# Karrio vs ShipBob

> ShipBob scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against Karrio's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Karrio leads on payments & pricing. Both do shipping rates. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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

ShipBob scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against Karrio's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Karrio leads on payments & pricing. Both do shipping rates.

- 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
- ShipBob: grade C, 60.8/100, rank #387 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shipbob.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shipbob.json

## Which one, for what

### 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:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20

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

### ShipBob (C)

Good for: 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.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 68
- Security & auth, 55 against 44
- Maintenance & community, 41 against 29
- Transparency & trust, 77 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 public price. Receiving, storage and pick, pack and ship fees come only in a quote from sales


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Karrio | ShipBob | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 76 | 77 | ShipBob +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 85 | ShipBob +17 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 56 | Karrio +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 55 | ShipBob +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 20 | Karrio +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 29 | 41 | ShipBob +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 77 | ShipBob +21 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -7 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **48.7 · D** | **60.8 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Karrio | ShipBob |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Karrio, Inc. | ShipBob, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.shipbob.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | 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 | Proprietary service under ShipBob's Terms of Service. The MCP tutorials repository on GitHub has no licence file |
| Tools exposed | none | 73 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-06-23 | 2026-07-31 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-04-08 | 2026-05-22 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-04-08 | 2024-03-29 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 799 stars, 338 PyPI/wk | none |

## Verdicts

**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.

**ShipBob.** OAuth with PKCE and read and write scopes per domain, a free sandbox, a public OpenAPI spec per version and a 24-month support window for each API version are documented. Fulfilment prices are by quote only, the status page has no API component, no official SDK was found, and Personal Access Tokens never expire and carry full account access.

## Before you call either

### 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_...`

### ShipBob

1. Call `GET /2026-07/channel` first and send the ID of the channel with `_write` scopes in the `shipbob_channel_id` header on every write
2. Build against `https://sandbox-api.shipbob.com` with a sandbox account. Sandbox and production accounts, tokens and data are separate
3. Set a stable `reference_id` on each order, product and return. A duplicate returns 422, which is the only guard against a double create
4. Stay under 150 requests a minute per user and application, and wait the seconds given in `x-retry-after` after a 429
5. Over MCP, writes work only on records in the channel created at consent. A 403 or 404 on a cancel usually means the record belongs to another channel

## Questions

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

ShipBob scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against Karrio's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Karrio leads on payments & pricing.

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

Karrio needs an API key. ShipBob takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

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

No hosted endpoint is listed for Karrio. ShipBob has a hosted endpoint at https://api.shipbob.com.

### Are Karrio and ShipBob open source?

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). No open-source release is listed for ShipBob.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Karrio or ShipBob

- [EasyPost vs Karrio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-karrio.md)
- [EasyPost vs ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-shipbob.md)
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- [Easyship vs ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easyship-vs-shipbob.md)
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