Message Plane alternative for car shipping brokers, compared on facts

Message Plane sells a CRM for auto transport brokerages at a base of $399 to $499 a month plus $59 to $79 per user per month. Calling, texting, email, e-signature and two-way sync with Central Dispatch and Super Dispatch come inside that price, and your exact quote comes out of a 30-minute demo.

Leader CRM wrote this page, and Leader CRM is one of the products compared here. Every Message Plane fact below comes from messageplane.com or from Central Dispatch's and Super Dispatch's own pages, read on October 28, 2026.

How much does Message Plane cost?

The Message Plane pricing page gives two ranges, a brokerage base and a fee per seat, and prints worked examples that it says are not a quote.

Prices checked October 28, 2026. The examples are base plus seats. Five agents at the low end are $399 + 5 × $59 = $694, and at the high end $499 + 5 × $79 = $894.

The same page lists these terms:

• No feature add-ons for core broker tools.
• No per-minute charges for calls, and no third-party phone add-ons to buy.
• Onboarding included, taking 7 to 14 days, with migration of your leads, customers and order history.
• Month to month.

What does Message Plane include?

Message Plane describes itself as "finely tuned automation for B2B and B2C auto transport brokerages." Its home page lists:

• A proprietary dialer inside the platform that connects to your phone system by API.
• Calls, texts and email threaded into one conversation per customer.
• Its own e-signature, built by Message Plane, with no separate DocuSign bill.
• Multi-merchant billing, so you connect your merchant and bill inside the CRM.
• Rapid Rate, an in-house AI pricing engine on real lane data.
• Two-way dispatch to Central Dispatch and Super Dispatch, with carrier offers flowing back.
• QuickBooks sync, carrier license checks and a customer portal.
• A secured, dedicated server for every client.
• Browser access on any device, with no app to install.
• Data exports at any time.

Two outside pages back up its load board connections. Central Dispatch's API page names Message Plane CRM among its API connections, and Super Dispatch lists Message.Plane on its integrations page, with a page on posting orders and monitoring load status.

Does Message Plane have a free trial, or only a demo?

Message Plane offers a free, no-obligation demo, and its pricing page says your exact quote comes out of that 30-minute demo. The pricing page does not list a free trial.

Leader CRM has no published price list. Free trial and a live demo. Brian gives the price on the demo call. Both vendors give the exact price on a call. With Leader CRM you can also ask for the free trial, so your salespeople use the CRM before you decide.

Message Plane vs Leader CRM: how do they compare side by side?

Prices checked October 28, 2026. Source: the Message Plane pricing page.

Leader CRM also has lead distribution by lead multiple, daily limit and hours for each salesperson; 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 shows whether phones, email, Central Dispatch and follow-ups are working. We did not check Message Plane's pages for those three, so ask to see its version on the demo.

Where is Message Plane strong?

Message Plane sells one system with phones, texting, e-sign, billing and both load boards inside it, and no usage fees. In its words, "the platform is priced on your team, not your volume." Calls and texts carry no per-minute charge, onboarding and migration are included, and both Central Dispatch and Super Dispatch name it on their own pages. If you want calling and texting inside the CRM price, Message Plane is built that way.

Which one fits your desk?

Message Plane suits a desk that wants calling, texting, e-sign and card billing from one vendor at a published price range, and is happy to decide after a demo. Leader CRM suits a desk that already calls and texts through RingCentral or another phone app and wants to keep it, wants a follow-up plan that runs mornings and evenings for each salesperson, and wants to try the CRM before deciding. For other options, see the best auto transport CRM list, the BATS comparison and the CarShipIO comparison.

How do you switch from Message Plane to Leader CRM?

1. Export your data. Message Plane says your data exports at any time. Pull your leads, customers and order history before you give notice.
2. Check your billing date. Message Plane is month to month. Ask how much notice it needs before your next bill.
3. Plan the phones. If your salespeople call through Message Plane's dialer, decide which calling and texting app they will use next. Leader CRM connects to RingCentral or another app your brokerage uses, and each salesperson calls and texts with one button.
4. Pick a cutover day for the load boards. Message Plane syncs both ways with Central Dispatch and Super Dispatch. From the cutover day, post new orders from one CRM only, so no load goes up twice. In Leader CRM, posted loads sit in the Posted CD tab.
5. Connect Gmail and lead vendors. Each salesperson connects their Gmail, so quotes and follow-ups come from their own address. Leads arrive from each lead source's API, your website and quotes made by hand.
6. Turn on follow-up. Each salesperson turns the 7-day plan on in their profile and picks the morning and evening send times.

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

How do you compare the two on price?

Work out your desk at Message Plane's low and high end with the table above, and add what you pay today for the phone app your salespeople use. Take both numbers to the Leader CRM demo and ask Brian for the price of the same desk.

To get that price, book a live demo with Brian.