Keelway vs Rose Rocket (TMS.AI) — both modern. Different AI focuses.
Rose Rocket (rebranding to TMS.AI in 2025) is a modern broker+carrier collaboration TMS — strong UX, 4.8/5 G2, ~100K daily users claimed, SOC 2 — at roughly $233/month entry plus per-load scaling. Keelway is broker-first, $400/month flat, with native AI carrier-email triage. Here's the honest head-to-head, including where Rose Rocket actually wins.
This is one of the cleaner comparisons in the broker-TMS market because neither product is a legacy mainframe — both ship modern UX, both are SOC 2, both have real AI stories. The decision comes down to two axes: pricing shape (flat vs per-load) and AI focus (inbox vs collaboration). If you know your load volume and you know where your team loses the most time, the answer falls out cleanly.
Rose Rocket's product DNA is collaboration — broker, carrier, and shipper all working in the same TMS through portals and shared threads. Their AI investments follow that DNA: smarter workflows, document handling, status visibility across parties. Keelway's DNA is the broker's inbox — twelve quote formats arriving as replies to twelve different carriers, FMCSA checks that happen per reply, rate extraction that happens per reply. Same market, different surface area.
Side by side
| Feature | Keelway | Rose Rocket (TMS.AI) |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Freight brokerages (broker-first) | Broker+carrier collaboration (modern multi-sided TMS) |
| Pricing | $400/month flat, unlimited users | ~$233/month entry + per-load scaling |
| Pricing model | Published, month-to-month, no per-seat, no per-load | Tiered + per-load — scales with volume |
| Cost at 50 loads/mo | $400 flat | ~$233+ entry tier |
| Cost at 300+ loads/mo | $400 flat | Materially higher — per-load compounds |
| AI carrier email triage | Native — core product | No dedicated inbox-AI layer |
| AI focus | Inbox: twelve quote formats, FMCSA, rate extraction | Workflow, collaboration, document AI |
| FMCSA per-reply trust scoring | Yes — cross-checked at scoring time | Carrier-record level only |
| Cross-border (US-Canada) | US-first, handles loads but not optimized | Canadian-DNA, strong cross-border surface |
| Free trial | 30 days, full product | Demo + sales call, no public trial |
| G2 / market signals | Early — broker-first cohort | 4.8/5 G2, ~100K daily users claimed |
| Security / compliance | SOC 2 path, audit logs, RBAC | SOC 2 |
Where Rose Rocket wins
Rose Rocket has earned its 4.8/5 G2 rating and its ~100K daily-user claim — this is a real product with a real customer base. Where it beats Keelway:
- UX and polish. Rose Rocket invests heavily in design and the product feels it — clean information architecture, modern interactions, a portal experience for carriers and shippers that genuinely improves collaboration. If you're grading on sheer interface quality, they're ahead.
- Cross-border DNA. Built in Toronto, with US-Canada cross-border workflows treated as first-class. If a meaningful slice of your business is bilingual carriers, dual-currency invoicing, and Canadian customs paperwork, Rose Rocket's surface area is tuned for it. Keelway is US-first and not.
- Low-volume entry pricing. If you're under roughly 100 loads/month, the ~$233/month entry tier is cheaper than Keelway's $400 flat. For an early-stage shop watching every dollar, that gap matters.
- Broker+carrier collaboration. If your operation is multi-sided — you regularly bring carriers and shippers into the same workflow — the portal-first model is a real advantage. Keelway assumes the broker drives the workflow and the carrier mostly replies via email.
Where Keelway wins
For a freight brokerage that's past the earliest stage and drowning in carrier email, Keelway wins on what actually moves the daily P&L:
- Flat pricing at scale. $400/month flat, unlimited users, $0 setup, month-to-month. The price doesn't move whether you do 50 loads or 5,000. Rose Rocket's per-load scaling means at 300–500 loads/month you're paying materially more for the same software.
- Native carrier-email AI. Twelve quote formats normalized, FMCSA cross-check on every reply, per-reply rate extraction, trust scoring at scoring time. Rose Rocket's AI is real but it's aimed at collaboration and document handling, not at the broker's inbox.
- Self-serve and reversible. 30-day full-product trial, online signup, month-to-month. If Keelway isn't working, cancel. Rose Rocket's onboarding is demo + sales call, which makes "try it and see" structurally harder.
- Predictable cost. A broker planning a year ahead knows Keelway will cost $4,800 regardless of how the load mix evolves. With per-load pricing, your TMS bill grows alongside your best months — which is fine philosophically and painful in practice when margins compress.
The verdict in one paragraph
If you're a low-volume or cross-border brokerage and you value collaboration features and polish over inbox automation, choose Rose Rocket (TMS.AI) — the entry pricing is friendly, the UX is real, and the Canadian-DNA cross-border surface is genuine. If you're a US-domestic brokerage doing 100+ loads/month and your team's biggest bleed is the carrier inbox, choose Keelway — $400 flat at any volume, native email AI, 30-day full-product trial to verify before you commit. Both are modern, both are SOC 2; this is a pricing-shape and AI-focus call, not a quality call.
Frequently asked questions
What's the main difference between Keelway and Rose Rocket?+
Pricing shape and AI focus. Rose Rocket (rebranding to TMS.AI in 2025) is a modern broker+carrier collaboration TMS — strong UX, a 4.8/5 G2 rating, ~100K daily users claimed, SOC 2, Canadian-DNA cross-border strengths — starting around $233/month at entry with per-load scaling that grows fast at volume. Keelway is broker-first, $400/month flat regardless of load count, with native AI carrier-email triage (twelve quote formats, FMCSA per-reply trust scoring, per-reply rate extraction) as the core product. Rose Rocket's AI lives in workflow and collaboration; Keelway's AI lives in the inbox.
How do the pricing models actually compare?+
Rose Rocket starts around $233/month at entry, then scales per load — so the true monthly cost depends on volume and tier. Keelway is $400/month flat, unlimited users, $0 setup, month-to-month, no per-load and no per-seat. Below roughly 100 loads/month, Rose Rocket is cheaper. Above that, Keelway's flat price typically wins, and the gap widens at 300–500 loads/month where per-load pricing compounds.
Which one has AI carrier-email triage?+
Keelway, natively. The carrier-email triage layer — twelve quote formats normalized, FMCSA cross-check on every reply, per-reply rate extraction, trust scoring — is the core product. Rose Rocket (TMS.AI) ships modern AI features around collaboration, document handling, and workflow automation, but it does not have a dedicated inbox-AI layer that reads every carrier email, extracts the rate, and scores the carrier on each reply. If the email triage problem is your single biggest bleed, Keelway is the more direct fix.
Which is cheaper at higher load volume?+
Keelway. Rose Rocket's per-load scaling means a 500-loads/month brokerage pays meaningfully more than a 50-loads/month brokerage on the same tier. Keelway is $400/month flat regardless of whether you do 50 loads or 5,000 — the price doesn't move. For high-volume SMB brokers, the math flips in Keelway's favor and stays there. For very low-volume shops (<100 loads/mo), Rose Rocket's entry tier is the cheaper option.
What about cross-border freight — isn't Rose Rocket Canadian-DNA?+
Yes, and that's a real point in Rose Rocket's column. Rose Rocket was built in Toronto and its product DNA reflects a strong understanding of Canadian and US-Canada cross-border workflows — customs paperwork, dual-currency, bilingual carrier networks. If your brokerage runs a significant share of cross-border loads, Rose Rocket has a genuine edge there. Keelway is US-first and not optimized for the cross-border-specific surface area, even though it handles the loads themselves fine.
Can I switch from Rose Rocket to Keelway?+
Yes. Keelway is month-to-month with a 30-day full-product trial — you can stand it up alongside Rose Rocket, migrate carrier and shipper records, route new loads through Keelway, and cancel Rose Rocket once you're confident. Both products integrate with DAT, Truckstop, and QuickBooks, so the integration spine is similar. The most common reason brokers switch is the per-load math at higher volume plus wanting native email AI rather than collaboration-focused AI.
What does migration from Rose Rocket actually look like?+
Two to three weeks, typical. Export carrier records, shipper records, and active load history from Rose Rocket as CSV; Keelway's onboarding team imports them and reconnects DAT/Truckstop/QuickBooks. Because Keelway is broker-first, the field mapping is direct — most fields map one-to-one. Where it's not one-to-one is collaboration artifacts (Rose Rocket's portal threads with carriers); those don't migrate, but the underlying carrier records and rate history do. You run both in parallel for the first week, then cut over.
Which one should an SMB freight broker actually pick?+
Depends on two things. If you do under 100 loads/month and run significant US-Canada cross-border volume, Rose Rocket's entry pricing and cross-border DNA make it the more natural fit. If you do over 100 loads/month, run US-domestic, and your team's biggest bleed is the carrier inbox, Keelway's $400 flat plus native email AI is the cleaner answer. Both are modern, both are SOC 2 — this isn't a legacy-vs-modern fight, it's a pricing-shape and AI-focus fight.
Book a 20-min Keelway demo — see the difference.
Request accessRelated
$400/month flat, unlimited users, broker-first. Full pricing and feature list.
The longer write-up on why brokers leave Rose Rocket for flat-priced, inbox-AI TMS.
The shortlist of modern TMS options for SMB freight brokers — sorted by what actually matters.
Which broker TMS has real AI — and which is just shipping the label. Honest comparison.