As a continuation of our 12-part series comparing FreightDesk Online against our top competitors, today's guide will be a comparison of FreightDesk Online vs. ShipStation. To be completely honest, ShipStation is probably our strongest competitor. While they do have some impressive features, there are a few key reasons that we believe FreightDesk Online is still the right choice to help shape the future of your e-commerce business. So, let's do a complete analysis and see the breakdown of FreightDesk Online vs. ShipStation.
ShipStation is a shipping platform with inventory and order management features and more integrations than any other, including custom integrations. They're focused on helping their customers speed up and streamline their shipping process, as well as helping them grow. With offices across three continents, they're equipped to help customers worldwide.
FreightDesk Online is a shipping platform built on the belief that e-commerce business owners deserve flexible and efficient shipping software that can handle the entire shipping process from start to finish on one easy-to-use platform. We have several unmatched features to provide an adaptive experience that meets our customers' unique shipping needs while going above and beyond whenever possible.
This is the most fundamental feature of any shipping platform. Let's look over the postal and parcel shipping features of FreightDesk Online vs. ShipStation.
ShipStation integrates with the top postal and parcel carriers, including USPS, FedEx, UPS, and DHL. They provide some great discounts along with a free account for their parent company, Stamps.com. Their platform provides the ability to compare carrier rates and shipping times, the printing capacity for multiple labels for batch orders, and specialty features geared towards high shipping volumes. ShipStation is part of the Global Advantage Program to provide benefits for international shippers.
FreightDesk Online offers postal and parcel shipping discounts up to 62% off UPS 2nd Day Air®️ and 48% off UPS®️ Ground by partnering with ShipEngine. You can create and print shipping labels easily. To make shipping even easier, we ditched annoying minimum shipping requirements and many common fees. We aren't owned by Stamps.com. However, we still scored you a free account to save you over $200 a year!
This is where FreightDesk Online shines. The vast majority of platforms don't have any LTL features or integrations, and even the ones that do have a disappointing lack of options. So compare FreightDesk Online vs. ShipStation to see who can handle your LTL freight needs.
Unfortunately, ShipStation is one of the platforms without accommodations for e-commerce businesses with LTL freight needs.
Even with all the shipping platforms and software available, FreightDesk Online is the only postal and parcel-enabled shipping platform with more than one LTL option. We provide 29 LTL carrier integrations and integrate with two of the top 3PL providers, GlobalTranz and Worldwide Express. We're adding CH Robinson, FreightQuote.com, TQL, and Unishippers soon, as well. Unless you don't mind managing your shipping across two separate platforms or being forced to settle for another platform's one 3PL provider, FreightDesk Online is the only platform that can meet your needs.
We believe a great shipping platform not only handles all your shipping needs but also lessens your time investment by streamlining the process. Evaluate FreightDesk Online vs. ShipStation to see who provides your desired adaptability features.
ShipStation has the most sales channel integrations of any platform. You can connect all your stores and marketplaces to ShipStation, and then manage orders across multiple channels. You can automate workflows, manually create and sync orders, upload a CSV, or input via API. Plus, ShipStation also delivers their self-service Returns Portal™ so customers can begin the return process immediately.
Convenience was built into FreightDesk Online from the start. We provide advanced automation features like automatically importing order details to eliminate the hassle of manual entry. With the addition of our powerful, compatible quoting apps, you can achieve near-point-and-click shipping capabilities for an effortless experience.
We created FreightDesk Online because the existing options didn't offer the flexibility our customers needed. That's why flexibility is always one of our first and foremost considerations. We created FreightDesk Online with a mix-and-match shipping process for postal, parcel, and LTL freight. This allows a single order to be filled with multiple methods or individual orders to be filled with multiple shipments.
Why settle for the most basic version of something when you can have more? Put our bonus features to the test to decide which add-ons suit your needs.
ShipStation offers order and inventory management, each with reporting and analytics to track, view, and filter your data. Their order management system allows you to split, combine, and filter orders. The inventory management features help you track and manage your stock and set up low stock alerts. They have a full-function mobile app, as well as branded shipping and tracking, to provide a cohesive experience from start to finish.
FreightDesk Online lets you add the features you need via our compatible Eniture apps, like address validation, tax-exempt checkout, and our distance-based shipping calculator. One great example is our Standard Box Sizes plugin that automatically determines how to pack orders cost-effectively with the minimum boxes necessary, then sends that information to FreightDesk Online with graphical illustrations for each step. This helps save money on shipping. It also differentiates your brand as environmentally friendly, a growing concern among consumers. A significant number of environmentally conscious consumers go out of their way to work with green brands.
Budget isn't everything, but it's never nothing, either. Finding the right combination of features and good pricing is key. So review the pricing of FreightDesk Online vs. ShipStation to find your ideal balance.
ShipStation has six monthly pricing plans to choose from. These plans include:
For flexibility and simplicity, FreightDesk Online lets you create your own custom plan by selecting the number of monthly postal/parcel shipments (from 50 for $9 to 5,000 for $100) and LTL shipments (from 20 for $12 to 1,200 for $340) you'll need and then adding those prices together. We display the cost upfront for transparency. This pricing addresses the differences between postal/parcel and LTL shipping while providing customization. We also don't limit the number of users for any plan.
There you have it! That's FreightDesk Online vs. ShipStation in a nutshell. Hopefully, now you feel more empowered to make the right choice. If you need anything, then feel free to contact us for more information.
Eniture Technology specializes in helping e-Commerce merchants grow by providing useful information, digital marketing services, off-the-shelf apps that solve common problems, and custom programming services. Please contact us if you need help growing your online business or implementing the concepts presented in this blog post.
Interested in learning more? Check out our free guide, A Beginner's Guide To E-Commerce Shipping and subscribe to our blog!
