For efficient delivery of products, online merchants require the right shipping software solution. A solution that takes care of all the shipping requirements and speeds up the shipping process by automation. The current market provides a lot of shipping solutions, the challenging task, however, is to identify the greatest fit for your business. To help and give you a clear picture, we have compared two widely used shipping solutions, ShipperHQ and PluginHive.
An All-In-One Shipping Solution For e-Commerce Stores?
Both PluginHive and ShipperHQ integrate with well-known e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Woocommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, and BigCommerce.
PluginHive is a complete shipping tool that eliminates your entire burden of shipping products. It shows live shipping rates at checkout, enabling customers to choose a shipping service according to their needs and budget. It also allows you to automatically print shipping labels, request carrier pickups from your eCommerce store dashboard, and update customers with live order tracking details.
ShipperHQ provides shipping rates at checkout. However, printing shipping labels and real-time order tracking are not available with ShipperHQ. To print labels, you need to link your eCommerce store with another third-party order fulfillment application.
| Shipping Process | PluginHive | ShipperHQ |
|---|---|---|
| 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?
Being a platform-oriented shipping solution, PluginHive effortlessly integrates with your eCommerce platform and assists you in fulfilling orders easily. Putting every process on your eCommerce store’s Dashboard PluginHive simplifies and streamlines order processing.
ShipperHQ on the other hand is an external shipping solution. Only after connecting your e-Commerce platform to the ShipperHQ dashboard, you can carry out your shipping process and display live shipping rates at checkout.
Shipping Solution With Great Value For Money
Both ShipperHQ and PluginHive provide a free trial period so you can familiarise yourself with the features and choose whether they are the best match for you.
ShipperHQ paid plan starts at $45.83/mo. The Standard and the Pro pricing plan goes up to $91.67/mo and $275/mo respectively. If you need help configuring your account or a screen-sharing session, ShipperHQ provides that too. However, you have to pay $700 and $200 additionally.
The PluginHive shipping solution’s subscription plan starts at $9 per month and allows you to handle 100 orders. As your business expands, the price remains cost-effective, with $29 for up to 1000 orders, $49 for up to 3000 orders or shipping labels. If you ship in large quantities, the enterprise plan at 99$ is the most you’ll have to spend for an unlimited number of orders and tracking.
Need For A Committed Customer Support
Both ShipperHQ and PluginHive provide efficient customer service that may help raise your company’s profits over time.
ShipperHQ offers help center access, email/ chat support, phone support, same-day response time based on the subscription plan chosen. For example with their Essential Plan, you only get access to the help center and email/ chat support. If you want extensive support you have to upgrade your plan.
PluginHive takes a step ahead by providing 24×7 customer support for all the subscription plans. It includes email, live chat, telephonic, and video call support for all customers across the globe.
Requirement For A Shipping Carrier Account
PluginHive and ShipperHQ support multiple shipping carriers all over the world. With ShipperHQ you have to configure your own shipping carrier account. However, the number of carriers you can add depends on the subscription plan chosen. For instance, their Essential plan enables you to configure two shipping carriers. If you need more than two carriers you have to upgrade your plan.
PluginHive on the other hand helps you in configuring all of the supported shipping carriers starting from their Basic plan. You can even customize the shipping rates for different products easily based on the destination, weight, dimension, and so on.
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 | ShipperHQ |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated Platform Specific Solution | ✓ | ☓ |
| Global Coverage with Shipping Carriers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live Carrier Calculated Shipping Rates at Checkout | ✓ | ✓ |
| Carrier Calculated Shipping Rates for Merchants | ✓ | ✓ |
| Product Page Calculator | ☓ | ✓ |
| 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 | ✓ | ☓ |
| Instore Pickup | ☓ | ✓ |
| 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 these shipping solutions are making the shipping experience more convenient all around the world. If your company requires specific features, such as live checkout rates, both PluginHive and ShipperHQ are appropriate. PluginHive, on the other hand, is a better option if you require a comprehensive end-to-end shipping solution. It also provides more value for money by giving all the facilities in their Basic plan.
We believe that our research will assist you in selecting the right shipping solution based on your needs and requirements.
