Shipping is the most prominent division of an eCommerce business. A shipping solution for your eCommerce platform should be chosen such that it meets all the basic needs of the shipping process. An online merchant should be able to complete the entire shipping process quickly and effortlessly. With so many shipping solutions in the market, it may not be an easy task to choose one that fits best for your eCommerce business. To help you with it, here is a complete comparison between the two most admired shipping solutions: AfterShip and PluginHive.
An accomplished Shipping solution for eCommerce store
PluginHive is an end-to-end solution that lets you display live shipping rates at checkout. Your customers can choose from the available shipping services as per their needs and budget. It also allows you to print shipping labels automatically with a single click. You can request for pickup, generate manifest for the pickup agents and also track the orders after the orders are out for shipping.
Likewise, AfterShip, as the name suggests, operates only after the order is out for shipping. It allows you to track your orders, send customized email notifications, provides branded tracking and multilingual tracking to your customers.
| Shipping Process | PluginHive | Aftership |
|---|---|---|
| Real-Time Shipping Rates At Checkout Page | ✓ | ☓ |
| One-Click Shipping Label Printing | ✓ | ☓ |
| Request Carrier Pickups From Your Store | ✓ | ☓ |
| Live Shipment Tracking With Notifications | ✓ | ✓ |
If you are looking for a shipping solution with a particular feature like order tracking you can opt either AfterShip or PluginHive. However, If you are looking for an end-to-end shipping solution for your eCommerce platform with live shipping rates, shipping labels, pickup requests, manifest generation, and tracking the orders, PluginHive is the best shipping solution for your eCommerce business out of the two.
A plug-in app or an external application
PluginHive is an integrated shipping solution where the entire shipping process is carried out inside the eCommerce platform dashboard. There is no need for logging in or switching between multiple windows. Printing the labels, pickup, manifest, & tracking can be done in a single go with PluginHive.
Aftership is an external shipping solution where you need to import your store details & shipment details to track your orders. You need to switch between multiple windows to complete your shipping process.
Solution with reasonable price
With a $9 subscription, PluginHive provides 100 shipments with labels, pickup, manifest, and tracking with email notification.
Whereas with the same price, AfterShip provides you 100 shipments with tracking & email notifications, shipping performance and engagement analytics.
With a $99, PluginHive’s subscription plan provides unlimited shipments with labels, pickup, manifest, tracking, orders, and report analytics. You can see the detailed pricing for PluginHive shipping solutions below.
Whereas with a $199 subscription, AfterShip provides 5000 shipments with the option of branded tracking, product recommendation, multilingual tracking page, email notification. You can see the detailed pricing for AfterShip Solution below.
Shipping solution with committed customer support
Customer support plays a major role when it comes to choosing a software solution. A committed customer support from the shipping solution company is most important for the growth of your business.
PluginHive gives you 24*7 efficient customer support via telephone, zoom call, live chat andemail support for all the customers.
Whereas, AfterShip provides customer support via chat support for a $199 subscription plan.
Need for own shipping carrier account
In the PluginHive shipping solution, you need to add your own carrier account and complete the entire shipping process. So that you get freedom over your shipping process and you will have control on your carrier account.
AfterShip provides you the facility of tracking with email notifications, As it only identifies the tracking number from different carriers and tracks the orders, it doesn’t need the carrier account.
Looking for a specific feature for your shipping needs?
If you need a comparison of each of the features and attributes of PluginHive and AfterShip shipping solutions, we have collated them in the table below
| Specific Features | PluginHive | Aftership |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated Platform Specific Solution | ✓ | ☓ |
| Global Coverage with Shipping Carriers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live Carrier Calculated Shipping Rates at Checkout | ✓ | ☓ |
| Carrier Calculated Shipping Rates for Merchants | ✓ | ☓ |
| Automatic Shipping label printing | ✓ | ☓ |
| Branded tracking | ☓ | ✓ |
| One-Click Shipping Label Printing in Bulk | ✓ | ☓ |
| Merchant’s Carrier Account is required | ✓ | ☓ |
| Live Shipment Tracking For Merchants | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live Shipment Tracking Notifications for Customers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shipment Tracking Email Customization | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile application | ☓ | ✓ |
| Process Unlimited Orders | ✓ | ☓ |
| Request Carrier Pickups | ✓ | ☓ |
| Hold Shipments at Carrier Locations | ✓ | ☓ |
| Multi Carrier Shipping | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer Support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer Support via Email | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer Support via Live Chat | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer Support via Call | ✓ | ☓ |
| Customer Support via Zoom Call | ✓ | ☓ |
Conclusion
Both AfterShip and PluginHive are renowned shipping companies. Choosing between these two shipping solutions depends on one’s requirements.
If you are looking for a complete shipping solution with live shipping rates, shipping labels, pickup requests, manifests and order tracking then PluginHive is the finest shipping solution for your eCommerce business. You not only get prompt customer support but you also get all the subscription plans at a reasonable rate with all the advanced features.
Whereas, AfterShip takes care of your entire shipment tracking process, where you get the customized options in tracking and customer support for the top subscription plan only.
We believe that our research will assist you in selecting the right shipping solution based on your company requirements and demands.
