Motive vs Samsara ELD: Features and Pricing for Fleets

Motive is the better fit for a small fleet that does not want to prepay three years of ELD service, and Samsara is the better fit for a fleet ready to prepay. Samsara's policy for fleets with fewer than 11 vehicles is a three-year minimum term paid upfront, while Motive sets the term in each order form and renews it 12 months at a time.³⁴ Both are FMCSA-registered electronic logging devices sold as part of wider fleet management platforms, with GPS tracking, AI dash cams and driver apps.¹

Neither company publishes a price. The per-truck figures on this page are typical ranges from our company files, labelled as such, and each company quotes per account.⁵⁶ Contract terms, registration, dash cam features and app ratings were read from primary sources on 13 September 2026.

Motive Against Samsara at a Glance

The full reviews are Motive Review 2026 and Samsara Review 2026. This table compares the two on terms, registration, features and typical price.

	Motive	Samsara
FMCSA registration	Motive ELD, ID MOTIVE, not revoked	Samsara ELD, IDs SAMELD and SAMNI1, not revoked
Published price	None; pricing page is a contact form	None; pricing page is a quote form
Typical price per truck per month	$20 to $25 entry; $35 to $40 with dash cam	$27 to $33 standard fleet plan
Term for a small fleet	Set in the order form; renews for 12 months at a time	Three-year minimum, paid upfront, for fleets under 11 vehicles
Notice to stop renewal	30 days' written notice	Not stated in the small business FAQ
Early termination	Balance of the full subscription term	Term prepaid; 30-day return period
Hardware	Term set in the order form	Included in the three-year license
Dash cam	Road-facing and dual-facing AI dash cams	Front-facing and dual-facing AI dash cams
Integrations, company's own count	Not published on a readable page	350-plus
Driver app, Apple App Store	4.4 from about 12,000 ratings	4.8 from about 47,000 ratings
Ownership	Private; IPO filing withdrawn 10 September 2026	Public, NYSE: IOT

Sources for each row are cited in the sections below.^123411131819

FMCSA registration for both devices

A motor carrier required to use an ELD must use one listed on FMCSA's registered list, under 49 CFR 395.22(a).²⁰ On 13 September 2026 the list carried "Samsara ELD" from Samsara Inc. under the IDs SAMELD and SAMNI1, and "Motive ELD" from Motive Technologies, Inc. under MOTIVE. Neither company appeared on FMCSA's revoked list, which held 93 devices revoked by the agency since 1 January 2025, 56 of them in 2026.¹²

Registration is a manufacturer's own declaration. FMCSA's list states that "the listed devices are self-certified by the manufacturer" and that the agency "does not endorse any electronic logging devices."¹

A device that FMCSA revokes stops counting as a logbook. FMCSA's ELD news page tells carriers using a revoked device to "discontinue using the revoked ELDs and revert to paper logs or logging software," and gives them up to 60 days to replace it with a compliant ELD. Once that period ends, safety officials cite 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1) and place the driver out of service.²⁵ Rob Carpenter reported in FreightWaves on 20 May 2026 that FMCSA removed 12 devices that day, taking revocations since January 2025 to 79. FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said: "Safety is not optional, and neither is compliance. FMCSA is serious about removing unsafe and unreliable electronic logging devices from the market and holding manufacturers accountable to federal safety standards."²⁶

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance made ELD tampering the driver focus of its three-day 2026 International Roadcheck. Its results, released on 25 August 2026, record 54,575 inspections, with 3,184 drivers (5.8%) placed out of service. Inspectors issued 146 out-of-service orders (3.7%) for ELD tampering, "making it the seventh most-cited driver out-of-service violation in North America." CVSA defines tampering as "the altering, obscuring, falsifying, interfering or reengineering of data on an electronic logging device to hide hours-of-service violations."²⁷

Pricing on Both Sides, as of 13 September 2026

Neither company puts a dollar figure on its site. Motive's pricing address opens a contact form, and Samsara's pricing page is a "check our prices" form.⁵⁶

Typical per-truck ranges

The ranges below come from our company files, which were assembled from more than provider websites. They describe what small fleets typically pay and are not quotes or published prices. The yearly and three-year columns multiply the monthly range.

Plan	Per truck per month	Per truck per year	Per truck over three years
Motive, entry plan with ELD and GPS	$20 to $25	$240 to $300	$720 to $900
Motive, plan with AI dash cam	$35 to $40	$420 to $480	$1,260 to $1,440
Motive, enterprise plan	$45 to $50 and up	$540 to $600 and up	$1,620 to $1,800 and up
Samsara, standard fleet plan	$27 to $33	$324 to $396	$972 to $1,188

The Samsara range in our company files is for its standard fleet plan and does not include dash cams.

A five-truck fleet over three years

For a five-truck fleet, the typical ranges come to these totals. Samsara's would be paid upfront under its small business policy.³

Five trucks, three years	Total	Paid
Motive entry plan	$3,600 to $4,500	Per the order form
Motive dash cam plan	$6,300 to $7,200	Per the order form
Samsara standard fleet plan	$4,860 to $5,940	Upfront, before the first month

Samsara's small business terms

Samsara defines a small business as a fleet "with fewer than 11 vehicles or fewer than 31 pieces of equipment." Its help center states that "our policy for customers of your fleet size requires upfront payments for 3-year contracts and we offer a risk-free 30-day return period," and that "the required minimum contract duration is a 3-year contract." Monthly or annual payment "is currently not an option for small business customers."³

The upfront payment covers the software license for the whole term. Samsara says the license includes, as applicable, "the associated hardware, cloud software, cables, ongoing firmware updates, and cellular data connectivity for cellular gateways."³

Motive's terms of service

Motive's terms, effective 7 July 2025, leave the initial term to the order form. The subscription then "will automatically renew at the end of the Subscription Term for successive renewal periods of twelve (12) months" unless the customer gives at least 30 days' written notice of non-renewal.⁴

Under the early termination clause, the customer "will pay any balance due for the remainder of the applicable full Subscription Term, including any agreed upon Replacement Fees and Restoration Fees." Hardware has a nonrenewable term unless the order form says otherwise, later orders end on the same date as the current order form, and card payments carry "a credit card processing fee of no more than 2.99%."⁴

Where Motive Wins

Motive's advantages are in its payment terms and its lower typical entry price.

• No three-year prepayment written into its terms. Motive's term is whatever the order form sets, with 12-month renewals after it.⁴ A fleet under 11 vehicles buying Samsara prepays three years.³
• Lower typical entry price. Motive's entry range of $20 to $25 a truck a month sits below Samsara's $27 to $33 standard fleet range. On a single truck over a year, that is $240 to $300 against $324 to $396.
• Location updates stated in its specifications. Motive's 2023 Vehicle Gateway spec sheet lists "industry-leading location update frequency of 2 sec.," with J1939, J1708 and OBD-II connections and a five-year warranty.⁹ Samsara's gateway page does not state a reporting interval.¹⁰
• Dash cam coverage options. Motive offers road-facing and dual-facing dash cams, with Driver Privacy Mode to switch off the driver-facing camera, and says its camera can be paired with the AI Omnicam "for complete 360 visibility."⁷
• The patent case. FreightWaves reported that an International Trade Commission administrative law judge's initial determination in September 2025 ruled eight of Samsara's nine asserted claims invalid or not infringed and found that Samsara failed the domestic industry requirement. The full commission affirmed the no-violation finding in February 2026. Shu White, Motive's chief legal officer, called the September 2025 ruling decisive: "Samsara falsely accused Motive of patent infringement in the ITC to stifle competition and disrupt our business. But they failed."¹⁵
• Funding. Motive raised more than $1.3 billion from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund in September 2026,¹⁴ and co-founder and chief executive Shoaib Makani told FreightWaves that annual recurring revenue had crossed $600 million, growing 30% a year. "We withdrew our previously filed S-1," he said, with a public listing kept "as a later path."¹³ Pranav Singhvi, a managing director at General Catalyst, joined Motive's board.¹⁴

Where Samsara Wins

Samsara comes out ahead on its driver app, its published integration count and what it discloses as a public company.

• Higher-rated driver app. Samsara Driver rated 4.8 from about 47,000 ratings on the Apple App Store, against 4.4 from about 12,000 for Motive Driver.¹⁸¹⁹
• Integrations. Samsara said in August 2025 that it "now supports over 350 integration partners globally."¹¹ Motive's integration count could not be read from a primary page.
• A fixed price for the whole term. A prepaid three-year license includes hardware, firmware updates and cellular data, so a small fleet's cost for the term is settled at the start.³
• A 30-day return period. Samsara's small business policy offers "a risk-free 30-day return period."³
• Public reporting. Samsara trades on the New York Stock Exchange as IOT and reports quarterly. For the quarter to 1 August 2026 it reported ending annual recurring revenue of $2.125 billion, up 30%. Chief executive and co-founder Sanjit Biswas said Samsara was "crossing $2.1 billion in ARR with 30% year-over-year growth for the third consecutive quarter."¹²
• The arbitration award. A JAMS arbitrator awarded Samsara $30.3 million on false-advertising and platform-access claims against Motive, FreightWaves reported in March 2026.¹⁵ Adam Eltoukhy, Samsara's chief legal officer, told FleetOwner: "Honest competition requires honest comparisons."¹⁶

Dash Cams, Mobile Apps and Workflow

This page did not test either device; the features below are what each company states on its product pages, read on 13 September 2026.

What each AI dash cam detects

Each company lists the events its AI dash cam flags.⁷⁸

	Motive AI Dashcam	Samsara Dual-Facing AI Dash Cam (CM34)
Camera options	Road-facing, or dual-facing with a driver-facing camera	Front-facing (CM33) or dual-facing (CM34)
Mobile device use	Listed	Listed
Following distance or collision	Close following	Forward collision warning
Seat belt	Listed	Listed
Harsh driving events	Hard braking, hard cornering, hard acceleration	Not listed on the page read
Drowsiness	Not listed on the page read	Listed
Speeding	Not listed on the page read	Listed, with thresholds of 10, 15 or 25 mph
Rolling stop	Not listed on the page read	Listed
Lane departure	Not listed on the page read	Lane departure warning
Camera obstruction	Not listed on the page read	Listed
Privacy	Driver Privacy Mode disables the driver-facing camera	Driver, passenger, license plate and pedestrian blurring
Video	Ultrawide 1440p HD, configurable storage, battery backup	Not stated on the page read

"Not listed on the page read" means the product page this comparison used did not name the feature. It does not mean the feature is missing from the product.

The benchmark study and the ruling

Bulk Transporter's John Hitch reported in August 2023 that Motive paid for testing by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that compared its dash cam with Samsara's and Lytx's.¹⁷

An arbitrator later ruled Motive's claims about that testing false. Motive's dash cam page now carries this notice: "Statements by Motive on its website, in email messages, sales material and advertisements that benchmark tests conducted by Strategy Analytics and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that the Motive Technologies, Inc., AI dash cam is three-to-four times more successful, accurate and speedy in detecting unsafe driving than Samsara, Inc.'s AI dash cam have been ruled by a duly authorized Arbitrator to be literally false in violation of the Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)."⁷ FleetOwner's Jade Brasher reported that the arbitrator also granted a permanent injunction, and quoted Makani: "customers choose us because they test our product in their own vehicles."¹⁶ This page does not rank either camera's detection accuracy.

Driver apps

Drivers use the app to change duty status, complete inspections and show logs to officers. On the Apple App Store on 13 September 2026, Samsara Driver rated 4.8 from about 47,000 ratings and Motive Driver 4.4 from about 12,000.¹⁸¹⁹ Google Play ratings were not read for either app.

Roadside data transfer

At an inspection, 49 CFR 395.24(d) requires a driver, on request, to "produce and transfer from an ELD the driver's hours-of-service records" following the carrier's instruction sheet.²¹ Samsara's statement on FMCSA's list says its ELD "supports Option 1 (Telematics Transfer methods)," with transfers from the Samsara Driver app by wireless web services or email.¹ Motive's statement on the list says its engineering teams checked the Motive ELD against each item in FMCSA's requirements traceability matrix.¹ If either device malfunctions, 49 CFR 395.34 has the driver reconstruct the current 24 hours and previous seven days on paper, and gives the carrier eight days to correct it.²²

Gateways

Both platforms connect through a vehicle gateway on the truck's diagnostic port. Samsara's VG55 page lists 4G LTE, an integrated Wi-Fi hotspot, GPS and GLONASS, and a "1 second time-to-fix (hot start)."¹⁰ Motive's spec sheet, dated 2023, lists LTE with 3G fallback, GPS and GLONASS, and 2-second location updates.⁹

Which One Fits Your Operation

These questions point a small fleet toward one platform or the other.

Can you prepay three years of service?

If not, Motive fits. Samsara's policy for fleets under 11 vehicles leaves no monthly or annual payment option.³

Might you sell trucks, park them or change ELDs within three years?

Read both exit terms before signing. Motive charges the balance of the full term on early termination and needs 30 days' written notice to stop a renewal.⁴ Samsara's term is prepaid, and its return period lasts 30 days.³

Do your office systems need to connect to the ELD?

Samsara's 350-plus integration partners is the only integration count either company publishes on a readable page.¹¹ Ask Motive for its list of integrations with your TMS, payroll or accounting software before signing.

Are dash cams the main reason you are buying?

Compare the detection lists above against the behaviors you want to coach, then ask each company for a trial in your own trucks. This page does not rank either camera's accuracy, and Motive's benchmark claims were ruled literally false.⁷

Will drivers use the app all day?

Samsara Driver's 4.8 rating on about 47,000 ratings is higher than Motive Driver's 4.4 on about 12,000.¹⁸¹⁹

When Neither Is the Right Answer

Both platforms sell fleet management beyond the logbook, and some operations do not need that.

• One truck that needs only compliance. Lower-cost devices with month-to-month terms or no subscription are ranked in 4 Best ELD Devices for Truckers: Compliance and Fleet Management (2026) and 4 Best ELDs for Owner-Operators: Budget and Features (2026).
• Drivers exempt from ELDs. Under 49 CFR 395.8, a driver who keeps records of duty status on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period, certain driveaway-towaway operations, and drivers of vehicles manufactured before model year 2000 can use paper records instead.²³ Short-haul drivers who stay within 150 air miles and are released within 14 hours are exempt from the record of duty status requirement under 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1).²⁴ The details are in ELD Requirements: Who Needs One and Who Is Exempt.
• Owner operators leased to a carrier that supplies the ELD. The carrier chooses and pays for the device.