DAT vs Truckstop: Pricing and Features for Owner Operators (2026)

DAT is the better load board for owner operators who price loads from lane rate data, and Truckstop is the cheaper place to start. DAT's $149 Enhanced plan shows 15-day average spot rates for every lane searched, while Truckstop puts its Rate Insights tool in the $159 Pro plan. Truckstop's Basic plan costs $42 a month against $59 for DAT Standard, and OOIDA members buying Truckstop for the first time save 15% on the monthly subscription.¹⁵¹¹

Both are subscription freight marketplaces where brokers post truckloads and carriers search, book and post trucks. Both companies' subscriptions renew automatically and both can change prices on notice, so the terms below are part of the cost. Prices on this page were read from each company's pricing page on 13 September 2026.

DAT Against Truckstop at a Glance

The full reviews are DAT Load Board Review 2026 and Truckstop Review 2026. This table compares what each company publishes, plan by plan.^12356711

	DAT	Truckstop
Entry plan	Standard, $59 a month	Basic, $42 a month plus a $42 application fee credited to month one
Lowest plan with lane rates	Enhanced, $149, 15-day averages	Pro, $159, Rate Insights
Pro plan	$169, labelled "most popular"	$159
Plans for larger operations	Select $259, Office $339	Heavy Haul Pro $299; dry van plans for three users at $35 and $129
Trip planning tool	TriHaul, from Pro	Multi-Trip Search, on Pro
Broker payment data	Broker credit data with days to pay and credit scores	Broker factorability data on every plan; Broker Rating from Advanced
TMS	AscendTMS free with any DAT board, per AscendTMS	Truckstop TMS Free on every plan
Unpaid freight help	DAT Assurance credit of $250 to $1,000, from Pro	None listed on the pricing page
OOIDA member discount	None published	15% on the monthly subscription for first-time buyers; 15% for one year when Basic or Advanced upgrades to Pro
Renewal	Automatic; 30 days' notice of non-renewal	Automatic; 30 days' notice of non-renewal
Price change notice	30 days on month-to-month plans	15 days on recurring purchases
Refund on cancellation	Not stated	No refund or proration
Load volume, company's own claim	"Over 700,000 daily load posts"; "more than 291 million loads & trucks posted annually"	"Hundreds of thousands" of loads every day

Pricing on Both Sides, as of 13 September 2026

Both companies publish every carrier plan, so the figures below come straight from their pricing pages, converted to a yearly cost.

DAT's five carrier plans

DAT lists five plans under the DAT One name, each with the operation it recommends the plan for.¹

Plan	Per month	Per year	DAT recommends it for	What the plan adds
Standard	$59	$708	Partial load owner-operators	Load search and truck posting, DAT One app
Enhanced	$149	$1,788	New owner-operators	15-day average spot rates on every lane searched, two search tabs
Pro	$169	$2,028	Owner-operators with 1 to 3 trucks	7-day average rates, TriHaul, three search tabs, $250 DAT Assurance credit
Select	$259	$3,108	Small fleets with 3 or more trucks	Best available rates, 10 search tabs, live load results, Market Conditions map, $500 credit
Office	$339	$4,068	Mid-size and large fleets with 10 or more trucks	Premium LaneMakers, contract lane rate information, $1,000 credit

DAT's pricing page lists access to "up to 500 load searches and truck posts per month." DAT Assurance is described as a team that helps carriers with past-due freight payments, with the credit set by plan.¹

The page also advertised promotional "Best-Fit rates" until 23 October during a sales event. DAT's terms state that promotional or one-time pricing "will not be extended to any renewal."²

Truckstop's carrier plans

Truckstop publishes four carrier plans and two dry van plans. Its page states that prices exclude applicable fees and taxes.⁵

Plan	Per month	Per year	What the plan adds
Basic	$42	$504	Load search, truck posting, authority age filter, backhaul search, Canadian loads, broker factorability data, Truckstop TMS Free
Advanced	$135	$1,620	Broker Rating, Report a Broker, Book It Now, FuelDesk, AVA voice assistant
Pro	$159	$1,908	Real-time live loads, Rate Insights, load comparison, RPM heat map, multi-trip search, load alerts
Heavy Haul Pro	$299	$3,588	Built for oversized freight, up to three users
Dry Van Basic	$35 for three users	$420	Dry van plan, up to nine users in groups of three
Dry Van Pro	$129 for three users	$1,548	Adds FreightWaves SONAR Insights

The carrier plans carry a footnote reading "Price per user. Up to 3 users." Basic has a $42 non-refundable application fee, credited toward the first month if the application is approved, and Dry Van Basic has a $35 fee. Truckstop also notes that the loads a carrier sees match its operating authority, so an intrastate-only carrier sees intrastate loads.⁵

OOIDA member pricing on Truckstop

Truckstop's partnership page gives OOIDA members two load board discounts. First-time Truckstop Load Board buyers "save 15% on your monthly subscription," and existing Advanced and Basic subscribers who move up to Load Board Pro "save 15% for one full year."¹¹ Applied to the published prices, that works out as follows.

Truckstop plan	List per month	OOIDA member per month	Who qualifies
Basic	$42	$35.70	First-time buyers
Advanced	$135	$114.75	First-time buyers
Pro	$159	$135.15	First-time buyers, or Basic and Advanced subscribers upgrading to Pro, for one year

For a Basic or Advanced subscriber who upgrades, the discounted Pro year comes to $1,621.80.

Where the two price ladders cross

Matching plans by what they include shows where each company is cheaper.

• Getting on a load board. Truckstop Basic at $42 costs $17 a month less than DAT Standard at $59, or $204 a year.
• Getting lane rates. DAT Enhanced at $149 costs $10 a month less than Truckstop Pro at $159, or $120 a year, and both include a rate tool.
• The plan each company pushes. DAT Pro at $169 costs $10 a month more than Truckstop Pro at $159. DAT Pro adds TriHaul and a $250 Assurance credit; Truckstop Pro adds live loads, load alerts and the RPM heat map.
• For an OOIDA member new to Truckstop or upgrading to Pro. Truckstop Pro at $135.15 undercuts DAT Enhanced by about $14 a month.

Renewal, notice and cancellation terms

The contract terms decide what a cancelled subscription costs, and both companies publish them.

DAT's order forms "will automatically renew for additional periods equal to the expiring period or one (1) year (whichever is shorter)," unless notice of non-renewal is given at least 30 days before the term ends. On month-to-month plans, DAT may raise the price at the end of the term on 30 days' notice, and non-renewal of a month-to-month order form is handled "only through account.dat.com." DAT also says it can take up to five business days to process an order form and grant access.²

Truckstop subscriptions also renew automatically unless notice is given at least 30 days before the next renewal term. A cancellation takes effect on the last day of the billing period in which it is processed, and "no portion of a payment will be refunded or prorated." Truckstop can change prices with at least 15 days' notice on a recurring purchase, and can end an account that goes unused for 90 consecutive days.⁶

Where DAT Wins

DAT's advantages sit in rate data, routing and the size of the network it describes.

• Lane rates on a cheaper plan. DAT Enhanced includes 15-day average spot market rates for van, reefer and flatbed on every lane searched, at $149. Pro narrows that to 7-day averages and Select and Office show best available rates.¹ Truckstop's rate tool starts at $159.
• RateView Analytics behind the rates. DAT says RateView Analytics, a DAT iQ product, "collects data from $1 trillion in transactions" and offers 13-month pricing histories. DAT states that every market rate requires a minimum number of submissions so prices cannot be manipulated, and that RateView shows how many companies and shipments a rate is based on.⁴ RateView Analytics is a separate product from the load board plans, and the page gives no price for it.
• TriHaul routing. From the Pro plan, TriHaul suggests triangle routes to "find better paying lanes."¹
• Help with unpaid freight. DAT Assurance comes with a $250 credit on Pro, $500 on Select and $1,000 on Office.¹
• Network size, as DAT describes it. DAT's company description cites "over 700,000 daily load posts" and "more than 150,000 transactions per minute," and its pricing page claims "more than 291 million loads & trucks posted annually."¹³ These are DAT's figures, not an independent count.
• Longer notice of a price change. DAT gives 30 days' notice before raising a month-to-month price; Truckstop gives 15.²⁶
• Market commentary. DAT's analysts comment publicly on spot rates. In April 2026, DAT industry analyst Dean Croke said the national average flatbed rate "rose by 11 cents to $2.55 a mile, marking the largest weekly increase in over a decade."¹⁴

DAT's broker credit data shows "brokers' average days to pay, credit scores and customer reviews," and DAT says its brokers pay within 28 days on average with credit scores of 94 out of 100.¹ That last figure is DAT's own claim about its brokers.

Where Truckstop Wins

Truckstop comes out ahead at the bottom of its price range and on what its cheaper plans include.

• Entry price. Basic costs $42 a month, $17 less than DAT Standard, and includes an authority age filter, backhaul search, Canadian loads and broker factorability data.⁵
• OOIDA pricing. Truckstop became OOIDA's exclusive load board partner in October 2024.⁹ Rod Nofziger, OOIDA's chief operating officer, told FreightWaves that members receive a 15% discount, and said: "We don't hand out endorsements easily."¹⁰ Truckstop's partnership page applies the 15% to first-time buyers' monthly subscriptions and, for one year, to Basic and Advanced subscribers upgrading to Pro.¹¹ OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in Truckstop's release that when "rampant freight fraud hit the trucking industry a few years ago, Truckstop swiftly dedicated significant efforts and resources to protect small business truckers."⁹
• A TMS on every plan. Truckstop TMS Free is listed on Basic, Advanced and Pro.⁵ DAT's pricing page does not include a TMS in its carrier plans; AscendTMS, a separate company, says its TMS is free with any DAT load board.²⁰
• Real-time loads and alerts on Pro. Truckstop Pro adds real-time live loads and load alert notifications at $159. DAT's live load results start at Select, at $259.¹⁵
• Rate data per load. Truckstop describes Rate Insights as "industry-first rate data specific to each load," with daily market rate data "in near real-time."⁸
• Heavy haul. Heavy Haul Pro, at $299 for up to three users, is built for oversized freight. Todd Waldron, Truckstop's vice president of carrier experience, said in February 2026 that "heavy haul carriers operate with more variables and pricing complexity than most freight segments. A wrong permit assumption or missed escort requirement can erase profit fast."⁵¹⁵
• Dry van plans for three users. Dry Van Basic at $35 and Dry Van Pro at $129 are each priced for three users, with up to nine.⁵

On fraud, FreightWaves named Risk Factors by Truckstop among its 2025 Fraud Fighters. Risk Factors is a tool brokers use to assess carriers, combining generative AI with carrier data such as DOT and MC numbers, safety history and insurance records.¹² Truckstop says it "contributed to a 57% drop in reported fraud incidents among Truckstop customers between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025," which is Truckstop's own figure.¹³

Truckstop's factoring is moving to a new platform. FreightWaves reported in August 2025 that Truckstop acquired Denim, and Truckstop's migration page says it is "beginning the process of migrating all factoring customers to the Denim platform."²¹²² Truckstop's pricing page notes that factoring is subject to underwriting and that "a per-invoice fee applies."⁵ How factoring fees work is covered in Freight Factoring: What It Is and How It Works for Truckers.

Mobile Apps and Daily Workflow

Both boards have a mobile app. The ratings below were read from each app store on 13 September 2026, and this page did not test either app hands-on.^16171819

App	Apple App Store	Google Play
DAT One	4.67 from 7,082 ratings	3.93 from 4,080 ratings
Truckstop Go	4.42 from 2,572 ratings	4.15 from 1,557 ratings

What each app does comes from the companies' own descriptions.

• DAT One. Every DAT plan includes the app, and each plan unlocks different features in it. DAT says the app "combines 15 apps into one fast and easy set of tools to find and book loads, plan and optimize trips," and includes a map with truck stops, parking, weigh stations, rest stops and fuel prices.¹
• Truckstop Go. Truckstop describes its AVA voice assistant, included on the Advanced and Pro plans, this way: "Search loads, check rates, and call brokers hands-free by voice." Rate Insights is available in the app for comparing rates and trends.⁵⁸

Search capacity differs on the desktop side. DAT allows two search tabs on Enhanced, three on Pro and 10 on Select and Office.¹ Truckstop's multi-trip search and load alerts come with Pro.⁵

Which One Fits Your Operation

Each of these questions points toward one board or the other.

Are you a new authority carrier watching every dollar?

Truckstop Basic at $42 a month is the lower entry price, and its authority age filter and broker factorability data come with it.⁵ If you plan to negotiate from lane averages from the first month, DAT Enhanced at $149 is the cheapest plan on either board with rate data.

Do you negotiate rates from lane averages?

DAT fits better. Its Enhanced plan includes 15-day lane averages for $10 a month less than Truckstop's Pro plan, and DAT's rates draw on the transaction data behind RateView.¹⁴

Are you an OOIDA member?

A member new to Truckstop pays $135.15 a month for Pro after the 15% discount, and a Basic or Advanced subscriber who upgrades to Pro pays the same for one year. That is below DAT Enhanced, and Pro includes Rate Insights, live loads and load alerts.⁵¹¹

Do you dispatch more than one truck?

DAT recommends Pro for one to three trucks and Select for three or more, with 10 search tabs and live results on Select.¹ Truckstop's carrier plans cover up to three users each, and its dry van plans price users in groups of three.⁵

Do you haul oversize freight?

Truckstop Heavy Haul Pro, at $299 a month, is the only plan on either board built for oversized loads.⁵

Would you run both boards?

They are separate subscriptions, and FreightWaves reported that the OOIDA agreement does not restrict members from using whatever load board they want.¹⁰ DAT Pro and Truckstop Pro together cost $328 a month, or $3,936 a year; DAT Enhanced with Truckstop Basic costs $191 a month, or $2,292 a year.

When Neither Is the Right Answer

A paid spot load board is the wrong purchase in the cases below.

• You are leased to a carrier that dispatches your loads. The carrier finds the freight, and a board subscription duplicates its work.
• Your freight runs on contract or dedicated lanes. Spot boards serve the spot market, and a truck with steady contract freight has less use for one.
• You cannot commit to a 30-day notice period. Both boards renew automatically and require 30 days' notice of non-renewal, and Truckstop refunds nothing on cancellation.²⁶
• You want to compare more than two boards. Other boards, including free options, are ranked in 7 Best Load Boards for Truckers: Pricing and Features Compared (2026).