Revenova means Salesforce. Keelway means the inbox.
Revenova TMS is the brokerage software that lives inside Salesforce. For shops already on Salesforce, that's a real advantage. For everyone else, it's a heavy platform decision. Keelway isn't in the same category — we're the AI carrier-email triage layer that runs on top of any TMS, Revenova included. The right comparison depends on what you're actually trying to fix.
The Salesforce question
Revenova's greatest strength is also its greatest dependency: it lives inside Salesforce. If your sales, marketing, and ops orgs already run on Salesforce, Revenova's tight coupling is genuinely useful — shared accounts, shared opportunities, native reporting. If you don't run Salesforce, Revenova means adopting the entire platform stack to use a TMS, which is rarely the right fit for SMB brokerages.
Keelway is the opposite shape: light, inbox-first, no platform lock-in. We coexist with Revenova for shops that have it; we coexist with Tai or Aljex or McLeod for shops that don't.
Side by side
| Feature | Revenova | Keelway |
|---|---|---|
| Primary product | Broker TMS built on Salesforce platform | AI carrier-email triage layer on top of any TMS |
| Platform dependency | Requires Salesforce licensing and admin | Standalone — works with Gmail and any TMS |
| Target brokerage size | Mid-market 3PLs already on Salesforce | SMB + mid-market on any TMS |
| Pricing model | Salesforce platform + Revenova per-user fees | $799/mo flat (everything included) |
| Native Salesforce write-back | Yes — it lives inside Salesforce | Via integration — writes to Revenova/SF objects |
| AI carrier-email triage | Not a product focus | Core product |
| FMCSA trust score per reply | No | Yes — per-reply, refreshed at scoring time |
| Where brokers work | Salesforce / Revenova UI | Gmail |
| Implementation timeline | 8–16 weeks typical | Under 2 weeks |
| Total platform footprint | Heavy — Salesforce + Revenova | Light — Gmail OAuth + your existing TMS |
| Best for | Brokerages already standardized on Salesforce | Brokerages where the inbox is the bottleneck |
| Run alongside | Yes — Keelway integrates | Yes — keeps Revenova as system of record |
When Revenova is genuinely the right call
- Your commercial org already runs on Salesforce and your sales and ops teams collaborate inside it.
- You have Salesforce admins on staff or budget to maintain customizations.
- Mid-market or enterprise volume makes the platform fees pencil.
When Keelway is the right call instead
- You don't run Salesforce and don't want to.
- The pain is inbox triage — 40 carrier replies per load — not CRM-side workflow.
- You want a thin layer that pays for itself in week one, not a platform commitment.
What if Salesforce is right but Revenova isn't?
Some brokerages want Salesforce as the CRM but find Revenova itself isn't the right TMS — feature gaps, pricing, or implementation drag. In that case, alternative TMSs (Tai, Turvo, Aljex, McLeod) integrate with Salesforce via API; Keelway plugs into either side. The TMS choice and the inbox-AI choice are independent.
When Revenova is the right call
There is a real, defensible buyer profile for Revenova, and we want to be honest about it. The clearest case is a brokerage already running Salesforce CRM at scale — sales pipeline, customer success, marketing automation, partner portals all living inside the same org. For that shop, Revenova isn't a new platform decision; it's a natural extension of the system the company already trusts. Account records, opportunity history, and quoting workflows share a single data spine, which is something no bolted-on TMS can replicate without painful integration work.
The second case is multi-product Salesforce orgs that need a unified TMS-CRM data model. Enterprise 3PLs with multiple business lines — brokerage, warehousing, drayage, intermodal — often want load records, shipment records, and customer records to live next to revenue forecasts and renewal opportunities. A standalone TMS forces a sync layer; a Salesforce-native TMS doesn't. Third: companies that already employ Salesforce admins and developers can extend Revenova natively with Apex/Flow/LWC, which is genuinely cheaper than building custom integrations against a closed TMS API. And fourth: brokerages large enough — typically 30+ seats and meaningful annual gross revenue — to amortize the combined Salesforce + Revenova license cost across enough headcount that the flat-plan economics still pencil. For those shops, Revenova is the right call.
When Keelway wins outright
For brokerages that are NOT already on Salesforce, the math flips hard. Choosing Revenova means buying TWO licenses (Salesforce platform plus Revenova) and standing up TWO admin investments — Salesforce permissioning, custom objects, page layouts, and security rules on one side, plus Revenova's TMS-specific configuration on the other. For a 10-seat shop that's a combined $3,000-5,000/month before any implementation services. Keelway is $799/mo flat: one license, one admin surface, no platform tax for software your team doesn't already use.
Implementation timelines tell the same story. Salesforce-based TMS deployments typically run 3-6 months from kickoff to go-live, sometimes longer when custom objects and external data syncs are involved. Keelway is under a day — connect Gmail, import carriers, send your first load. The AI gap is the third dimension: Revenova's AI capabilities are built on Einstein, which is general-purpose CRM AI tuned for lead scoring and opportunity forecasting. Keelway's AI is freight-specific — trained on carrier reply emails, MC numbers, rate negotiation phrasing, and FMCSA trust signals. For a brokerage where the bottleneck is the inbox, not the CRM, freight-native AI is the load-bearing piece. If you're not already deep in Salesforce, Keelway wins outright on cost, speed, and AI fit.
Frequently asked questions
What is Revenova TMS and what makes it unusual?+
Revenova TMS is a freight-broker TMS built natively on the Salesforce platform. That makes it unique in the broker software world — most TMSs are standalone applications, while Revenova lives inside Salesforce, sharing data models and workflows with the broader Salesforce CRM. It targets mid-market brokerages and 3PLs, especially those already standardized on Salesforce.
Why look for a Revenova alternative?+
Two main reasons: (1) Salesforce dependency — if you're not already running Salesforce, Revenova means buying into the entire Salesforce stack with its licensing model and complexity. For SMB brokerages this is often overkill. (2) Inbox surface — Revenova lives in Salesforce; it isn't natively designed for triaging the 30–50 carrier email replies that hit Gmail per posted load. Brokers shopping for an alternative often want either a lighter TMS or an inbox-first AI layer.
Is Keelway a replacement for Revenova?+
No. Keelway is not a TMS and definitely not a Salesforce app. We're an AI carrier-email triage layer that runs above your TMS, in Gmail. If you keep Revenova, Keelway runs on top and writes booked carriers back into the Revenova/Salesforce object model. If Revenova is too heavy and you switch TMSs, Keelway runs on top of whatever you replace it with.
Does Keelway integrate with Salesforce?+
Yes. We have a dedicated Salesforce integration page. Keelway can write the booked carrier, the rate, and the Keelway trust score back into Salesforce custom objects — including those owned by Revenova. We support API-based and zap-style integrations depending on your stack maturity.
How does pricing compare?+
Revenova pricing layers on top of Salesforce licensing — both Sales Cloud (or platform license) and Revenova's own per-user fees. Total cost typically lands in the four-to-five-figure monthly range for mid-market deployments. Keelway is $799/mo flat, no per-seat fees, every feature included, 30-day free trial. We price on volume of work done, not number of seats.
What if Salesforce is the right platform but Revenova isn't?+
Some brokerages decide they want Salesforce but Revenova specifically isn't the right fit — sometimes due to feature gaps, sometimes pricing, sometimes implementation timelines. In that case, the honest options are: (a) custom-build TMS objects in Salesforce, (b) integrate a non-Salesforce TMS (Tai, Aljex, Turvo) with your Salesforce CRM via API. Either way, Keelway sits above whichever TMS owns the load record.
When should I stay on Revenova?+
If your entire commercial org runs on Salesforce, your sales and ops teams already collaborate inside it, and you've invested in Salesforce admins and customizations, Revenova's tight integration is a real advantage. The platform fees are easier to justify when Salesforce is already the spine. The inbox-triage problem still exists — that's where Keelway plugs in — but the TMS itself stays.
Do I need Salesforce to use Revenova?+
Yes, Revenova is built on Salesforce Sales Cloud; you need active Salesforce licensing for each user. This is on top of Revenova's own per-user fee. Salesforce licensing typically runs ~$150-300/user/month depending on edition (Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited), and Revenova adds another ~$150-200/user/month on top of that. There is no Revenova-only path — the platform is the Salesforce platform.
Can I migrate from Revenova to Keelway?+
Yes via Salesforce data export to CSV/API; we have migration support specifically for brokerages leaving Salesforce-based TMS stacks. The typical timeline is 2-3 weeks for a 10-user shop: week one for data extraction and field mapping, week two for import and validation, week three for parallel running and cutover. We handle carrier records, customer accounts, historical loads, and rate-confirmation templates as part of the migration.