Diesel TMS

Diesel TMS is a transportation management system for trucking and freight brokerage, aimed at owner-operators, small fleets, and growing brokerages. Its broad dispatch, driver, and accounting toolkit is paired with a free plan and two paid billing options; the main trade-off is choosing between usage-based and fixed per-user costs.

Overview

Diesel TMS brings trucking and brokerage operations into one system, covering load management and dispatch through accounting and payment workflows. That breadth makes it a practical fit for businesses looking to manage core operations together rather than assemble separate tools.

The free plan allows unlimited users, loads, customers, carriers, trucks, drivers, and quotes, with no credit card required. That is unusually generous on capacity, though the plan includes standard features and paid plans add no ads and dedicated support.

Key features

Dispatch and driver workflows

Dispatchers can manage loads, dispatch, quote, and create rate confirmations. The iOS driver app adds load assignment notifications, tracking, status updates, and geofenced automatic updates, along with document access, scanning, and log book entries. This combination suits teams that need drivers to handle updates and paperwork from the field; the listed mobile platform is iOS.

Accounting and connections

Accounting covers double-entry bookkeeping with a general ledger, invoicing, payment receipts, carrier and vendor payments, and ACH file downloads. QuickBooks Online has two-way integration, and other listed connections include 123Loadboard, MyCarrierPortal, email, and factoring integrations.

Zapier works on every plan, including free, and connects Diesel TMS with more than 6,000 apps. The company also says its API offers no-cost create, read, update, and delete access to core data. Together, these options give businesses routes to connect other systems without requiring a paid plan for Zapier or API access.

Configuration and controls

Users can customize the rate confirmation builder, load list, and interface, and can enable dark mode, upload a logo, or white-label the system. More than 500 permission settings and customer and carrier portals offer room to tailor access for different roles and business relationships. This flexibility is a strength for operations with distinct workflows, though it may be more than a solo operator needs.

Files and reliability

Basic has a 2 MB maximum file upload, compared with 35 MB per file on Flex and Pro. That gap can matter when documents are large: users who need to upload files over 2 MB will need a paid plan. The company says it uses multiple datacenters in multiple locations for redundancy and guarantees less than five minutes of downtime per month.

Pricing

Diesel TMS is freemium, with an unlimited-capacity free tier and two paid plans. The choice between paid plans comes down to how users work: Flex charges by logged-in time, while Pro offers a fixed monthly rate per user.

• TMS Unlimited — free. Includes unlimited users, loads, customers, carriers, trucks, drivers, and quotes; no credit card is required. It is the strongest starting point for a new operation or a business testing whether the system suits its workflows. It has standard features, and Basic file uploads are capped at 2 MB.
• TMS Flex — price on request, billed per user, per hour. Charges accrue only while a user is logged in, with no minimum. It includes all standard features, no ads, and a dedicated account representative and support. Flex suits teams with intermittent use that want paid-plan benefits without a fixed monthly commitment; extended logged-in use can make hourly billing less predictable than Pro.
• TMS Pro — $40 a month, billed per user, per month. Includes all standard features, no ads, and a dedicated account representative and support, with a fixed monthly cost. It suits users who expect regular use and prefer predictable per-user billing over Flex's hourly charges.

The free plan lists phone, email, and chat support, as well as tutorials and onboarding. Paid plans add a dedicated account representative and support. The paid file limit rises to 35 MB per file.

Platforms

Diesel TMS is available on the web and iOS. The driver app is available for iPhone and iPad through the Apple App Store.

Who it's for

Owner-operators and small fleets can start without per-seat or capacity limits on the free plan, while growing brokerages can draw on dispatch, accounting, portals, integrations, and detailed permissions. Flex is the more natural paid option for occasional logins; Pro is better suited to users who want a fixed monthly charge. Businesses that depend on Android driver tools should look elsewhere, since Diesel TMS lists iOS and web platforms.

Pros and cons

• Pro: The free plan includes unlimited users and operating records, so capacity alone does not force a small operation into a paid tier.
• Pro: Dispatch, driver tools, accounting, portals, and integrations cover connected trucking and brokerage workflows in one system.
• Pro: Zapier works on the free plan, and the company says core-data API access is free, providing integration options across plan levels.
• Con: Basic uploads stop at 2 MB per file, a meaningful restriction for document-heavy workflows.
• Con: Flex's hourly, logged-in billing can be harder to predict than Pro's fixed monthly charge for regular users.
• Con: The listed platforms are web and iOS, which excludes Android from the stated platform support.

Alternatives

• Numeo is worth considering for a smaller operation that wants a free plan capped at one seat and one MC connection, or a paid option starting at $9.99 a month when billed annually.
• Super Dispatch offers a free Carrier TMS Lite plan with a driver app, limited dashboard, and Super Loadboard, plus a free trial; consider it if that narrower carrier-focused starting point fits better.
• Axon Software is a paid option with a free trial for businesses evaluating another transportation software choice.
• Alvys starts at $514 a month, with usage-based pricing based on monthly loads, unlimited users and business divisions, and 120+ integrations; consider it if that scale and integration breadth fit your operation.
• Ditat is a paid TMS with pricing available by contacting sales and a personalized demo.
• Transflo Mobile+ ELD is a paid option requiring fleet or broker authorization and a Fleet or Broker ID, with premium add-ons available.
• McLeod Software Transportation Management offers LoadMaster, PowerBroker, LoadMaster LTL, and DocumentPower as paid solutions.
• Trimble Freight Marketplace is another web-based option with a free plan.
• Browse more options in Trucking Software.

Verdict

Diesel TMS is a strong choice for owner-operators, small fleets, and growing brokerages that want dispatch, driver workflows, accounting, and integrations together, with a free plan that does not cap users or operating records. Choose Flex for intermittent logged-in use or Pro for predictable per-user billing. Look elsewhere if Android support is essential or if a 2 MB free-plan file limit is too restrictive.