Weight or volume: the main difference between carriers
The three carriers decide differently which tariff band your box falls into. That matters more than the prices themselves.
- Nova Poshta and Meest price by weight. They take the larger of two numbers: the actual weight or the volumetric weight, which both calculate the same way — length × width × height in centimetres, divided by 4,000. A 40 × 30 × 30 cm box weighs 9 kg for tariff purposes even if there are 3 kg inside.
- Ukrposhta prices by the volume of the box in cubic centimetres: "Tiny" up to 1,500, "Small" up to 4,000, "Compact" up to 8,000, "Medium" up to 20,000, "Large" up to 80,000, "Extra large" up to 120,000. Weight matters only as a limit: under Ukrposhta's price list the three smallest bands apply only while the parcel weighs up to 5 kg; otherwise it is charged as "Medium". The maximum parcel weight is 30 kg.
Hence the conclusion the numbers below will confirm: Ukrposhta wins most on dense boxes with a lot of weight in a small volume. It loses where a box has just moved into the next volume band but is still light by weight.
Rates on 14 October 2026
Prices for branch-to-branch delivery between different regions, VAT included, without individual contracts. Within one city or region all three charge less.
| What | Nova Poshta | Meest | Ukrposhta Basic | Ukrposhta Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small parcel | up to 2 kg — UAH 90 | up to 2 kg — UAH 80 | up to 4,000 cm³ — UAH 55 | up to 4,000 cm³ — UAH 65 |
| Medium | up to 10 kg — UAH 135 | up to 5 kg — UAH 110; up to 10 kg — UAH 125 | up to 20,000 cm³ — UAH 85 | up to 20,000 cm³ — UAH 95 |
| Large | up to 30 kg — UAH 200 | up to 20 kg — UAH 180; up to 30 kg — UAH 190 | up to 80,000 cm³ — UAH 140 | up to 80,000 cm³ — UAH 150 |
| Delivery to a village | +UAH 30 (except documents) | +UAH 30 | included in the tariff | not checked |
| Return of a refused parcel | UAH 0 if delivery was paid before dispatch | UAH 0 up to 30 kg | UAH 10 | UAH 20 |
On its Basic tariff page Ukrposhta says plainly that handling and transport at every stage are done in the ordinary, non-priority order, with delivery in 2–4 days to a town and up to 7 days to a village. We did not compare Nova Poshta's and Meest's delivery times here: this article is about money.
Returns of refused parcels: three different rules
For a shop selling cash on delivery, a refusal is routine, so the return rule matters as much as the rate.
- Nova Poshta. Under the terms of the Return service for business, for parcels up to 30 kg the return is already included in the price if delivery was paid before dispatch. Otherwise the sender pays for delivery. A return has to be ordered for each shipment separately; if cash on delivery was attached to the parcel, it is cancelled automatically on return.
- Meest. Its tariffs for business clients include a free return of shipments up to 30 kg if the recipient refuses; above 30 kg a return is charged as a new shipment.
- Ukrposhta. According to the Basic tariff page, a return costs UAH 10, and the option can be switched off when creating the shipment. On the Priority tariff it is UAH 20.
So if the shop pays for delivery at dispatch, a refusal costs it that delivery plus UAH 0 at Nova Poshta and Meest, and plus UAH 10 or 20 at Ukrposhta. Whether refusals justify requiring prepayment is covered in a separate article on cash on delivery.
Three parcels, priced
Three illustrative boxes that most online shops send:
- A — cosmetics or an accessory: 0.8 kg, a 24 × 17 × 9 cm box (3,672 cm³, volumetric weight 0.92 kg).
- B — a pair of shoes: 1.6 kg, a 35 × 25 × 15 cm box (13,125 cm³, volumetric weight 3.28 kg).
- C — a cookware set or a small appliance: 8 kg, a 40 × 30 × 30 cm box (36,000 cm³, volumetric weight 9 kg).
The shop pays for delivery at dispatch, delivery is between regions, to a branch in a town. The cost of a refusal is the delivery already paid plus the return fee.
| Parcel | Nova Poshta | Meest | Ukrposhta Basic | Ukrposhta Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A: delivery | 90 | 80 | 55 | 65 |
| A: refusal | 90 | 80 | 65 | 85 |
| B: delivery | 135 | 110 | 85 | 95 |
| B: refusal | 135 | 110 | 95 | 115 |
| C: delivery | 135 | 125 | 140 | 150 |
| C: refusal | 135 | 125 | 150 | 170 |
Comparing delivery and refusals separately is awkward, so let us fold them into one number: what delivery of one received order costs when some parcels come back. The formula for a refusal share r:
(delivery + r × return fee) / (1 − r)
The logic is simple: you pay delivery on every parcel and the return fee only on refusals, and the total is divided by the parcels customers actually collected. At 10% refusals:
Ukrposhta — Basic tariff, return UAH 10. Nova Poshta and Meest — free return, delivery paid at dispatch. Delivery between regions, to a branch in a town. Rates checked on 14 October 2026.
For boxes A and B Ukrposhta is at least a third cheaper than Nova Poshta, even with the paid return. Box C reverses the order: 36,000 cm³ is the "Large" band at UAH 140, while for Meest the same box weighs 9 kg and costs UAH 125.
One more case where the gap is widest: a dense, heavy parcel, say 12 kg in a 30 × 20 × 15 cm box (9,000 cm³). For Nova Poshta that is "Large", UAH 200; for Meest it is "up to 20 kg", UAH 180. For Ukrposhta the weight above 5 kg moves it to "Medium", UAH 85. That is less than half the price.
How this delivery cost sits within the profit of one order, together with fees and advertising, is covered in the article on online-shop unit economics.
Cash on delivery and declared value
These two fees rarely change the choice, but it is worth knowing them so you are not hunting for them in a statement later.
| What | Nova Poshta | Meest | Ukrposhta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Declared value up to UAH 500 | in the tariff | in the tariff | in the tariff |
| Declared value above UAH 500 | 0.5% of the declared value | 0.5% | 0.5% of the full amount |
| Cash-on-delivery transfer at the general rate | 2% + UAH 20; 1% + UAH 10 when paid with a NovaPay card | "Payment control": 2% + UAH 20 | 2% + UAH 15 |
| Cash on delivery to a business account under contract | 0.5% to a NovaPay account, 1.3% to an account at another bank | not compared | |
The declared-value fee is the same at all three, so it does not change the order of carriers, and we left it out of the calculation above. For a UAH 2,000 item it is UAH 10 per parcel at any of the three. The terms of Nova Poshta's cash-on-delivery agreement and the limits on ordinary cash on delivery to a card are covered in the article on cash on delivery.
How to choose a carrier for your boxes
- Heavier than 5 kg, but a box of up to 20,000 cm³?Tools, dumbbells, jars, stacks of books. Ukrposhta charges them as "Medium", UAH 85, while Nova Poshta and Meest charge UAH 125–200 depending on weight. Yes → Ukrposhta
- A 4,000–8,000 cm³ box weighing up to 2 kg?That is "Compact" at Ukrposhta, UAH 80, and Meest charges the same for a parcel up to 2 kg. But a refused parcel returns free at Meest and for UAH 10 at Ukrposhta. Yes → Meest; with almost no refusals, a tie
- A 20,000–40,000 cm³ box weighing up to 10 kg?Shoes in a big box, textiles, small appliances. For Ukrposhta it is already "Large", UAH 140, while Meest's volumetric weight is 5–10 kg, which means UAH 125. Yes → Meest
- Any other box up to 30 kg?Our sweep of every size and weight up to 30 kg in steps of 250 cm³ and 0.1 kg, at 10% refusals, found Ukrposhta Basic cheaper in all other cases. Yes → Ukrposhta as the low-cost option at checkout
Account for villages separately: Nova Poshta and Meest add UAH 30 for delivery to a village, Ukrposhta Basic does not, so for those customers Ukrposhta's advantage is even larger. And price this way the two or three boxes that carry most of your orders: for one rare large parcel a month, hunting for a cheaper carrier makes no sense.
Our position
Do not pick one carrier for everything. For most shops selling clothing, shoes and cosmetics, Ukrposhta on the Basic tariff gives the lowest delivery cost including refusals, and it is worth offering at checkout as the low-cost option next to Nova Poshta or Meest. Check only the two zones where Meest is cheaper: a 4,000–8,000 cm³ box up to 2 kg and a 20,000–40,000 cm³ box up to 10 kg. At base inter-regional rates Nova Poshta is not cheaper than Meest in any weight band, so it is chosen for something other than price, and that is worth doing deliberately.
This position does not hold if the shop already has an individual contract with a carrier: volume discounts can change the order, and you need to compare contract prices, not base rates. It also matters little when the customer always pays for delivery and chooses the carrier: then only the cost of refusals matters to the shop.
Rates and the rules for returns, cash on delivery and declared value were checked on 14 October 2026 on the websites of Nova Poshta (rates in force from 10.09.2026), Meest (business tariffs from 01.10.2026) and Ukrposhta (tariffs from 01.10.2026, size limits from 01.04.2026). Parcels A, B, C and the 10% refusal share are illustrative; substitute your own sizes and refusal share.