What Direct Freight Services does

Direct Freight Services is a freight matching operator founded in 1997 and headquartered in Chillicothe, Missouri. It is operated through Gabrielson, Brammer & Clark, Inc. and runs a two-sided load board marketplace that connects carriers and owner operators with freight brokers and shippers in the United States. The company brands itself as the "Largest Free Load Board" and surfaces more than 300,000 loads daily through its web platform and mobile applications (iOS and Android). Core platform functionality includes load searching, truck posting, broker credit reports and days-to-pay data, broker authority/bond/insurance verification, deadhead and trip-mile routing via truck-specific turn-by-turn navigation, lane spot-rate pricing built from millions of historical load records, profit calculation, and email/text alerts with saved lanes and private loads. The company exposes a public Posting API (apidocs.directfreight.com) that supports FTP, email, CSV, tab-delimited, and Excel ingestion, enabling programmatic load and truck posting and integration with major transportation management systems including McLeod Software, MercuryGate, Trimble, Aljex Software, and Freight Management Systems.

The platform is delivered through a self-serve product-led growth motion: free signup for carriers and brokers, with revenue generated from tiered monthly and annual subscriptions. Carrier plans run Free (3 searches/day) → Basic ($39/month, $390/year) → Enhanced ($49/month, $490/year, with credit scores, days-to-pay, profit calculator) → Professional ($69/month, $690/year, with rate data, toll costs, multi-user management). Broker plans mirror this structure topping out at a $89/month Professional tier, with a 15-day $1 trial and ~2 months free on annual billing. Posting remains free on all tiers. The technical stack is a web application plus iOS/Android native mobile apps with API integration layer; geographic data is sourced from MaxMind's GeoLite2 dataset.

The business serves a horizontal SMB-heavy segment — primarily individual owner operators, small carriers, and small-to-mid brokerages — and is privately held, bootstrapped (no funding rounds disclosed), and operates with 11-50 employees. Strategic positioning is anchored by free posting, deep broker-credit transparency, and 27 years of accumulated rate data. Limitations visible from the data include: no disclosed revenue, no AI/ML capabilities, narrow geographic scope (US-only), no enterprise sales motion, and a leadership team of three people (Joe Catania, Founder/Managing Director; Jon Gabrielson, CTO; Steve Gabrielson, President).

Name

Direct Freight Services

Legal name

Gabrielson, Brammer & Clark, Inc.

Website

https://directfreight.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Direct Freight Services, founded 1997 in Chillicothe, Missouri, is a US freight load board connecting carriers and owner operators with freight brokers and shippers. It monetizes via freemium subscriptions ($39-$89/month) on a web platform, iOS/Android apps, and a public posting API.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Freight Load Board Software

NAICS

Freight Transportation Arrangement (4885), Freight Transportation Arrangement (48851)

SIC

Arrangement Of Transportation Of Freight & Cargo (4731)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Freight Brokerage / Freight Marketplace Platforms (TLADAMAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Dedicated Lanes & Mini-Bid / RFP Marketplace Platforms (TLAEAJAG)

Keywords

• Freight load board
• Truck load matching
• Carrier broker platform
• Freight rate analytics
• Truck routing tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Chillicothe

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription Plans - Carriers: Tiered subscription model for carrier/owner operators with Free, Basic ($39/month), Enhanced ($49/month), and Professional ($69/month) tiers. Annual discounts available (approximately 2 months free). Trial period of 15 days for $1.
2. Subscription Plans - Brokers: Tiered subscription model for brokers with Free, Basic, Enhanced, and Professional tiers. Professional Broker Plan at $89/month or $890/year with 15-day trial for $1.
3. Load/Truck Posting: Posting loads and trucks is always completely free. Revenue derived from premium subscription tiers, not posting fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Direct Freight Services operates a self-serve, free-to-post online load board platform connecting truck drivers and carriers with freight brokers and shippers for load and truck matching. The platform offers a lane pricing tool backed by millions of load records, truck-specific mileage and routing, broker credit and authority information, profit calculations, mobile driver apps for iOS/Android, and a public Posting API for programmatic access.

Product overview

Direct Freight Services operates a single unified freight matching platform consisting of a free load board web application, iOS/Android mobile driver app, and tiered subscription plans for carriers and brokers. The core offering connects truck drivers with loads through searching and posting functionality. Adjacent tools include a freight rate lane pricing tool, profit calculator, and mileage/routing calculator. The platform offers API access for programmatic posting via FTP, email, or direct API integration. Subscription tiers (Free, Basic, Enhanced, Professional for carriers; Free, Basic, Enhanced, Professional for brokers) provide escalating access to credit reporting, rate data, and team management features.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Direct Freight Load Board (Web Platform)

Quantifiable outcome

• 300K+ loads searchable daily through the driver mobile app

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Transportation Intermediaries AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTIA is a prominent trade association for transportation intermediaries. Partnership provides credibility and access to industry networking and standards.
• PostOnce.NetminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorListed as a partner, potentially representing a channel or reseller relationship for freight posting services.
• Riviera FinanceminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFactoring company partner offering Quick Pay services to Direct Freight users. Riviera Finance provides Green Light Landing quick pay solutions.
• TruckerSearch.comminorGTM or Marketing PartnerDriver recruitment partner linked from Direct Freight's services to help carriers find drivers.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• DAT Freight & Analytics: Operates the largest North American load board for truckload freight, matching carriers with brokers and shippers. Direct analogue to Direct Freight, with a broader paid data analytics franchise; comparable on core marketplace mechanics and carrier/broker audiences.
• Truckstop.com: Long-standing freight load board and factoring services provider serving carriers, brokers, and shippers. Closely comparable on load board product, subscription tiers, and factoring-like adjacent services that Direct Freight offers via Riviera Finance.
• 123Loadboard: Subscription-based load board for carriers and brokers with rate analysis and mileage tools. Directly comparable on subscription-only load board model and target audience of owner operators and small-to-mid brokerages.
• NextLOAD: Subscription load board and freight matching service for carriers and brokers. Directly comparable on product (load and truck posting), pricing model (subscription tiers), and target customer base (carriers, owner operators, brokers).

Emerging players

• LoadSmart: Digital freight broker and marketplace using technology to match shippers with carriers. Overlaps with Direct Freight on freight matching but operates a transactional brokerage model rather than subscription-only, making it an adjacent peer rather than a direct substitute.
• Uber Freight: Digital freight marketplace from Uber serving shippers and carriers with brokerage and managed transportation. Overlaps with Direct Freight on load-truck matching but with capital intensity and scale that positions it as a larger emerging competitor in the same category.

Broad incumbents

• RXO (Coyote Logistics): Large third-party freight brokerage and digital freight platform serving enterprise shippers. Comparable as a freight matching intermediary; overlaps with Direct Freight's broker/load-posting value proposition but at much larger scale and with broader managed transportation services.
• J.B. Hunt 360: Major asset-based carrier with a digital freight matching platform (J.B. Hunt 360) for shippers and carriers. Comparable as a load board and freight matching channel but bundled inside a larger asset-based carrier operation.
• Trimble Transportation (Transporeon): Enterprise transportation management and freight matching software suite serving large shippers, brokers, and carriers. Comparable technology partner and channel; broader TMS scope than Direct Freight but overlaps on freight visibility and matching modules.

Others

• MercuryGate: Transportation management system (TMS) provider with broker and 3PL workflows including carrier matching. Listed as a Direct Freight integration partner and adjacent technology provider in the freight matching ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Direct_Freight
• Facebookfacebook.com/directfreightservice
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/direct-freight
• Instagraminstagram.com/directfreightservices

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Direct Freight Services