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Freight broker TMS · $799/mo flat

A freight broker TMS that lives inside the inbox.

Keelway is a full broker TMS — load entry, dispatch, carrier database, QuickBooks, DAT — bundled with the AI carrier email triage every other TMS sells as a paid add-on. Flat $799/month, unlimited users, live in under a day. No implementation tax. No per-user math.

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FMCSA-integrated · DAT-ready · QuickBooks sync · 30-day full-product trial
  • 30-day trial· no payment
  • No contract· month-to-month
  • $0 setup
  • Founder-run demo· no slides
$799
flat monthly price, unlimited users
Keelway pricing, May 2026
<1 day
from signup to live loads
Keelway onboarding average
0
setup fees, per-user fees, or annual contracts
Keelway TMS terms
The platform, on tape

Keelway TMS — in 52 seconds.

Dashboard, AI inbox, loads in motion, fleet GPS, money flow, compliance. Eight scenes, auto-playing. Tap to pause.

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What is a freight broker TMS?

A freight broker TMS (transportation management system) is the software a brokerage uses to run its day-to-day operations — entering loads, dispatching to carriers, tracking shipments, managing documents, and invoicing customers. The category includes legacy incumbents like McLeod LoadMaster and Aljex (Descartes), newer cloud-native platforms like Tai Software, Rose Rocket, and Alvys, and free entry-tier products like AscendTMS.

What separates 2026 from 2020 is that every credible new TMS bundles AI somewhere — usually as a paid add-on that integrates with Drumkit, Parade.ai, or a custom email-parsing service — or, like Tai, bundled into a higher tier. Keelway is the only flat-priced broker TMS with native AI email triage in its base plan: same product, same login, one price, no tier to climb.

Keelway TMS features

Inbox

AI carrier email triage on every load

When a carrier replies to a posted load, Keelway extracts the rate, scores the carrier against FMCSA, flags double-brokers and domain spoofs, and ranks the top five. No bolt-on Drumkit subscription. This used to be a separate $799/mo product — now bundled.
Dispatch

Load lifecycle in one screen

Quote → cover → track → invoice without switching tabs. Load status, carrier check-calls, document uploads, and customer comms live on the same row. Keyboard-native — every common action has a shortcut.
Trust

FMCSA scoring at booking

Every carrier is checked against FMCSA QCMobile for operating authority, insurance, safety rating, and out-of-service history at the moment of booking. Stale carrier records get refreshed automatically — no monthly re-vetting busywork.
Integrations

DAT, Truckstop, QuickBooks, MacroPoint

Native integrations with DAT, Truckstop, 123Loadboard, MacroPoint tracking, QuickBooks, Denim and OTR Capital factoring, plus full REST + webhook API access. All included — no per-connector pricing.

Pricing — $799/mo flat, unlimited users

One price. Everything included. No per-user fees, no setup, no implementation invoice, no annual contract. Month-to-month, cancel any time. The first 30 days are full-product with no payment required.

PlatformEntry priceModelSetupNative AI triage
Keelway TMS$799/moFlat, unlimited users$0Yes — native
AscendTMS$0–$149/moFlat (limited free tier)$0No
Alvys~$514/moFlat, unlimited users$0No
Tai Software$995–$7,925/moFlat, capped users + loadsVariesAdd-on
Aljex (Descartes)~$499/user/moPer-user + platform feeQuoteNo
McLeod LoadMasterEnterprise quoteAnnual contract$50K+No
Turvo$5,000+/moEnterprise customSignificantNo

Sources: vendor pricing pages, capterra.com, g2.com, customer reports (May 2026)

Who Keelway TMS is for

Keelway TMS is built for SMB freight brokerages — typically 3-30 dispatchers covering 50-300 loads per month. If your team currently runs on Aljex, AscendTMS, Tai, or spreadsheets and is buried under carrier email noise, this is the natural next step.

  • Right fit: 3-30 user brokerages, $5M-$100M annual revenue, replacing Aljex/AscendTMS/spreadsheets, or escaping per-user pricing on McLeod/Aljex.
  • Not the right fit: 1-2 person shops covering under 50 loads/month (AscendTMS free tier is your move) or 100+ user enterprise operations (McLeod, Turvo, MercuryGate are sized for you).

How Keelway compares to other broker TMS platforms

Most TMS shopping comes down to four real comparisons. We have a deep-dive page for each:

Why an AI-native TMS matters

Freight brokers do not live in their TMS — they live in their inbox. Every carrier quote, every rate confirmation, every “still available?” message hits Gmail or Outlook first. The standard workflow is manual: read the email, find the load in the TMS, copy the rate, respond. That is 30-45 minutes of delay per load, compounded across every load you cover.

Keelway eliminates the copy-paste. Our AI reads every inbound carrier email, ranks the top five options by rate and FMCSA trust score, and surfaces one-click confirm inside the same platform where you dispatch, invoice, and track. No second login. No second invoice. Industry-average broker response time is 47 minutes; Keelway customers respond in under five.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Keelway TMS cost?+
Keelway TMS is $799 per month, flat. No per-user fees, no setup fee, no implementation cost, no annual contract. Unlimited dispatchers, unlimited loads. That price includes the full TMS plus the AI carrier email triage layer that ranks the top five carriers on every load.
Is the $799/month price per user or per brokerage?+
Per brokerage, not per user. A 2-person shop and a 30-person shop both pay $799/month. For comparison, a 10-person brokerage on Aljex (~$499/user) pays roughly $4,990/month; on Tai's Growth tier they would be capped at 2 staff logins for $995/month.
What's included in Keelway TMS?+
Load entry and dispatch board, carrier database with FMCSA trust scoring, AI carrier email triage with rate extraction, document management (BOL, POD, rate confirmations), customer and carrier portals, QuickBooks accounting sync, native DAT and Truckstop integrations, MacroPoint tracking, factoring integrations (Denim, OTR Capital), and full API access. Everything is included at $799/month — no paid connector tier, no add-on modules.
How is Keelway TMS different from Aljex, McLeod, or Tai?+
Three differences. (1) Pricing: Keelway is flat $799/month vs Aljex's ~$499 per user, McLeod's $50K+ implementation, and Tai's $995-$7,925 tiered pricing. (2) AI is native, not bolted on: Keelway is the only flat-priced broker TMS with native AI email triage in its base plan — no Drumkit or Parade subscription, and no higher tier to buy the way Tai bundles it. (3) Setup time: Keelway goes live in under one day; McLeod and MercuryGate implementations typically run 8-16 weeks.
How long does Keelway TMS take to go live?+
Under one business day for standard onboarding (importing existing carriers, customers, and loads via CSV or API). For brokerages migrating from Aljex, AscendTMS, or Tai, we provide a migration support commitment — your team gets a dedicated onboarding contact until you're live and running production loads on Keelway.
Will my data migrate cleanly from my current TMS?+
Yes. Keelway accepts structured CSV imports for carriers, customers, lanes, and historical loads. We have direct API connectors for the major TMS platforms — Aljex, AscendTMS, Tai, McLeod — and a hands-on migration support program for brokerages switching from any of them. No data is left behind.
Does the AI auto-book carriers without human approval?+
No. The AI reads inbound carrier emails, extracts the offered rate, scores carrier trust via FMCSA, and presents a ranked top-five for every load. A human dispatcher confirms before any load is tendered. Brokers retain final authority on every booking — the AI surfaces signal, not decisions.
What size brokerage is Keelway TMS for?+
Keelway TMS is built for SMB freight brokerages with 3-30 dispatchers covering 50-300 loads per month — the same shops that are typically choosing between Aljex, AscendTMS, Tai, and Alvys. If you're a 1-2 person shop covering under 50 loads/month, AscendTMS's free tier is often the right fit. If you're a 100+ user enterprise, McLeod or Turvo are sized for you.
Is there a free trial or money-back guarantee?+
Yes. The first 30 days are full-product, no payment required. If Keelway does not improve your carrier response time within 30 days, you owe nothing. After that it is $799/month, month-to-month, cancel any time.

Choose, connect, and implement your TMS.

Compare the role of a TMS with a load board, plan a migration, or work through an implementation. Already have a TMS? Connect selected load updates to Lane while keeping your existing system of record.

Ready when you are

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Related

Keelway LTL →

The LTL module for carriers and consolidators — AI quote-from-email, density rating on your own tariffs, linehauls, and crossdock.

Carrier email automation →

How Keelway parses 40 carrier replies per load and ranks the top 5 — included in the TMS at $799/mo.

Carrier trust score →

FMCSA-backed trust scoring on every inbound reply — visible inline on every load.

Carrier onboarding →

FMCSA authority, insurance, and fraud signals vetted before the first load — built into the TMS.

Compare to every other broker TMS →

Head-to-head with Aljex, McLeod, Tai, Alvys, AscendTMS, Turvo, Rose Rocket and more.

Integrations →

DAT, Truckstop, QuickBooks, MacroPoint, Denim, OTR Capital — all native, all included.

YOUR NEXT STEP, TOGETHER

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Lane

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