When searching for truck load boards on the Internet, you’ll notice that some are free while others require paid membership. If you keep on digging, you’ll find that some of the free load boards offer basic services free of charge, but access to other features — posting more than a pre-determined number of loads per day, or viewing freight brokers’ credit reports, for example — can cost you.
So how do you decide whether to join a free or a paid load board? First, compare the features that each load board offers. It’s also important to remember that you can join more than one load board, free and paid, to better maximize your options and opportunity.
Free Load Boards
FreeFreightSearch.com, for example, offers free membership. As the world’s largest free load board, FreeFreightSearch.com helps thousands of motor carriers find loads at no charge. This load board may be free, but in addition to matching motor carriers with freight, it also offers valuable free benefits to both truckers and freight brokers. Here’s a quick look at the features offered by FreeFreightSearch.com and four paid-subscription load boards, listed with approximate costs taken from their websites.
Paid Load Boards
Paid load boards can offer a variety of benefits, too. Paid online load boards generally range from $50 to just over $200 and offer additional features. One of the major advantages of opting for a paid load board is that it cuts out the extensive overlap that exists on many of the free load boards. If you are finding that you keep browsing through the same posts and loads, switching to a paid load board can help you find lucrative routes more easily.
This scenario is often a double-edged sword, though, because many paid boards get loads that are exclusive to their service, which means that those specific loads are less competitive.
To find the best load board for your business, you should try a load board that offers a free trial membership. If you get a month’s subscription for free, then you can see how competitive and potentially profitable the loads could be before joining.
Want to start posting and searching for loads? Register on the world’s largest FREE Load Board today.
FreeFreightSearch.com (FFS) is the world’s largest 100% FREE load board that’s changing the freight matching game. In addition to being the largest FREE loadboard, FFS provides members access to 10,000+ free freight broker credit reports, making FFS the world’s largest FREE transportation credit bureau as well. Register on our free load board today.