ShipStation Pricing 2026: Starter to Premium and Shipment Tiers

ShipStation costs $14.99/mo on Starter, $29.99/mo on Standard and $349.99/mo on Premium at 50 shipments a month in 2026, billed monthly, with 20% off on yearly billing. Every plan is priced by shipment volume, so the real bill depends on your tier: 500 shipments cost $39.99 on Starter, and Standard reaches $3,599.99 at 100,000. Postage is extra. Prices read October 18, 2026.

Every figure here was read on ShipStation's pricing page on 18 October 2026, including each step of its shipment-volume selector, and the rival figures on Shippo's pricing page and Pirate Ship's site the same day. Our view: the entry price is real but narrow. It covers 50 shipments and three users, and most growing stores will pay for a higher volume step, not a higher plan.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 46 shipping and fulfillment tools as of October 17, 2026, and ranks ShipStation first. It is also the most cross-shopped tool in the category, listed as an alternative to 40 others. Its Toolradar profile carries the category data.

ShipStation plans at a glance

Every plan comes with a 30-day free trial, no credit card required, and the pricing page lists "+$0.000 per label" on every tier, so there is no per-label fee on top of the subscription. Connecting your own carrier accounts carries no fee for accounts registered from July 8, 2025; older plans may pay carrier connection fees under their original terms.

Starter covers what a small store needs to print labels: unlimited store connections, automated rate shopping, return labels, basic automations, reporting and LTL freight quoting. Standard is where the operations features start: unlimited automations, combining and auto-splitting orders, your own carrier accounts, a returns and exchanges portal, basic warehouse management, the Shipping API and phone support. Premium adds advanced inventory (scan to receive, purchase orders, forecasting, transfers), pick-to-tote warehouse management, custom analytics, auto-routing by inventory and destination, Cubiscan and ODBC access. Our ShipStation review weighs the product; this page covers the bill.

How much does ShipStation cost at each shipment volume?

ShipStation sells each plan in shipment steps. You pick the plan for its features, then the step for your monthly volume, and the price is the combination.

Monthly billing, from the ShipStation pricing volume selector, read 18 October 2026. Standard and Premium also list steps at 7,500, 15,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 and 75,000 shipments.

Three things in this grid are worth knowing before you pick a step. First, the 500-shipment step is the best value on Starter: it costs $10 more than the 100 step for five times the volume. Second, Standard at 2,000 shipments costs the same as Starter at 5,000, so a store between those volumes that wants Standard's features pays nothing extra for them. Third, Starter stops at 5,000 shipments, so any store above that is on Standard at least.

What ShipStation really costs per label

The table below divides each step's monthly price by its shipment allowance, assuming you use the whole step. It is our arithmetic on the published prices, not a ShipStation quote, and postage is left out because it depends on each parcel.

The fee per label is highest at small volumes and at the bottom of each step: the 100-shipment step on Starter works out to 30 cents a label. A store shipping 120 orders a month pays for the 500 step and uses a quarter of it, so its real cost is about 33 cents a label. Pick the step for your busiest month, not your average, since the page says you can raise or lower the volume tier within a plan as needs change, with downgrades effective at the start of the next billing cycle.

Premium is a different purchase. At 1,000 shipments it costs four times Standard's price, and what you pay for is inventory, warehouse and analytics depth, not labels. A store that does not need forecasting, purchase orders or pick-to-tote has no reason to look at it.

Monthly or yearly billing?

Yearly billing takes 20% off every step, which brings the entry steps to the yearly prices in the plans table above. At 1,000 shipments on Standard, the yearly price is $1,439.90, against $1,799.88 for twelve monthly payments, a saving of $359.98.

The discount is not the whole story. A seasonal store that ships 300 orders in March and 2,000 in December gets more from changing steps month by month than from the discount, so the yearly plan suits stores whose volume holds steady.

Fees outside the subscription

ShipStation's FAQ says it charges nothing beyond the subscription unless you add users or certain add-ons, and that postage and insurance are always yours to pay. In practice, budget for these:

• Postage. Paid per label at ShipStation's discounted carrier rates, which its site describes as 80% to 90% off, or at your own carrier account rates. USPS postage is prepaid with optional auto-refill; post-billed carriers such as FedEx and UPS bill you as they normally would.
• Extra users. Starter includes 3, Standard 10 and Premium 15, and more can be purchased on every plan.
• Add-ons. Fulfillment, 3PL manager and dropship manager are sold as add-ons on all three plans, priced separately.
• Premium integrations. Connecting selling channels is free, except for channels ShipStation classes as premium integrations.
• Insurance. Shipping insurance and LTL cargo insurance are available to purchase per shipment.

The headline protection is strong: ShipStation promises a full refund within 90 days if you are not satisfied, for any reason. That makes the first paid quarter low risk for a store unsure whether it needs Standard.

ShipStation vs Shippo and Pirate Ship on price

ShipStation is not the cheapest label tool at any volume, and it is not trying to be. Shippo prices its Pro plan in bands too: on monthly billing, 500 labels cost $29 and 1,000 labels $54, against $39.99 and $79.99 on ShipStation Starter. Pirate Ship has no monthly fee at all, but it sells only USPS and UPS labels.

What ShipStation sells on top is operations. Order combining and splitting, a returns portal, warehouse picking and inventory forecasting are not part of Pirate Ship, and Shippo's paid plan adds pick lists and branded tracking but lists no inventory or warehouse tools. A store that needs those features is comparing ShipStation with order management systems, not with label printers. Our Shippo pricing page breaks down every Shippo band, ShipStation vs Shippo compares the products, and Pirate Ship vs Shippo covers the free route.

Which ShipStation plan should I choose?

• Starter if you ship up to 5,000 orders a month, need 3 users or fewer, and use ShipStation's carrier rates. Pick the step for your peak month.
• Standard if you need to bring your own carrier accounts, split orders, run a returns portal, call phone support or seat more than 3 users. At 2,000 shipments it costs the same as Starter's 5,000 step.
• Premium only if you run inventory and a warehouse through ShipStation. At low volume it costs more than ten times Starter.
• Something else if you print a few labels a week: Pirate Ship or Shippo's free Starter plan cost nothing. See free shipping software, ShipStation alternatives, the best shipping software ranking, Veeqo for Amazon-heavy sellers, and best order management systems if operations are the real need. Etsy sellers can start with shipping software for Etsy sellers.

How we built this page

We read ShipStation's US pricing page on 18 October 2026, including every step in the volume selector for Starter, Standard and Premium on monthly and yearly billing, the full feature comparison and the FAQ. Shippo's and Pirate Ship's figures were read on their own pages the same day. The per-label costs and the yearly saving are our arithmetic on the published prices, with postage excluded, and are not a vendor quote. We did not run a ShipStation account for this page. The Toolradar figures come from its shipping and fulfillment ranking dated October 17, 2026. Louis Corneloup, who founded Toolradar and Dupple, edited it.

FAQ

How much does ShipStation cost per month in 2026?

Starter starts at $14.99, Standard at $29.99 and Premium at $349.99 a month for 50 shipments, billed monthly, as read on ShipStation's pricing page on 18 October 2026. Prices rise with shipment volume, and yearly billing takes 20% off. Postage is extra.

Does ShipStation charge per label?

No. The pricing page lists no per-label fee on any plan or tier. You pay the subscription for your shipment step plus postage, and optional insurance, extra users and add-ons.

Is there a free ShipStation plan?

The plan grid lists no free plan. Every paid plan has a 30-day free trial with no credit card required, and ShipStation offers a full refund within 90 days if you are not satisfied. For free label printing, Pirate Ship has no monthly fee for USPS and UPS, and Shippo's Starter plan is free for up to 30 labels a month.

How much is ShipStation for 1,000 shipments a month?

At 1,000 shipments, Starter is $79.99, Standard $149.99 and Premium $599.99 a month on monthly billing, or less on yearly billing. On Standard that works out to about 15 cents per shipment before postage.

What is the difference between ShipStation Starter and Standard?

Standard adds 7 more users (10 against 3), unlimited automations, order combining and splitting, a returns and exchanges portal, basic warehouse management, the Shipping API and phone support. Starter tops out at 5,000 shipments a month, while Standard goes to 100,000.

Can I change my ShipStation plan or cancel?

Yes. You can upgrade at any time from inside ShipStation, move your volume tier up or down within a plan, and downgrade at any time, with downgrades taking effect at the start of the next billing cycle. You can cancel from the subscription settings.

Cite this: Retailpresso, "ShipStation Pricing 2026: Starter to Premium and Shipment Tiers", October 2026.

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