Top 5 Shipping Tracking APIs for E-commerce (Including Veho)

Modern e-commerce stacks favor webhook-first tracking to avoid polling carriers and to keep customers informed in real time. Below are the top 5 shipping tracking APIs—four multi-carrier aggregators and Veho (a last-mile carrier with its own API)—with what they do best and how they differ.

Snapshot: Who’s who

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1) EasyPost — developer-friendly trackers & webhooks

• Create a Tracker for any label (even external) using tracking_code and optional carrier; get updates via webhooks.
• Webhooks are reliable and retried on failure; clear guide.
• Public docs + status & broad carrier roster.

Best for: teams wanting one API for labels + tracking with straightforward webhook plumbing.

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2) Shippo — webhooks with metadata & security options

• Tracking webhooks for status changes; can track labels not purchased in Shippo.
• Supports metadata in webhooks to tie events back to orders; HMAC / allowlist to secure endpoints.

Best for: fast launch, strong webhook ergonomics, and mixed label sources.

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3) ShipEngine / ShipStation API — clear webhook schemas

• Subscribe to “Any tracking event” webhooks; one per event enforced (409 on duplicates).
• Track via endpoint (requires carrier code + tracking number).
• Public webhook schema & tutorials (listener examples, Postman).

Best for: teams standardizing on ShipEngine for labels, rates, address validation and tracking.

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4) AfterShip — tracking-as-a-service with analytics

• Webhook-first design; can push to multiple URLs with a secret; quickstart docs.
• Focused tracking API with global carrier coverage and branded pages; transparent pricing (AfterShip).

Best for: post-purchase experience, tracking pages + analytics without managing per-carrier details.

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5) Veho — first-party last-mile signals (include directly or via aggregators)

• Official API docs: create shipments, download labels, and integrate webhooks (enable via account manager).
• Customer-facing tracking URLs use a trackingId parameter.
• Also appears as a supported carrier in EasyPost’s docs, helpful if you aggregate.

Best for: merchants already using Veho for last-mile and wanting direct, first-party tracking alongside aggregator feeds.

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Which should you pick?

• Need labels + tracking in one → EasyPost, Shippo, or ShipEngine.
• Need tracking-only + analytics → AfterShip.
• You ship with Veho (next-day/last-mile) → integrate Veho’s webhooks directly; optionally mirror into an aggregator for a unified schema.

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Minimal patterns (API-agnostic)

Webhook verification (HMAC example):

import crypto from "node:crypto";
export const verify = (sigHex, rawBody, secret) => {
  const mac = crypto.createHmac("sha256", secret).update(rawBody).digest("hex");
  return crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(sigHex, "hex"), Buffer.from(mac, "hex"));
};

Canonical status mapping (normalize carrier/aggregator codes):

MAP = {"AC":"accepted","PU":"accepted","IT":"in_transit","MV":"in_transit",
       "OF":"out_for_delivery","OFD":"out_for_delivery","DL":"delivered",
       "EX":"exception","RS":"exception","RTN":"exception"}
def canonical(code): 
    return MAP.get(code, "in_transit")

Store both the canonical status and the raw event for audits and SLA analytics.

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Pricing notes (quick)

• AfterShip lists public tiers and per-extra-shipment pricing. (AfterShip Pricing)
• Others are usage-based with free tiers/trials; confirm rate limits and webhook retries in docs. (EasyPost Webhooks Guide)

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Bottom line

If you want the fastest multi-carrier rollout, start with AfterShip or Shippo. If you’re standardizing shipping ops end-to-end, EasyPost or ShipEngine give you labels, rates, address validation, and tracking in one SDK. If Veho is a major lane for you, wire Veho’s first-party webhooks to capture last-mile fidelity—and optionally mirror those events into your aggregator so your internal systems see one schema everywhere. See also: AfterShip Quick Start.

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