ShippingEasy Alternative: Adds UPS, No Shipment Cap

ShippingEasy vs I'd Ship That, Feature by Feature

Cost anatomy

What You Pay ShippingEasy For, and What You Pay the Carrier For

Start with the cliff, because it is the cleanest number in this comparison. ShippingEasy's free plan covers up to 25 shipments a month on USPS.

Ship 26 and you are on a paid plan, historically about $19.99 a month. That subscription is a per-label tax that shrinks as you scale, and it is heaviest right at the edge. Amortized across your monthly volume it runs roughly: $0.77 a label at 26 orders, $0.50 at 40, $0.40 at 50, $0.20 at 100, $0.10 at 200, and about $0.07 at 300.

In other words, the seller doing 26 to 40 orders a month pays the worst per-label overhead, the exact volume band that just crossed the free line. I'd Ship That has no cap and no plan fee on the free account, so that overhead is zero and you pay only for the discounted postage, full price shown before you buy.

Now the part that actually decides which label is cheapest, and it dwarfs that $0.20 to $0.77. Take a real routing pair on 2026 rates. A 12 oz padded mailer to zone 4 runs about $7.50 on USPS Ground Advantage at commercial rates, but UPS Ground has a high floor on light parcels and lands closer to $9 to $12, so USPS still wins by roughly $1.50 to $4.50.

Flip the box: an 8 lb parcel to zone 8 runs roughly $22 to $24 on USPS Ground Advantage but about $14 to $18 on UPS Ground, so UPS wins by several dollars. Same two orders, and the cheaper carrier is different on each.

The rule of thumb that falls out: under 1 lb, USPS almost always wins because UPS's light-parcel floor is high; past about 3 lb and zone 5, check UPS Ground, it frequently undercuts USPS; and for small dense boxes under 0.5 cubic feet, USPS cubic pricing can beat both.

ShippingEasy's free tier shows you USPS only, so you never see the UPS side of that trade until you are paying $19.99 a month. On I'd Ship That both carriers are on the free account and Ship Intelligence picks the cheapest valid rate per order automatically, so the routing lever, worth several dollars a parcel, runs without you pricing every combination by hand.

The bottom line

ShippingEasy's email marketing is a genuine value-add if you use it, but if what you need is correct carrier routing at low cost, that is where the money is.

What Moving Off ShippingEasy Actually Changes

Switching from ShippingEasy: Best Path

Your monthly volume just stepped upUnder 1 lbPast about 3 lb and zone 5Small dense boxes under 0.5 cubic feet

Routing is the number that moved

When volume rises, the lever that scales with it is carrier routing. On the packages where USPS and UPS diverge, the carrier you print on swings $3 to $6 a parcel, and that repeats on every order.

• Both carriers are on the rate screen from the first label.
• Ship Intelligence picks the cheapest valid rate per order automatically.
• The Workbench batch-prints once the queue is worth batching.

USPS almost always wins

UPS carries a high floor on light parcels, so sub-pound orders land on USPS Ground Advantage nearly every time. A USPS-only view happens to be right here, and gives no way to confirm it.

• Both carriers appear on the same rate screen from the first label.
• A label is about 30 seconds away on iOS, Android, or the web.
• Knowing the default is correct is worth as much as changing it.

Check UPS Ground

This is the band where UPS Ground frequently undercuts USPS, and it is invisible from a USPS-only workflow. Ship Intelligence picks the cheapest valid rate per order automatically.

• Heavier far-zone boxes are where the routing swing is widest.
• Route light boxes to USPS and heavy far-zone boxes to UPS as a starting rule.
• Then let the per-order check catch the exceptions the rule misses.

USPS cubic can beat both

Cubic pricing charges by the outside volume of the box rather than the scale, so on a dense parcel it can come in under both weight-based USPS and UPS Ground.

• Measure the carton, since volume and not contents sets the tier.
• It is a third answer, not a tie-breaker between two.
• The comparison only exists if both carriers and cubic are on the same screen.

Moving Off ShippingEasy: Key Takeaways

• ShippingEasy's free tier ends at 25 shipments a month; order 26 puts you on a paid plan around $19.99, worth about $0.77 a label at 26 orders and $0.20 at 100.
• The subscription is the smaller lever. Carrier routing swings $3 to $6 per parcel on packages where USPS and UPS diverge, far more than the amortized plan fee.
• Under 1 lb USPS almost always wins; past about 3 lb and zone 5 UPS Ground frequently undercuts; small dense boxes under 0.5 cubic feet favor USPS cubic.
• ShippingEasy's free plan is USPS only, so you cannot even see the UPS side of that trade until you are paying; I'd Ship That includes both on the free account.
• Crossing 25 shipments a month is the moment to re-run both the plan math and the routing math on your own order mix, not just to accept the upgrade.

Running the 25-Shipment Cliff Math on Your Own Volume

The 25-shipment line is the whole decision in miniature. Pull your last three months of shipment counts and find where you land relative to it. If you are consistently under 25, ShippingEasy's free tier is genuinely free and the question is just whether you want UPS access and native apps. If you are bouncing between 20 and 40, you are in the worst spot: some months free, some months paying $19.99 for barely more than the cap, which works out to the highest per-label overhead of any volume band.

Then layer routing on top, because that is where the real money sits. A paid plan's $0.20 to $0.77 amortized per label is small next to the $3 to $6 a wrong carrier choice costs on the packages where USPS and UPS diverge. Price a representative sample of your orders on both carriers before you renew anything.

• Chart three months of shipment counts against the 25 line; steady 20 to 40 is the band where the paid plan costs the most per label.
• Amortize the plan fee: about $0.77 a label at 26 orders, $0.40 at 50, $0.20 at 100, $0.10 at 200, so heavier volume dilutes it while low volume gets punished.
• Pull 20 to 30 real orders spanning your weight and zone range and price each on both USPS and UPS, not just your default carrier.
• Compare on cost per label after all fees and surcharges shown up front, plus time from order to printed label.

The Routing Lever ShippingEasy's Free Tier Hides

Because the free Starter plan is USPS only, it quietly trains you to ship everything on USPS. That is fine for light parcels, where USPS wins outright, but it silently overpays on heavier far-zone boxes where UPS Ground is cheaper. You cannot fix what you cannot see, and you only see the UPS rate after you pay to unlock it.

Here is the shape of the trade on 2026 rates. A 12 oz item to zone 4: USPS Ground Advantage runs about $7.50, UPS Ground closer to $9 to $12 because its light-parcel floor is high, so USPS wins by roughly $1.50 to $4.50. A 5 lb item to zone 8: the two draw close, often within a dollar or two. An 8 lb item to zone 8: USPS Ground Advantage is about $22 to $24, UPS Ground about $14 to $18, so UPS wins by several dollars. The crossover sits roughly around 3 to 5 lb depending on zone. Ship on the wrong side of it and you leave several dollars on every affected parcel.

You do not want to memorize a table per order. Ship Intelligence checks both carriers on every shipment, including USPS cubic pricing when a small dense box qualifies, and picks the cheapest valid rate. The Workbench applies that across a full batch, so the routing runs without a spreadsheet or a mental crossover chart.

• Under 1 lb: default USPS Ground Advantage; UPS rarely competes on light parcels.
• Past about 3 lb and zone 5: check UPS Ground before you print, it frequently undercuts USPS by $2 to $5.
• Small dense boxes under 0.5 cubic feet and up to 20 lb: USPS cubic can beat both, so let the system price it rather than assuming weight-based.
• Ship Intelligence auto-selects the cheapest valid rate across USPS and UPS so the crossover is handled for you on every order.

Common Mistakes When Switching From ShippingEasy

Step by step

Migration Checklist from ShippingEasy

1. 1
   Chart your last three months of shipment counts against ShippingEasy's 25-shipment free-tier line.
2. 2
   If you are in the 20 to 40 band, amortize the $19.99 plan fee across your volume to see the real per-label overhead.
3. 3
   Pull 20 to 30 real orders spanning your weights and zones and price each on both USPS and UPS.
4. 4
   Flag the packages where UPS Ground beats USPS, typically past about 3 lb and zone 5, and the light ones where USPS wins.
5. 5
   Set up your carrier accounts in I'd Ship That and confirm you see the full price, fees included, before buying.
6. 6
   Let Ship Intelligence auto-pick the cheapest valid rate and spot-check a few orders against your manual calls.
7. 7
   For batch days, load orders into The Workbench to import, rate-shop, and batch-print in one pass.
8. 8
   Recheck the plan-versus-free math against your current 2026 rates rather than last year's baseline.

Switching From ShippingEasy: Questions People Ask

What is the best ShippingEasy alternative?

I'd Ship That is a ShippingEasy alternative for sellers about to cross the 25-shipment free-tier cap: USPS and UPS on the free account from the first label, automatic cheapest-rate selection, batch printing, and native iOS and Android apps. ShippingEasy keeps the edge on built-in email marketing, so the test is whether you use those tools.

What actually happens when I hit 26 shipments on ShippingEasy?

The free Starter plan covers up to 25 shipments a month, so order 26 moves you onto a paid plan, historically about $19.99 a month, roughly $240 a year. Amortized across your volume that is about $0.77 a label at 26 orders, $0.40 at 50, and $0.20 at 100, worst right at the edge you just crossed. I'd Ship That has no cap and no plan fee on the free account, so a busy month never trips a subscription, and you pay only for the discounted postage.

Does ShippingEasy's free plan include UPS?

No. The free Starter plan is USPS only and caps at 25 shipments a month. UPS access requires a paid plan starting around $19.99. That matters more than it sounds, because on heavy far-zone parcels UPS Ground often beats USPS by several dollars, and on a USPS-only free tier you never see that comparison. I'd Ship That includes USPS and UPS on the free account, so both rates are always on the table.

When is USPS cheaper than UPS, and when is it the other way around?

Weight and zone decide it. Under 1 lb, USPS Ground Advantage almost always wins because UPS's floor on light parcels is high: a 12 oz mailer to zone 4 is about $7.50 on USPS versus $9 to $12 on UPS. Past roughly 3 lb and zone 5, UPS Ground frequently undercuts USPS: an 8 lb box to zone 8 runs about $22 to $24 on USPS Ground Advantage but $14 to $18 on UPS Ground. Small dense boxes under 0.5 cubic feet are a third case where USPS cubic can beat both. Ship Intelligence checks all of this per order so you do not have to.

Is ShippingEasy being shut down?

It is still operational, but it has been acquired by Auctane, the parent of Stamps.com, and folded into that ecosystem, so its roadmap now serves a larger billing platform rather than its own product. Nothing forces you off it today, but the 25-shipment cliff is a natural moment to reprice, and I'd Ship That is an independent, actively developed alternative with a free account and native mobile apps.

Does I'd Ship That have email marketing tools like ShippingEasy?

No. I'd Ship That is shipping only: label creation, carrier routing, and tracking. If integrated email marketing is core to you, ShippingEasy offers it on paid plans and that is a fair reason to keep it. Many sellers run a dedicated email tool and keep their label costs on a separate, cheaper shipping app rather than bundling both into one subscription.

I ship in batches. Is there a faster way than one label at a time?

Yes. The Workbench is a Pro feature that imports your orders, rate-shops them together, and prints a whole batch of labels in one pass. Ship Intelligence then picks the cheapest valid rate on each order across USPS and UPS, cubic included when the box qualifies, and shows what that choice saved. On a batch of mixed weights and zones that routing runs automatically, which is exactly the per-order comparison a paid-plan workflow usually leaves you to do by hand.