BATS CRM alternatives for auto transport brokers, compared on facts

BATS sells a CRM for vehicle transportation brokers at $259 a month for the primary user and $59 a month for each additional user, with SMS integration at $5 per user per month and the first month free. It posts loads to Central Dispatch, runs drip email and text campaigns, collects e-signatures and processes cards through your merchant processor.

Leader CRM wrote this page, and Leader CRM is one of the products compared here. Everything we say about BATS comes from BATS's own pages and from Central Dispatch's and Super Dispatch's pages, read on October 28, 2026, with a link beside each fact.

What does BATS CRM offer?

In its own words, BATS is a "complete Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution for vehicle transportation brokers," and its preferred CRM page adds dealers and shippers. Its home page puts the pitch in one line: "BATS is the only software you need." The pages list:

• Calls from the customer record over mobile, FaceTime and VoIP (bats.rocks).
• Drip sales email campaigns, on-demand emails and automated notifications (bats.rocks).
• Email and text campaigns that BATS sends out for you (BATS learn page), with texting as a paid SMS integration.
• eDoc signatures from customers and from carriers (bats.rocks).
• Card processing and card storage through your merchant processor, with Authorize.net named (BATS about page).
• AQua, which BATS calls its internally managed pricing engine, with AQua Auto Pricer and Sample Pricing included in the plan (signup page).
• Central Dispatch posting through Central Dispatch's Listings API, daily carrier data, and orders that update as carriers mark them picked up or delivered (BATS FAQ).
• Work from mobile devices, and transfers of jTracker client data into BATS (BATS FAQ).

BATS also says it is the new preferred CRM of Central Dispatch. That is BATS's claim, made on its preferred CRM page. Central Dispatch's own API page names BATS, Message Plane CRM and Cronetic as CRMs with API connections.

Why compare BATS with other CRMs?

Check BATS against your desk on four points: how your salespeople sell, how calls and texts are set up, which load boards you post to, and how the price and trial work.

Does it fit how your desk sells?

Write down what your salespeople do between the lead and the deposit. If most of the day is calling down a list and texting quotes, look for a dialer and a follow-up plan. The BATS pages we checked describe phone calls from the record and email and text campaigns, and they do not mention an auto dialer. Leader CRM has an auto dialer that works down a call queue with each customer's last message beside the number and drops a recorded voicemail. It also runs a 7-day follow-up plan with a morning and an evening touch by text and email.

How are calls and texts set up?

BATS places calls over mobile, FaceTime or VoIP from the record and charges $5 per user per month for SMS integration. Leader CRM connects to RingCentral or another calling and texting app your brokerage already uses. Each salesperson then calls or texts a customer with one button in the CRM, from their own line, and every call and text is saved on that customer.

Does it connect to Super Dispatch?

Super Dispatch's integrations page does not list BATS among its integrated CRMs. Leader CRM connects to Super Dispatch through the Super Dispatch API. If your desk posts to both boards, ask to see that step on a demo.

How do the price and trial work?

BATS gives you the first month free and requires a valid credit card to sign up. Leader CRM has no published price list. Free trial and a live demo. Brian gives the price on the demo call. For BATS's cost at 1, 2, 5 and 10 users, see BATS CRM pricing.

BATS vs Leader CRM: how do they compare side by side?

Prices checked October 28, 2026. BATS facts come from bats.rocks and its signup, FAQ, learn, about and preferred CRM pages. "Not stated" means the BATS pages we checked do not say.

Leader CRM also has lead distribution rules, risk alerts that email the manager when a customer is asked to pay an account that is not on the company's list, and an owner dashboard that compares today with yesterday. We did not check BATS's pages for those three, so ask BATS to show its version if they matter to your desk.

Where is BATS strong?

BATS leads with being all-in-one, automated and mobile, and with its Central Dispatch status. By its own description, it posts and updates orders on Central Dispatch without browser plug-ins or email parsers, and it is one of three CRMs Central Dispatch names on its API page. If your desk is coming from jTracker, BATS describes a transfer of jTracker client data. The free first month lets your team work in BATS before the first bill.

What are the other BATS alternatives?

Message Plane charges a brokerage base fee plus a per-user fee and builds calling into its platform (Message Plane compared). CarShipIO covers carriers and brokers on one platform (CarShipIO compared). TheCarGo, ProABD, Carlink, Cronetic, DispatcherPro, TruxCRM and CargoFlare are on our best auto transport CRM list, each with its published price and a link to the vendor's page.

How do you switch from BATS to another CRM?

1. Ask how your data comes out. The BATS pages we read do not describe an export. Before you give notice, ask BATS how you get your leads, quotes, orders and carriers out, and in what format.
2. Time the notice. BATS cancels by written notice with no partial refunds, and it bills by the users who logged in the previous month. Decide who keeps a BATS login during the move, and send notice so it reaches BATS before your next billing date.
3. Pick a cutover day for Central Dispatch. From that day, post new orders from one CRM only, so no load goes up twice. Orders already dispatched can finish where they started.
4. Connect the new CRM. In Leader CRM, your calling and texting app is connected for one-button calls and texts, each salesperson connects their Gmail, and your lead vendors send leads through their API. The owner dashboard shows whether phones, email and Central Dispatch are working before the team starts.
5. Move open quotes first. Customers waiting on a quote need their follow-up the same day, so load those before older records.

The guide to switching auto transport CRMs goes through the move in more detail.

How do you test a BATS alternative before you switch?

Write down the three things your desk does most each day, such as quoting by text, calling down a list and posting to Central Dispatch. Ask BATS and Leader CRM to show those three live, on the same kind of lead, and count how many clicks each one takes.

To see them in Leader CRM, book a live demo with Brian.