Keelway
AI-native broker TMS · Built into the data model, not bolted on

AI-native is not the same as "has some AI features".

Every legacy broker TMS now markets "AI features". The honest version: most of them shipped a PDF parser, a chatbot, or a narrow OCR step and put it on the homepage. AI-native is structural. It means the data model has trust score, rate percentile, and ranked carrier replies as first-class fields on every load. It means the workflow is built around AI output, not around a legacy carrier-record screen with a chatbot pasted next to it. Keelway is the only broker TMS in 2026 where that's true end to end.

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1st-class
Trust score on every load record
Not a separate dashboard
0
Context-switches per ranked accept
Accept-to-booked is one keystroke
>95%
Rate extraction accuracy on real broker inboxes
Keelway QA set
AI-native, on tape

What AI-native looks like — 52 seconds.

Trust score as a first-class field. Ranked replies on the load card. Accept-to-booked in one keystroke. Watch it run.

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The four dimensions of AI-native

Data model

AI outputs are first-class TMS fields

Trust score (0–100), rate-percentile-vs-market, ranked carrier replies, parsed equipment and ETA, fraud-flag reasons — all stored as columns on the load and carrier records, queryable by reports, exportable to BI, and surfaced on every TMS screen the carrier appears in.
Workflow

Accept-a-carrier writes the booking

In a bolt-on AI setup, accepting the top-ranked carrier in the AI tool kicks off a webhook to the TMS that creates a separate booking record, and the broker reconciles them by hand later. AI-native: accept-a-carrier is the booking. One keystroke, one record, no reconciliation.
UI

Ranked replies live on the load card

The legacy broker TMS load screen is built around manual carrier entry. Keelway's load card shows the five ranked carrier replies inline — trust score, rate, ETA, one-keystroke accept. The legacy carrier-list screen is still there for when you need it; the ranked card is what brokers actually use.
Pricing

AI is not an add-on SKU

Bolt-on AI carries a separate $300-$1,000/month bill on top of the TMS subscription. AI-native means AI is the TMS — one bill, one vendor, one accountable party when something doesn't work. Keelway TMS at $799/month flat includes the full AI carrier-email triage stack.

The honest competitive picture

Tai Software is the closest competitor on AI-bundled positioning — they ship modern AI as part of the TMS, and they're credible. The differences are pricing structure (Tai is tiered by load volume, $995-$7,925/month; Keelway is $799 flat) and where each focuses (Tai goes deep on doc automation; Keelway goes deep on carrier-email triage). Drumkit and Parade are AI add-ons that require a TMS underneath — not AI-native broker TMSs themselves. See the best AI broker TMS comparison and Keelway vs Tai for the deep reads.

Frequently asked questions

What is an AI-native broker TMS?+
AI-native means AI is a first-class capability of the TMS — built into the data model, the workflow, and the user interface from day one — rather than a third-party add-on layered on later. In practical terms, an AI-native broker TMS treats carrier-email triage as a core TMS feature alongside load entry and carrier records, not as a separate Drumkit or Parade subscription wired up via webhooks.
How is AI-native different from a TMS 'with AI features'?+
Every legacy broker TMS now markets 'AI features' — usually one or two narrow capabilities (a chatbot, a PDF parser, an OCR step). AI-native is structural. The Keelway data model puts trust score, rate percentile, and ranked carrier replies as first-class fields on every load. The UI surfaces those fields on the screens brokers actually use. The workflow is built around the AI output, not around a legacy carrier-record screen with AI tacked on the side.
What does 'bolt-on AI' look like in practice?+
Bolt-on AI is when a brokerage runs McLeod or Aljex for the TMS, subscribes to Drumkit or Parade for an AI layer, wires them together through webhooks or Zapier, and runs the broker's workflow across two dashboards. It works — many brokerages do it — but the broker's day is split between the TMS dashboard and the AI dashboard, and the integration tends to be brittle when either vendor ships a breaking change.
Why does AI-native matter for a freight broker?+
Carrier-email triage is 40-60% of a broker's day on every brokerage we've measured. If the AI for that workload lives in a separate dashboard from the TMS that records the booking, the broker context-switches dozens of times per load. AI-native means accept-a-carrier writes back to the TMS load record in the same click; ranked replies show up alongside the load card; and the trust score is visible everywhere the carrier shows up in the TMS, not just in the AI tool.
Which AI models does Keelway use?+
A mix. Anthropic Claude for the structured-extraction pipeline (rate parsing, equipment classification, ETA capture) where reasoning quality matters most. OpenAI as a secondary inference path for redundancy. Custom-tuned classifiers we host ourselves for trust-scoring features that need to run sub-50ms on every inbound email. No customer data is used to train shared foundation models — every enterprise tenant runs against an isolated retrieval index. See /security for the full posture.
AI-native or AI bolt-on?

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