What Reddit says about the best broker TMS

When a broker types "best broker TMS reddit" into Google, they're doing something rational: vendor sites all claim to be the best, review platforms are gamed, and the only place you reliably hear a broker say "we bought it and regret it" is r/FreightBrokers. The problem is that the good threads are scattered across four years and buried under vendor spam.

So we did the digging. Below are the substantive broker-TMS threads from r/FreightBrokers, each linked to the original, with a faithful summary and direct quotes only where they actually appear in the thread. Our own view is at the end, clearly labeled.

"Need TMS advice" — the Revenova vs. Turvo thread

Need TMS advice — r/FreightBrokers, August 2023. A broker stuck on ancient software asked what everyone else uses before pitching an upgrade internally, and drew roughly 52 comments. The room split into camps: Revenova (Salesforce-based, customizable) versus Turvo (powerful, but needs a dedicated admin team), with McLeod respected but flagged for cost and AscendTMS repeatedly praised as the low-cost pick. Several users vented about vendors promising features for years that never shipped.

"Working for a brokerage who's TMS looks like it was built and deployed in the days of AOL and windows 95."

— thread OP on r/FreightBrokers

"McLeod is really good but you have to be prepared to spend the money for it."

— u/kyle_ash on r/FreightBrokers

"Turvo user here, 18 months. Its not for everyone...you better have a dedicated team to manage it, because it is not a point and click system."

— u/Truthseeker_me on r/FreightBrokers

"Went from mercurygate to revenova, felt like a caveman discovering fire"

— u/rcbbcr on r/FreightBrokers

"Alvys TMS Breaking?" — when a modern TMS stumbles

Alvys TMS Breaking? — r/FreightBrokers, spring 2025. The OP reported hearing that Alvys was failing for customers that week — "I keep hearing that Alvys is breaking for a lot of their customers this past week" — and about 19 comments piled on. Users cited a concrete bug where carriers weren't receiving signed rate-con copies after accepting a tender, called the EDI setup out harshly, and complained about a record-based pricing model that racked up unexpected charges because nearly everything counted as a record. Alternatives thrown out included PCS, Brokerware, BrokerPro, Aljex, PortTMS, Revenova, and Turvo — and one commenter speculated Alvys was dressing up to be acquired within 12–18 months.

"carriers are not receiving a copy of their signed rate con once clicking the link to accept tender"

— u/housemusiclover37 on r/FreightBrokers

"EDI setup is complete garbage"

— u/FreightTechGuy on r/FreightBrokers

"Anyone use AscendTMS?" — four TMSs in, still shopping

Anyone use AscendTMS or thoughts on better options? — r/FreightBrokers, January 2025. A newer brokerage owner who had already churned through ITS, Descartes/Macropoint, Rose Rocket, and Alvys was evaluating AscendTMS but balked at per-seat licensing. The post is a vivid statement of small-brokerage price sensitivity — the OP was frustrated enough to seriously weigh building an in-house TMS with simple web forms, and even open-sourcing it.

"it seems to be very feature rich - but the per seat costs are going to costs us big time. Any thoughts or experiences with AscendTMS or ideas for better options out there for a newer brokerage that really needs to watch the subscription costs per seat licenses?"

— thread OP on r/FreightBrokers

"Hard to justify reinventing the wheel when there are great solutions out there already in the market - but they all come with high costs it seems."

— thread OP on r/FreightBrokers

"Demoing for new brokerage TMS" — fleeing Rose Rocket

Demoing for new brokerage TMS — r/FreightBrokers, mid-2024. A Canadian brokerage doing $6M with 3 employees was leaving Rose Rocket — which the OP nicknamed "Roseshit" — and demoing Tailwind, BrokerPro, and Aljex. Comments echoed the Rose Rocket frustration, rated Aljex as middling, and strongly plugged BrokerPro, Full Circle TMS, TransportPro, and Quote Factory. Notably, a moderator removed a comment for covertly steering readers to the commenter's own product — vendor astroturfing gets policed in this sub.

"Aljex is good not great"

— u/RedditFreight on r/FreightBrokers

"Brokerpro is simple and capable for our small brokerage. $16 mil last year with 5 employees"

— u/kmcb11 on r/FreightBrokers

"What TMS are you guys using?" — from fax machine to regret

What TMS are you guys using? — r/FreightBrokers, December 2023. The OP finally migrated off hand-written, fax/scan/email workflows onto Rose Rocket — and hated it. The replies scattered across small-broker picks: TracxTMS, Ascend, Quote Factory for LTL with QuickBooks integration, Mivian, and Freight Management Software (month-to-month, no contracts). A 22-year broker delivered a brutal Tailwind review, and one commenter warned that TMS startups can go bankrupt — ask for profitability information and extended trials before committing.

"A couple of years ago I finally migrated away from the ol' hand-written and fax/scan/email version and signed up for RoseRocket TMS, but to be honest it is AWFUL."

— thread OP on r/FreightBrokers

"We tried Tailwind and it was awful. It functioned more like a kid with crayons and the support from Canada was the worst I have experienced in 22 years as a Broker."

— u/Independent_Team3288 on r/FreightBrokers

"If you're moving LTL also I'd recommend Quote Factory. QBO integration, very easy to use and cheap."

— u/Longjumping-Tie-2648 on r/FreightBrokers

"Best for a smaller sized company?" — real prices, on the record

What TMS system do you guys think is best for a smaller sized company? — r/FreightBrokers, March 2022. Around 18 comments, and the most concrete pricing data of any thread here. Rose Rocket got its strongest endorsements — a direct counterpoint to the later anti-Rose-Rocket threads above — with one user sharing real plan pricing. Turvo was dismissed as too expensive for small shops, while ITS Dispatch and AscendTMS were the budget picks.

"RoseRocket user here. Was a complete game changer going from Excel/Acro to RoseRocket for me."

— u/Puzzled-Tomorrow-375 on r/FreightBrokers

"2 employees in the brokerage. About 100-150 loads a month. Was on the basic $200/m plan but upgraded today to the $400/m plan."

— u/Moneydense on r/FreightBrokers

"Turvo is way to expensive they quoted they since I was less than 2 million a year they quoted me like a 1600 a month."

— u/freightbrokerus on r/FreightBrokers

More threads worth skimming

• Tms: TAI vs Aljex (September 2022) — Aljex rated glitchy-but-workable with fast support; notably, nobody offered a first-hand Tai review at the time.
• Thinking about getting Aljex Descartes with Macropoint (August 2023) — top reply: "Don't do it!"; ITS Dispatch under $300 pitched for a 3-person shop; two vendors tried to move the OP to DMs.
• Looking for input on TMS (November 2022) — an Aljex user calls it functional but outdated; a smarter selection framework emerges: cross-border needs, user count, customer EDI requirements, load volume.
• Torn Between Turvo and Revenova for Our TMS (October 2023) — low engagement, but confirms Turvo-vs-Revenova was THE mid-market broker TMS decision of 2023.

Where Reddit is skeptical — and our honest answer

Read enough of these threads and the skepticism organizes itself into four complaints. They deserve straight answers.

"Vendors overpromise and underdeliver." One Revenova user in the August 2023 thread said fixes promised at sale were still not possible two years later. Fair complaint, and the only honest answer is scope discipline: Keelway publishes exactly what the product does — it reads inbound carrier emails, extracts rates, scores carriers against FMCSA data, ranks replies, and drafts responses for a human to approve. We don't claim capabilities we haven't shipped, and a demo on your own inbox is the test we invite.

"Pricing is a trap — per-seat, per-record, surprise charges." The Alvys thread's record-pricing complaint and the January 2025 per-seat frustration are the same wound. Keelway's answer is a published flat monthly price on our pricing page — no per-seat meter, no demo-gated quote. Whether that price is right for your shop is your call to make with the number in front of you, not after a sales cycle.

"Recommendations are astroturfed." A mod removed a stealth vendor pitch in the 2024 demo thread, and vendors DM'd the OP in the Aljex thread. So to be explicit: this page is written by Keelway, a vendor. Every thread above is linked so you can read the original without our framing, and every quote is verbatim from the thread it's attributed to.

"AI features are vaporware." Reddit's default position on TMS AI is distrust, and it's earned. Keelway's AI does specific, checkable things — parse, rank, flag, draft — and a human approves everything that leaves the building. If a vendor tells you their AI books loads with no human in the loop, ask them the questions these threads would ask.

Keelway's take

The pattern across four years of threads: there is no consensus best broker TMS, price sensitivity is brutal below ~$20M revenue, the same product gets loved in 2022 and loathed in 2024, and the community trusts concrete first-hand detail over any pitch. That matches what we hear in demos. Our position in this market is an AI-native broker TMS — the system of record plus the inbox layer the incumbents don't ship — and the fairest way to evaluate it is the way r/FreightBrokers would: skeptically, on a real walkthrough, with the pricing already public. Start with the Keelway TMS page or the honest category guide at best broker TMS for SMB brokerages.

Threads last reviewed July 2026 — refreshed quarterly.