# Shipping Rate Finder: USPS & UPS Quotes, No Carrier Keys (`bowmark-ai/shipping-rate-finder`) Actor

Compare US shipping rates from USPS and UPS for any package, with no carrier account or API key. Give two ZIP Codes and a weight, get every service quoted cheapest first, with delivery dates.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/bowmark-ai/shipping-rate-finder.md
- **Developed by:** [Bowmark AI](https://apify.com/bowmark-ai) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, MCP servers, Agents
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 shipment quoteds

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### What does Shipping Rate Finder: USPS & UPS Quotes, No Carrier Keys do?

Shipping Rate Finder prices a US package across **USPS and UPS at the same time** and gives you every service that quotes it, cheapest first. You do not need a carrier account, a developer key or a shipping software login.

Give it the ZIP Code you ship from, the ZIP Code you ship to, and the weight. For every shipment it returns each service with its price in dollars and the expected delivery date, and picks out the cheapest option overall, the cheapest USPS service and the cheapest UPS service so you can read the answer without opening the list.

It never buys a label, books a pickup or signs in anywhere. It only reads published rates.

### Why use it?

- **Pick the cheapest way to ship before you buy the label.** USPS Ground Advantage, Priority Mail, flat rate boxes, UPS Ground Saver, Ground, 3 Day Select, 2nd Day Air and Next Day Air in one table.
- **Quote a whole order sheet at once.** Put hundreds of shipments in one run and export the table to a spreadsheet to compare carriers by lane, weight or box size.
- **AI agents.** Connect it as an MCP server and let an agent answer "what would it cost to ship this?" while it works.

### How it works

For each shipment it reads, at the same time:

1. **USPS** retail prices, straight from USPS
2. **Pirate Ship** online label prices for USPS and UPS, which are the discounted prices small sellers actually pay, with a delivery date for each service

Every quote is labelled with its carrier and whether it is a `retail` or a `discounted_label` price. If one source does not answer in time, the row says so, so a partial quote never looks complete.

### Input

| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `shipments` | Yes | One entry per package. Each needs `fromZip` and `toZip` (5-digit US ZIP Codes) and `weight` in pounds. Use `weightOz` for ounces, or a string like `"1.5kg"`. Add `length`, `width` and `height` in inches for an exact price. A line like `"94103 10001 3lb 12x9x6"` works too. |
| `maxConcurrency` | No | Shipments quoted at once, 1 to 8. Default `4`. |

Example input:

```json
{
  "shipments": [
    { "fromZip": "94103", "toZip": "10001", "weight": 2 },
    { "fromZip": "30303", "toZip": "99501", "weight": 2, "length": 10, "width": 8, "height": 4 },
    "02134 90210 4oz"
  ]
}
```

### Output

One dataset row per shipment. Download it as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read it through the Apify API.

```json
{
  "fromZip": "02134",
  "toZip": "90210",
  "weightOz": 4,
  "weightLb": 0.25,
  "status": "found",
  "cheapestPrice": 6.23,
  "currency": "USD",
  "cheapestCarrier": "UPS",
  "cheapestService": "UPS Ground Saver",
  "cheapestDelivery": "Estimated delivery Saturday 10/31 by 11:00 PM if shipped today",
  "cheapestUspsPrice": 6.56,
  "cheapestUspsService": "USPS Ground Advantage",
  "cheapestUpsPrice": 6.23,
  "cheapestUpsService": "UPS Ground Saver",
  "rateCount": 17,
  "rates": [
    {
      "carrier": "UPS", "service": "UPS Ground Saver", "price": 6.23, "currency": "USD",
      "priceType": "discounted_label",
      "deliveryEstimate": "Estimated delivery Saturday 10/31 by 11:00 PM if shipped today",
      "transitDays": null, "mediaMailOnly": false
    }
  ],
  "warnings": [],
  "error": null
}
```

`status` is `found`, `not_found` or `error`. `not_found` means both sources answered and no service quoted that package, which is a real answer (too heavy or too large for every service, for example).

`rates` is every quote, cheapest first. **Media Mail** is in the list, flagged `mediaMailOnly: true`, but never counts as the cheapest option, because USPS only allows it for books, discs and other media.

### Pricing

**$0.001 per shipment**, with no monthly fee. A thousand quotes cost one dollar.

- A shipment that comes back `not_found` is charged, because both sources were still checked.
- A shipment that fails with an error is not charged.
- Set a spending limit on the run and the Actor stops cleanly when it reaches it.
- On Apify's free plan, each run processes the first 10 shipments (10 tool calls per MCP session). Any paid Apify plan removes the limit.

### Use it as an MCP server

This Actor also runs as an MCP server with one tool, `quote_shipping_rates`. Point any MCP client (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, your own agent) at:

```
https://bowmark-ai--shipping-rate-finder.apify.actor/mcp
```

with your Apify API token as a bearer token. Each tool call is billed like one shipment in a normal run.

### Limits and good practice

- It reads only **public** rates. It never signs in anywhere and never changes anything.
- US domestic only, including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. FedEx is not included.
- Give the box size when you know it. Without it, the online label prices assume a small 10x8x4 inch box, and a bigger box can cost more.
- Prices are for today. Each shipment takes about 5 to 10 seconds.
- Your own negotiated carrier rates may differ from these published prices.

### Questions or a wrong result?

Open an issue on the **Issues** tab with the input you used and what you expected. We read every one.

# Actor input Schema

## `shipments` (type: `array`):

One entry per package, up to 500 per run (10 on Apify's free plan). Each needs fromZip and toZip (5-digit US ZIP Codes) and a weight in pounds (or weightOz for ounces, or a string like "1.5kg"). Add length, width and height in inches for an exact price: without them a small 10x8x4 inch box is assumed. A line like "94103 10001 3lb 12x9x6" works too.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many shipments are quoted in parallel.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "shipments": [
    {
      "fromZip": "94103",
      "toZip": "10001",
      "weight": 2
    }
  ],
  "maxConcurrency": 4
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per shipment: the cheapest option overall, the cheapest USPS and UPS service, and every quote found.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "shipments": [
        {
            "fromZip": "94103",
            "toZip": "10001",
            "weight": 2
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("bowmark-ai/shipping-rate-finder").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "shipments": [{
            "fromZip": "94103",
            "toZip": "10001",
            "weight": 2,
        }] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("bowmark-ai/shipping-rate-finder").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "shipments": [
    {
      "fromZip": "94103",
      "toZip": "10001",
      "weight": 2
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call bowmark-ai/shipping-rate-finder --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,bowmark-ai/shipping-rate-finder"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/rl3giHddgnLF8smvY/builds/owM8TSJ4Dx2e4lpR0/openapi.json