- Offers shipping labels and services at a lower cost, with nationwide coverage.
- Specialises in higher volume parcels, with 1900+ lockers to ship to across the UK.
- Delivers to home addresses and to drop-off points, with parcel collection available for higher volumes.
Courier comparison UK
Choose the best delivery company for your business
A reliable courier is essential for a successful shipping process. But how can you ensure you’re selecting the best courier to meet your webshop’s requirements? We’ve done the research for you, comparing the benefits of top UK couriers so you can make the best choice.
Shipping with DHL Parcel
Flexible pickup services
- Ships your parcel to one of 3500 service points across the UK.
- Fully trackable service updating your customers via email or text message.
- Flexible and fast delivery services, offering precise delivery time slots, with signature, next-day delivery, and delivery on Saturday.
- Offers pickup services.
Shipping with Evri + Evri C2C
Lower cost postal service
Shipping with Evri
Shipping with Evri C2C
- Offers shipping labels and services at a lower cost, with nationwide coverage.
- Specialises in businesses that don’t ship very high volumes (yet).
- Offers the option to hand in parcels at a local parcel shop or locker in one of their 1500+ locker locations.
Shipping with DPD
Insures up to £100
- Provides nationwide and international coverage.
- Operates via its own network, shipping to home addresses and parcel shops.
- Fully trackable, with the option to reschedule the delivery when the recipient is not at home.
- Insures your parcels up to £100 based on purchase value
- Picks your parcels up via pickup service.
Shipping with FedEx
Expert in international shipping
- Known for its reliability and on-time delivery.
- Boasting good tracking capabilities with real-time updates.
- Benefit from their global network with worldwide coverage, with fast clearance possibilities.
- Delivers by bikes or electric vans in metropolitan areas.
- Ships parcels up to 68 kg.
Shipping with Royal Mail
Reliable postal service
- Offers untracked and tracked solutions nationwide with low pricing, based on their postal network.
- Covers international orders with their own network (GLS), entities in main European markets, and postal solutions across the world.
- Provides paperless returns with the Royal Mail QR option.
- Fun fact: The distinctive red pillar boxes across the UK are owned and maintained by Royal Mail as well.
How to decide on your perfect match
At Sendcloud, we believe in a multi-courier approach that gives you the flexibility to choose the best couriers based on your business needs and growth stage.
Whether you mainly ship internationally or only domestically, or focus on the reliability of a courier or specific shipping features, we ensure that you find the best match for every parcel.
Want to ship with the best couriers and more?
With our multi-courier platform, you can select from various couriers without the inconvenience of logging into several platforms. With Sendcloud, you have the choice to ship at pre-negotiated rates or to incorporate your own courier contracts.
FAQ
I ship a lot of big parcels outside of the UK. Which courier should I pick?
When you’re looking for a courier that specialises in shipping large parcels outside of the UK, then you’re looking for FedEx. They even support electronic trade for a large number of countries.
Before shipping internationally, please don’t forget to check the terms and conditions of the courier you are choosing.
I want a courier with standard insurance. Which one should I choose?
If you want to ship your parcel with a carrier that includes insurance in the label price, you can choose DPD. DPD insures every parcel up to £100. Check out our Help Centre article before shipping with DPD, as some products are excluded from insurance.
Another carrier that provides standard insurance is UPS. When you ship your parcels with UPS, they are insured up to £60.
Additionally, you can always add Sendcloud insurance with the carrier of your choice. We have partnered with XCover to provide simple, stress-free protection for your shipment. More information regarding this insurance can be found in the following article.
I am just starting, with not a lot of volume yet, do you have any advice on which courier to choose?
Evri C2C is a great choice for businesses with lower volumes shipping within the UK. They offer drop-off options at local parcel shops or lockers.
For pickup services with lower volumes, DHL offers recurring pickups, requiring a minimum of five parcels per pickup.
If I want to ship via lockers, which courier can I use?
If you would like to ship parcels to a locker, you could choose to ship with Evri. Evri has over 1900 lockers located throughout the UK.
With Evri C2C, it is even possible to drop your parcel at a locker, where it can be delivered to a home address or another Evri locker. For Evri C2C, there are 1500 lockers located throughout the UK.
Inpost also provides lockers services for shipping and returns.
I would like to add a pickup to my shipping process. Which couriers offers (recurring) pickups?
You can arrange a pickup via Sendcloud with the following carriers: UPS, Fedex, Evri, Evri C2C, DPD and DHL.
UPS: Only incidental pickups, no minimum number of parcels.
Fedex: Incidental pickups or recurring ones with >10 parcels per pickup.
Evri: Recurring pickups for >150 parcels a week.
Evri C2C: Incidental pickups, no minimum number of parcels, but labels should be created with the shipping method ‘Address to *’, on which the collection will automatically be created.
DPD: Recurring pickups for >20 parcels a day.
DHL: Recurring pickups for >5 parcels a day.
What are the couriers doing, to make the shipping more sustainable?
More and more couriers are focusing on becoming more sustainable. Evri C2C offers a locker-to-home service, making the first mile more sustainable. FedEx uses bikes or electric vans in metropolitan areas, while Royal Mail provides “green” last-mile solutions through drop-off points, for example.
