# EasyPost vs Ship24

> Ship24 and EasyPost score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 55 (C) and 54.3 (C). EasyPost leads on reliability, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do shipping tracking. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-ship24
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-ship24.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-ship24.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-ship24.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

Ship24 and EasyPost score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 55 (C) and 54.3 (C). EasyPost leads on reliability, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do shipping tracking.

- 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
- Ship24: grade C, 55/100, rank #522 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ship24.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ship24.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:
- Reliability, 53 against 45
- Security & auth, 47 against 37
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 80
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 52

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

### Ship24 (C)

Good for: An agent that only needs tracking events across many couriers, by webhook or by lookup, from a tracking number alone.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 55
- Agent ergonomics, 68 against 63
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 22

Watch for: No status page was found. `status.ship24.com` doesn't resolve, and neither the site nor the docs link to one


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | EasyPost | Ship24 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 53 | 45 | EasyPost +8 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 81 | Ship24 +26 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 68 | Ship24 +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 47 | 37 | EasyPost +10 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 22 | 30 | Ship24 +8 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 80 | EasyPost +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 52 | EasyPost +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **54.3 · C** | **55 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | EasyPost | Ship24 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Simpler Postage, Inc. (d/b/a EasyPost) | Ship24 Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.easypost.com/v2` | `https://api.ship24.com/public/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for shipping tracking | not published | $0.045 per transaction |
| 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 | Proprietary service under Ship24's Terms and Conditions. The Node SDK and the AI plugin on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 12 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.ship24/tracking-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-25 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-25 | 2026-08-01 |
| 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 | 0 stars, 79 npm/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.

**Ship24.** The REST API and the hosted MCP server share one public OpenAPI 3.1 spec, numbered rate limits with Retry-After, and tracker creation that is idempotent by payload. No status page, SLA or security certification was found, API keys carry no scopes, and the API agreement and data processing agreement named in the terms aren't published.

## 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

### Ship24

1. Send `Authorization: Bearer apik_...` to `https://api.ship24.com/public/v1`. The same key works on the MCP server, which lists tools without a key but answers 401 on calls
2. Store the `trackerId` or set a unique `clientTrackerId`. Tracking numbers aren't unique, and any changed field on a repeat `POST /trackers` creates a second tracker that uses quota
3. Allow up to 60 seconds for the first `POST /trackers/track` or `POST /tracking/search` call, since results are fetched from the courier synchronously
4. Cache `GET /couriers`. It is limited to one request a second and returns the whole courier list, and courier auto-detection usually makes `courierCode` unnecessary
5. Check for `quota_limit_reached` and `no_active_subscription`. `POST /tracking/search` needs a separate per-call plan, and the free plan blocks at 10 shipments a month

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, EasyPost or Ship24?

Ship24 and EasyPost score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 55 (C) and 54.3 (C). EasyPost leads on reliability, security & auth, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

### Do EasyPost and Ship24 need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call EasyPost and Ship24 without installing anything?

Yes. EasyPost has a hosted endpoint at https://api.easypost.com/v2 and Ship24 at https://api.ship24.com/public/v1.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-ship24.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-ship24.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "easypost", "b": "ship24"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare easypost ship24`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/easypost.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ship24.json

## Other comparisons with EasyPost or Ship24

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