Since they have different purposes, it's hard to compare them, as the ideal solution would be to use both platforms together.

Therefore, we’ll call this comparison a tie.

But if you only want to use one platform or can only afford one, we recommend starting with Dropship, as you should prioritize your product research. 

Then, once you’ve started generating sales, you can automate your dropshipping business using AutoDS.

Dropship

• My rating - 10/10 (I'm a bit biased)
• Dropship starts at $19 per month when paid annually
• Dropship is the best product research tool

AutoDS

• My rating - 9/10
• AutoDS starts at $19.90 for a Shopify plan
• AutoDS is the best dropshipping automation software

Key Takeaways

• Dropship is a product research tool that helps you find winning products to sell.
• AutoDS is an automation tool that can automate orders, send tracking updates, and manage your returns.
• Dropship and AutoDS work together. Find your product on Dropship and import it directly to AutoDS.
• We recommend signing up for Dropship first to find your products. Then, once you’ve found your first winning product, you can create your Shopify store and sign up for AutoDS.

Dropship vs AutoDS: Which Is Best for You?

It depends on the stage of your dropshipping business.

If you’re just starting out and looking for winning products, choose Dropship. 

If you’ve already found your winning products and are looking for the best way to manage and automate your dropshipping business, choose AutoDS.

What Is Dropship and Who Is It Best For?

Dropship is a product research tool that allows you to spy on Shopify stores and Facebook ads.

It reveals the sales, revenue, apps, products, product creation date, theme, and much more of any Shopify store. And the engagement and content of ads. 

The more data you have, the better informed you are. This allows you to identify winning products.

There are several product research tools. These include ones that suggest winning products and others that have advanced filters so you can search for products that meet your winning criteria.

You can also analyze stores as you visit them with the Chrome extension, track your potential products, find your competition, and much more.

What Is AutoDS and Who Is It Best For?

AutoDS is a dropshipping automation tool.

It essentially connects your store and supplier and automatically completes tasks. This includes importing products to your store, fulfilling orders, and sending tracking numbers.

AutoDS connects with multiple selling platforms, such as eBay, Shopify, Facebook, Amazon, Wix, Woo, and Etsy. 

It also connects with tons of suppliers, with over 500 million products available. AutoDS is a supplier with a warehouse in China, and it also allows you to source your products from multiple retail suppliers, including AliExpress, Amazon, CJDropshipping, and more.

AutoDS also has other features, including product research, inventory management, product sourcing, and more.

Dropship vs AutoDS: Feature Comparison

Dropship and AutoDS are very different platforms with different purposes and, therefore, different features.

Dropship has product research tools to help you find winning products. 

AutoDS has automation tools to help you fulfill your orders and manage your dropshipping business.

As we’ve seen, the ideal solution would be to use the platforms together. 

But if you’re trying to decide which platform is right for you, looking at and comparing the features can help you decide. 

Dropship Features

Paid Tools

• Ad Spot - You can search through millions of Facebook ads by copy, creative type, engagement, call to action, and more.

• You can also sort the ads and analyze them to help you make decisions on which products to launch and what to add to your ads.

• Product Database - The product database is a database of millions of Shopify products sold by real sellers. You can search through these products using the advanced filters to find winning products.

• Dropship reveals the product's sales, price, revenue, and much more.

• Sales Tracker - Once you find products and stores you think could be winners, you can add them to your own sales tracker. You can then monitor their performance over time to ensure you’ve found a winner.

• Top Stores and Products - Dropship has a list of the top-performing stores and products. The list updates every 24 hours, so you always know the best products and stores.

• Competitor Research - Think you’ve found a winner? Search for your competition by keyword. You can then track and analyze your competition to confirm you’ve found a winning product and work out how to compete with them.

• Portfolio - Dropship will do the product research for you. Every week, they suggest several products they think could be winners.

• Dropship gives a profit estimation, potential score, benefits, drawbacks, competition, listing and ad content, suppliers, and more.

• Suppliers - Dropship has a few suppliers that you can contact directly on Skype to source and ship your products. The suppliers are pre-vetted by Dropship to ensure they are reliable.

• Chrome Extension - The Dropship Chrome extension allows you to spy on Shopify stores as you visit them. The Chrome extension shows you the store's sales, revenue, apps, themes, best-sellers, new launches, and more.

• The Chrome extension also gathers Facebook ads from your timeline. You can search through the ads, save the ads, and analyze them to find winning products and campaign inspiration.

Free Tools

• Interest Explorer - Discover hidden Facebook interests. These can give you less competitive keywords to help you create more profitable campaigns and find products with less competition.

• Calculators - Calculate your numbers to ensure you’re on track. You can check your profit, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, and break-even return on ad spend.

Resources

• Blog - We have a frequently updated blog with everything you need to know about dropshipping. This includes product research, starting a store, marketing your products, optimizing your business, and more.

• University - Dropship’s founder and CEO, Nawras Ganim, has created an 18-lesson dropshipping course. It covers how to use the tools, how to connect Dropship and Shopify, how to create a brand, how to market your products, and how to operate your dropshipping business.

• Community - Dropship has a Discord community with over 27,000 members. Joining the community allows you to meet and communicate with other dropshippers to give you inspiration, encourage you, and help you with anything you need.

AutoDS Features

• Product Research - Find winning products from the AutoDS marketplace. The marketplace is full of over 8 million products from private and retail suppliers. You can search for products by category, warehouse, price, and more.

AutoDS also has a Product Finding Hub tool. This comes at an additional cost of $14.97 per month. The Product Finding Hub is a curated list of winning products that are selected by the AutoDS team.

• Product Importer - Easily import your products from your supplier to your store. You can upload your products in bulk or schedule your imports. This can save you tons of time manually creating product listings.

• Automated Order Fulfillment - The main selling point of AutoDs is its order fulfillment. Automated order fulfillment is when a customer places an order on your dropshipping site, and the order is automatically sent to your supplier. The supplier then sends the order to your customer and passes on the tracking information. As well as orders, AutoDS also processes returns.

• Price and Stock Monitoring - Make sure you’re maximizing your profits by keeping on top of your price. AutoDS monitors your product prices and makes any changes if there are changes detected on your supplier's site.

• Product Sourcing - If you can’t find the product you’re looking for, you can contact AutoDS, and they will source the product for you.

Dropship vs AutoDS: Similarities and Differences

As we’ve seen, Dropship and AutoDS are very different platforms with different uses, so there are far more differences than similarities. 

But we can still look at the similarities and differences to compare the platforms and help us decide if one is better for our needs than the other.

Dropship and AutoDS Similarities

• Both platforms allow you to do product research. However, Dropship specializes in product research and has more advanced tools and in-depth analytics. 
• There are supplier tools on both platforms. Dropships are still relatively new, and there are only a few suppliers currently listed. Meanwhile, AutoDS has a huge network of suppliers and can source products for you.
• Both platforms have incredible resources, including courses, blogs, and communities.
• Dropship and AutoDS are easy to use and work for sellers of all sizes.
• It's easy to contact support on both platforms.

Dropship and AutoDS Differences

• Dropship is designed for product research, and this is where it thrives.
• AutoDS is a dropshipping automation software.
• Dropship works for all types of sellers, selling on all platforms. AutoDS requires you to choose the platform you sell on before you join.
• Dropship should be joined before you start dropshipping so you can find the right products to sell.
• You don’t need to join AutoDS until you have already found your winning product and created a store.

Dropship vs AutoDS: Pricing and Plans

Winner for Pricing and Plans: It’s a tie

Dropship and AutoDS structure their plans differently. 

Dropship has three plans. All of the plans have access to the majority of features, but the access to the features increases as you upgrade.

AutoDS has seven platform options. Each platform option has three main plans. This means there are over 21 plans. There are also expert plans, which allow you to select how many products to import. As you upgrade your plan, the features included increase.

The features on each plan are different, depending on the platform you sell on.

Dropship Pricing and Plans

• Free trial for seven days
  

• Lowest priced annual plan - $19 per month
  

• Highest priced monthly plan - $79 per month
  

• Annual discount - Up to 40% 

AutoDS Pricing and Plans

• 14-day trial for $1
  

• Lowest priced annual plan - $19.90
  

• Highest priced monthly plan - $66.90 per month (but can be more expensive if you want to import more than 1000 products)
  

• Annual discount - 25% off

Dropship Plans

Basic - $29 per month or $19 per month when paid annually

• Product Database - 20 Searches / Day
• Competitor Research - 20 Searches / Day
• Ad Spot - 15 Searches / Day
• Portfolio - 20 Products / Week
• Store Tracker - 10 Stores
• Product Tracker - 20 Products
• Chrome Extension - 15 Stores / Day

Standard - $49 per month or $29 per month when paid annually

• Product Database - Unlimited Searches / Day
• Competitor Research - Unlimited Searches / Day
• Ad Spot - 30 Searches / Day
• Portfolio - 30 Products / Week
• Store Tracker - 25 Stores
• Product Tracker - 50 Products
• Chrome Extension - 30 Stores / Day
• Top Stores

Premium - $79 per month or $49 per month when paid annually

• Product Database - Unlimited Searches / Day
• Competitor Research - Unlimited Searches / Day
• Ad Spot - Unlimited Searches / Day
• Portfolio - 40 Products / Week
• Store Tracker - 50 Stores
• Product Tracker - 100 Products
• Chrome Extension - 60 Stores / Day
• Top Stores and Top Products

AutoDS Plans

As we saw, AutoDS is a dropshipping automation solution that works with various selling platforms. We’ll look at Shopify as it’s the most common platform to dropship on. 

However, if you dropship on eBay, Facebook, Amazon, Wix, Woo, and Etsy, there are specific plans to suit you. The majority of the features are the same, but there are a few platform-specific features. The prices also vary slightly by platform.

Import 200 - $26.90 per month or $19.90 per month when paid annually

• Product Importer (200 Products)
• Product Research Tool
• Draft Manager
• Order Manager
• Products Manager
• Product Image Editor
• Product Variation Support
• Smart Filter System
• Extension: ‘One-Click Drafts’ Creator
• Full Business Dashboard
• 24/7 Support
• All Supported Suppliers
• Print on Demand

Starter 500 - $39.90 per month or $29.90 per month when paid annually

• All of Import 200’s features
• Importer and Price and Stock Monitor (500 Products)
• Full Product Editor
• Bulk Product Importer
• Automated Orders Supported
• Fulfilled by AutoDS Service Supported
• Automatic Tracking Updates Supported
• Copy/Paste Extension for Shipping Addresses
• Smart Pricing Rule System
• Advanced Bulk Changes
• Product Builder: Multiple Suppliers
• Full Shopify Dropshipping Course

Advanced 1000 - $66.90 per month or $49.90 per month when paid annually

• All of Starter 500’s features
• Importer and Price and Stock Monitor (1000 Products)
• Multiple Store Management (3 Stores)
• VIP Support

If you want to import more than 1000 products, there are several Master plans that allow you to select a custom number of imports.

The features are the same as the Advanced 1000 plan, but the price increases based on the number of product imports. 

Dropship vs AutoDS: Support and Training

The support is the way you can contact the platform if you need any help. The training is an additional resource to help with your dropshipping journey.

The support and training a platform offers are super important. They can guide you through your dropshipping journey and increase your chances of success.

Dropship and AutoDS both have excellent support and training.

Support

Winner for Support: It’s a tie

Dropship and AutoDS both offer 24/7 support with all their plans.

All of Dropship’s plans include the same support. You can contact support using the live chat button in the bottom right-hand corner. From here, you can send a message to the team with any questions or queries. 

If you don’t have a plan, you can still contact Dropship via email or live chat.

AutoDS offers different support, depending on the plan you have. The first two plans, Import 200 and Starter 500, all include 24/7 support. The Advanced 1K plan and Master plans include VIP support. VIP support means your queries are prioritized over other user’s queries. 

Training

Winner for Training: It’s a tie

Both Dropship and AutoDS have expert training tools and resources, but they thrive in different areas. 

They both have frequently updated blogs with tips and tricks on everything to do with dropshipping.

They also both have courses. However, Dropship currently has one course, which is made up of 18 lessons. The course covers every step of dropshipping with Shopify. In contrast, AutoDS has five courses. The courses are between 5 and 55 lessons long. 

You can also connect with other members on both platforms through their Discord community. Dropship has a far larger community, with almost 26,000 members. AutoDS’s community only has 3,900 members. 

The communities allow you to learn from other dropshippers, ask questions, and can encourage you in your journey. The more members, the more information and expertise there is available in the community.

Final Thoughts: Is Dropship or AutoDS Better?

Dropship and AutoDS are such different platforms it’s impossible to say which is better. 

Each platform will suit you at a different point in your journey. 

But if you can only afford one, we’d recommend Dropship. 

Dropship uncovers hidden insights into Shopify stores and Facebook ads to help you identify winning products. A winning product is vital to your success as a dropshipper, and product research is key to finding one.

Once you’ve found a winning product, we recommend signing up for AutoDS’s $1 trial. This gives you a chance to check out the platform before committing to a subscription. You can use AutoDS to find a supplier, import your product, and start automating your fulfillment. Hopefully, by the time your free trial runs out, you’ll have made enough sales to afford a paid plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I Use AutoDS or Dropship?

In a perfect world, both. 

AutoDS and Dropship are very different platforms and have different strengths. Dropship is designed for product research, and AutoDS is for automatically fulfilling your orders.

Is AutoDS or Dropship Better?

Both platforms are brilliant, and one isn’t necessarily better than the other. It comes down to what you’re looking for.

Choose AutoDS to automate your orders and help you manage your dropshipping business. 

And choose Dropship if you need to find winning products for your dropshipping store. 

Is Dropship or AutoDS Cheaper?

They’re almost the same price.

Dropship has a 7-day free trial, and AutoDS offers a 14-day $1 trial.

The lowest-priced Dropship plan costs $19 per month when paid annually, and the lowest-priced Shopify AutoDS plan costs $19.90 per month when paid annually.

Is Dropship or AutoDS Better for Product Research?

Dropship is the superior choice for product research. 

AutoDS does provide some research tools, but it’s not where it specializes. It doesn’t allow you to see the same Shopify seller insights, like sales or revenue, as you can on Dropship.

What is the Best Alternative to AutoDS?

AutoDS is our favorite automation tool. However, if you’re looking for an alternative, we recommend Zendrop.