# Shiptheory — Supply Chain & Logistics

Shiptheory by Shiptheory Ltd holds a panel rating of 2/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2.5/5), as of 2026-11-04. Provenance: provenance unknown; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Shiptheory Ltd (https://www.shiptheory.com)
- Category: [Supply Chain & Logistics](https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): provenance unknown
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain/shiptheory
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain/shiptheory/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain/shiptheory/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-11-04 · oldest source captured 2026-11-03

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Shiptheory Ltd
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026

## The panel's verdict

Shiptheory is strongest in shipping and returns, where scores cluster at 7: rules pick the carrier and service from destination, order value, product, weight and SKU, labels print in bulk, tracking writes back to the sales channels, and a one-click consumer returns portal spans named carrier services. Integration and automation follows at 6 — a documented REST API reaching 70+ carriers, 20+ platforms, a Xero link and a no-code rules engine — though we found no public information on webhooks, EDI or an end-of-contract data export. Inventory control and warehouse operations score 4-5 and freight and transport 4: stock sync, scanner picking and pallet booking are documented, but we found no public information on goods receipt, purchase orders, batches or freight quote comparison. Its weakest categories are sovereignty and pricing transparency, where scores run 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 as judges weigh the free trial, no-contract and £1 first month for switchers against tier prices absent from the captured pages, and the Bristol, UK contracting entity against no public information on hosting, subprocessors or a data processing agreement.

**Speaks for it:**
- Automatic shipping rules choose the carrier and service from destination, order value, product, weight and SKU.
- A one-click consumer returns portal covers named return services from Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, InPost, UPS, FedEx and Parcelforce, including parcelshop, locker and post-office drop-offs.
- Labels print in bulk from the dashboard or shipments grid, with tracking written back to the sales channels.
- A documented REST API covers testing, pagination, authentication and error documentation and reaches 70+ carriers, with 20+ e-commerce platforms and a Xero link.
- Signup offers a free trial with no credit card required, no contract with cancellation any time, and £1 for the first month when switching from another inventory solution.

**Held against it:**
- We found no public information on tier prices, per-label or per-order fees, included volumes or setup costs, so a real annual cost cannot be computed from what was captured.
- The only sovereignty fact on record is the Bristol, UK contracting entity; we found no public information on hosting, subprocessors, a data processing agreement or security certification.
- We found no public information on goods receipt against purchase orders, putaway, batches, serial numbers or movement history, leaving stock counts as channel synchronisation rather than an audit-proof ledger.
- Freight support is pallet booking with The Pallet Network and Walkers; we found no public information on quote comparison, transport documents such as CMR, or CO2 reported to a named standard.
- We found no public information on webhooks, EDI, API rate limits and versioning, or a documented export of orders, stock and shipment history when the contract ends.

**Best for:**
- You sell on Shopify, WooCommerce or Amazon and need real-time stock sync to prevent overselling, with carriers booked automatically on purchase.
- You ship parcels to UK consumers and want a consumer-facing returns portal with named locker, parcelshop and post-office drop-off services.
- You book pallet freight with The Pallet Network or Walkers Transport and want pallets handled by the same automatic shipping rules as parcels.
- You invoice through Xero and want shipping labels created automatically from Xero invoices.

**Avoid if:**
- You need purchase orders, goods receipt, batches or serial traceability — the documented inventory features cover channel synchronisation rather than a stock ledger.
- Your procurement requires an EU-based contracting entity — the company on record sits at a Bristol, UK address outside the EU.
- You must compute a full annual cost before committing — ask the vendor: the public pages we read do not show it
- You tender freight across forwarders or need CMR documents — the documented freight support is pallet booking with two named carriers.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The E-Commerce Operations Lead | The Warehouse Manager | The Transport Planner | The Fulfilment Provider | The IT & Integration Lead | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Inventory & stock control | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Warehouse operations: receiving, picking & packing | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 |
| Multi-carrier shipping & returns | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Freight & transport management | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Integrations, automation & exit | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| European sovereignty | 1/5 | 0.5/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 0.5/5 | 1/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2/5** | **2.5/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** |

### The judges

- **The E-Commerce Operations Lead** (v1.0): Ships three hundred parcels a day from a shop, two marketplaces and a wholesale channel. Wants stock that is right on every channel so nothing is oversold, labels for four carriers printed in one batch, customs papers for Switzerland without retyping, and a returns portal that stops the support inbox filling up every January.
- **The Warehouse Manager** (v1.0): Runs two shifts in a four-thousand-square-metre warehouse with temps who start on Monday. Wants goods receipt against the purchase order, bin locations and scanner-guided picks a new hire gets right on day one, batch and best-before dates that are actually tracked, and pick and error rates per shift instead of a feeling.
- **The Transport Planner** (v1.0): Books forty pallets and three part loads a week for a machinery wholesaler, mostly by e-mail and phone. Wants quotes from several forwarders compared in one place, the agreed rates stored so invoices can be checked against them, eCMR instead of paper, and a CO2 figure per shipment the sustainability report can cite.
- **The Fulfilment Provider** (v1.0): Runs a 3PL warehouse with twenty-two client brands, each on a different shop system. Wants one WMS that keeps every client's stock and orders apart, connects to whatever shop the next client brings, ships on the client's own carrier contracts or the house rates, and turns picks, storage and packaging into a client invoice.
- **The IT & Integration Lead** (v1.0): Owns the ERP, the shop and the DATEV export for a mid-sized manufacturer, and gets the call when an order does not arrive in the warehouse. Wants a documented API and webhooks, EDI for the two retail chains, connectors the vendor actually maintains, a processor list for the recipient addresses, and a full export the day the contract ends.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen a "WMS" that was a stock column in a shop plugin and a "free" shipping tool that made its money on every label. Reads "integrates with everything" as a logo wall, asks whether own carrier contracts are allowed on the cheap tier, what the per-order fee is past the allowance, and how the order history leaves with you.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

No sovereignty finding yet.

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Integrations**
- API docs: Testing · Pagination · Authentication · Error Documentation [S10]
- API rest: REST · 70 [S10]
- Ecommerce platforms: 20 [S10]
- Sales channels: yes [S11]
- Stock location guides: Related guides for setting up stock locations in Shopify, WooCommerce and Amazon Central [S3]
- Xero: yes [S7]

**Legal**
- Address: Shiptheory, 7th Floor - East (Programme), All Saints Street, Bristol, BS1 2LZ [S2]
- Address: Bristol · BS1 2LZ [S7]
- Address: Bristol · BS1 2LZ [S11]
- Address: Bristol · BS1 2LZ [S10]
- Entity address: Bristol · BS1 2LZ [S1]

**Pricing**
- Free trial: yes · 14 [S1]
- Free trial: yes [S11]
- Free trial: yes · 14 [S10]
- No contract: no [S10]
- No contracts: no · any time [S2]
- No credit card: no [S10]
- Packages reference: pricing details on separate page [S7]
- Switch offer: switching from another inventory solution · 1 [S2]

**Product**
- Address validation: yes [S10]
- AI handwritten notes: yes [S1]
- All in one: carrier booking · label printing · inventory sync · returns management · handwritten notes [S2]
- API return labels: yes [S10]
- API tracking: yes [S10]
- Article modified date: 2023-06-14T11:06:00 [S3]
- Auto booking: Automatic shipment booking on purchase plus stock reflection across channels [S2]
- Auto printing: yes [S7]
- Barcode scanner picking: yes [S1]
- Book demo: yes [S1]
- Bulk dashboard: yes [S7]
- Bulk labels: Labels can be created for selected orders via a Create Labels action on the shipments grid [S9]
- Carbon offsetting: yes [S1]
- Carbon offsetting: yes [S10]
- Carrier options: next day delivery, click and collect [S7]
- Channels carriers combined: channels and carriers [S7]
- Currency conversion: yes [S7]
- Custom package sizes: Custom Package Sizes allow booking shipments of mixed and custom pallet sizes [S9]
- Dashboard customization: yes [S1]
- Dhl return services: DHL · Domestic Express [S6]
- Dpd return services: DPD · Return to Shop [S6]
- Ecommerce platforms: Brightpearl, Magento, Squarespace, Shopify, BigCommerce, Etsy, eBay [S7]
- Evri return services: Evri Corporate · Parcelshop Dropoff · Locker Dropoff · Home Collection [S6]
- Fedex return services: FedEx · Next Day · Next Day by 10am · Next Day by 12 noon · Next Day by 9am · UK Economy [S6]
- Flexible payment: yes [S1]
- Free trial: yes [S2]
- Handwritten notes: yes [S7]
- Highlight quantity: Highlight Product Quantity makes quantity bold [S5]
- Inpost return services: InPost Parcel Lockers · Small, Medium and Large Parcel Lockers · Address Only Labels · Address Only Label Returns [S6]
- Integrated label barcodes: yes [S7]
- Integration count total: 150 [S1]
- International documents: yes [S7]
- Invalid address review: yes [S1]
- Inventory sync: Real-time stock syncing across sales channels to prevent overselling [S2]
- Inventory sync description: Inventory sync updates and syncs stock counts across multiple channels and locations in one centralised place [S3]
- Label count correlation: Number of labels equals number of packages applied to the order [S9]
- Magic barcodes: Order Picking Magic Barcodes feature exists (related article) [S5]
- Manual service override: yes [S1]
- Master picking list: Master picking lists for multiple shipments are supported (related article) [S5]
- Master stock location: Master stock location is source of initial stock count; orders sent through Shiptheory affect that count [S3]
- Master stock location: Multiple stock locations configurable with a master stock location [S2]
- Mixed pallet booking: Per-pallet package type and weight can be entered when creating labels for a mixed-pallet shipment [S9]
- Mobile UI: yes [S7]
- New products master requirement: New products must be created in the master stock location warehouse to be available to inventory sync [S3]
- Order download: Orders matching rules are downloaded into Shiptheory and shown under the Waiting to Ship tab [S9]
- Order table by: Order Product Table By setting customises product ordering [S5]
- Oversized pallet spaces: Pallets exceeding height limits count as oversized and take 2 consignment spaces instead of 1 [S8]
- Package sizes pallet types: Package Sizes must be named Full Pallet, Light Pallet, Half Pallet, Quarter Pallet or Mini Quarter Pallet [S8]
- Page overflow: Allow Page Overflow setting enables multi-page printing of picking lists [S5]
- Pallet height limits: 220 · 110 · 220 · 80 · 60 [S8]
- Pallet max dimensions full: FULL · 1.2 · 1.2 · 2.2 [S9]
- Pallet max dimensions full oversize: FULLOS · 2.4 · 1.2 · 2.2 [S9]
- Parcelforce return services: Parcelforce · expressAM, express24 and express48 Collection · expressAM, express24 and express48 Post Office Dropoff [S6]
- Pick pack ship: yes [S7]
- Picking list drag drop: Picking list templates are designed by dragging and drop elements, each field automatically pulls relevant order details [S5]
- Print client: yes [S7]
- Printer integration: yes [S1]
- Product table customisation: Product table fields are selected via checkboxes [S5]
- Reporting: yes [S7]
- Returns portal: yes [S1]
- Returns portal exists: Related articles reference a Shiptheory Returns Portal and Returns Dashboard [S6]
- Royal mail return services: Royal Mail · Tracked 24 Returns · Tracked 48 Returns · Tracked 24 Returns QR Code · Tracked 48 Returns QR Code [S6]
- Rule engine API: API exposes rule-based logic engine with rules on destination, order value, product, order weight, product SKU [S10]
- Rules automation: carrier shipping rules, no code required [S1]
- Rules engine: Shipping rules can be created per courier (e.g. The Pallet Network) with optional conditions and blank delivery service [S9]
- Rules tags: yes [S7]
- Shipping rules: yes [S2]
- Shipping rules: yes [S7]
- Single stock location: All stock managed from a single location [S2]
- Stock update triggers: Stock counts update on any stock count change in a linked location or within Shiptheory [S3]
- Stock visibility requirement: Product must already exist in Shiptheory and a stock count change must have occurred before counts appear [S3]
- Support contact returns: Carrier returns support requests handled via support contact [S6]
- Supported sync channels: Shopify · WooCommerce · Amazon [S2]
- Tpn integration: Shiptheory supports The Pallet Network (TPN) as a courier integration [S9]
- Tpn pallet size codes: TPN pallet size codes include QTR (Quarter), HALF (Half), FULL (Full), HALFOS (Half Oversize), FULLOS (Full Oversize), and OOG3-OOG10 XL pallets taking 3-10 full pallet spaces [S9]
- Trustpilot ranking: 18/179 Software Company, 5/48 Software Vendor on Trustpilot [S1]
- Ups return services: UPS · Returns Plus (1 and 3 Attempt) · Electronic Return Label · Print Return Label [S6]
- User specific printing: yes [S7]
- Walkers mixed pallets and rules: Supports automatic shipping rules and manual bookings with mixed pallet types [S8]
- Walkers pallet format: Selecting a Format applies one pallet type to all pallets; pallet count equals number of Boxes specified [S8]
- Warehouse location limit: no limit to the number of locations that can be added to a warehouse [S3]
- Warehouse location linking: one · many [S3]
- Warehouses management path: https://helm.shiptheory.com/warehouses · Products > Manage Warehouses [S3]

**Support**
- API language expertise: PHP · Javascript [S10]
- Channels: phone · email · live_chat [S1]
- Knowledge base: yes [S1]
- Knowledge base: yes [S10]
- Response time minutes: 6 [S1]
- Service status page: yes [S7]
- Setup included: yes [S1]
- Training: yes [S1]
- Trustpilot: Support quality referenced via Trustpilot score [S2]

## Questions

### Is Shiptheory European?

Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where Shiptheory is based.

### Where does Shiptheory store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026.

### Does Shiptheory have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 3 Nov 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Shiptheory?

As of 4 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Ongoing WMS (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain/ongoing-wms), [Shippingbo (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain/shippingbo) and [Mintsoft (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain/mintsoft) highest among the other 19 Supply Chain & Logistics products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Ongoing WMS](https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain/ongoing-wms) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Shiptheory alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain/shiptheory/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- We found no public information on compliance on the pages we read (shiptheory.com, shiptheory.com/inventory-management, support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/24000082217-how-to-use-inventory-sync, support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/6000114652-barcode-scanning, support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/24000095945-picking-list-template-design-guide, support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/24000045115-which-carriers-support-return-labels- and 5 more). If the vendor publishes it somewhere else, send us the page.
- 22 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 22 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 support facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor page: https://www.shiptheory.com (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S2] Inventory & stock control — found from sitemap: https://shiptheory.com/inventory-management/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S3] Inventory & stock control — found from sitemap: https://support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/24000082217-how-to-use-inventory-sync (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S4] Warehouse operations: receiving, picking & packing — found from sitemap: https://support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/6000114652-barcode-scanning (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S5] Warehouse operations: receiving, picking & packing — found from sitemap: https://support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/24000095945-picking-list-template-design-guide (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S6] Multi-carrier shipping & returns — found from sitemap: https://support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/24000045115-which-carriers-support-return-labels- (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S7] Multi-carrier shipping & returns — found from sitemap: https://shiptheory.com/shipping-labels-automation/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S8] Freight & transport management — found from sitemap: https://support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/24000084734-shipping-pallets-with-walkers-transport (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S9] Freight & transport management — found from sitemap: https://support.shiptheory.com/support/solutions/articles/24000050783-booking-a-shipment-with-multiple-pallet-sizes (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S10] Integrations, automation & exit — found from sitemap: https://shiptheory.com/api/ (checked 2026-11-03)
- [S11] Integrations, automation & exit — found from sitemap: https://shiptheory.com/integrations/ (checked 2026-11-03)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Shiptheory — Supply Chain & Logistics", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/supply-chain/shiptheory

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1507?target=page