EasyPost: Best Shipping API for Multi-Carrier Logistics
by Jaidyn Farar
Whether your business is still in its early stages, expanding rapidly, or processing thousands of orders a day, you’ve probably discovered that shipping products to customers poses some major challenges.
To cut costs, reduce errors, and improve productivity, many businesses automate shipping with a multi-carrier API like EasyPost.
A multi-carrier shipping API is a software solution that simplifies shipping, allowing merchants to quickly integrate with dozens of carriers, access steep discounts, automate rate shopping, track packages, and more.
How can a shipping API help your business? What should you look for in an API? And what’s the best shipping API on the market? If you’re asking these questions, you’re in the right place! Let’s dive in.
Why choosing the right shipping API matters
Can a shipping API really make a difference in your business? Yes! Replacing manual order processes (like data entry, label creation, and carrier integration) with automated ones will free up time and save you money.
With the right shipping API, you’ll access the following benefits:
- Greater shipping efficiency. Automating tasks like label generation, rate calculation, and carrier selection reduces errors and speeds up fulfillment, so orders get out the door faster. And because shipping APIs provide insight into carrier performance, you can easily choose the fastest and most reliable delivery options.
- Lower shipping costs. Because shipping APIs allow you to rate shop between carriers, you know you’re getting the best deals on shipping. Solutions like EasyPost’s SmartRate API automate the process, using historical shipment data to show you the cheapest ways to get packages delivered in time. Shipping APIs also save businesses money by giving them access to special discounted rates from top carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and more.
- Improved customer satisfaction. Reliable shipping options, transparent rates, real-time tracking, and accurate delivery estimates create a smooth post-purchase experience that keeps customers happy and coming back.
- Faster (and smoother) business growth. With streamlined operations and lower shipping costs, you can scale your business more easily, spending less time on manual processes and more on strategy.
How shipping APIs work
How do shipping APIs work? Without getting too technical, a shipping API acts as a bridge between your ecommerce platform or order management system and shipping carriers. It allows these systems to automatically exchange information like order details, shipping rates, and tracking updates.
For example, when a customer places an order on your ecommerce website, an API can pull in the shipping address, calculate the best rates, generate a label, and send tracking information—all without manual input.
The integration process
Integrating with a shipping API can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks or months, depending on the complexity of your logistics operations. The process looks different depending on the solution provider you select. For EasyPost, it looks something like this:
- Make a decision. Decide to implement the EasyPost Shipping API.
- Sign up. Talk with our sales team and create your account (or, if you’re a smaller shipper, get started for free).
- Add carriers. Integrate with your chosen carriers from our library of over 100 national, regional, and local options.
- Test and explore. Explore the EasyPost documentation and set up your shipping workflow, integrating with your ecommerce platform and other systems.
- Start shipping! Automatically create a shipping label for every customer order, taking advantage of features like address verification, package tracking, and insurance.
Common features of shipping APIs
You might have started researching shipping APIs in hopes of finding a solution to integrate with carriers and create shipping labels. While these are crucial functions of an API, most solutions offer many additional time- and money-saving features.
- Carrier integration. APIs allow you to ship with multiple carriers, giving you access to their services and delivery options in one place.
- Label generation. Shipping APIs simplify the process of creating compliant shipping labels, ensuring they meet carrier requirements and can be printed efficiently.
- Time and cost optimization. By analyzing shipping options, you can find the best balance between delivery speed and cost to meet your customers' needs.
- Discounted shipping. Many shipping APIs provide access to discounted rates through pre-negotiated agreements with carriers, helping you reduce shipping costs.
- Rate calculation. APIs calculate real-time shipping rates across carriers, so you can provide accurate cost estimates for your customers and keep your budget in check.
- Package tracking. With tracking tools, you can monitor the status of shipments from pickup to delivery and keep customers informed along the way.
- Address verification. By verifying addresses before shipping, you can minimize errors, prevent delivery issues, and reduce the risk of returns or delays. You also avoid the fees carriers charge to correct wrong addresses.
- Shipping insurance. Some shipping APIs offer insurance options to safeguard packages against loss, damage, or theft during transit.
- Shipping analytics. Many APIs provide tools for measuring carrier performance, including on-time delivery rates and other important shipping metrics.
What to look for in a shipping API
It goes without saying that the right shipping API for your business will come with all the features you need, whether it’s package tracking, an insurance option, or another must-have functionality. But beyond features, it’s essential to make sure your API is reliable, flexible, and secure.
Look for the following when choosing an API.
Wide carrier network
A shipping API with a wide carrier network gives you access to multiple shipping options, from major carriers to regional and local providers. This flexibility allows you to choose the best service for each order, whether you’re prioritizing cost, speed, or delivery location.
Flexible delivery options
When it comes to your customers, never underestimate the power of choice. Offering a variety of delivery options—like expedited shipping, same-day delivery, or local pickup—enhances the customer experience and sets your business apart.
A good shipping API should allow you to tailor delivery methods based on customer preferences, product type, or location. It should also make it easy to select optional features and services, such as insurance or signature on delivery.
Without this flexibility, you risk frustrating customers who need faster delivery or alternative options, which could lead to abandoned carts or lost sales.
High reliability and uptime
Since shipping APIs handle essential tasks like rate calculation and label generation, any downtime can bring your fulfillment process to a halt.
Delays are harmful any time of year, but they’re especially devastating during peak seasons. If your API goes offline during busy periods, shipping delays could lead to frustrated customers, missed delivery windows, and potential revenue loss. On the other hand, a reliable shipping API with consistent uptime ensures your shipping operations run smoothly without disruptions—no matter how much volume fluctuates.
How can you check the reliability of a shipping API? Many shipping APIs are transparent about their performance, publishing their uptime and downtime online. For example, EasyPost shippers can view the API’s status here. If you’re curious about the historical uptime of another API, simply Google the provider’s name and the word “status.”
To learn more about the importance of uptime, download our ebook: On Time, Every Time: The Power of Reliable Shipping Software.
Fast response times
The best shipping APIs have fast response times. Whether you’re calculating rates, generating labels, or tracking packages, the API should pull all the information you need without delays.
Slow response times can create bottlenecks, especially during high-order periods. And these bottlenecks often have major consequences. For example, if it takes too long to retrieve shipping rates at checkout, customers might abandon their carts rather than wait.
A responsive API keeps your workflow smooth and ensures a better experience for everyone involved.
The ability to scale with your business
As your business grows and order volumes increase, shipping needs become more complex, and it’s essential to have a shipping API that can keep up. A scalable API can handle higher transaction volumes, integrate with additional carriers, and support new features as your operations expand.
In addition to supporting long-term business growth, your shipping API should also be able to maintain high response times during peak shipping seasons. During these temporary demand spikes, it’s more important than ever to continue fulfilling orders quickly and accurately.
Easy integration and documentation
For the sake of your development team, make sure your shipping solution comes with clear, organized documentation. Good documentation helps you get things up and running quickly, ensuring the integration process is smooth and stress-free. Once you’ve completed integration, well-structured resources make it easier to troubleshoot issues and add new features as needed.
EasyPost customers can find everything they need to know in our documentation library.
High data protection standards
Shipping APIs need to adhere to strong data protection standards to ensure that sensitive customer information, such as addresses and payment details, remains secure. With the increasing risk of data breaches and cyber threats, safeguarding customer data isn’t just a legal requirement—it’s a key factor in maintaining trust.
If an API lacks robust security protocols, you could be vulnerable to data leaks or hacking attempts, leading to potential fines, loss of customer confidence, and damage to your brand's reputation.
What is the best shipping API?
With 99.99% uptime (even during peak season) and a wide range of functionalities, the EasyPost Shipping API is one of the best choices on the market. EasyPost has helped businesses like Zenni Optical, Casper, and Printful optimize their logistics and cut costs across the board. Because EasyPost is a multi-carrier API, users get all the benefits of shipping with multiple carriers: lower rates, fewer delays, and a more reliable last-mile delivery system.
Some shippers choose to use individual carrier APIs to integrate directly with a specific delivery provider. Here are a few popular shipping API integrations:
- USPS. The United States Postal Service’s API library includes solutions for address validation, package pickup scheduling, label creation, and more. Benefits include “increased security and authentication using OAuth2.0 Client Credentials, user-friendly self-service developer onboarding, [and] test environments, interactive documentation and API catalogs”
- UPS. UPS provides APIs for a variety of use cases, including shipping, tracking, and handling international logistics. Resources include a GitHub community and a library of example API requests.
- FedEx. Some of the most popular APIs in FedEx’s library are tracking, shipping, and rate calculation. FexEx also offers a shipment visibility webhook that provides “near real time push updates on shipments in transit.”
Start shipping with EasyPost for free
EasyPost’s suite of shipping APIs includes solutions for rate shopping, label generation, parcel analytics, address verification, package tracking, and more. Both large and small businesses rely on EasyPost to automate the shipping process, saving time and money on order fulfillment.
For businesses with low shipping volume, EasyPost is free to use—simply sign up here to get started. Larger shippers should get in touch with our team for more information and custom pricing.
Happy shipping!