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Correios vs UPS

Correios

Correios exposes a REST API suite covering package tracking (Rastro), address lookup (Busca CEP), shipping cost (Preço), and delivery-time estimates (Prazo) for Brazil's national postal service. Access is gated behind a commercial shipping contract rather than public self-serve signup, with keys issued and validated through the CWS (Correios Web Services) portal under a Meu Correios login. A 2026 security tightening now restricts tracking queries to parcels tied to the querying contract, closing off third-party lookups of packages a caller didn't send.

UPS

UPS's REST APIs cover package tracking, rating, address validation, and label creation, authenticated via OAuth 2.0 client-credentials bearer tokens issued by the developer portal — the legacy Access Key scheme was retired for all UPS REST APIs in 2024. Calls carry no separate API fee: access is free for UPS account holders, who instead pay UPS directly for the shipments and services the calls represent.

CorreiosUPS
AuthenticationAPI KeyOAuth
Pricingpaidfree
FormatsJSONJSON
CORSnono
HTTPSYesYes

UPS is free, while Correios is paid — UPS is the cheaper way in.

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