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LTL freight quoting and booking, built for shippers

Most small and mid-sized shippers move LTL freight without a dedicated TMS: a spreadsheet, a couple of carrier logins, and a lot of manual comparing. LanePilot is built for that shipper directly. Get a live rate from your own connected carriers, let LanePilot work out the freight class from weight and dimensions, book the shipment on your own carrier account, and track it as the carrier reports status, all in one place instead of five browser tabs.

By Aaron Brown, Founder & CEO · Reviewed by Aaron Brown · Published · Updated

Quote, book, track

The same three steps every time, in the same system, instead of a rate sheet, a carrier portal and a separate tracking tab.

Quote

One rate request, your own carriers, side by side

Enter origin, destination, weight and dimensions, or a known freight class if you already have one. LanePilot returns live rates from the LTL carriers connected to your own account, side by side, so you are comparing real quotes rather than guessing which carrier is cheapest or fastest for that lane. Each quote draws a quote credit from your plan; nothing about quoting is unlimited on any tier.

Book

Booked on your own carrier account, prepaid

Pick a rate and LanePilot generates the bill of lading and books the shipment against your own connected carrier account. LanePilot is never in the payment flow and never negotiates or communicates with the carrier on your behalf. Live pickup tendering sends that request straight to the carrier's dispatch system for carriers with a tender adapter, like ArcBest, XPO, FedEx Freight, Estes, and Old Dominion, on Professional tier and above. For any other carrier, or on Free and Shipper, you use the generated BOL to schedule the pickup with the carrier yourself.

Track

Status next to the shipment, not a separate portal

Once the carrier accepts a shipment on a connected account, status updates flow back automatically as the carrier reports them, in transit through delivered. For a carrier you have not connected, you can still record status yourself on the shipment record so the history stays complete either way.

A pallet of packaged goods, quoted and booked end to end

A shipper needs to move 6 pallets of packaged goods, 4,200 pounds total, from a dock in Ohio to a customer in Georgia. They enter the weight and dimensions and LanePilot calculates the density and returns freight class 100, no manual class lookup needed. LanePilot then returns live rates from the shipper's connected carriers for that lane, side by side. They pick a carrier, LanePilot generates the BOL and books the shipment on the shipper's own carrier account. If that carrier has a live tender adapter, the pickup request goes straight to its dispatch system; otherwise the shipper uses the BOL to schedule pickup with the carrier directly. Once the carrier accepts the load, status updates back into the shipment record automatically as it moves toward delivery.

Freight class and NMFC codes, briefly

Every LTL shipment gets a freight class, a number from 50 to 500 set under the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) system. It is one of the biggest inputs into what a carrier charges, and getting it wrong is one of the more common reasons a rate at booking does not match the rate on the final invoice.

Density, the shipment's weight divided by its cubic feet, is usually the single biggest factor: freight that is heavy for its size lands in a lower class and generally a lower rate, freight that is light and bulky for its weight lands in a higher class. LanePilot calculates density and the resulting class from the weight and dimensions you enter at quote time, so you are not looking up an NMFC code by hand for every shipment, though you can still enter a known class directly if you have one.

Want to check a shipment's class before you quote it? Use the free freight class calculator to work out density and NMFC class from weight and dimensions alone, no account needed.

What is built, what needs Warehouse, what is not built

A capability list is only useful if it says where the line actually is. Here is the line.

Built today

  • Live LTL rate quoting across the carriers connected to your account, compared side by side on one screen
  • Freight class calculated automatically from weight and dimensions using standard NMFC density breakpoints, or entered directly if you already know it
  • Booking that generates the bill of lading and books the shipment on your own connected carrier account, prepaid, with LanePilot never handling the freight payment
  • Automatic shipment status updates for shipments on a connected carrier as the carrier reports them, plus a manual status update for shipments on a carrier you have not connected
  • Carrier on-time performance built from your own shipment history, surfaced alongside your lanes so you can compare carriers on your own results rather than someone else's averages
  • Saved shipment templates for lanes you run often, so a repeat shipment does not start from a blank form

Needs Warehouse

Nothing on this page. Quoting, booking, freight class and tracking are outbound freight capabilities, not gated behind LanePilot Warehouse.

Not built, do not assume it

  • A live pickup tender to every carrier's dispatch system. It is live today for carriers with a tender adapter, like ArcBest, XPO, FedEx Freight, Estes, and Old Dominion, on Professional tier and above. For any other carrier, or on Free and Shipper, confirm pickup with the carrier yourself using the generated BOL.
  • Unlimited quoting on any tier. Every plan meters quotes as credits; there is no plan where quoting is free of a credit cost.
  • A public market-rate benchmark across all shippers. The on-time and lane performance you see is built only from your own shipment history, not a shared or industry-wide dataset.
  • Carrier negotiation or communication on your behalf. LanePilot books on your own carrier account and drafts what you need; it never contacts or negotiates with a carrier for you.

See the rest of the platform

LTL TMS + WMS for small to mid-sized shippers sees the whole platform, quoting and booking outbound freight in the same system that receives inbound freight at the dock.

How LanePilot works covers invoice auditing, dispute letters and freight claims management for freight you have already shipped.

Pricing has the full breakdown of quote credits, invoice audits and what each tier includes.

LanePilot vs a traditional TMS compares the whole product to a booking-only setup, including where a traditional TMS still wins.

Common questions

I do not have a TMS today. How do I get an LTL freight quote?

You do not need an existing system, because LanePilot is one. Enter the shipment details, weight, dimensions and freight class, and LanePilot returns live rates from the LTL carriers connected to your account, side by side, in the same system you use to book and track the shipment afterward. Most shippers arrive here from spreadsheets and carrier websites rather than from another platform. It is web based, so there is nothing to install and no IT project to start.

How do I compare LTL carriers?

Compare on rate and on your own results. LanePilot shows live quotes from your connected carriers side by side for the lane you are shipping, and separately builds an on-time performance view from your own shipment history so you can see which carriers actually deliver on time for you, not a generic industry average.

How do I determine freight class, and what is an NMFC code?

Freight class is a standardized 50 to 500 scale set by the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) system, and density (weight divided by cubic feet) is usually the biggest factor in what class a shipment lands in. Enter weight and dimensions and LanePilot calculates the density and the resulting class automatically; you can also enter a known class directly if you already have an NMFC code from the manufacturer or a prior shipment.

Does booking a shipment in LanePilot schedule a real pickup with the carrier?

For some carriers, yes. LanePilot generates a real bill of lading and books a real shipment record on your own connected carrier account, and for carriers with a live tender adapter, ArcBest, XPO, FedEx Freight, Estes, and Old Dominion today, it sends the pickup request straight to the carrier's dispatch system on Professional tier and above. For any other carrier, or on Free and Shipper, you use the generated BOL to schedule the pickup with the carrier directly, the same way you would without LanePilot.

Is LTL freight quoting free on LanePilot?

LanePilot's free plan needs no credit card and includes 5 quote credits a month, plus 7 invoice audits a month on a separate meter. Quoting is metered on every paid tier as well; no plan offers unlimited quotes.

See LanePilot catch a billing error

Send a real outbound freight invoice and the original quote for that shipment, and LanePilot shows you what it finds. Free, no account needed. Quoting and booking open up when sign-ups reopen at launch.

Run a free invoice audit

Want the quoting and booking workflow first? See how it works or see pricing.