Transportation management systems are widely available, but that abundance creates a challenge for small shippers. With dozens of free plans and trial options on the market, narrowing the list to one system worth implementing can feel overwhelming.
In this post, we're going to simplify the challenge of looking for free TMS for small businesses. We’ll achieve this through providing our four-phase guide for evaluating shipper TMS software, in addition to providing our evaluation criteria for small shippers, and even touching on red flags.
By the end of this post, you'll know exactly how to narrow down free TMS software to a singular tool worth implementing into your business.
Below is our recommended four-phase evaluation process for business owners to use when trying to measure free TMS software.
Phase 1 focuses on gathering the requirements you actually need from a TMS. This prevents feature overload and keeps the evaluation grounded in day-to-day shipping workflows.
This step is important because it prevents you from getting sidetracked as you browse different features included in various transportation management systems. Instead, you’re going to focus on pain points you encounter in the actual day-to-day management of your supply chain.
Some steps you can take include:
By the end of Week 1, you should have a clear list of must-have features, success metrics, and operational constraints to use as your evaluation baseline.
Phase 2 is when you begin actively looking at different TMS software options while trying to find your ideal free TMS for small business.
Our recommended approach for this phase means that you will:
The next phase is when you'll get into hands-on testing. You’re going to focus on the shortlist you created in the above phase, rather than investing time in testing out a wide range of options.
For this phase, we recommend you take steps such as:
Note: We recommend that you involve employees at different levels of your warehouse operations here in order to get varied feedback. Managers, staff, etc.
The final phase is when you actually make your choice of free TMS software. By now, you will have tested out a handful of tools and be able to compare those results to any required features and KPIs you identified in Phase 1. Time to pull the trigger.
One of the most important aspects of this phase is considering long-term viability. Finding a tool that can scale with your business will prevent you from having to repeat this process of finding a free TMS for small business in the future.
Evaluating TMS software in general is one thing, but small shippers also need to consider their unique needs as a result of reduced operations. Below are a few different angles of attack small shippers can use to evaluate free TMS software, along with how heavily we believe each aspect should weigh in the overall consideration.
Ease of use should carry the most weight for small shipping teams. When onboarding takes weeks or requires heavy training, productivity drops and manual work fills the gap. A free TMS should simplify daily execution, not add friction through complexity. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23% of businesses in the transportation and warehousing industry failed in their first year, which means that optimization of time and profitability is crucial.
Questions to ask yourself:
The second most important criteria would be feature completeness. This comes down to what each free TMS software is offering to small shippers by way of functionality.
In our opinion, you should look out for functions such as:
Next up is reliability and security, which comes down to how much trust you can put in a prospective transportation management system. Look for:
Next is evaluating the customer service provided by a free transportation management system. Small shippers would benefit from finding:
Last but not least is considering the general scalability of free TMS software options. There are a couple of different angles to take here, including trying to find:
Not all free TMS software is designed with shippers in mind. The red flags below signal tools that may introduce hidden costs, operational risk, or unnecessary complexity as your business grows.
We’re not saying that TMS software that comes with some of these traits can’t still be a useful tool for your business. Just that these are noteworthy detractors that we don’t believe small shippers have to contend with, due to better options of free TMS software existing in the market.
A little bit of skepticism with free TMS software makes sense, especially with the word "free" involved. Below are a few frequently asked questions that we've encountered revolving around the software. Hopefully, understanding these will help small shippers in their journey towards streamlined supply chain management and greater profitability.
Free TMS software is actually usable but tends to have limited features compared to paid options, whereas free trials may give full access to features but only for a limited amount of time. This is because software development and management costs time and money, so even the most generous of these providers have to charge money at some point in order to continue providing robust shipper TMS software along with consistent updates and high-quality customer service.
Small shippers should prioritize ease of use, feature completeness, reliability and security, support quality, and scalability when comparing free TMS options.
If you don't know where to start when it comes to comparing free TMS software for small shippers, look no further than ShipperGuide TMS. This is a transportation management system that absolutely passes our evaluation criteria, thanks to features such as real-time carrier bids, routing guides, and rate benchmarking, all packaged in an intuitive user interface. ShipperGuide TMS also comes with reliable uptime, responsive customer support, and easy to understand upgrade paths should you choose to upgrade features as your business scales.
In short, this is the ideal free TMS for small business, but you don't have to just take our word for it.