tiqline is a process SLA monitoring tool: it turns events from Shopify and your own systems into one case per piece of work, gives every step a time limit and alerts you in Slack or by email when a step runs over.
tiqline vs AfterShip: track the parcel or the whole order
AfterShip Tracking follows a shipment across more than 2,000 carriers and emails or texts your customer when a milestone changes. tiqline follows each order through the steps you describe, including those before a parcel exists, and alerts your team by Slack or email when a step stays open past its time limit. This page compares both and shows how they fit together.
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What AfterShip is
AfterShip Tracking takes a tracking number, detects the carrier and follows the shipment. It offers a branded tracking page, email and SMS notifications at delivery milestones, and a dashboard for volume, on-time performance and exception rates. Shopify can be connected on all plans.
Premium adds API and webhook access. Webhooks go to up to 10 URLs and are retried up to 14 times. Enterprise lists contractual uptime and response-time SLAs.
What tiqline is
tiqline is SLA monitoring for processes. A case starts with the first event of an order, such as paid, and moves through the steps you describe: picked, packed, fulfilled, refunded. Every step after the first can have a time limit. When a deadline passes, the case is marked stuck, stuck cases on one step share one incident, and one alert goes to Slack or email with a link to the cases. The parcel is one part of that chain.
The main differences
- Start: AfterShip needs a tracking number. tiqline starts with the first order event.
- Audience: AfterShip talks to your customer. tiqline alerts your team.
- Scope: AfterShip covers carrier milestones. tiqline covers any step that sends an event, including a 3PL pick or a refund.
- Billing: AfterShip counts shipments. tiqline counts events.
When each one fits
When AfterShip fits
AfterShip fits when the main question comes from customers asking where their parcel is. Branded tracking pages, delivery notifications by email and SMS, and carrier exception reports are what it is built for, and tiqline does none of that.
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When tiqline fits
tiqline fits when orders get stuck before a carrier has them, or when refunds and cancellations need their own deadlines. You want to know which step is late, not only which parcel, and you want your team told before the customer asks.
Side by side
Last checked: 1 November 2026
| Topic | tiqline | AfterShip |
|---|---|---|
| Category | SLA monitoring for processes. Follows each case through your steps and alerts when a step runs past its time limit. | Shipment tracking: a branded tracking page, automatic carrier detection, and email or SMS at shipment milestones. Sources |
| Event intake | Shopify webhooks, or a POST to the track API, one event at a time or in a batch. A repeated event is stored once. | Tracking numbers from your store or the API. Webhooks POST tracking events to up to 10 URLs, with up to 14 retries; API and webhooks are on Premium. |
| Time limit per step | Every step after the first can have a time limit. The deadline is the time the case reached the step plus the limit. | Delivery milestones and estimated delivery per shipment. Enterprise lists uptime and response-time SLAs for AfterShip's own service. Sources |
| Stuck cases | A case past its deadline is marked stuck. Stuck cases on the same step share one incident. | The dashboard reports exception rates and on-time performance for shipments. Sources |
| Process map with branches | The process map shows every step. A branch sends each case down exactly one path, chosen by an event property, and paths can merge again. | Built around shipment milestones from the carrier rather than your own process steps. Sources |
| Shopify | Orders created, paid, fulfilled, partially fulfilled and cancelled, fulfillments and refunds. Names, addresses, phone numbers and emails are not stored. You describe the process yourself. | Connect from the Shopify App Store or the AfterShip admin, on all plans. |
| Alert channels | Slack through an incoming webhook, email to up to 20 addresses, or both. One alert per incident. A deadline older than seven days is marked without an alert. | Email and SMS to customers when a shipment milestone or the estimated delivery changes. Sources |
| MCP / AI agent | Over MCP with OAuth sign-in an agent can set up ID fields, the process and time limits, connect Slack or email, and read usage and the audit log. | AfterShip documents Channels MCP, where an agent calls a connected service and confirms before a write. Sources |
| Audit log | Every plan includes the audit log, including Free. Publishing a process, changing a time limit and connecting Slack or email are written to the audit log, with who did it. You read the log over MCP; the dashboard has no audit page. | Team seats start at $10 per member a month billed yearly. The Tracking plan comparison lists no audit log, so check with AfterShip if you need one. Sources |
| GDPR and data location | Data is stored in the EU, in Frankfurt. | The pricing page says AfterShip is GDPR compliant. The privacy policy names EDPO in Brussels as its GDPR representative. |
| Setup effort | Connect Shopify or send events to the track API, then describe the steps and time limits. No templates. | Connect a store and AfterShip detects the carrier from the tracking number. A branded tracking page is included. |
| Pricing | The Free plan includes 5,000 events a month. When the quota is full, alerts pause and events are still stored. Other plans are on the pricing page. | At 6,000 shipments a year: Essentials from $29 a month plus $0.08 per extra shipment, Premium from $59 plus $0.12. Enterprise custom. Sources |
Using both together
Keep AfterShip for the customer side and add tiqline for the internal steps. On Premium, AfterShip can POST a webhook when a tracking event happens; forward it to the track API so a delivered or exception event closes or advances the case. tiqline then watches the whole order, from payment to delivery, and alerts your team by Slack or email when a step runs over.
Example: the delay was in the warehouse
All numbers in this example are made up for illustration. A shop ships 200 orders a day through a 3PL and uses AfterShip for tracking pages. Customers complain about late parcels, yet the carrier's on-time rate looks fine. Most late orders left the warehouse a day late, before AfterShip had a tracking number.
In tiqline the shop sets up paid, picked within 6 hours (sent by the 3PL to the track API), fulfilled in Shopify within 18 hours and delivered, forwarded from AfterShip webhooks. On a Thursday at 3 pm, 17 orders miss the pick limit. One Slack message names the step and says 17 cases are waiting, the email lists them, and the warehouse still makes the evening pickup. AfterShip keeps telling customers where their parcels are.
Limits of tiqline
tiqline watches and alerts. It does not run actions in other apps, and alerts go only to Slack and email. It does not explain why a case is stuck, has no ready-made templates, and connecting a shop does not start monitoring by itself. There are no connectors for warehouses or carriers; those steps arrive through the track API. tiqline does not track parcels across carriers and sends nothing to your customers, and there are no Shopify return topics.
Questions
Is tiqline a replacement for AfterShip?
No. AfterShip tracks parcels and notifies customers. tiqline watches each order step against a time limit and alerts your team by Slack or email.
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Can AfterShip send events to tiqline?
On Premium, AfterShip can POST a webhook when a tracking event happens. You can forward it to the track API.
Does tiqline notify my customers?
No. tiqline alerts your team by Slack or email. Email and SMS notifications to customers stay with AfterShip or your shop.
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Can tiqline watch a 3PL warehouse?
Yes, if the 3PL or your middleware sends an event with the order number to the track API. There are no ready-made 3PL connectors.
Do both connect to Shopify?
Yes. AfterShip connects on all plans. tiqline reads order, fulfillment and refund webhooks and does not store customer names or addresses.
What does tiqline's Free plan include?
5,000 events a month, with alerts by Slack or email. When the quota is full, alerts pause and events are still stored. Other plans are on the pricing page.
Start for free
The Free plan includes 5,000 events a month.