Price ShipStation on your real monthly volume. Subscription cost depends on both plan and shipment count, and the tiers are not aligned between plans: $174.99 is 5,000 shipments on Starter but only 2,000 on Standard. See all three side by side.
| Input | Result |
|---|---|
| 5,000 shipments on Starter | $174.99 a month, $0.03 a shipment |
| The same $174.99 on Standard | only 2,000 shipments, Starter ships 2.5x the volume for the same money |
| 1,000 shipments on Starter | $79.99 a month, cheaper than Standard's 500-shipment tier at $89.99 |
| 5,000 shipments, all three plans | $174.99 / $249.99 / $799.99 |
| 6,000 shipments on Starter | not purchasable, Starter stops at 5,000 shipments |
| Entry price for 50 shipments | $14.99 / $29.99 / $349.99 |
| Shipments / month | Starter (3 users) | Standard (10 users) | Premium (15 users) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $14.99 | $29.99 | $349.99 |
| 100 | $29.99 | $59.99 | $399.99 |
| 500 | $39.99 | $89.99 | $449.99 |
| 1,000 | $79.99 | $149.99 | $599.99 |
| 2,000 | $119.99 | $174.99 | $699.99 |
| 5,000 | $174.99 | $249.99 | $799.99 |
| 7,500 | – | $299.99 | $949.99 |
| 10,000 | – | $599.99 | $1,099.99 |
| 15,000 | – | $649.99 | $1,349.99 |
| 20,000 | – | $799.99 | $1,499.99 |
| 30,000 | – | – | $2,249.99 |
| 40,000 | – | – | $2,999.99 |
| 50,000 | – | – | $3,749.99 |
| 75,000 | – | – | $5,699.99 |
| 100,000 | – | – | $7,499.99 |
The fee you pay is the first tier that covers your monthly volume, so a month of 600 shipments bills at the 1,000 tier, not somewhere in between. Starter tops out at 5,000 shipments; Standard and Premium publish tiers beyond 20,000 and ShipStation quotes anything above their top tier.
The tier tables come from ShipStation's own pricing page, read on 17 October 2026, and the three entry prices are independently confirmed by ShipStation's Shipment Fees by Plan help article, which prints Starter at $14.99, Standard at $29.99 and Premium at $349.99 for accounts beginning at 50 shipments a month. An independent review that re-read the official page gives the same figures for Standard at 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 shipments.
One caveat: ShipStation's regional pages do not currently agree with each other. The Australia page shows one set of figures for 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 shipments and the US and UK pages show another. This calculator follows the US and UK figures because those are the ones consistent with ShipStation's own help documentation, but if you are outside those regions check your own page before relying on the number.
ShipStation is quoted everywhere as "$14.99 a month", which is true for 50 shipments and useless for anyone else. The actual price is a step function of two variables, plan and volume, and the steps are not aligned between plans. The clearest example is $174.99: on Starter that is the 5,000-shipment tier, and on Standard it is the 2,000-shipment tier. Same invoice, two and a half times the volume, decided entirely by which column you buy from.
That does not automatically make Starter the better buy. Starter allows three users and only basic pre-configured automation, where Standard allows ten users with unlimited conditional rules, and the automation gap is the reason most growing sellers are pushed to Standard. But if three users and basic rate shopping genuinely cover your operation, the plan that looks like the cheap option is quietly the expensive one.
The other boundary worth knowing before you commit is that Starter stops at 5,000 shipments a month. There is no higher Starter tier. Growing past that is not a matter of paying more on the same plan; it means moving to Standard and repricing from its own table.
It depends on volume, not just plan. For 5,000 shipments a month it is $174.99 on Starter, $249.99 on Standard and $799.99 on Premium. The widely quoted $14.99 is the Starter price for 50 shipments a month; at 5,000 shipments the same plan is $174.99.
On shipments alone, Starter by a wide margin, because its tier boundaries sit further apart: $174.99 buys 5,000 shipments on Starter against 2,000 on Standard, and $79.99 buys 1,000 on Starter where Standard charges $89.99 for just 500. What Standard buys with the extra money is 10 users against 3 and unlimited conditional automation rules against basic pre-configured ones.
5,000 a month. That is the top tier in Starter's published table and there is no higher one to buy, so passing it means moving to Standard rather than paying more on Starter. Standard publishes tiers up to 20,000 shipments and Premium up to 100,000, above which ShipStation quotes custom pricing and publishes no figure.
There is no per-shipment subscription fee on the published plans, you pay a tier price. Dividing it out, 5,000 shipments on Starter works out at $0.03 a shipment, on Standard $0.05 and on Premium $0.16. The per-shipment figure falls as you fill a tier and jumps up again the moment you cross into the next one.
No. The subscription covers the software and carriers bill you separately for labels, which is usually several times the subscription. Add-ons for dropshipping, 3PL and fulfillment are also extra, and connecting your own negotiated carrier accounts needs the Your Carriers add-on on Starter and Standard. None of those prices are published on the pricing page.
Two reasons. Most sites quote the $14.99 entry price without saying it applies to 50 shipments a month. And ShipStation's own regional pages currently disagree: the Australia page shows different figures for 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 shipments than the US and UK pages do. This calculator follows the US and UK figures, which match ShipStation's own help documentation.