Introduction
This free shipping calculator helps you find the cheapest and fastest way to send a package. Just enter your ZIP codes, package size, and weight. The tool estimates rates for USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL side by side so you can pick the best option for your budget and delivery speed.
You can use it for domestic shipping within the United States or international shipping to countries around the world. For each service it shows the carrier's published price for your billable weight and zone, the delivery time the carrier publishes, and the fuel surcharge in force that week. It works out dimensional weight using each carrier's own divisor, because they do not all use the same one.
This shipping cost calculator shows where each price comes from: the billable weight, the zone, the row in the carrier's rate table, and the fuel added on top. A service the carrier does not publish a price for is listed as not priced, with the reason, instead of being estimated.
How to Use Our Shipping Calculator
Enter your package details below to compare shipping rates from USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL. You will get a list of carrier options sorted by price and speed, plus a cost-vs-speed chart and a step-by-step cost breakdown.
Measurement Units: Pick Imperial (pounds and inches) or Metric (kilograms and centimeters). The calculator will convert your numbers if you switch.
Shipment Direction: Choose Domestic if you are shipping within the United States. Choose International if you are shipping to another country.
Ship From & Ship To ZIP Codes: Type the 5-digit ZIP code where your package starts and the 5-digit ZIP code where it is going. For international shipments, enter your ZIP code and pick the destination country. Canada also asks for a postal code, because UPS and FedEx set the Canadian zone from it.
Ship Date: Pick the date you plan to drop off or send your package.
Packaging: Choose your own box, or one of the carriers' flat-rate products: USPS Flat Rate, UPS Simple Rate or FedEx One Rate. Picking a flat-rate product shows that carrier's published price for the packaging you select.
Dimensions: Enter the length, width, and height of your package. The calculator uses these to find the dimensional weight, which carriers charge when a box is large but light.
Weight: Enter the actual weight of your package. The calculator compares this to the dimensional weight and bills whichever is higher.
Additional Parcels: Click Add Another Parcel to price more than one box in the same quote, up to 10. Each parcel is rated on its own and the prices are added.
Calculate: Click the Calculate button to see your shipping rates. Click Reset to clear all fields and start over.
Ship: Click Ship on any result to go to that carrier's own shipping page.
How Shipping Costs Work
When you send a package, the price you pay depends on a few key things: how heavy your box is, how big it is, where it's going, and how fast you want it to get there. Carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL each set their own rates based on these factors. This shipping calculator compares all of them at once so you can find the cheapest or fastest option for your needs.
Actual Weight vs. Dimensional Weight
Carriers charge you based on whichever is greater: the actual weight of your package or its dimensional weight. Dimensional weight is the length times the width times the height in inches, divided by a number the carrier sets. FedEx divides by 139.4 DHL divides by 139.6 UPS divides by 166 at its counter rates and by 139 for export.3 USPS applies dimensional weight only to packages larger than 1,728 cubic inches, and divides by 139.2 The larger of the two weights is your billable weight, so the same box can be billed at different weights by different carriers.
Shipping Zones
The farther your package travels, the more it costs. Each carrier publishes a zone chart for every origin ZIP code, and the distance to your destination decides which zone applies. USPS numbers its domestic zones 1 to 9.1 UPS and FedEx use their own codes per service, so the same lane is not called the same zone by every carrier. For international shipments the rate depends on the destination country's zone or price group, and Canada is zoned by postal code rather than by one country-wide zone.3
Flat Rate vs. Custom Packages
With flat rate, you pay one set price whatever the contents weigh, as long as they fit the packaging and stay under its weight limit, which can save money on small heavy items. The products are not interchangeable. USPS Flat Rate envelopes and boxes carry Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express prices, in USPS-produced packaging only, and hold up to 70 pounds.2 UPS Simple Rate is priced by box size.3 FedEx One Rate is priced by its own packaging and distance band.7 If your package does not fit one of them, the carrier prices it by billable weight and zone instead.
Surcharges and Extra Fees
The prices here include the fuel surcharge each carrier publishes for the current week, which is a percentage of the rate and moves every week.8 The flat-rate products are the exception. UPS Simple Rate prices carry no fuel surcharge.3 FedEx One Rate prices already include fuel, along with residential and delivery-area surcharges.7 Carriers add other charges this calculator does not include, because they depend on the address and the package rather than the weight and zone: residential delivery, delivery-area surcharges for remote ZIP codes, additional handling for large or awkward parcels, oversize charges, and declared-value cover. Each carrier publishes the amounts and the triggers in its own rate guide, so treat the price here as the transportation cost before those extras.5
International Shipping and Customs
Sending a package to another country needs a customs declaration: a list of every item in the box with a description, quantity, value and an HS tariff code, which you complete with the carrier when you buy the label. Customs officials use it to decide whether duties or taxes apply, and those are charged separately from the shipping price shown here. Accurate descriptions and correct codes help your package clear customs without delay.