A straight comparison of the load boards brokers and carriers actually shortlist for Canada freight, including who owns which one. Most operations end up running two, and this is how to decide which two.
| Loadlink | 123Loadboard | DAT | Cargado | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Network focus | Domestic Canada | U.S. domestic | U.S. domestic spot | Mexico and Canada, cross-border and domestic |
| Who gets in | Paid subscribers | Paid subscribers | Open board, paid subscribers | Invite-only, both sides vetted |
| Carrier cost | Paid plans, quoted | Three published carrier tiers | Paid plans, per user | No cost |
| Rate data | Rate Index, varies by tier | Rate Check, top tier | U.S. domestic benchmarks | 1,200+ Mexico and Canada corridors from carrier bids |
| Ownership | Roper Technologies | Independent | Roper Technologies | Independent |
Before comparing logos, get clear on what your freight actually demands. These five questions separate the boards faster than any feature grid.
<p class="text-size-regular">Loadlink has been matching Canada freight since 1990 and calls itself Canada's leader in load and freight-matching services. If your freight moves Toronto to Montreal, Calgary to Vancouver, or through the Canada interior, most of your carrier partners already know the platform. The product runs in English and French, which matters for Quebec freight, and it publishes a Rate Index for truckload rating.</p>
123Loadboard publishes three carrier tiers on its own pricing page, and its lane rate insights start above the base tier.
The product is organized around U.S. domestic trucking, with mileage and routing, document handling, credit checks and a mobile app. Canada shows up in coverage, but the depth and the tooling are built for the U.S. interior.
DAT offers a load board, and it does carry freight moving into and out of Canada. Whether it fits a Canada operation depends on the depth of Canada-specific capacity and tooling you need, so check its current product pages against your lanes.
DAT publishes separate carrier and broker plans on its own pricing page. Check there for current terms before you size a Canada desk on it.
Cargado is the modern marketplace for Mexico and Canada freight, and it is the only network on this list built to span both. It covers freight crossing between the United States, Mexico and Canada, freight moving domestically within Mexico and within Canada, and the U.S. domestic legs that feed the border, loads to and from cities like Laredo or Detroit.
It is an invite-only marketplace with vetted members. Carriers are verified through FMCSA (the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) and SICT (Mexico's federal transport authority) before they can bid, with FAST (Free and Secure Trade), PIP (Partners in Protection, the CBSA program) and CTPAT status tracked on the profile. Brokers are verified before they can post.
Brokers post loads for spot coverage and post lanes as procurement events carrying date range, loads per day, days of the week, commodity, equipment and requirements, to source dedicated capacity for a schedule.
Carriers pay nothing, including market rate visibility. Broker subscriptions include unlimited users, so there is no per-seat math. Chat is bilingual with instant translation, and Canadian and U.S. dollars are both handled natively.
Where that shows up: Toronto to Chicago, Montreal into the Northeast, Winnipeg to Chicago reefer, Brampton to Calgary domestic, southern Ontario into western New York, British Columbia south into Washington.
This part surprises people, and it is worth knowing before you build a shortlist.
Loadlink states on its own company page that Loadlink Technologies is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Roper Technologies, the S&P 500 company that trades as ROP. DAT's company page lists its parent company as Roper Technologies as well.
The history is straightforward. Loadlink's own timeline shows it was acquired by TransCore in 2001, and TransCore was acquired by Roper in 2004, which brought both freight-matching businesses under the same roof. In October 2021 Roper announced the sale of TransCore for $2.68 billion and kept DAT and Loadlink. FreightWaves has reported on the common ownership since.
Nothing about that is a knock on either product. Both are well-run and both earned their positions. It is simply useful context: two of the biggest names on a Canada shortlist are corporate siblings, so a comparison between them is a narrower comparison than it looks.
No single board wins every lane, and the honest recommendation is to run more than one where your freight justifies it.
A common setup: keep an established domestic board for the freight it is deepest on, whether that is domestic Canada or the U.S. interior, and route Mexico and Canada freight through a network built for it.
Skip the question of which board is best in the abstract. Answer a better one: which two cover your map without leaving a corner of it dark.
Brokers see live lane rates and vetted carriers on their own lanes in a demo. Carrier access is at no cost.
<p class="lla-fa">It depends on where the freight lives. Loadlink focuses on domestic Canada freight, DAT's depth is U.S. domestic, and Cargado is the only network built to span Mexico and Canada freight in one place. Most brokers run two boards rather than choosing one.</p>
Yes. Cargado charges carriers nothing, including market rate visibility. DAT and 123Loadboard publish paid carrier plans; check Loadlink's own site for its carrier plans.
Cargado is the only network built to span Mexico and Canada freight in one place, covering cross-border moves between the United States, Mexico and Canada as well as domestic freight inside both countries. The other boards on this list are strongest on domestic Canada or U.S. domestic freight.
Yes. Loadlink's company page states it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Roper Technologies, and DAT's company page lists Roper Technologies as its parent. Roper acquired both through its 2004 purchase of TransCore and kept them when it sold TransCore in October 2021. (Source: Loadlink's and DAT's own company pages, verified September 2026.)
Cargado broker plans are value-based and include unlimited users. Contact Cargado for a quote. Vetted carriers join and bid at no cost. For the other boards, read each vendor's own pricing page.
At minimum the crossing, the equipment including reefer and heated where protect-from-freezing applies, whether the move is PARS northbound or PAPS southbound, any FAST, PIP or CTPAT requirement, and drop versus live. Postings that cannot carry that detail generate phone calls instead of bids.