Doft Load Board

Doft Load Board connects shippers and carriers around load search, posting, booking, and tracking. It is best suited to owner-operators and small fleets that want unlimited free searches, and to shippers who need flexible posting and delivery visibility. The main trade-off is a $99 driver acceptance fee for shippers and a $0.99 booking charge on Premium.

Overview

Doft presents a direct freight-matching marketplace, with tools for both sides of a shipment rather than search alone. Carriers get filters and alerts to find work; shippers can post loads, gather bids, book drivers, and follow deliveries. Doft advertises more than 200,000 loads a day, but that aggregate does not indicate how many opportunities will suit a particular lane or equipment type.

Key features

Carrier search and booking

Search can be narrowed by lane, deadhead radius, equipment, and minimum rate per mile, which makes the free plan more useful than an unrestricted load feed for carriers with specific operating constraints. Load alerts can flag opportunities as they arise. The booking workflow extends the board into transaction coordination, though the Premium booking fee should be included when comparing the economics of individual loads.

Premium adds an AI dispatcher that can run up to 20 parallel calls for negotiating, booking, and check calls. That may suit carriers coordinating several loads at once. Rate information is available for only 10–30% of loads, however, so it cannot serve as a consistent pricing reference across the board.

Shipper operations and delivery

Shippers can post manually, upload CSVs, post in bulk, or import loads from a website. Bids, driver messaging, private loadboards, booking, and live-map tracking bring several steps of shipment management into one workflow. A live board can be embedded on a shipper's website, while private loads can be distributed by link; those options are useful for shippers seeking responses from their own audience as well as the open marketplace.

The driver's app shares GPS location, posts delivery status, and uploads proof of delivery. Doft says it checks carriers against FMCSA records for operating authority, insurance, safety rating, and crash history before booking. That vetting is a useful screening measure, not a guarantee: Doft's terms describe it as a venue and disclaim guarantees about user identity, shipment completion, and transaction quality.

Carriers can withdraw earnings to a debit card or bank; payment processing is provided by Stripe. Doft describes password-protected accounts and physical and technical safeguards, while cautioning that internet transmission cannot be guaranteed fully secure. Its help center offers 24x7 live chat and forms for technical support, bug reports, billing questions, and suggestions.

Pricing

Doft's free options have different costs at the point of use, so the absence of a subscription does not mean every transaction is free.

Basic (carrier): free, with unlimited load search and no credit card required. It fits owner-operators and small fleets that want to search without adding a monthly subscription. It does not include Premium's AI dispatcher, and the plan's terms do not eliminate the booking charge attached to Premium.

Free (shipper): free, with no subscription or monthly fee. Shippers pay $99 when accepting a driver, making this a poor fit for teams that need to avoid per-acceptance costs.

Premium (carrier): $19.99 a month, billed monthly. Annual billing is also offered with savings of up to 16%. It includes up to 20 parallel AI calls, but only 10–30% of loads are eligible for rate information, and each load booking costs $0.99. Premium is most compelling when the dispatcher is useful often enough to justify both the subscription and booking fees.

A 10-day trial is offered. The free carrier plan is the lower-risk starting point for search; carriers should weigh Premium against their expected booking volume and use of AI calls rather than assuming rate information applies to every load.

Platforms

Doft supports web, Android, and iOS. Its driver and shipper apps are linked through the service, giving mobile users access to the app-based workflows alongside the web platform.

Who it's for

Doft is a sensible fit for owner-operators and small fleets that want to search without a subscription, especially when its lane and equipment filters match their needs. Shippers may prefer it when they value multiple posting routes, private boards, driver communication, and live delivery tracking, and can account for the $99 acceptance fee. Carriers who need a reliable rate reference on most loads, or users who require guarantees of successful delivery or transaction quality, should look elsewhere.

Pros and cons

Pro: Unlimited carrier search on the free plan lets smaller operators explore loads without a monthly search cost.

Pro: Shippers can post in several ways and manage bids, booking, and live tracking, which supports more of the shipment workflow than load discovery alone.

Pro: FMCSA checks cover authority, insurance, safety rating, and crash history before booking, providing a defined vetting step.

Con: Shippers pay $99 when accepting a driver, so a no-subscription plan still has a significant acceptance cost.

Con: Premium's $0.99 booking fee is additional to the monthly price, while rate information applies to only 10–30% of loads.

Con: Doft does not guarantee user identity, shipment completion, or transaction quality, limiting the assurance users should attach to its marketplace role.

Alternatives

Load Board Software is the broader directory for comparing products in this category. Direct Freight is worth considering for carriers who want a free tier capped at three load searches per day, with truck posting, matching alerts, mileage and maps, and iOS and Android access. x12port Load Board is the alternative for users who prefer a pay-as-you-go transaction model, with a $99 one-time setup fee and transaction packets from $0.15 per transaction.

BulkLoads offers a free load-board plan with a forum, washout search, multiple users, app access, and load search. Carrier First Management offers brokers a free plan with unlimited load postings, quote and bid management, carrier communication, automated invoicing, and document management. LoadBetter is another free option, with a broker plan that includes unlimited loads, internal users, and carrier invitations.

Carrier 360 by J.B. Hunt is a free alternative for approved carriers, though some loads are not eligible for instant booking. FreightLink is an alternative for approved members seeking a free service with no credit card required. LaneRunner is worth comparing for shippers seeking free access with unlimited load posting and open-marketplace or private-network options.

Verdict

Choose Doft if you are a small carrier who values unlimited free search, or a shipper who wants flexible posting and delivery tracking in one marketplace. Its strongest case is the breadth of the carrier and shipper workflow; the main reasons to look elsewhere are the $99 shipper acceptance fee, Premium's additional booking charge, and the platform's lack of guarantees about completing transactions.