Ask five TMS vendors what their software costs and you will get five different units: per truck, per load, per driver, per vehicle, or “book a demo.” That makes a 10-truck fleet’s bill almost impossible to compare on a Tuesday afternoon between dispatches.
This guide puts the public prices of five trucking software vendors on one page, works the math for a 5, 10 and 20-truck fleet, and lists the six add-on charges that turn a $99 sticker into a $600 invoice. Prices come from each vendor’s own pricing page as of October 2026. Where a vendor does not publish prices, we say so rather than guess.
The three ways TMS vendors charge
Every trucking TMS on the market prices one of three ways.
Flat by fleet size. You pay a fixed monthly amount for a band of trucks: up to 5, up to 10, up to 20, and so on. The bill changes only when you add trucks. TenTrucks and DataTruck both price this way.
Per load. You pay for every load you move, usually quoted after a sales call based on your monthly volume. Alvys prices this way. The bill is small when you are slow and grows every month you are busy.
Per driver, per user or per vehicle. You pay for each person or each unit on the system. Fleetio charges per vehicle. Many legacy TMS products charge per dispatcher seat. The bill grows every time you hire or add a unit, whether or not you moved more freight.
Then there is a fourth category: no public price at all. Toro TMS publishes none; TMS.ai publishes a starting price of $2,080 a month for its full platform. “Custom pricing” is not a model, but it is a signal: the price will depend on what the vendor learns about you on the call.
What a 5-truck fleet pays
Take an owner-operator with five trucks, two dispatchers (one of them you), and about 60 loads a month. Here is what the public pricing pages say.
| Vendor | Model | Public price for 5 trucks | What’s included |
|---|---|---|---|
| TenTrucks | Flat by fleet size | $145/mo | Every feature: dispatch, own ELD option, IFTA, invoicing, settlements, driver app, AI error checks; unlimited office users |
| DataTruck | Flat by fleet size | $99/mo base (up to 6 trucks) | Core TMS, driver app, IFTA. AI Dispatcher +$399/mo, AI Updater +$99/mo, analytics +$99/mo |
| Fleetio | Per vehicle | $25–$50/mo (5 × $5–$10) | Maintenance and inspections only; no dispatch, invoicing or IFTA |
| Alvys | Per load | Quote only | Dispatch, accounting, 120+ integrations; price depends on load volume |
| Toro TMS | Not published | Quote only | Dispatch, invoicing, driver pay for bulk haulers |
| TMS.ai | Flat platform | From $2,080/mo | Customizable TMS with AI agents; unlimited users |
Two things stand out. First, the two cheapest sticker prices, $99 and $145, are the two vendors who publish prices at all. Second, the $99 plan and the $145 plan are not the same product. If you want the AI features DataTruck advertises on its homepage, the published add-on prices take a 6-truck fleet to $696 a month. TenTrucks includes its AI rate-con reading and error checks on the $145 plan.
Fleetio is in the table because carriers ask about it, but it is a different category. It manages maintenance, inspections and parts; it does not dispatch a load or file IFTA. Many carriers run it alongside a TMS, and TenTrucks lists it as an integration partner.
What a 20-truck fleet pays
Now scale up: 20 trucks, four office staff, roughly 240 loads a month.
| Vendor | Model | Public price for 20 trucks | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| TenTrucks | Flat | $540/mo | Same features as the 5-truck plan; office users still unlimited |
| DataTruck | Flat | $499/mo (Big Fleet, up to 30) | Plus add-ons if you want AI: $1,096/mo with all three |
| Fleetio | Per vehicle | $100–$200/mo | Maintenance only |
| Alvys | Per load | Quote only | At 240 loads/mo, ask what a 20% busier month costs |
| Toro TMS | Not published | Quote only | — |
| TMS.ai | Flat | From $2,080/mo | Aimed at larger and more complex operations |
At 20 trucks the flat-rate vendors are within $41 of each other on base price, and the real difference is what is on the plan. The per-load model is where you should do your own math. If a vendor quotes you $9 a load, 240 loads is $2,160 a month, and a good month with 300 loads is $2,700. Your software bill rises exactly when your margins are under the most pressure.
None of this makes per-load pricing wrong. A brokerage with wild swings in volume may prefer it. But a carrier with 20 trucks that run every week has a predictable load count, and a predictable load count makes a flat price cheaper over a year almost every time.
Six hidden costs to ask about on a demo
The sticker price is rarely the invoice. These six items are where the gap lives. Ask about every one of them before you sign.
- Per-user or per-seat fees. Does hiring a second dispatcher or a part-time bookkeeper add a line item? TenTrucks, Alvys and TMS.ai say unlimited users. Check the others.
- AI and analytics add-ons. Is the feature in the demo on the plan you are buying? On DataTruck’s public page the AI Dispatcher is $399 a month on top of any plan.
- EDI setup. Shipper EDI connections cost money to build. TenTrucks charges $499 one-time per trading partner with no monthly fee; DataTruck charges $499 per connection; Alvys includes two to five partners depending on tier.
- Onboarding and migration fees. Some vendors charge for implementation or data migration. TenTrucks and Alvys include it; ask the rest.
- API access. If you plan to connect your own tools, API access is sometimes a higher tier or a monthly add-on (Alvys lists write access at $100 a month on lower tiers).
- Contract length. Month-to-month means you can leave if it does not work. Annual means you cannot. TenTrucks, Alvys and Toro say month-to-month; Fleetio’s two upper tiers are annual only.
A one-page TMS cost worksheet
Before your next demo, fill in one line per vendor:
Base price for my truck count + add-ons I actually want + per-user fees × office staff + EDI setup ÷ 12 + onboarding fee ÷ 12 = real monthly cost. Then ask: what happens to this number if I add five trucks or 50 loads a month?
We worked this exact exercise for a 10-truck fleet in the video below.
[Embed the YouTube video here once published]
The short version
Two trucking TMS vendors publish full prices; three do not. Among the two that do, the base prices are close and the difference is what is included. Per-load pricing is cheapest in a slow month and most expensive in a good one. And the six add-ons above are where a $99 plan becomes a $700 invoice.
TenTrucks publishes every price: $145 a month for up to 5 trucks, $280 for 10, $540 for 20, every feature included, unlimited office users, month to month. The price on the pricing page is the price on the invoice.
See TenTrucks pricing · Book a free demo
Frequently asked questions
Is a cheaper base price always cheaper? No. Add the add-ons you will actually use and the per-user fees for your office staff. A $99 base plan with a $399 AI add-on costs more than a $145 plan that includes AI.
Do I pay for office users? Depends on the vendor. TenTrucks, Alvys and TMS.ai do not charge per user. Ask any vendor that does not say so on its pricing page.
What does “all features included” mean at TenTrucks? Every plan has the same software: dispatch, live GPS, IFTA for the US and Canada, invoicing with QuickBooks sync, driver settlements, the driver app, document management and AI error prevention. Plans differ only by how many trucks you run.
Can I cancel month to month? At TenTrucks, yes, on every plan. Alvys and Toro also say month to month. Fleetio’s Professional and Premium tiers are annual.
Is the ELD included in the TMS price? TenTrucks ELD is priced separately from the TMS plan but comes from the same company and syncs automatically; you can also connect an existing Motive, Samsara or Geotab ELD at no extra charge.
