Handwrytten vs Scribeless: pen, price, API and international mail
Handwrytten vs Scribeless: how each makes its handwriting, what each publishes on price, international posting, APIs and integrations, and which one fits.
Handwrytten writes cards with robots holding real pens, in Arizona, and publishes its card prices. Scribeless does not say on its main pages how its handwriting is made, publishes prices for postcards only, and posts mail locally from facilities in five countries. For a US card program where you want to know the method and the price upfront, Handwrytten is the clearer buy. For mail posted locally across the UK, Europe and North America, or an API built for partner accounts, Scribeless has the edge. All figures are as listed on each company's site in October 2026.
We run notecardHQ, a third service, so we have kept to each company's own pages and flagged anything that comes from elsewhere. A short note about us is at the end.
At a glance
| Handwrytten | Scribeless | |
|---|---|---|
| How the handwriting is made | Robots with real pens, built in-house | Not stated on its homepage or API docs; disputed elsewhere |
| Where mail is produced | Tempe, Arizona; postmarked Phoenix | Facilities in the US, Canada, the UK, France and Germany; local postmarks |
| Card prices | $3.75 pay as you go, or $449 to $2,499 a month plus $1.99 to $1.19 a card | Not published; quote only. Postcards are listed at £1.99 down to £1.19 each |
| Postage | Extra, at USPS rates | Stamps at local rates (US £0.62), though the page also says domestic postage is included |
| International | Mailed from Arizona: postage plus $0.10 a card | Posted locally where it has a facility; rest of world stamps £1.30 |
| Production time | 1-2 business days, then 2-7 in USPS First Class | "1-2 business days" |
| API | OpenAPI spec, test mode, Python and npm SDKs, a per-order webhook URL | Campaign API with partner workflows, webhooks for recipient events and QR scans; no sandbox mentioned |
| Integrations | Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, Blackbaud, CDK/Fortellis, Tekion, Zapier, Make, Claude | Claims 50+, including a Shopify app, HubSpot, Zapier and Clay |
Sources: Handwrytten pricing, Handwrytten FAQ, Handwrytten OpenAPI spec, Scribeless pricing, Scribeless home, Scribeless API docs, Scribeless on Shopify.
How the handwriting is made
This is the biggest difference. Handwrytten says it designs and builds its own writing robots, and runs about 200 of them (robots page; FAQ).
Scribeless does not say. Its homepage and API docs never mention robots or pens, and the docs describe rendering handwriting as a PNG. Its Shopify listing calls the handwriting "AI powered" and says "customers can't tell the difference." A 2019 University of Bristol article described "robotics armed with fountain pens," while Simply Noted, a competitor and so a biased source, says Scribeless laser-prints. If a pen matters to you, ask Scribeless and request a sample. Real pen vs printed handwriting shows how to check a card in your hand.
Price
Handwrytten publishes its card prices; we break them down in Handwrytten pricing explained. With $0.78 postage, a single card is about $4.53 all-in at the $3.75 retail price, falling to about $2.41 at 2,500 cards a month and $2.15 at 10,000 on its Elite plan.
Scribeless publishes postcard prices only, from £1.99 each down to £1.19, plus stamps. Handwritten cards, letters and integration subscriptions are priced by its sales team. Its own HubSpot marketplace listing says "From $3.00 per mailing," including a real stamp; other sites quote different figures. Scribeless also offers to beat a better quote and price-match credit purchases. Details are in Scribeless pricing.
So you can budget a Handwrytten program from its website, and you need a conversation to budget a Scribeless card program. With Scribeless's price-match offer, a published quote from Handwrytten or anyone else is useful leverage.
International mail
Handwrytten mails everything from Arizona. International cards pay postage plus a $0.10 manual processing charge, and its FAQ gives the international stamp as $1.70, so a single card costs about $5.55 at the retail price.
Scribeless posts locally from its facilities in the US, Canada, the UK, France and Germany, at local stamp rates: Canada £0.70, UK £0.91, Europe £0.97, and £1.30 for the rest of the world. For a brand with customers spread across those countries, local posting means local postmarks and domestic delivery times. This is Scribeless's clearest advantage.
APIs and integrations
Handwrytten's API is broad: cards, custom cards, fonts, signatures, gift cards, inserts, QR codes and a radius-based prospecting tool. It has a test mode that accepts orders without fulfilling them, and official Python and npm SDKs. Webhooks are a per-order URL with no documented event list or signature. API access comes with its business plans.
Scribeless's API is organised around campaigns and recipients, with PNG previews, bulk HTML, checkout, and partner workflows for creating partner teams. Its webhooks cover recipient lifecycle events and QR code scans, with test and resend tools. No sandbox is mentioned. It is the more natural fit for a platform that sends on behalf of its own customers.
On integrations, Handwrytten's list is deeper for CRMs and vertical systems: Salesforce AppExchange, HubSpot Marketplace, Blackbaud, CDK/Fortellis and Tekion, plus a Claude connector. Scribeless claims more than 50, including Clay for data teams, and says it overhauled its HubSpot connector in May 2026 after earlier complaints.
Where Handwrytten is the better pick
- You want a published price and a published method before you talk to sales.
- Your recipients are mostly in the US.
- You use Salesforce, Blackbaud or a dealership system, or want custom handwriting fonts ($1,500 to $2,000) and gift cards from the vendor.
- You value a large review base: Handwrytten has roughly 840 to 890 reviews on G2.
Where Scribeless is the better pick
- Your recipients are spread across the UK, Europe, Canada and the US, and local postmarks matter.
- You are a platform that needs partner sub-accounts and recipient-level webhooks, including QR scans.
- You buy at a volume where a price-match offer pays.
- Postcards are enough for the campaign.
Where notecardHQ fits
notecardHQ writes every card with a robot holding a real pen in New York and reads every word back with OCR before writing, so the method is never in question. We publish every card price, all-in with postage: $3.25 in the US at up to 499 a month, $2.95 from 500, $2.35 from 2,500 and $1.95 from 10,000. International cards have a published price too, $4.25 down to $2.95, mailed from New York. No monthly fee. The API, test keys and an MCP server come with every account. Compared with Scribeless we do not post locally abroad; compared with Handwrytten we have four handwriting styles, no custom fonts and no native CRM apps. Integrations run through the API and our recipes.
More: Scribeless alternative, Handwrytten alternative, and the best handwritten note services. Our tiers are on the pricing page.