DAT is the most expensive load board in trucking and the one most experienced owner-operators end up running anyway. Both things are true. At the tier that includes lane rate data, the negotiating edge usually costs less than one renegotiated load.

The confusing part is the tier structure. There are five carrier plans, a separate set of broker plans at completely different prices, and most articles online still quote tier names DAT retired — “Power Select,” “Pro Premium,” a $45 Express carrier plan. None of those exist in 2026. If a pricing article mentions them, it hasn't been updated in two years.

Here are the current numbers, straight from DAT's carrier pricing, with our partner discount shown beside each one.

If you run a box truck, don't buy the $169 plan

This is the single most expensive mistake we see. A new box truck operator reads a load board article, assumes they need the tier everyone recommends, and pays $169 a month for rate benchmarking on lanes they aren't running.

DAT built a plan for you specifically. Their own description of Standard: “Recommended for Owner-Operators Hauling Partial Loads (Box Trucks/Sprinter Vans).” $59, or $53.10 through our link.

You get 500 searches and truck posts a month, load counts by state so you can see which markets have outbound volume, and the mobile app. What you don't get is lane rate averages — and for partial-load and regional box truck freight, those benchmarks are built around full truckload lanes anyway.

Start on Standard. Upgrade when the rate data would actually change a decision you're making. That is usually when you move into full truckload freight, not before. Our box truck startup guide covers the rest of the launch budget.

The ROI math on Pro

Take Pro at $152.10 a month with the discount. Assume 30 loads a month averaging 900 miles — a normal pace for a full-time operator.

Six tenths of a cent per mile. If rate data helps you negotiate five cents a mile more — conservative, because the spread between a blind acceptance and a market-rate booking is usually wider than that — you're earning an extra $45 per 900-mile load, or about $1,350 a month.

That's roughly 9x the subscription. And it only needs to work on a fraction of your loads to stay positive.

The math is different for short-haul and box truck work, where each load is fewer miles but rate-per-mile variance is wider. That's the case for starting on Standard and moving up when your lanes justify it.

Questions worth asking

• Annual vs monthly. DAT lists monthly pricing. Ask whether annual billing is available and what it saves before you commit — and read the auto-renewal terms either way.
• Additional users. Select and Office are $169 per extra user on top of the base. If you're adding a dispatcher, that changes the math.
• Setup or activation fees. Ask directly whether any apply to your plan and whether they're waived for new sign-ups.
• Cancellation terms. Confirm the notice period in writing before you start, not when you want to leave.
• The cost of going too cheap. If you pick a plan without rate data and you're running full truckload freight, the loads you undercut yourself on don't show up on your DAT bill — they show up in your settlements.

Is a cheaper load board better?

If $152 a month is genuinely outside your budget right now, the honest answer is usually DAT Standard at $53.10 rather than a different company's entry tier. You get the biggest load pool in the industry, and you can move up in one click when volume justifies it.

Truckstop and 123Loadboard are real options and cost less at entry tiers. The tradeoff is a smaller load pool and less rate depth. Our full comparison covers all of them side by side.

Amazon Relay is free and worth having open, but it only shows Amazon's own freight. It's a supplement, not a primary board.