Should I use a shipping aggregator like Shiprocket, or go direct with a courier?
The short answer
Start with an aggregator, Shiprocket, Shipmozo, or similar, because it gives you 15-25+ courier partners (Delhivery, Ekart, Blue Dart, Xpressbees, DTDC) under one dashboard with no minimum-order commitment, which is exactly what you need while you're still figuring out which courier performs best on your actual pincode mix. Go direct with a single courier only once you have enough monthly volume (roughly 500+ orders) to negotiate meaningfully better rates than the aggregator's card, and even then most scaling brands keep the aggregator as a backup rather than dropping it entirely. The real skill isn't picking one courier, it's routing each order to whichever courier performs best for that specific pincode and weight band.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
4 resources4 India-specific4 link-checked
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📄 Article
✓ Link checkedIndiaFreeBeginner
Why we picked it
A current, India-specific comparison of the main aggregator options a new D2C brand is actually choosing between, rather than a generic global shipping-software roundup.
Why we picked it
A wide-lens overview of India's courier landscape from the aggregator most brands start with, a good baseline reference even if you eventually shop for alternatives.
Why we picked it
Specifically framed around the Shopify-India decision most founders are actually making, with a volume-stage lens (0-500 orders vs 500-5,000/month) that most comparisons skip.
Why we picked it
Directly answers the 'I've outgrown my current aggregator' question with a current alternatives list, which is more useful at that stage than another 'how to choose a courier' beginner guide.
