Shipping is a tedious task and to simplify this process, there are several shipping solutions to help online retailers. However one must choose the best shipping tool according to their business needs. To help you with this we have compared two of the extensively used shipping solutions – ShippyPro and PluginHive.
End-To-End Shipping Solution For An E-commerce Store?
PluginHive is an end-to-end shipping solution that eases your shipping process by integrating with Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, and PrestaShop. You can display real-time shipping carrier rates at the checkout and give flexibility to customers to select the required shipping method. It also allows you to print labels in bulk automatically from within your store’s dashboard. You can schedule pickup requests with carrier services, print manifests to hand over to carrier agents, and send order tracking details to customers with customized email notifications.
ShippyPro also allows you to display live shipping rates, print labels, track orders, request carrier pickup, and print manifest. However, it is not possible to display live carrier calculated rates at the checkout with their basic plan. If you want to access this feature, you have to upgrade your plan.
| Shipping Process | PluginHive | ShippyPro |
|---|---|---|
| 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 an External Operator
PluginHive is a shipping solution that integrates seamlessly with top e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, and PrestaShop. It helps you complete the order fulfillment and shipping process from within the ecommerce platform’s dashboard. You don’t have to worry about logging in to different websites or connecting your stores with an external solution.
On the other hand, ShippyPro is an external shipping tool. To fulfill your orders you need to log in to ShippyPro and import order details from your e-store. The entire process of importing & processing orders and finally notifying customers about the tracking status can be time-consuming.
Budget-friendly Shipping Solution
PluginHive provides different subscription plans which only differ in the number of shipments. It gives a free trial to get you familiarized with its functionalities. PluginHive’s basic plan starts at $9 with 100 labels. If you want to process more orders you can easily upgrade your plan to $29. PluginHive’s pricing plans are available between $9 to $99, which are tabulated below. You can have a look and understand it in depth.
ShippyPro provides subscription plans named Fast Growing, Professional, and Enterprise. With a basic plan costing $29, you can process 250 shipments. If you want to access any special attributes like return policy and advanced features you need to upgrade your plan to Professional with $75.The detailed pricing plans are tabulated below, you can have a look and get an idea to choose the best plan suiting for your business.
Shipping Solution with 24*7 Customer assistance
Helping customers onboard and resolving their issues are some of the prime objectives of the customer support team. PluginHive supports you with 24*7 customer assistance via live chat, Phone call support, email support, and Zoom call support for all the subscription plans.
Whereas, ShippyPro provides voice calls and lives chat support to resolve your queries.
The Necessity to Have A Carrier Account?
Both PluginHive and ShippyPro operate with multi carriers across the globe. With ShippyPro you need to connect your own carrier account. However, the number of carriers you can connect depends on the subscription plan. For example, the Fast growing plan allows you to connect eight carriers. If you want to add more carriers you need to upgrade your plan.
On the other hand, PluginHive allows you to add your own carrier account and it supports all carriers starting from its basic plan. Moreover, you can also customize carrier shipping rates by creating your shipping rules based on the number of products, total weight, destination, quantity, etc. Since PluginHive is certified in UPS, FedEx, Stamps, Canada Post, Australia Post, Purolator, Parcelforce Worldwide, you will even get guidance in getting your own account with these carriers.
Looking Up for a Particular Feature For Your Shipping Solution?
The shipping process includes lots of things like displaying live shipping rates, printing labels, pickup requests, tracking the orders, etc. Other than these features there will be requirements of other features. To help you with this, we compared some features provided by both shipping solutions, PluginHive and ShippyPro.
| Specific Features | PluginHive | ShippyPro |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ✓ | ✓ |
| 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 | ☓ | ✓ |
| Process Unlimited Orders | ✓ | ☓ |
| Request Carrier Pickups | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hold Shipments at Carrier Locations | ✓ | ☓ |
| Multi Carrier Shipping | ✓ | ✓ |
| 24*7 Customer Support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer Support via Email | ✓ | ☓ |
| Customer Support via Live Chat | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer Support via Call | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer Support via Zoom Call | ✓ | ☓ |
Conclusion
Both PluginHive and ShippyPro are contributing enormously to the e-commerce business. If your business demands basic features like label printing, tracking, and order fulfillment both shipping solutions are worth it. On the other hand, if you need an end-to-end shipping solution to operate all the shipping tasks in one go and from an economical point of view, PluginHive fits the best.
We hope this detailed comparison helps you choose the best shipping solution required for your business.
