To make the e-commerce shipping process effortless the present market offers a lot of shipping software alternatives. However, the difficulty is in determining the best match for your business. In this article, we evaluated two widely used eCommerce shipping solutions, Easyship and PluginHive, to make the choice easier for you.
End-to-end Shipping Solution For The E-commerce store?
Easyship and PluginHive efficiently complete your entire shipping process by integrating with various e-commerce platforms like Woocommerce, Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, and PrestaShop. They both provide live shipping rates at checkout, helping customers to choose a shipping service according to their needs and budget. They also help you print shipping labels automatically, request carrier pickups, and update customers with real-time order tracking details.
| Shipping Process | PluginHive | Easyship |
|---|---|---|
| Real-Time Shipping Rates At Checkout Page | ✓ | ✓ |
| One-Click Shipping Label Printing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Request Carrier Pickups From Your Store | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live Shipment Tracking With Notifications | ✓ | ✓ |
Plugin/App or External Application?
PluginHive is a plug-and-use shipping solution. It effortlessly integrates with the eCommerce platforms and assists you in fulfilling orders. It simplifies and streamlines order processing from within your eCommerce store Dashboard, saving you a lot of time and hard work. With this solution, you do not have to log in to multiple apps or switch between multiple windows. All the job gets done in one place, which is your eCommerce dashboard.
However, Easyship is an external shipping solution. To complete the shipping process you have to log in to the Easyship website, import your store and order details and complete the shipping process.
Shipping Solution With The Best Value For Money
Easyship and PluginHive both offer a free trial period so you can get familiarized with the features and decide whether they are the perfect fit for you or not.
Easyship paid plan starts at $27.18/mo and includes up to 500 shipping labels. The Premier plan pricing is $54.38/mo for 2500 labels. If you are generating more than 2500 labels each month, you will need to choose their Enterprise plan with custom pricing. You can see the detailed pricing plan below.
The PluginHive subscription plan begins at $9 per month and allows you to process up to 100 orders. Pricing ranges from $29/mo to $99/mo and remains cost-effective as your business progresses. If you ship in large quantities, the enterprise plan at $99/mo is the ideal option for processing an unrestricted number of orders. You can see the detailed pricing plan below.
Need For A Committed Customer Support
Easyship offers email, chat, and phone support, based on the subscription plan chosen. For instance, with their Plus Plan, you only get access to email and chat support. If you need extensive support you have to upgrade your plan.
PluginHive on the other hand steps forward by offering 24×7 customer assistance for all subscription plans. It provides email, live chat, phone, and video call assistance to all clients worldwide. PluginHive’s customer reviews talk highly about the support provided.
Requirement For A Shipping Carrier Account
Both PluginHive and Easyship support a wide range of shipping carriers from across the world. With Easyship you get an option to choose either Easyship or your own carrier accounts. If you choose Easyship’s carrier accounts, you may have to pay an additional cost along with the subscription fee.
PluginHive on the other hand enables you to add your own shipping carrier account. This gives you greater flexibility and control over your shipping costs. PluginHive does not charge a commission because you use your own carrier account. By paying simply the subscription fee, you may create and print an unlimited amount of labels.
Looking For A Specific Feature For Your Shipping Needs?
The shipping process involves several steps, such as displaying shipping rates to clients, creating labels, tracking orders, and so on. Refer to the chart below to compare some specific features that you may require to improve your shipping process:
| Specific Features | PluginHive | Easyship |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated Platform Specific Solution | ✓ | ☓ |
| Global Coverage with Shipping Carriers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live Carrier Calculated Shipping Rates at Checkout | ✓ | ✓ |
| Carrier Calculated Shipping Rates for Merchants | ✓ | ✓ |
| Branded Tracking Email | ✓ | ☓ |
| Automatic Shiping Label Printing | ✓ | ✓ |
| 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 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Branded Tracking Page | ☓ | ✓ |
| 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 Easyship and PluginHive are the best options if you are looking for an end-to-end shipping solution. However, if you need an integrated shipping solution, PluginHive is a better option and it also provides better value for money as it includes all of the features in their Basic package.
We believe that this comparison will assist you in selecting the finest shipping option based on your company’s needs and requirements.
