Pick Global-e if you want one partner to act as merchant of record across more than 200 markets and you are willing to work inside its model. Pick Passport if shipping, duty handling and local inventory are the core problem, and you want marketplace selling on TikTok Shop and Amazon from the same vendor. Pick OpenBorder if you want to keep your own carrier rates and need product compliance review alongside importer of record. Pick Crossterra if your target is China, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America or MENA and you need a localized storefront rather than an international checkout.
The short comparison
 OpenBorder | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | A PRO solution for emerging brands and an ENTERPRISE solution for high-volume brands | D2C ecommerce brands selling internationally | Ecommerce brands selling internationally, including Shopify, across apparel, beauty, supplements and electronics | Brands selling into emerging markets such as China, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America and MENA |
| What else it sells | Market insights and benchmarking, plus demand generation through borderfree.com | Localized inventory, marketplace selling on TikTok Shop and Amazon, compliance services | In-country warehousing, local return hubs, taxes and duties, product compliance review | Localization, domains, payments and logistics from a single product feed |
| Where it is strongest | Merchant of record across more than 200 markets, with payment processing, tax filing and local compliance handled for you | Cross-border shipping with DDU or DDP, shipping globally in as little as 48 hours across more than 220 markets | Keeping your existing carrier relationships and rates, with importer, merchant or seller of record models available | Standing up a market-specific storefront in parallel to an existing cross-border platform |
| Setup shape | PRO is described as a simple, fast integration with minimal merchant effort; ENTERPRISE comes with a dedicated team from integration to go-live and beyond | The site says brands can launch in weeks, not months | Live in as little as two weeks, with a dedicated Slack channel per customer | 6 to 8 weeks per market, a few hours a week from your team, API access required |
The Global-e and Passport consolidation
Passport is part of Global-e, following Global-e's 2025 acquisition of Brand Access. That matters for two reasons. If you are evaluating both, you are evaluating one corporate parent with two product lines rather than two independent bids. And if you are already on one of them and unhappy, moving to the other is not the clean escape it looks like on a slide.
If you are mid-evaluation, ask directly which roadmap items survive and who owns your account next year.
Global-e
Global-e localizes the shopper experience and acts as merchant of record, taking payment processing, tax filing and local regulatory compliance off your team across more than 200 markets. It sells three layers: Global Enablement for the operations, Global Intelligence for market insights and benchmarking off transaction data, and Global Demand to put your brand in front of international shoppers through borderfree.com. There is a merchant portal for tracking performance and managing the offer per market.
The friction is less about whether it functions and more about economics and ceiling. Delivery choices come down to paying for expedited shipping or accepting a slow option, and returns from international markets can be costly to move. Capability in the platform also goes unused when nobody walks the merchant through it, so the account relationship matters here as much as the feature list.
If you buy Global-e, budget time with your account team to go through what you are not using. The tiering helps: PRO is pitched as a simple, fast integration with minimal effort from the merchant, and ENTERPRISE comes with a dedicated team from integration to go-live and beyond. Merchant support includes reporting, guidance, best-practice recommendations and technical support.
Passport
Passport is a shipping-first answer. Cross-border shipping with DDU or DDP options, localized inventory stored closer to customers in your biggest markets, a seller of record option so you are not managing international tax obligations, and compliance services. It also supports compliant selling on TikTok Shop and Amazon, which matters if your international demand is partly marketplace demand.
Visibility into international orders is a strength. The risk is on execution. Shipments held in customs, parcels going missing and shipping guarantees that do not hold are the issues that come up, and that is painful when international delivery is already your most fragile customer experience.
Test it on your worst lane, not your best one. Support comes from global trade, customer service and growth experts, so set expectations with that team on the lanes that fail.
OpenBorder
OpenBorder covers shipping to more than 180 countries, in-country warehousing in the US, UK, EU, AU and APAC, local return hubs so customers return in-country, taxes and duties including VAT and HS code classification, and product compliance review of descriptions, ingredients, claims and packaging. It acts as importer of record so you need no local entity, and offers merchant of record and seller of record models too. It is an approved third-party merchant of record provider for TikTok Shop US and UK.
Two things separate it in a buying process. You can keep your existing carrier relationships and rates, and the site says there is no lock-in. Second, the compliance review covers ingredients, claims and packaging, which is relevant if you sell supplements, skincare or anything with ingredient claims.
The integration list covers a Shopify stack: Shopify, ShipBob, Stord, ShipHero, Portless, Loop Returns, Recharge, Gorgias, DHL, UPS and Asendia among others. Go-live is quoted at as little as two weeks, with a dedicated Slack channel per customer.
Crossterra
Crossterra is a different purchase. It launches and runs localized storefronts in emerging markets: China, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa. Localization, compliance, payments, domains and logistics all run from a single product feed, so you are not rebuilding your stack per market.
It is designed to run in parallel to an existing cross-border platform. Logistics work through a domestic shipment to a Crossterra cross-dock that works with 1PLs and 3PLs, so you are not replacing whatever already serves your other markets. Pricing is a fixed percentage of new sales, which the vendor calls a simple take rate. Marketing options are available.
Plan around the timeline. Setup runs 6 to 8 weeks per market depending on Crossterra's queue and the complexity of your ecosystem, and you need API access plus regular meetings to follow and approve progress. The tradeoff is that you do not hire translators, merchandisers or customer service staff per market.
How to decide
Questions people ask
Is Passport the same company as Global-e now?
Passport is part of Global-e, following Global-e's 2025 acquisition of Brand Access. They are still sold as separate products with different shapes: Global-e leads with merchant of record across more than 200 markets, Passport leads with cross-border shipping, localized inventory and marketplace selling. Treat them as two lines from one parent when you negotiate.
What is the cheapest way for a Shopify brand to sell internationally?
Of these four, only Crossterra publishes a pricing shape, a fixed percentage of new sales. Global-e, Passport and OpenBorder do not publish pricing, so you have to ask for a quote. If your carrier rates are already good, OpenBorder lets you keep your existing carrier relationships and rates.
Do I need a merchant of record to sell cross-border?
No, but it removes work. Global-e acts as merchant of record and handles payment processing, tax filing and local compliance. Passport offers a seller of record option, and OpenBorder acts as importer of record with merchant and seller of record models available. If you would rather not register entities or manage tax obligations per market, one of those models is the reason to buy.
