PostNL vs DHL in the Netherlands: 2026 prices compared

In the Netherlands the parcel market is a two-horse race in most customers’ heads: PostNL, the former national post, and DHL, whose Benelux parcel business now trades as DHL eCommerce Benelux. A shop selling to Dutch customers usually picks one of the two and never checks again. Below is what each cost on one day, for each size, domestically and to the two neighbours most Dutch shops ship to.

All prices are our own, measured on 29 September 2026 on the live shipping options page with the Netherlands as origin. They are what a shop pays through AirPost and include our €0.85 platform fee — the same on every line, so the gaps are the carriers’. Delivery times are the ones the page states.

Is PostNL or DHL cheaper within the Netherlands? #

The difference for a small parcel is small — 26 cents — and it widens for a medium one, because PostNL charged the same for small and medium while DHL added €0.60. For a shop whose typical order is a shoebox or a folded garment, that makes PostNL the default on price alone, with DHL as a same-speed alternative.

The bigger difference is coverage. PostNL’s mailbox parcel fits through a Dutch letterbox, so nobody has to be at home and nothing waits at a point. For thin items — cosmetics, phone cases, printed matter — it was the cheapest service in the country at €5.50. DHL had no mailbox size on our rate card that day, and no service above 10 kg; PostNL did both.

For reference, PostNL’s own consumer shop listed a mailbox parcel from €4.55 and a parcel of up to 10 kg from €6.95 for a single label bought online, checked on the same day. Those are prices for a private person handing in a parcel at a PostNL point in the Netherlands; they are not available to a shop whose stock is elsewhere.

What about DPD and UPS? #

Two other carriers sell domestic Dutch parcels on our map, and both undercut DHL. DPD cost €6.85 to a service point — the cheapest small-parcel price in the Netherlands that day — but the page stated up to 4 working days; DPD Shop2Home to the door was €7.85 within 2 days. UPS delivered to the door for €7.44, next day, and to an Access Point for €7.85.

Dutch customers are used to next-day delivery, so a four-day service saves a euro and costs you the “where is my parcel” email. The Dutch habit leans towards the door, as covered in pickup point vs home delivery in Europe; if you default to a point, PostNL is the network customers know.

PostNL or DHL from the Netherlands to Belgium? #

PostNL again beat DHL, by 85 cents to the door for a small parcel and €1.39 for a medium one. But DPD to a Belgian service point was cheaper than either and just as fast, and Belgians are used to collecting from a point. Compare that with shipping inside Belgium: a Belgian bpost parcel to a point cost €6.29, a Mondial Relay point €5.38. Crossing the border added roughly €2.50 to €4 per parcel, whichever Dutch carrier you choose.

PostNL or DHL from the Netherlands to Germany? #

Here the comparison stops: on 29 September 2026 our map had no DHL service from the Netherlands to Germany. What was available:

For Germany, then, the Dutch choice is DPD, not PostNL or DHL: next-day to the door for €11.16 against three days with PostNL for €11.78. And the domestic German price shows what the border costs: DPD inside Germany was €5.55 and DHL €9.27 for the same small parcel. The full German comparison is in DHL vs DPD vs GLS in Europe.

So which should a shop use in the Netherlands? #

• ✓Within the Netherlands: PostNL as default — cheaper than DHL at every size, and the only one of the two with a mailbox parcel and a 10–30 kg service.
• ✓DHL as a second carrier when you want an alternative with the same next-day promise; the gap was €0.26 for a small parcel.
• ✓To Belgium: DPD to a service point, or PostNL to the door.
• ✓To Germany: DPD; DHL was not on offer from the Netherlands.
• ✕DPD to a Dutch point as the default for impatient customers. It was the cheapest, and the slowest.

And if your stock is not in the Netherlands? #

The prices above assume the parcel starts in the Netherlands. If your shop ships from Germany, a DHL parcel to the Netherlands cost €20.29 on the same day — more than twice the €8.38 for a Dutch DHL label. With local fulfilment through AirPost, a verified person in the Netherlands holds a batch of your stock and ships each order as a domestic Dutch parcel with the service you choose, PostNL or DHL. You pay the label, the fee you agree with your sender and our €0.85 platform fee; no subscription, no storage costs. The Dutch and Belgian markets side by side are in ship to the Netherlands and Belgium without a warehouse.