Truckstop Rate Insights for brokers: a market rate next to every load

A broker quoting carrier pay has two numbers in mind: what the customer pays, and what the market will take. The first is on the load. The second used to mean opening another tab, retyping the lane and reading a chart. Truckstop Rate Insights puts a market estimate on the lane, and SmartLoads shows it next to the load.

What Rate Insights is

Truckstop introduced Rate Insights in April 2022 as a load-level rate estimate, in place of 30-day lane averages. On its product page, Truckstop lists three views:

• A rate estimate for a specific load, based on its weight, length, equipment and lane.
• A 4-week trend for the lane.
• A 36-month trend.

Truckstop says the data updates daily. As listed in October 2026, brokers get Rate Insights with Load Board Pro, at $239 per user per month.

Where the numbers come from

Truckstop's developer documentation for Rate Insights v3 explains more:

• It predicts two kinds of rate. A posted rate is what's offered before negotiation. A booked rate is what it takes to actually book a carrier, all costs included.
• Each comes with a predicted value plus a low and a high estimate.
• The models are trained on 36 months of aggregated paid-load data.
• Thin lanes borrow from nearby markets, weighted by how relevant they are, and customer-submitted rates are added after filtering out outliers.

SmartLoads asks for the booked rate estimate, because that's the question a broker is answering: what will it cost to cover this load?

How it shows up in SmartLoads

Open a load on the board and a Market Rate card appears under the load's own rates, labeled "via Truckstop Rate Insights". It shows three numbers:

1. The predicted rate, large, at the top.
2. The range, Truckstop's low to high estimate.
3. The rate per mile.

The numbers are shown exactly as Truckstop returns them. SmartLoads doesn't round them, adjust them or blend them with other rate sources, and the Truckstop logo sits beside every rate.

Behind the card, SmartLoads sends the load's pickup and delivery cities and states, their ZIP codes (or map coordinates when a ZIP is missing), the trip mileage and the equipment, mapped to van, reefer, step deck or flatbed. Answers are reused for up to 15 minutes per lane and equipment, which cuts repeat lookups on a busy lane.

The card appears for agencies that have connected their Truckstop account in SmartLoads. It went live on October 5, 2026. When Truckstop can't answer, SmartLoads shows no number at all. It never fills the gap with a guess.

Reading the card

The card is most useful at two moments: before you post, and before you counter a carrier.

Before you post. SmartLoads works out a target pay and a maximum pay for each load from the customer's rate. Compare them with the range:

• Target pay inside the range: a normal load. Post it.
• Target pay above the top of the range: you may be offering more than the lane needs. Consider starting lower.
• Maximum pay below the bottom of the range: expect a hard cover. Tell the customer early, or plan for a thinner margin.

Before you counter. When a carrier asks for more, the range tells you whether the ask is in the market. An ask near the top of the range on a tight day is normal. An ask well above it is a negotiation.

The rate per mile helps compare loads of different lengths. A short run often pays more per mile than a long one, so compare per-mile rates between loads of similar distance.

What it doesn't tell you

A market estimate is one input. Keep its limits in mind:

• It describes today's market for the lane. SmartLoads asks for the current estimate, not one for a ship date next week. For loads far out, re-check closer to the date.
• It prices a truckload. On a per-ton load, convert the per-ton pay to a total before comparing.
• It can't see the load's quirks. Tarps, tight appointments, a slow shipper or a hard drop area all move the real number.
• It's internal. The market rate is for the broker. It never appears on a load posting.

That last point matters. SmartLoads includes a rate in the DAT export or Truckstop API posting only when the customer's profile allows rates on load boards, and only for flat-rate loads. Per-ton loads never post a rate (how posting works).

Rate Insights and other rate tools

DAT sells its own rate product, RateView, which DAT says is built from actual freight invoices and compares spot and contract rates. The two services draw on different data, so they won't always agree. SmartLoads keeps Truckstop's numbers in their own card, labeled with their source, and never mixes them with anything else.

For a broker, the practical rule is simple: use a market estimate to check your plan, and let the customer rate, your margin and the day's phone calls set the final number. A person agrees the rate and books every load. SmartLoads shows the numbers. It doesn't book.

For more on running the day from one board, see load board vs TMS, and for when to post and refresh, see load posting cadence. Or see SmartLoads on your own lanes.

Frequently asked questions

Does SmartLoads change Truckstop's rate numbers?

No. The predicted rate, the range and the rate per mile are shown exactly as Truckstop returns them, with the Truckstop logo beside them. They aren't rounded or blended with other sources.

Is the market rate posted to load boards?

No. The Market Rate card is for brokers only. A rate goes on a DAT or Truckstop posting only when the customer's profile allows it, and never for per-ton loads.

Is it the booked rate or the posted rate?

SmartLoads shows Truckstop's booked rate estimate: what it should cost to actually book a carrier on the lane, all costs included.

How fresh is the estimate?

Truckstop says its rate data updates daily. SmartLoads reuses each lane's answer for up to 15 minutes, so repeat lookups on a busy lane come back instantly. Open the load again later in the day for a fresh estimate.