# ShipBob vs ShippyPro

> ShipBob scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against ShippyPro's 48.7 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do shipping rates. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shipbob-vs-shippypro
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shipbob-vs-shippypro.md (~2,100 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shipbob-vs-shippypro.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shipbob-vs-shippypro.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: 2026-10-09

ShipBob scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against ShippyPro's 48.7 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do shipping rates.

- ShipBob: grade C, 60.8/100, rank #448 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shipbob.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shipbob.json
- ShippyPro: grade D, 48.7/100, rank #718 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shippypro.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shippypro.json

## Which one, for what

### 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:
- Reliability, 77 against 70
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 64
- Agent ergonomics, 56 against 46
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 5
- Maintenance & community, 41 against 25
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 58

Watch for: No public price. Receiving, storage and pick, pack and ship fees come only in a quote from sales

### ShippyPro (D)

Good for: 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.

Watch for: The help centre says APIs can only be activated with an Enterprise plan, which has no public price and starts with sales


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ShipBob | ShippyPro | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 77 | 70 | ShipBob +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 64 | ShipBob +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 46 | ShipBob +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 51 | ShipBob +4 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 5 | ShipBob +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 41 | 25 | ShipBob +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 58 | ShipBob +19 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **60.8 · C** | **48.7 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ShipBob | ShippyPro |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ShipBob, Inc. | Italian Valley S.r.l. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.shipbob.com` | `https://api.shippypro.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under ShipBob's Terms of Service. The MCP tutorials repository on GitHub has no licence file | Proprietary service under ShippyPro's Terms & Conditions. Both OpenAPI files state the licence as Proprietary |
| Tools exposed | 73 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-07-31 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-05-22 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-03-29 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |

## Verdicts

**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.

**ShippyPro.** Two OpenAPI 3.1 files, a published limit of 20 calls per 10 seconds and a 99.5 per cent monthly SLA with service credits are public. API access needs an Enterprise plan arranged through sales, no changelog or SDK was found, and label creation on v1 has no idempotency key.

## Before you call either

### 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

### ShippyPro

1. Send `Authorization: Bearer <API key>` and POST a JSON body with `Method` and `Params` to `https://api.shippypro.com/v1/<Method>`. Parameter names are case-sensitive
2. Check `Status` and `ErrorMessage` in every `Ship` response. HTTP 200 with `Status` 2 means no label was created
3. Before retrying a failed `Ship` call, look the order up by `TransactionID`. v1 has no idempotency key, and each label counts against the plan
4. Test with the Generic carrier. `Ship` and `Edit` calls on a real carrier create real labels
5. Stay under 20 calls per 10 seconds, and use webhooks for tracking. The docs advise against `GetTracking` in bulk

## Questions

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

ShipBob scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against ShippyPro's 48.7 (D), and leads in every scored category.

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

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

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

Yes. ShipBob has a hosted endpoint at https://api.shipbob.com and ShippyPro at https://api.shippypro.com.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with ShipBob or ShippyPro

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