The economy tiers do the fighting
Neither carrier's flagship ground product won a single rung under 30 lb here. UPS Ground Saver and FedEx Ground Economy, the slower budget services, are where the real price war happens for everyday parcels.
Brown against purple
UPS vs FedEx, decided in actual dollars
Forget the marketing pages. We put identical packed boxes through both networks at ten weights and wrote down what checkout wanted. Two of the rungs were separated by exactly one cent, which tells you how hard these two shadow each other.
Live quotes, dated1 to 50 lb testedAll-in totals
One-cent margins are real
At 10 and 15 lb out of Newark, the two carriers landed a single penny apart. The tables below show it happening.
Best UPS quote vs best FedEx quote, by weight
Boxes grow with the weight, from a 1 lb parcel near 10 by 8 by 4 inches to a 50 lb carton near 24 by 18 by 14, matching how real shipments pack out. FedEx sat out the lightest rungs in this data, which itself is useful to know if you ship small.
Newark, NJ 07102 to Atlanta, GA 30303
| Weight | Best UPS | Best FedEx | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb | $10.31 Ground | no FedEx quote | UPS |
| 2 lb | $10.52 Ground Saver | $12.42 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 3 lb | $12.07 Ground Saver | $12.42 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 5 lb | $13.65 Ground Saver | $14.31 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 10 lb | $17.56 Ground Saver | $17.57 Ground Economy | UPS by 1¢ |
| 15 lb | $20.50 Ground Saver | $20.51 Ground Economy | UPS by 1¢ |
| 20 lb | $23.00 Ground Saver | $23.22 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 30 lb | $31.52 Ground | $33.05 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 40 lb | $38.45 Ground | $47.92 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 50 lb | $45.01 Ground | $55.23 Ground Economy | UPS |
Los Angeles, CA 90011 to New York, NY 10001
| Weight | Best UPS | Best FedEx | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 lb | $25.51 Ground Saver | $27.99 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 15 lb | $30.48 Ground Saver | $33.79 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 20 lb | $35.06 Ground Saver | $38.47 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 30 lb | $51.92 Ground | $60.59 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 40 lb | $65.52 Ground | $79.66 Ground Economy | UPS |
| 50 lb | $76.04 Ground | $91.79 Ground Economy | UPS |
A clean sweep on this particular day, on these particular boxes, but look at the shape of it: pennies apart through the middle weights out of Newark, then a spread past ten dollars once cartons hit 40 lb. A different box or a different week can reorder any row, so the only comparison that matters is the one you run on your own shipment.
Full-speed FedEx carries a premium
Regular FedEx Ground appeared from 15 lb up and always cost more than its economy sibling: $32.23 against $20.51 on the 15 lb Newark box. If your date is flexible, that spread is pure savings.
Distance punishes FedEx harder here
Out of Newark the 50 lb gap was about ten dollars; from Los Angeles it grew to almost sixteen, $76.04 versus $91.79. Heavy plus far is where this matchup stops being close in our snapshot.
Questions people ask about this matchup
Is UPS or FedEx cheaper for ground shipping?
UPS took every rung of our 2026-07-27 ladder, though sometimes barely. At 10 lb from Newark to Atlanta, UPS Ground Saver quoted $17.56 and FedEx Ground Economy quoted $17.57. At 40 lb the same matchup read $38.45 to $47.92, so the margin grows with the box.
What is FedEx Ground Economy?
It's the FedEx budget tier, once called SmartPost, built for parcels that can trade a couple of days for a lower price. On our Newark lane it quoted 4-5 business days, and cross-country it stretched to 7-8.
Why does regular FedEx Ground cost more than Ground Economy?
You're paying for the faster network. At 15 lb from Newark, FedEx Ground quoted $32.23 with a 3-4 day window while Ground Economy quoted $20.51 at 4-5 days. Roughly twelve dollars bought one saved day on that box.
Are these list rates or real checkout prices?
Real checkout prices. Each number is what the SMKlog calculator would have charged in full for that box on 2026-07-27, SMKlog's cut included, on the exact ZIP pairs named in the tables.