The best dispatch software for a small fleet is the one that keeps the run sheet, the board and the roster at a price that does not scale with the trucks, and the best dispatching software lists are usually rankings of transportation management systems priced per truck with hardware. This ranking judges each product on what it keeps, whether it needs a device in the cab, whether it is priced per truck or for the fleet, and whether the record exports, read from each vendor's own pages on the date in the sources. Nobody paid to be ranked and nothing is ranked on a feature count. The free dispatch schedule on this site builds the run sheet every product on the list renders.
Best dispatch software: the ranking, and the criterion
- Runsheetly Pro: The run sheet, the board and the roster for the whole fleet at one flat price; no per-truck fee, no hardware, books no load
- TruckingOffice: Dispatch with invoicing and IFTA for the owner-operator fleet, priced per user; the record rather than the channel
- Tailwind TMS: A transportation management system for the small carrier and broker: loads, rating, invoicing and a driver app, priced per user
- Rose Rocket: A TMS for the growing carrier with customer portals and EDI; suits brokered freight at thirty trucks and up
- Alvys: A cloud TMS with dispatch, accounting and integrations for carriers and brokers; priced for a fleet that wants the channel and the record together
How the ranking was made
Four questions per product: does it keep the run sheet, the board and the roster; does it need hardware in the cab; is it priced per truck with a term or for the fleet by the month; and does the record export. Products built for a hundred trucks were ranked on that basis, because a fleet of five will pay for the parts it does not use.
The record-first products
Runsheetly Pro keeps the run sheet, the board and the roster for the whole fleet at $59 a month, no per-truck fee and no hardware, and books no load. TruckingOffice keeps dispatch, invoicing and IFTA for the owner-operator fleet and is priced per user. Both are the record rather than the channel, and both suit a fleet that finds its own loads.
The TMS products, and when they are best
Tailwind, Rose Rocket and Alvys are transportation management systems: load tendering, EDI, rating, driver apps and integrations, priced per truck or per user with an onboarding. For a fleet of thirty trucks with brokered freight they are the best dispatching software because the channel is the job; for a fleet of five with its own customers the board is the job and the TMS fees are pure cost.
What to read on any vendor's pricing page
The per-truck fee, the term, the hardware and whether the record exports. A tier with a per-truck fee is a floor, not a price; a term means the product expects you not to leave; hardware means an installation in every cab; a record that does not export means the year of runs belongs to the vendor. Read those four before the feature list.
Questions people ask about best dispatch software
What is the best dispatch software for a small trucking company?
For a fleet that finds its own loads, a record-first product at a flat price: Runsheetly Pro for the board and the roster, TruckingOffice if invoicing and IFTA are wanted in the same place. For brokered freight at thirty trucks, a TMS.
Does the best dispatching software need hardware?
Only if GPS tracking is the job. The board and the run sheet need no device in the cab; the ELD the law requires is a separate purchase whatever dispatch software is used.
Why is a free sheet on the list?
Because the run sheet is where dispatch starts, and the free dispatch schedule on this site builds it with no account. The paid products are ranked on what they keep after that.