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Freight broker TMS · $799/mo flat · Unlimited users

The freight broker TMS built around the inbox brokers actually live in.

Every legacy freight broker TMS — McLeod, Aljex, Mercury Gate, Tai — was built before AI. They treat the carrier inbox as somebody else's problem: a coordinator's job, a separate tool, a tab the broker keeps open. Keelway is a freight broker TMS built the other way around. The inbox is the operating system. AI carrier-email triage, FMCSA trust scoring, rate extraction, and ranked top-five replies are first-class TMS features. Load entry, carrier records, rate confirmations, dispatch, accounting — all of it sits behind the inbox view, not in front of it.

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$799
Per month, flat
Unlimited users, $0 setup, no contract
<1 day
From signup to first load triaged
Reply address issued, FMCSA backfill, go-live
30 days
Full-product free trial
Decide on real volume, not a sales demo
The TMS, on tape

See it in 52 seconds.

Eight scenes — dashboard, inbox, loads, GPS, money, compliance. Auto-plays. Tap to pause.

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What a freight broker TMS needs to do — and where Keelway leans

Loads

Load entry, posting, and lifecycle

Standard freight broker TMS load entry — origin, destination, equipment, rate, dates, accessorials. One-click post to DAT and Truckstop with the brokerage's saved load-posting templates. Full lifecycle from prospect through booked, in-transit, delivered, invoiced.
Carriers

FMCSA-verified carrier records

Carrier records auto-populated from FMCSA — authority status, insurance, safety rating, out-of-service history, crash counts. Carrier packets attached (W-9, COI, MC authority, BOC-3, signed broker-carrier agreement) with expiration tracking and auto-renew prompts.
Inbox AI

Carrier-email triage built in

The differentiator. Every carrier reply gets parsed for rate, equipment, ETA, MC; scored against FMCSA + email domain signals; ranked against the other carriers on the same load. Top five shown along the keel. Accept in one keystroke; acceptance writes back into the TMS load record.
Accounting

QuickBooks-native invoicing

Rate confirmations generated from load records, invoices pushed to QuickBooks Online with line-item detail. Carrier-pay tracking with factor company integration where the carrier uses one. AR aging and broker margin reporting in the dashboard.

How Keelway compares to the legacy freight broker TMS category

The legacy freight broker TMS category — McLeod LoadMaster, Aljex / Descartes, Mercury Gate / Infios, Tai Software — is mature, feature-deep, and expensive. It was built before AI. The shape of the product reflects that: a thick dashboard the broker is supposed to live in, with the inbox as a side window. Keelway inverts that assumption. The inbox is the dashboard. The TMS features live behind it.

For honest side-by-side reads, see Keelway vs McLeod, Keelway vs Aljex, and Keelway vs Tai. For the broader category breakdown, see best freight broker TMS for SMB brokerages and the full category guide to best freight broker software. For Keelway's own feature list, pricing, and deployment detail, start with the Keelway TMS overview.

Frequently asked questions

What is a freight broker TMS?+
A freight broker TMS (transportation management system) is the operating system of a freight brokerage — load entry, carrier records, rate confirmations, dispatch, accounting, and reporting. The legacy freight broker TMS category — McLeod LoadMaster, Aljex (Descartes), Mercury Gate / Infios — was built before AI, and treats the carrier inbox as a separate problem. Keelway is a freight broker TMS built around the inbox, with AI carrier-email triage, FMCSA trust scoring, and ranked top-five carrier replies on every load as first-class features, not bolt-ons.
What does a freight broker TMS need to do at minimum?+
Load entry and management, carrier records with FMCSA-backed authority/insurance verification, rate confirmation generation, dispatch and check-call workflow, invoicing and accounting integration (QuickBooks at a minimum), reporting, and integrations with at least one major load board (DAT or Truckstop). Keelway covers all of that plus the inbox-AI layer the legacy TMSs leave to humans.
How much does a freight broker TMS cost in 2026?+
Wide range. Free entry tier from AscendTMS for 1-3 users; ~$49-$149/user/month for paid AscendTMS, Rose Rocket, and similar mid-market options; ~$183-$514/month flat for newer flat-rate options (Alvys, Keelway); $995-$7,925/month tiered for Tai Software depending on volume; ~$50K-$150K all-in for McLeod LoadMaster including implementation. Keelway is $799/mo flat, unlimited users, $0 setup, with AI carrier-email triage included.
Does Keelway replace McLeod, Aljex, or Tai outright?+
Either path is supported. For SMB and growing mid-market brokerages, Keelway TMS replaces the underlying system at a fraction of legacy-TMS total cost. For brokerages with sticky enterprise TMS investment, Keelway runs as an AI overlay on top of McLeod, Aljex, Tai, Turvo, or Revenova — same Keelway AI features, the existing TMS stays system of record. See the enterprise page for the overlay pattern.
Is Keelway a cloud freight broker TMS?+
Yes. 100% cloud-native, no on-prem option. Hosted on AWS with daily backups, point-in-time recovery, and a 99.9% uptime SLA on the enterprise tier. Connect any browser, no install, no VPN. Mobile-responsive for the dispatch desk on the road.
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Related

Keelway TMS overview →

Flagship TMS page — full feature list, pricing, deployment.

AI-native broker TMS →

The deeper read on what AI-native means vs. bolt-on AI in legacy TMSs.

Cloud broker TMS →

The cloud-native architecture story, contrasted to on-prem and citrix-style hosted legacy TMSs.

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Lane

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