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Shipping API Comparison 2026: EasyPost vs Shippo vs ShipEngine vs RevAddress

· 8 min read

If you’re building shipping into your app in 2026, you’ve got four real options for USPS integration: EasyPost, Shippo, ShipEngine, and RevAddress. Each makes different trade-offs on pricing, architecture, and developer experience.

This isn’t a marketing page — it’s the comparison I wish existed when I was evaluating these services. Real pricing, real code, real trade-offs.

The pricing math (verified March 2026)

Every shipping API charges differently. EasyPost charges $0.08/label (with 3,000 free/mo on their Free Access Wallet plan, or $20/mo + $0.08/label on the BYOCA plan). Shippo charges $0.05/label pay-as-you-go (or $19–$199/mo Pro plans). ShipEngine uses tiered plans ($75–$600/mo). RevAddress charges flat monthly with no per-label fees.

VolumeEasyPost (Free Access)ShippoShipEngineRevAddress
100/mo$0 (under 3K free)$5$0 (pay-as-you-go)$29
1,000/mo$0 (under 3K free)$50$75 (1K plan)$29
3,000/mo$0 (exactly at free cap)$150$75$29
5,000/mo$160$250$325 (5K plan)$79
10,000/mo$560$500$600 (10K plan)$79
50,000/mo$3,760$2,500~$3,000 (custom)$199

At low volume, EasyPost wins. Their 3,000 free labels/month is genuinely generous. If you ship under 3K/month, EasyPost’s Free Access is hard to beat on price alone.

The crossover point is ~4,000 labels/month. That’s where flat pricing starts saving real money. At 10,000 labels/month, EasyPost costs $560/mo vs RevAddress at $79/mo — that’s $5,772/year in savings. At 50,000/month, the gap is $42,732/year.

Architecture differences

This matters more than pricing for most developers:

FeatureEasyPostShippoShipEngineRevAddress
USPS integrationIndirect (reseller)Indirect (reseller)Indirect (reseller)Direct (USPS-approved)
Rate limitsShared poolShared pool500/min60/hr USPS base + smart queuing
OAuth handlingManagedManagedManagedManaged (or BYOK)
Bring your own USPS credsNoNoNoYes (BYOK)
Multi-carrier100+ carriers90+ carriers70+ carriersUSPS only
Webhook deliveryYesYesYesComing Q2 2026
Batch operationsYes (100/req)Yes (varies)Yes (varies)Yes (100/req)
Self-hostable SDKNoNoNoOpen source SDKs

Key differentiator: EasyPost, Shippo, and ShipEngine are all middlemen — they hold USPS credentials, negotiate rates, and add a markup. RevAddress connects you directly to the USPS v3 REST API. If you only need USPS, you’re paying a multi-carrier tax with the others.

When to pick each one

Pick EasyPost if you need 100+ carriers and money isn’t a constraint. Their multi-carrier support is genuinely the most comprehensive. But you’ll pay $0.08/label for it.

Pick Shippo if you’re on Shopify or a platform that has a native Shippo integration. Their platform integrations are their real strength, not the raw API.

Pick ShipEngine if you need multi-carrier with more predictable pricing than EasyPost. Their flat tiers make budgeting easier.

Pick RevAddress if you primarily ship USPS and want:

  • Direct USPS integration (no middleman markup)
  • Flat monthly pricing that doesn’t scale with volume
  • BYOK — bring your own USPS credentials for full control
  • Open-source SDKs you can audit and self-host

Code comparison

Here’s address validation across all four. This is the most common API call — validate before you ship.

Address validation — EasyPost vs RevAddress
import easypost

client = easypost.EasyPostClient("EASYPOST_API_KEY")

address = client.address.create(
  street1="1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW",
  city="Washington",
  state="DC",
  zip="20500",
  country="US",
  verify=["delivery"],
)

if address.verifications.delivery.success:
  print(f"Valid: {address.street1}")
else:
  print(f"Invalid: {address.verifications.delivery.errors}")

Both work. The difference: EasyPost proxies your request through their infrastructure and charges $0.08 for it. RevAddress sends it directly to USPS and charges $0/address (included in your monthly plan).

The March 2026 context

Three things happened in Q1 2026 that change the calculus:

  1. USPS v3 REST API is production-ready. The old Web Tools XML API was retired January 2026 — it doesn’t just return deprecation warnings, it returns errors. Every shipping platform had to migrate their backend.

  2. EasyPost changed their pricing. The new per-label fee structure hit in January. On March 17, 2026 (one week away), accounts that haven’t chosen a plan get auto-enrolled into BYOCA ($20/mo + $0.08/label) if they have a payment method on file — or lose label generation entirely if they don’t.

  3. USPS Access Control changes (April 2026). USPS is tightening API access — CRID/MID enrollment, app-level approval, stricter rate limits. Services without proper enrollment will lose access.

RevAddress holds a USPS-approved application ID (REVASSEROSSHIP) with CRID and MID properly enrolled. This matters because if your shipping provider hasn’t completed USPS enrollment, your API access could break in April.

Migration from EasyPost

If you’re moving from EasyPost to RevAddress, here’s the step-by-step:

  1. Get your API key at revaddress.com/signup — takes 30 seconds
  2. Install the SDK:
Install
pip install usps-v3
  1. Replace the address validation call (see code comparison above)
  2. Replace label creation:
Create a shipping label
# EasyPost: create shipment, then buy
shipment = client.shipment.create(
  from_address=from_addr,
  to_address=to_addr,
  parcel=parcel,
)
bought = client.shipment.buy(
  shipment.id,
  rate=shipment.lowest_rate(),
)
label_url = bought.postage_label.label_url
  1. Test with your real addresses — RevAddress validates against USPS DPV (Delivery Point Validation), so you get the same accuracy as going direct
  2. Switch your environment variableEASYPOST_API_KEYREVADDRESS_API_KEY

The honest trade-offs

RevAddress is not the right choice if:

  • You ship with FedEx, UPS, and DHL alongside USPS — you’d need a multi-carrier platform
  • You need carrier-negotiated rates (we pass through USPS Commercial rates, not custom-negotiated)
  • You need on-premise deployment — our API runs on Cloudflare’s edge network

RevAddress is the right choice if:

  • USPS is your primary or only carrier
  • Per-label fees are eating into your margins
  • You want to bring your own USPS credentials (BYOK)
  • You want open-source SDKs you can audit
  • You care about direct USPS integration vs going through a middleman

Bottom line

At 1,000+ labels/month, the per-label pricing model costs more than flat monthly. At 10,000/month, you’re leaving nearly $9,000/year on the table with EasyPost. That’s the math.

Check the full pricing breakdown or try the API — 41 endpoints, 293 tests, USPS-approved.

Ready to migrate?

293 tests. 41 routes. USPS-approved. Flat monthly pricing.

3 SDKs (Python · Node · PHP) MIT Licensed No per-label fees