6 dropshipping platforms compared: pricing and delivery times

Dropshipping software is bought badly more often than most categories, because the products in it are not really comparable. Some are supplier networks that happen to include software. Some are automation layers that sit on top of suppliers you find yourself. At least one is a logistics company with an app attached. Lining up their monthly prices side by side tells you almost nothing, which is why so many sellers pay for two overlapping subscriptions in their first year.

This guide splits the category by what each platform actually is, then prices each one from the vendor’s own pricing page as it read on 6 November 2026. The aim is that you can tell in about ten minutes which one or two are worth a trial. For the wider category, see our guides to ecommerce software and ecommerce platforms on Spotsaas.

How we checked this

Every figure below was read from the vendor’s own homepage and pricing page on 6 November 2026. Nothing is taken from review sites or from vendor-supplied media kits. Where a price did not render on the public page, we say so rather than estimate it. Where a vendor’s own pages disagree with each other, both readings are given. Pricing in this category changes often, so confirm the current figure before you buy.

The four jobs, and why nobody needs all four

Every platform in this category does some mix of four jobs. Knowing which ones you actually need is most of the buying decision.

1. Finding products. Search, filters, trend data and curated picks. Useful early, close to worthless once you know your niche.
2. Getting products into your store. Imports, listing creation, titles and descriptions, image handling.
3. Routing and fulfilling orders. Passing each sale to the supplier, paying for it, and pushing the tracking number back to the buyer.
4. Keeping listings honest. Watching supplier stock and cost, and updating your store so you are not selling something that no longer exists at a price that no longer works.

Job four is the one sellers underrate and the one that quietly costs the most money, and it is where dedicated inventory management software and order management software start to earn their place. Selling an item that went out of stock yesterday means a refund, a complaint, and on some marketplaces a metric you cannot repair quickly. Job one is the one vendors market hardest, because it demonstrates well and it is cheap to build.

Three shapes of product, and how to compare like with like

Before comparing prices, work out which shape you are buying.

A supplier network. You pay for access to a catalogue of suppliers the vendor has signed up, and the software is how you reach them. Doba and Spocket are both this shape. The question to ask is where the stock physically sits, because that decides your delivery times.

An automation layer. Dropshipping automation software works across suppliers and marketplaces you choose, automating the listing and ordering rather than supplying the goods itself. AutoDS and Dropified are both this shape. The question to ask is which automations are included and which are priced separately.

A fulfilment partner. The company is a logistics operation. Warehousing, packing, custom packaging and freight are the product, and the software is the booking system. CJdropshipping is the clearest example, and Zendrop has moved in this direction. Here the subscription price is almost irrelevant next to the per-order and per-unit fees.

Where the stock sits: US, EU and UK suppliers

Where a platform’s stock physically sits decides the delivery date you can promise, so it is worth settling before you compare features.

For US customers, Doba states that 90% of its products are stocked in US warehouses and that its suppliers include top 500 US brands. Spocket states that 80% of its suppliers are in the US and EU, which makes it the one to look at if you sell into both markets. Zendrop runs its own US third party logistics alongside a separate China warehousing service.

For UK and EU customers, CJdropshipping is the most explicit of the six. It holds stock in China, the US, Poland, Germany and the UK, and it publishes transit times: 10 to 15 days by air from China to a US warehouse and 25 to 30 days by sea, 12 to 15 days to Poland, and 13 to 18 days to Germany and the UK.

AutoDS and Dropified publish neither warehouse locations nor delivery times. That is not a fault in either, because both are automation layers rather than supplier networks, but it does mean your delivery promise depends on the suppliers you connect rather than on the platform you pay for.

Six questions worth asking before you pay

1. How many products does my plan actually allow? Several of these platforms sell a very large catalogue and then cap how much of it you may import. Spocket’s entry plan allows 25 unique products.
2. Is automatic order fulfilment included, or extra? AutoDS sells an auto ordering system as a $9.90 a month add-on. Zendrop’s free plan does not list automated fulfilment at all.
3. Does the price cover more than one store? Spocket states that a separate subscription is required for each store. Dropified’s single plan covers one store with unlimited products.
4. Where does stock ship from? This decides your delivery promise more than any software feature.
5. What does the trial really cost? Paid trials are now normal here. Doba charges $0.99, AutoDS charges $0.99 for three days, and Dropified charges $1 for fourteen days.
6. What happens to my listings if I stop paying? Ask before you build a catalogue on top of a subscription.

The six platforms

Doba: best for US delivery times

Doba’s distinguishing claim is where its stock sits. The company states that 90% of its products are stocked in US warehouses and that its suppliers include top 500 US brands. For a seller whose customers are American and whose complaint volume is driven by delivery times, that matters more than catalogue size.

Plans are Limited, Basic, Standard and Enterprise, priced on quarterly billing at $28.67, $57.00 and $142.67 a month, with Enterprise quoted privately. Billing monthly, quarterly or annually changes the rate, with annual billing advertised at 15% off. Basic offers a seven-day trial for $0.99 and Standard a five-day trial at the same price. New accounts get 30 free credits, which cover 30 product searches and six market insight reports.

The tiers are divided by capacity rather than by capability: inventory list capacity runs 20, 600, 3,000 and 15,000 items, connected stores run 1, 2, 5 and 15, and one-click listings run 30, 250, 1,000 and 2,500. Product data, pricing and stock are monitored continuously and synchronised back to the store. Integrations include Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Walmart, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, Square, TikTok Shop, Temu, Newegg and Shift4Shop, plus a retailer API whose rate limit rises with the plan.

Worth knowing: advanced product research is gated to Basic and above, and a dedicated account manager to Standard and above, although the homepage describes one-on-one account management in more general terms. Doba does not publish a supplier count or a total catalogue figure. See Doba, its pricing on Spotsaas, or current pricing from Doba.

Spocket: best for selling into both the US and the EU

Spocket’s pitch is proximity in both directions: it states that 80% of its suppliers are in the US and EU, which suits sellers shipping to either market. A branded invoice is included on every paid plan, which is unusual at entry level, and the company states there are no minimum order quantities and no transaction fee.

Monthly pricing runs $39.99 for Starter, $59.99 for Professional, $99.99 for Empire and $299.99 for Unicorn. Annual billing drops Professional to $24, Empire to $57 and Unicorn to $79 a month. There is a seven-day trial, and the plans state you pay only after it ends.

The thing to read closely is the product cap, which is what the tiers actually sell: 25 unique products on Starter, 250 on Professional, 10,000 on Empire and 25,000 on Unicorn, with a separate allowance for premium products. A separate subscription is required for each store, so a two-store operation pays twice.

One caution for anyone comparing catalogue claims: Spocket’s own pages give both 20 million and 100 million as the product count, and the saving advertised on the Unicorn annual plan does not match its own printed prices. Treat the per-tier caps as the reliable numbers. See Spocket or check current pricing.

AutoDS: best for selling across several marketplaces

AutoDS is the broadest automation layer here, and it is built around marketplace selling rather than a single storefront. It integrates with Shopify, eBay, Amazon, Etsy, WooCommerce, Wix, Facebook Marketplace and TikTok Shop, and states access to more than 800 million products. Price and stock monitoring, automatic price optimisation, tracking updates and a fulfilment service are all part of the offering, alongside product research and an AI store builder.

Pricing is the problem. On 6 November 2026 the plan cards on the public pricing page rendered without tier names or prices, so we are not going to quote a figure. The trial is stated as three days for $0.99, although the buttons on the same site say $1.

What is clearly priced is the add-ons, and they are worth reading before you budget: the auto ordering system is $9.90 a month, virtual assistant access is $14.97, the product finding hub is $14.97 and mentoring is $39.97. Since automatic fulfilment is the job most sellers are buying automation for, check whether your plan includes it rather than assuming. See AutoDS, the free AutoDS alternatives, or check current pricing.

Dropified: best for one store with a large catalogue

Dropified is the simplest commercial proposition in this group: one plan, every feature, $50 a month, or $41.66 a month if you pay $500 for the year, which the company presents as two months free. The trial is $1 for fourteen days with full access, the most generous trial window of the six.

The plan covers one store with unlimited products, which inverts the usual trade-off in this category: no product cap, but no second store either. Order handling, tracking updates and customer messages are automated with a review step, and the company states it can source products at better prices and fulfil from its own warehouses. Integrations named on the site include Shopify, eBay, Amazon, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Ecwid, AliExpress and Facebook Marketplace.

Two things are stated loosely. The homepage refers to unlimited stores on an Enterprise plan that does not appear on the pricing page, and while the site says there are no hidden limits, it also notes that AI usage is subject to guardrails without saying what they are. Neither warehouse locations nor delivery times are published. See Dropified or check current pricing.

Zendrop: best for starting without a budget

Zendrop is the only platform here with a genuinely free tier, and the one whose published tiers are hardest to read. Free is $0, Pro is $49 a month or $399 a year, and Plus is $79 a month or $549 a year. In the feature lists as published, Plus and Pro are identical, and Plus, the more expensive of the two, carries the “most popular” label. If you are considering either, ask what the extra $30 a month buys before paying it.

The free plan lists access to more than a million products, 24/7 support, $100 in order credits, unlimited orders, custom branding, print on demand and chargeback management. What it does not list is automated fulfilment, which is the paid upgrade. Note that Zendrop’s own pricing FAQ describes custom branding and product imports as paid features, contradicting its free plan card, so confirm what the free tier includes before you rely on it.

The stronger part of the offering is logistics. Zendrop runs US-based third party logistics with what it calls Amazon-like delivery speeds, plus a separate China warehousing service, and it sources from what it describes as thousands of manufacturers. Integrations are Shopify, Wix, TikTok Shop and ClickFunnels, with no add-on fee, which is a narrower list than most here. See Zendrop or check current pricing.

CJdropshipping: best for custom packaging and freight

CJdropshipping publishes no subscription tiers at all, which makes it incomparable on monthly price and often the cheapest place to start. You pay per order and per service instead. Outbound fees begin at $0.30 per order for items up to 0.5kg from the China warehouse and $0.50 from the US warehouse, and the company’s own worked example totals $1.54 once labelling is added. Storage is free for 90 days in the China and US warehouses.

It is the most specific of the six about delivery, which is useful whoever you end up buying from. Shipping from China to a US warehouse is quoted at 10 to 15 days by air and 25 to 30 days by sea, to Poland 12 to 15 days by air, and to Germany and the UK 13 to 18 days. Warehouses are in China, the US, Poland, Germany and the UK, with more than ten globally and over 120 courier partners.

Beyond fulfilment it offers sourcing, print on demand, custom packaging, product development with its manufacturers, bulk purchasing and third party logistics for your own stock, with real-time inventory synchronisation and multi-channel order automation. Stocking your own goods in an overseas warehouse requires at least 10 units per variant and 100 units in total. Integrations are the widest here, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, TikTok Shop, Temu, AliExpress, Lazada and Shopee. See CJdropshipping or check its fulfilment fees.

The six side by side

Free dropshipping platforms, and what the free plans leave out

Only one of the six publishes a free plan. Zendrop’s free tier is $0 and lists access to more than a million products, 24/7 support, $100 in order credits, unlimited orders, custom branding, print on demand and chargeback management. What it does not list is automated fulfilment, which is the paid upgrade, so on the free plan you are placing orders by hand.

Read that tier carefully, because Zendrop’s own pricing FAQ describes custom branding and product imports as paid features, which contradicts its free plan card. Confirm what is included before you build on it.

CJdropshipping is the closer thing to free in practice, because there is no subscription at all. You pay per order, from $0.30 for an item up to 0.5kg from the China warehouse, and storage is free for 90 days in the China and US warehouses. Nothing is owed until you have shipped something.

Everything else charges for the trial: $0.99 at Doba, $0.99 for three days at AutoDS, $1 for fourteen days at Dropified, and at Spocket a seven-day trial you pay for once it ends.

Which dropshipping platform suits a beginner

Three things matter more for a first store than feature count.

Start where the money at risk is smallest. CJdropshipping has no subscription, so the only outlay is the cost of orders you have already been paid for. Zendrop’s free plan is the alternative, as long as you accept placing orders by hand until you upgrade. If the storefront itself is still to build, start with how to create a Shopify store.

Favour short delivery times over catalogue size. A first store has no reviews and no brand behind it, so a three-week delivery estimate costs you sales you cannot afford to lose. If your buyers are American, that points at US-warehoused stock, which is Doba’s strongest claim.

Check the product cap, not the catalogue. Spocket’s entry plan at $39.99 a month allows 25 unique products. That is plenty for a first store, and far less than the catalogue figure implies.

What the pricing pages do not put in the headline

Four patterns are worth knowing across the whole category.

The catalogue is not the allowance. A platform can advertise 100 million products and allow you to import 25 of them. The cap, not the catalogue, is what you are buying.

Automation is often an add-on. The single most valuable function, passing orders to suppliers without you touching them, is separately priced or tier-gated on more than one of these platforms.

Per-store pricing changes the maths. If a subscription covers one store and you run three, the real price is three times the advertised one.

Paid trials are now standard. Five of the six charge something for the trial or restrict it. That is a small cost, but it means trialling all six is a deliberate spend rather than a free afternoon.

Mistakes that cost the most

Buying a supplier network and an automation layer at once. They overlap heavily. Start with whichever matches your bigger constraint, then add the second only if a job is genuinely unmet.

Choosing on catalogue size. Nobody has ever failed at this for want of products to sell. Delivery time, stock accuracy and margin are what decide the outcome.

Ignoring where the stock is. A 25-day shipping time is a business model, not a detail. It dictates your pricing, your ad creative and your refund rate.

Skipping the stock sync question. Ask how often supplier stock and cost are checked and what happens when either changes. Vendors that do this well say so precisely. Vendors that do not use words like continuous without a number.

Frequently asked questions

Which app should I use for dropshipping?

It depends which of the four jobs you need done. For supplier access with fast US delivery, Doba. For US and EU suppliers together, Spocket. For automating listings across several marketplaces, AutoDS. For one store with no product cap, Dropified. For starting at no fixed monthly cost, Zendrop’s free plan or CJdropshipping’s per-order pricing.

Is there genuinely free dropshipping software?

Zendrop publishes a $0 plan, the only free tier among the six, and automated fulfilment is not part of it. CJdropshipping charges no subscription at all and bills per order instead, which is the closest thing to starting without a fixed monthly cost.

Which is cheapest to start with?

On monthly cost, Zendrop’s free plan, then Doba at $28.67 on quarterly billing. On total cost for a first handful of orders, CJdropshipping, because there is nothing to pay until you ship something.

Do I need US-based suppliers?

If you sell to US customers and compete on delivery, yes, and it is the single biggest structural choice in this list. Doba states 90% US warehousing and Spocket 80% US and EU suppliers. If you compete on price and your customers accept longer waits, shipping from China is cheaper per unit.

Can I use more than one of these together?

Yes, and some sellers pair a supplier network with an automation layer deliberately. Confirm the overlap first, because paying two subscriptions for the same job is the most common waste in this category.

How often does this pricing change?

Often. Every figure here was read on 6 November 2026, and several of these vendors ran promotions during that week. Check the current price before you commit.

Where to go next

If you have narrowed this to two platforms, compare them on their own records rather than on this page: every product above has a profile on Spotsaas with its pricing, features and reviews. Start with Doba, Spocket, AutoDS, Zendrop, Dropified or CJdropshipping.

If you are replacing something you already pay for, the alternatives pages are the faster route: AutoDS alternatives, Doba alternatives, or the free-only lists for AutoDS and Doba.

And if the gap is really in stock control rather than sourcing, read the best inventory management software and the top Shopify apps for inventory management before adding another supplier network.