AfterShip Pricing: How Much Does It Really Cost? (2026)

Are you trying to figure out if AfterShip’s pricing structure works for your brand before you commit to the post-purchase management software?

In this guide, we’ll review AfterShip’s pricing structure, going over how they figure out how much to charge you, and discuss features you’ll get.

➡️ At the end of this guide, we’ll introduce you to an alternative to AfterShip that offers better customer support, is easier to set up, and does not require you to use your carrier accounts.

⚠️ We’ll be focusing on AfterShip’s Returns pricing, not on their Tracking and Feed paid plans, which are separate.

How Does AfterShip Calculate Its Returns Management Pricing?

AfterShip calculates its pricing based on a few criteria, including (but not limited to):

• Return volume per year (e.g., 12,000 returns per year).
• The features you’d need.
• Additional add-ons and features that you’d like to use, such as a custom domain, customer support, and security features.

Unlike tools like Narvar, AfterShip does not expect you to use your carrier accounts (e.g., Royal Mail account) so you can use its platform.

AfterShip’s Pricing Overview

Aftership offers four paid monthly plans that are based on how many returns per year your brand is expecting.

There are 4 paid tiers:

• Essentials: Starts from $19/month for 720 returns per year and includes their integration with 1,200 carriers and a customisable returns portal.
• Pro: Starts from $49/month for 1,200 returns per year and adds automatic returns approval, refund to store credit, and general eligibility rules.
• Premium: Starts from $199/month for 2,400 returns per year and adds shipment status-triggered automations, exchange on store, and exchange for other items.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for 12,000+ returns per year, which gives you access to instant exchanges, returns API, and enterprise-grade security.

AfterShip’s Paid Add-Ons

AfterShip offers the following paid add-ons:

• The ability to have a custom domain at $10/month.
• Organisation management functionality, such as default member roles and permissions.
• Premium support that costs 20% of your paid plan (silver) or 30% (gold).

Does AfterShip Offer a Free Plan?

Unlike many of its competitors, AfterShip does offer a free plan that lets you create a branded returns page that gives you access to 2 return zones and routing rules.

Is AfterShip’s Pricing Worth It After All?

AfterShip offers a pretty good returns management solution with a good range of pricing tiers for both SMEs and enterprise customers.

However, the platform’s user experience is not as smooth as you’d imagine.

A verified customer of the platform noted that the platform was not very straightforward for them to set up.

They also mention how confusing the admin panel can be, with some aspects ‘’hard to find’’ - such as invoices for additional orders.

‘’Not always straightforward to set up, admin panel can be confusing, hard to find invoices for additional orders like monthly SMS bills.’’ - G2 Review.

Apart from this, there were plenty of negative reviews covering bad experiences with AfterShip’s customer support, which, remember, you have to pay for to get proper support.

Small business owners who are on the lower tiers of the pricing plans do not seem very satisfied with how long it took them to resolve their issues.

‘’The Online Chat is unprofessional. I spent an hour waiting for an agent to resolve my issue. Three agents were switched during this 1 hour. Get a reply from them every 5 minutes. It's a waste of time.’’ - G2 Review.

How much does AfterShip’s Enterprise plan really cost?

3rd party data from Vendr suggests that AfterShip’s Enterprise pricing plan can cost up to $103,812 per year based on data from 9 purchases.

According to Vendr, the median buyer pays about $13,500/year for AfterShip, and it can cost up to 6 figures per year.

Looking For An AfterShip Alternative?

Considering the fact that users of AfterShip complain of its difficulty to set up and use, sub-optimal customer support and pricing that scales quickly, some retailers have been looking for AfterShip alternatives.

‘’Over the course of using this software, Aftership changed its pricing model. This was frustrating because I was grandfathered in; however, I needed to scale back my plan with them.’’

ZigZag Global (that’s us) offers the best AfterShip alternative on the market for retailers looking to optimise and automate their returns process.

Unlike AfterShip, ZigZag offers:

• A customisable returns management platform that can be set up in weeks (or a few clicks) and not months.
• Best-in-class key account management and customer support for both small brands and enterprises.
• A returns portal that can accept multiple currencies & provides different language settings for international consumers.
• A bigger range of return options for shoppers, including return to store credit, paid returns, and in-store returns.
• A comprehensive range of international carrier integrations so you can scale your returns management abroad, instead of using multiple returns management software for the different markets.

Note: Even though ZigZag Global is our returns solution, we’ll aim to provide an unbiased perspective on why we offer the best AfterShip alternative on the market.

Our enterprise-grade returns platform lets you build a custom returns portal and offers your shoppers different return options that help you keep capital in the business and lower the costs of returns.

We also provide retailers with access to 220 localised warehouses and over 1,500 international carrier services, all across 170+ origin countries.

Here are the features that make ZigZag Global the best AfterShip alternative:

Customisable Returns Portal

ZigZag offers a customisable returns portal that enables retailers to change returns rules alongside white-labelling the portal to reflect their brand.

You can adapt various new return solutions (such as a gift card, exchange, or cash refund) depending on shoppers’ reasons for returning.

Possible reasons could be that the product was faulty, did not fit, or was unsuitable.

Get a feel of how ZigZag’s platform works in our guided demo: 👇

Single-Click Shopify Integration

Our returns management solution can also be set up on Shopify with as little effort as a single click.

Here’s why merchants love our Shopify integration:

• One-click installation: You can install the ZigZag plugin with a simple click to offer hassle-free returns to your shoppers.
• Save the sale with exchanges: Offer exchanges or refunds to gift cards instead of a full refund.
• Cut the costs of your returns: Save up to 57% in your return costs with our consolidation and efficient routing of e-commerce returns.

💡 Our research on returns found that 57% of shoppers who are considering returning items would accept a gift card as a refund.

This return option lets you keep money in your business while benefiting shoppers with a quick gift card option they can use in your store.

International Returns To 170+ Countries With 1,500+ Carrier Services.

The ‘’Global’’ part of ZigZag Global is because our returns software is ideal for international returns, as our software facilitates international returns in 170+ countries by connecting you with 1,500+ global carriers.

➡️ Our returns portal can accept multiple currencies & provides different language settings for international shoppers, which is ideal for international brands.

Instead of using multiple return management platforms for the USA, Europe, and other regions, you can use ZigZag Global as a global return logistics solution.

Comprehensive Range of Return Options For Consumers

The goal of our global returns solution is not only to manage your returns but to help you save time, money, and improve the loyalty of your shoppers.

This is why ZigZag Global offers the following returns options for your shoppers:

In-Store Returns

In-store returns are when shoppers return the product to your store in person to save the costs of a paid return online.

Your store can implement free in-store returns to slash shipping costs, boost foot traffic to your physical store, and give consumers more ways to get a refund.

💡 ZigZag Global also offers in-store drop-off kiosks for companies that are hassle-free for your shoppers (we’ll provide an example retailer who introduced it later).

Store Credit To Save the Sale

Return to store credit is when shoppers get a refund in the form of a gift card to your online store, instead of a monetary refund in their bank account.

As consumers are happy to accept store credit instead of a refund (since it’s usually of greater value), we added the option of this return to our retailers’ portal so you can keep capital in the business.

➡️ Return to store credits allows you to increase and maintain the customer lifetime value.

Paid Returns

As 48% of consumers are happy paying for returns, there has been a 32% rise in paid returns since last year.

This is why we’ve started recommending the retailers we work with implement paid returns in their stores, as the behaviour towards paid returns is changing.

That means asking consumers to pay a small fee to return their products.

Here are a few reasons why merchants have been offering paid returns:

• Returned costs are covered, so your company is not on the losing end.
• Consumers can’t exploit the free returns policy to engage in wardrobing.
• Shoppers are likely to make better buying decisions.

💡 You can check out our recent article on how merchants can deal with wardrobing and staging, as we went over how paid returns are the solution to wardrobing.

➡️ Interested in how much money ZigZag’s paid returns save your organisation? You can check out our ROI Calculator.

Here’s a scenario where you have 5,000 returns per month, and 20% of them are paid returns of £3.

That’ll save you a total of £3,000 per month.

Advanced Returns Analytics

Our returns management software offers advanced reporting that tracks everything for our retailers to view and manage from one portal, such as:

Comparing the popularity of refund solutions.

Evaluating the most common reasons why consumers return products.

Reviewing revenue generated from paid returns.

Detecting suspicious return behaviour from shoppers.

➡️ The retailers that use ZigZag Global can reduce their returns in the long run after evaluating the common reasons why people return products.

ZigZag Global Pricing: How Is It Different From AfterShip’s?

ZigZag Global discloses our pricing to Shopify merchants.

Similar to them, we also do not expect you to plug in your carrier accounts, as we have accounts with carriers with favourable prices for our retailers.

ZigZag Global’s Shopify pricing is based on returns per month as well as the level of automation and customisation you’d require.

Our platform has 3 pricing tiers for Shopify merchants:

• Silver: $20/month, which gives you access to 100 returns a month, Evri, Collect+ & USPS labels or the ability to upload your own, returns analytics, and customer updates.
• Gold: $50/month, which gives you access to 300 returns a month, auto one-click refunds, auto-exchange order creation, return-to-store credit, and custom email templates.
• Platinum: $500/month, which gives you access to 3,500 returns a month, portal styling assistance by our team, quick support response time and technical support.‍
• Enterprise: Custom price for a custom amount of returns a month, which lets you use your own carrier accounts, access to a dedicated account manager, and the ability to connect your systems via our platform APIs.

💡 All of our Shopify pricing plans, except the Enterprise plan, come with a 14-day free trial.

Note: If your plan exceeds the returns limit, you’ll be charged $0.20 for each additional return.

➡️ Are you not on Shopify? You can book a demo with one of our returns management experts to get a personalised quote.

Case Study: New Look Introduced Convenient Drop-Off Kiosks At Selected UK Shops

New Look, a retail chain company, partnered with ZigZag Global as it was facing high return costs and could not understand why customers returned items.

With our returns management solution, New Look introduced free and paid return options, where the in-store returns were free of charge, and there was a charge of £2.50 for paid returns.

The merchant transformed its returns experience and has:

• Received a 20% decrease in return status queries when the improved tracking was implemented.
• Doubled their in-store returns via the combination of easy in-store returns and paid online returns.
• Increased their rating from 4.3/5 to 4.7/5 on Trustpilot.

Next Steps: Offset Costs & Battle Return Fraud With ZigZag Global

Built for merchants who operate globally, ZigZag offers an all-in-one returns platform that is designed to take over any online store’s post-purchase experience.

Regardless of whether you’re a market leader or an SME, our returns management platform offers:

• A customisable returns portal that can be personalised to your shoppers.
• Wide range of return options, such as paid returns, return to store credit, and return to gift card.
• Access to detailed analytics and reports on what drives shoppers to return products.

Then you can book a demo to learn more about ZigZag Global.

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