Shipping from inside your business system saves rekeying addresses into carrier websites and copying tracking numbers back. Many Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central customers start with Order Ship Express, which creates parcel shipping labels and pulls rates and tracking right into Business Central. This is a completely free app from Insight Works for Business Central. The catch for some organizations is the deployment model: Order Ship Express is cloud only.
Which Insight Works apps run on-premises
All of the free Insight Works apps are available for the cloud version of Business Central. If you run Business Central on-premises, some of those apps are available for your on-premises install as well, but others are cloud only. These include Order Ship Express and WMS Express, the barcoding app for receiving, picking, bin movements, and inventory counts. This is a completely free app from Insight Works for Business Central.
Dynamic Ship works on-premises
For on-premises Business Central, the shipping option is Dynamic Ship, which is available for on-premises installs. Dynamic Ship is a subscription app, and it covers far more than parcel labels.
Dynamic Ship handles LTL, full truckload, multi-carrier rate shopping, and international shipments. It includes a richer packaging interface for defining what you are shipping, and it automatically retrieves the delivery status of each shipment periodically, so anyone can see what has been delivered and what is still in transit without going to a carrier website.
Dynamic Ship can also email the customer with the shipping information and a branded tracking page that carries your logo and your messaging.
What Order Ship Express covers in the cloud
If you are on the cloud version, or planning a move to it, Order Ship Express is designed for domestic parcel shipments. You enter the packages, check the rate or go straight to the label, and the labels print. Rates can include configurable markups and can be added to the sales order, so you can see whether you are making or losing money on shipping. The tracking number lands in Business Central as standard data you can use on order confirmations, shipments, or e-commerce integrations. It does not handle international shipping.
Choosing between them
The deciding factors are where Business Central runs and what you ship. On-premises installs point to Dynamic Ship. Cloud customers shipping domestic parcels can start with Order Ship Express, and cloud customers who need LTL, truckload, international, or customer tracking emails will want Dynamic Ship.
Relevant Tools
Dynamic Ship is the main tool for this question: complete shipping in Business Central for on-premises and cloud installs, including multi-carrier rate shopping, LTL, international shipments, delivery tracking, and branded tracking pages.
Order Ship Express covers domestic parcel labels, rates, and tracking for the cloud version of Business Central.
Order Fulfillment Worksheet automates pick and shipment creation so orders are ready for shipping as soon as they can actually go out the door.