The bottom line
A discounted label is USPS’s commercial price: the price USPS sets for postage bought online through a shipping platform, instead of at the post office counter. You don’t need a contract or volume. Free platforms give it to you, and in USPS’s own tables it’s 9% to 42% below the counter price for the packages we compared.
Where to buy discounted labels
We may earn a fee if you sign up with some providers in this table. It never changes the prices we show or what we recommend.
| Platform | 50 labels/mo | 500 labels/mo | 2,000 labels/mo | Carriers | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pirate Ship ↗Visit Pirate Ship | Free | Free | Free | USPS, UPS | Visit Pirate Ship |
| Veeqo ↗Visit Veeqo | Free | Free | Free | Amazon Shipping, UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, OnTrac | Visit Veeqo |
| Shippo ↗Visit Shippo | $19.00 | $29.00 | $79.00 | USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL Express | Visit Shippo |
| Easyship ↗Visit Easyship | Free | $29.00 | $69.00 | 550+ courier services (not enumerated on the plans page) | Visit Easyship |
| ShippingEasy ↗Tiers above 200 shipments are not published in the page text.Visit ShippingEasy | Not published for these volumes | USPS, UPS | Visit ShippingEasy | ||
| Stamps.com ↗Only the Basic plan states a label count (10); Professional and Multi-Location limits are not published.Visit Stamps.com | Not published for these volumes | USPS, UPS, FedEx | Visit Stamps.com | ||
| ShipStation ↗Each plan publishes set shipment tiers (Starter: 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 a month). We show a cost only where a published tier matches the volume.Visit ShipStation | $14.99 | $39.99 | $119.99 | USPS, UPS, FedEx | Visit ShipStation |
| PitneyShip (Pitney Bowes) ↗Free plan adds 5% to every label (per their page); paid plan label limits not published.Visit PitneyShip (Pitney Bowes) | Not published for these volumes | USPS, FedEx, UPS, DHL (bring your own account) | Visit PitneyShip (Pitney Bowes) | ||
Prices checked Oct 22 to 29, 2026 on each platform's own page (↗ opens it). Subscription cost only, using the cheapest published plan that covers the volume. Postage is extra and depends on the carrier, weight and distance. "Not published" means the platform's page text gives no price for that volume (some show one only in a slider or through sales), so we don't show a number we can't source.
We may earn a fee if you sign up with some providers in this table. It never changes the prices we show or what we recommend.
- Free with no label cap: Pirate Ship (USPS and UPS) and Veeqo (several carriers; Veeqo describes itself as “an Amazon company”).
- Free plan with a cap: Shippo (up to 30 labels a month), Easyship (up to 50) and ShippingEasy (up to 25).
- Watch for: PitneyShip’s free plan adds 5% to each label, according to its own pricing page.
Pirate Ship has no referral program, so it never pays us. We list it because it’s free and it’s often the cheapest way to buy USPS labels.
The real discount, from USPS’s own tables
USPS Ground Advantage, the service most small sellers use for packages under 20 lb:
| Weight | Counter price | Discounted label | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb | $11.10 | $8.55 | $2.55 (23%) |
| 2 lb | $13.50 | $8.91 | $4.59 (34%) |
| 5 lb | $16.60 | $11.67 | $4.93 (30%) |
| 10 lb | $20.20 | $15.09 | $5.11 (25%) |
| 20 lb | $28.55 | $20.71 | $7.84 (27%) |
| Weight | Counter price | Discounted label | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb | $13.65 | $11.22 | $2.43 (18%) |
| 2 lb | $19.80 | $13.42 | $6.38 (32%) |
| 5 lb | $27.45 | $20.24 | $7.21 (26%) |
| 10 lb | $40.85 | $26.39 | $14.46 (35%) |
| 20 lb | $72.15 | $42.14 | $30.01 (42%) |
Priority Mail, which is faster and costs more:
| Weight | Counter price | Discounted label | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb | $12.40 | $10.80 | $1.60 (13%) |
| 2 lb | $14.85 | $11.19 | $3.66 (25%) |
| 5 lb | $18.30 | $16.37 | $1.93 (11%) |
| 10 lb | $22.55 | $20.27 | $2.28 (10%) |
| 20 lb | $32.35 | $29.34 | $3.01 (9%) |
What the “up to 89% off” claims leave out
Platforms advertise savings like “up to 89%” (Pirate Ship), “up to 90%” (Stamps.com), “80% to 90%” (ShipStation) and “up to 91%” (Easyship). Those are their own claims. They’re measured against starting prices you may never pay, often the highest list price for a specific package type. Against the post office counter price for the packages above, the real gap is the one in the tables: 9% to 42%.
That’s still a large saving on every package. It just isn’t 89%.
What the label price doesn’t include
The discounted price is postage only. A large, light box can be billed by its size instead of its weight: check it in the dimensional weight calculator. UPS and FedEx also add fuel and residential surcharges, which the cheapest way to ship calculator can add for you.
Get told when these prices change
Providers change fees with little notice. Alerts start soon, and we'll send nothing else.
Common questions
Where can I buy discounted shipping labels?
From shipping platforms that pass on USPS commercial prices. Pirate Ship and Veeqo charge no subscription; Shippo's free plan covers up to 30 labels a month and Easyship's up to 50. ShipStation, Stamps.com and PitneyShip charge a monthly fee for their paid plans.
How much do discounted shipping labels save?
Against USPS's own counter price, the discounted label for Ground Advantage and Priority Mail at 1 to 20 lb was 9% to 42% cheaper in our sample. For example, a 2 lb Ground Advantage package to a mid-distance zone is $13.50 at the counter and $8.91 as a discounted label.
Is 'up to 89% off' real?
It's the platform's own claim, and it's measured against a different starting price than the one you pay at the post office for a typical package. In USPS's published tables, the biggest saving in our sample was 42% (a 20 lb Ground Advantage package sent cross-country).
Are free shipping label platforms really free?
Pirate Ship and Veeqo charge no subscription and make money elsewhere. PitneyShip's free plan adds 5% to every label, per its own pricing page, so it isn't free in practice. Shippo's and Easyship's free plans cap the number of labels a month.