `http://localhost:5002`. Don't rely on `api.karrio.io`, which didn't resolve on 8 October 2026
2. Don't run `npx karrio-mcp` or `npx -y @karrio/mcp`. Neither name is published on npm, so build the server from `packages/mcp` in the repository
3. Change the default `admin@example.com` and `demo` login before the instance is reachable, and upgrade to 2026.1.32 or later so passwords aren't stored as MD5
4. Don't blind-retry `POST /v1/shipments` with a `service` set or `POST /v1/shipments/{id}/purchase`. Fetch the shipment and check its status first, since no idempotency key exists
5. Use a test-mode API key while building. Send it as the HTTP Basic username or as `Authorization: Token key_...`

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, EasyPost or Karrio?

EasyPost scores 54.3 (C) on agent readiness against Karrio's 48.7 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Karrio leads on reliability, schema & documentation and payments & pricing.

### Do EasyPost and Karrio need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call EasyPost and Karrio without installing anything?

EasyPost has a hosted endpoint at https://api.easypost.com/v2. No hosted endpoint is listed for Karrio.

### Are EasyPost and Karrio open source?

No open-source release is listed for EasyPost. Karrio is open source (LGPL-3.0 for the server, SDK and modules. Code under `ee/` is under the Karrio Enterprise licence and needs a subscription for production use. The MCP package in `packages/mcp` is Apache-2.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-karrio.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-karrio.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "easypost", "b": "karrio"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare easypost karrio`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/easypost.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/karrio.json

## Other comparisons with EasyPost or Karrio

- [EasyPost vs Easyship](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-easyship.md)
- [EasyPost vs Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-sendcloud.md)
- [EasyPost vs ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-shipbob.md)
- [EasyPost vs Shippo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-shippo.md)
- [EasyPost vs ShipStation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-shipstation.md)
- [Easyship vs Karrio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easyship-vs-karrio.md)
- [Karrio vs Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-sendcloud.md)
- [Karrio vs ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-shipbob.md)
- [Karrio vs Shippo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-shippo.md)
- [Karrio vs ShipStation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-shipstation.md)
- [EasyPost vs Ship24](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-ship24.md)
- [Karrio vs Ship24](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-ship24.md)