Getting Started with ShipEngine API

Welcome to ShipEngine! Our easy-to-use REST API lets you manage all of your shipping needs without the complexities of different carrier APIs and protocols. We handle all the heavy lifting so you can focus on providing a first-class shipping experience for your customers.

If you're new to REST APIs, be sure to read our introduction to REST to understand the basics. Learn how to authenticate yourself to ShipEngine and then use our sandbox environment to kick the tires and get familiar with our API. If you run into any problems, check our error handling guide for tips.

Essential Features

ShipEngine provides multiple features you can leverage in your shipping workflows, but the four essential features are purchasing labels, getting rates, tracking shipments, and validating addresses. Click any of the tiles below to go to that feature's step-by-step tutorial.

Create Labels

Calculate Costs

Track Shipments

Validate Addresses

Each of ShipEngine's features can be used on its own or in conjunction with other features to build powerful shipping functionality into your application or service.

Shipping Labels for Every Major Carrier

ShipEngine makes it easy to create shipping labels for any carrier and download them in a variety of file formats. You can even customize labels with your own messages and images.

Compare Shipping Costs Across Carriers

Make sure you ship as cost-effectively as possible by comparing rates across carriers using the ShipEngine Rates API. Or if you don't know the full shipment details yet, you can get rate estimates with limited address info.

Package Tracking

With ShipEngine you can get the current status of a package with our tracking endpoint (in near real-time!), or subscribe to tracking updates via webhooks. You can also create customized tracking pages with your own branding so your customers will always know where their package is.

Worldwide Address Validation

ShipEngine supports address validation for virtually every country on Earth, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Germany, France, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Israel, Italy, and over 160 others.

Getting Help

We’re always here to help with any of your questions. Here are some ways to find answers or get in touch with our team: