A transport management system can be free or cost five figures per year – depending on vendor, pricing model, and operation. This overview explains the three common pricing models, names the publicly known numbers, and gives a selection checklist.
The three pricing models
1. Per user (classic). Every dispatcher seat costs a monthly licence, modules often extra. Advantage: predictable with a stable team. Disadvantage: growth is punished – every new employee, and often every driver app, costs. In small companies this leads to shared logins and lost traceability.
2. Per vehicle. Common with telematics-adjacent systems: a price per connected vehicle per month, often €5–15. Fair for evenly utilised fleets; expensive when seasonal vehicles or rarely used vans are paid along.
3. Usage-based (shipment volume). The price follows the business: handle few shipments, pay little or nothing; grow, and you grow into bigger plans. The price does not depend on the number of users. This is Maxmove's model – small teams start free.
What's publicly known
Public price lists are the exception in this market. As of August 2026 (per the vendors' websites):
- Maxmove: free entry; paid plans by shipment volume, not per user – details on the pricing page.
- Impargo: Basic free, Professional from €34.90/month, Business from €119.90/month (annual billing); additional users and driver apps cost extra.
- Soloplan, LIS, Translogica, Spedifix, PTV: no public prices – quotes via sales.
Why teams switch from these vendors to Maxmove is set out, with sources, in the TMS software comparison.
The hidden costs
The licence price is only half the bill. Ask about:
- Setup & data migration: free, flat-fee, or a project?
- Training: included or daily rates?
- Maintenance/updates: included (cloud) or a maintenance contract (on-premise, commonly 15–20% of the licence sum per year)?
- Modules & interfaces: what do telematics connection, billing, customer portal, and API cost?
- Driver apps: paid per driver or unlimited?
What is a TMS worth?
The counter-calculation is simple: what does the status quo cost? A dispatcher who spends an hour a day chasing status updates by phone costs more per year than most TMS plans. Add the extra kilometres driven without route optimisation and lost proofs in disputes. You can estimate your individual effect with the savings calculator on the TMS page.
Bottom line
For small and mid-size fleets, a usage-based cloud TMS such as Maxmove is the most economical choice: free start, pricing by shipment volume rather than per user, no implementation project, and no maintenance. If you still have a paid TMS contract, the switch guarantee avoids paying twice: for the documented remaining term, up to 12 months, Maxmove charges no software fee. Why teams switch to Maxmove is covered in the TMS software comparison.
