Magento Shipping is definitely very limited “out-the-box”. Whenever the subject of shipping comes up, I always find myself referring people to the Mageside Module that I reference here: Magento 2 Shipping Problems.
It’s the only module I use over-and-over again in all my projects. Takes a while to get your head around all the rules, but after that you should be golden. Hasn’t let me down (yet). I can’t speak for other solutions because I’ve never had to try anything else.