5 Best Postage Meters for Small Businesses

With a USPS postage rates hike earlier this year, we understand it's important that your business finds ways to save. Postage meters can help you with this, but with several options in the market, we understand that picking one for your business can be difficult.

To help you out, we researched the best postage meter companies in America and found the FP PostBase mini to be the best all-around postage meter for small businesses. Its small size and quiet operation means it can be installed in tiny offices — and even in a home setting if your business is based there — making us confident to recommend it to small post-reliant ventures.

In addition to the FP PostBase mini, we also found four other impressive postage meters in our research, one of which might better serve the needs of your small business.

If you'd like to know more about them, head to our ranking below. However, if you'd like to cut to the chase and quickly find the postage meter best suited to your business, try our free quote-finding tool.

1. Best All-Around – FP PostBase mini

What We Think of the FB PostBase mini

The FB PostBase mini is the smallest postage meter in the PostBase range from FP USA. Unsurprisingly, this quiet machine is ideal for small mailrooms and it will even fit nicely in a home office. This versatility is a key reason that we awarded it the top spot in our ranking of the top postage machines.

Processing up to 17 letters per minute (LPM), the PostBase mini is a low volume machine. However, it still offers full wifi connectivity as standard, and a 4.3” colour touchscreen to help you organise your mail. You can even personalize the integrated scale with one of five colours to match your brand.

Prices for this machine vary depending on the length of the contract, and the amount of usage that’s planned.

FP offers postage spend tracking through its many software applications. ReportOne, the app that's compatible with PostBase mini, captures postage transactions to generate reports. It can be set to report on separate departments or specific time periods.

As far as customer support goes, FP offers it through its MyFP customer portal and through its call centre, which is open from Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm CST.

2. Best for Customer Support – PB SendPro Mailstation

What We Think of the PB SendPro Mailstation

Without the complicated bells and whistles, the Pitney Bowes SendPro Mailstation is an efficient solution that won't ask too much of you.

As the most basic model in the Pitney Bowes Small Business range, the SendPro Mailstation processes up to 16 LPM and can handle letters weighing up to 5lb. It has a color touchscreen and offers the same ease of use as a regular printer.

The SendPro Mailstation's rental price is $29.99 per month with a 60-day free trial (for new customers). Because of this economical offer, we featured this machine in our cheapest postage meters list.

Pitney Bowes includes postage spend tracking with its two mail accounting solutions: INVIEW™ Analytics and Business Manager. Both track daily/monthly spend or class of service by pieces or dollars and generate custom reports. However, Business Manager is an advanced piece of software that is designed to consolidate postage data across multiple sites, making it a better fit for larger companies.

Pitney Bowes offers very comprehensive customer support, which includes on-site visits and phone support (the latter is available from Monday to Friday, from 8am to 8pm EST). It also offers service-level agreements that will cost you extra, but you'll have guaranteed response times for your support requests. The top service level agreement, Performance SLA, even pledges a four-hour response time for on-site visits in some areas.

3. Best for Ease of Use – Quadient iX-1

What We Think of the Quadient iX-1

The Quadient iX-1 is a small but mighty machine, processing 18 LPM. Replacing the older Quadient IS-280, this model offers a high printing resolution and provides an integrated 10lb scale, which can be removed to accurately measure larger packages.

With the Quadient iX-1, you can track spending for up to 10 departments, and customize your mail with a wide range of stock imagery. Overall, this model is a brilliant, easy to use option that's suitable for businesses sending fewer than 150 pieces of mail each month.

Quadient offers postage spend tracking through its software solution, Neostat. It will allow you to generate detailed reports so you can analyze the usage of mail classes and identify postage trends.

Also, Quadient offers support through its MyQuadient customer portal as well as through its call centre, which operates from Monday to Friday, from 8am to 7pm EST.

4. Best for Growing Businesses – Quadient iX-5

What We Think of the Quadient iX-5

If your mailing solutions are scaling quickly, the Quadient iX-5 Series comes with a 5lb scale as standard (with options up to 70lb), an expandable catch tray, and a color screen control panel. It processes 75-110 LPM, depending on whether or not you choose the automation option.

Multi-carrier shipping rates are available with USPS, UPS, and FedEx, which can improve your chances of getting the best possible postage rate. Quadient's iX-5 Series also offers low ink email alerts and automatic ink ordering. Also, Quadient's 9% discount on First Class postage applies.

Neostat, Quadient's native mail software solution, includes postage spend tracking. It produces mail class usage reports and aggregates your overall postage data, so you can spot trends and save money. For growing businesses, you can centralize the postage data from multiple locations into one report — as well as keep them separate if it's more convenient.

As with all Quadient machines, you can request support via the MyQuadient customer portal For urgent queries, you can also contact its call centre from Monday to Friday between 8am to 7pm EST.

5. Best for Heavy Mail – Data-Pac EZ-Mailer

What We Think of the Data-Pac EZ-Mailer

The Data-Pac EZ-Mailer is your heavy lifter when it comes to mail sorting. With this mail machine, you can process 140 LPM including flats, letters, and parcels. Choose between 25lb or 70lb integrated scales — far more than any other meter we've reviewed here.

Data-Pac's Shape-Based measurement software ensures highly accurate sizing for the best possible postage prices. It packs unlimited accounting and job reporting, as well as numerous form printing options.

Data-Pac doesn't provide information on whether its software includes postage spend tracking. This is an important feature for budgeting and we highly recommend you ask about it when you request a quote.

It's also worth noting that Data-Pac only offers support via email. While it does pledge to answer all queries within 24 hours, it may not be the best choice if you need immediate support.

What Are the Benefits of Postage Meters?

There are lots of ways small businesses can save money with a postal meter:

• Getting discounted USPS postage rates
• Reduce staff time spent processing mail
• Cut down on trips to the post office (and the fuel required)
• Getting accurate postage cost calculations
• Eliminating petty cash and checks
• Gaining insightful data on postage expenditure
• Easily monitoring the balance on your meter before and after use
• Planning budgets effectively

How Much Can I Save with a Postage Meter?

With inflation affecting the price of stamps, it's always smart to save where you can.

Fortunately, USPS offers discounted rates for postage meters. Currently, a single metered letter is 3¢ cheaper than a stamped letter.

Take a look out our table below:

At scale, your business saves more money with a postage meter. In the long-run, you'll keep mail costs lower when compared with buying stamps at retail price.

How Quickly Will My Postage Meter Pay For Itself?

This will depend on the deal you can get from your postage system supplier. By law, companies in the US can only lease postage meters from authorized suppliers, with prices ranging from $30-$1,000+ per month.

High-volume machines like the Quadient IS-6000 can process thousands of pieces of mail an hour, but come at a cost of thousands of dollars a month. For modest mailing needs, a low-volume model like the Quadient iX-1 could be a great choice.

If you spend more than $50 a month on mail, there’s almost certainly a postage meter on this page that can save your business money, such as the FP PostBase mini and the PB SendPro Mailstation.

We can put you in touch with the perfect postage system supplier for your small business, quickly and easily. All you need to do is tell us what you need with our free quote-finding tool, and we'll match your business with suppliers that meet your requirements. They'll get in touch with more information and obligation-free quotes.

How Can I Find the Best Postage Meter Rates?

To get the best postage meter deal for your small business, you should shop around for the right model. Before making a decision, just remember that most suppliers offer free trials, so you can test out different machines without having to share your credit card details. Better yet, some companies will have introductory offers to help ease you into the contract.

If you’d like to compare options from different suppliers, tell us about the needs of your business with our free-finding tool. The top postage system suppliers will contact you with obligation-free quotes that are tailored to your needs.