Truck Packer Alternatives: 18 Load Planners, What Each Costs and Where Each One Beats Us

There are 18 tools people weigh against Truck Packer, from a $0 spreadsheet to an enterprise planner sold by quote, and Truck Packer Pro costs $28 a month. I've written a head-to-head on each one, and every one of them says where the other tool wins. This page puts them all in one place, grouped by kind of tool, with what each one costs, the thing it does better than we do, and a link to the full comparison.

The short version: if you need axle weights or a solver that follows stacking rules on every load today, most of the dedicated freight planners below have them and we don't yet. If you need a 3D plan that one person can build fast and a crew can open on a phone with no account, that's what I built Truck Packer for.

Truck Packer Pro costs $28 a month, or $21 billed annually

Source: Truck Packer, Pricing

Pro is for one person and includes unlimited packs, the case and container library, CSV import, PDF export, AutoPack, weight visualization, shareable packs and a loadout checklist. The 7-day trial unlocks every Business feature with no credit card, and Business adds multi-user orgs, multi-truck packs, the advanced importer, a REST API and SSO. Every pack gets a Crew View link and a QR code the crew can open on any phone. What we don't have yet is axle and kingpin weights and stacking rules inside AutoPack, and both are in progress. Every comparison below is measured against that.

5 browser load planners cost about $15 to $89 a month

Source: EasyCargo, Pricing, CubeMaster, Pricing, 3DLoadCalculator, Pricing and PackApp, Pricing

These are the closest to us: open a browser, build a 3D plan, share it.

EasyCargo, $79 per user a month ($67 annual), or a $9.70 day ticket. Beats us on axle loads, more solver rules and an SAP connector. Truck Packer vs EasyCargo
Goodloading, about $180 a year. Beats us on stacking rules, axle loads and an API into TMS, WMS and ERP systems, and it costs a little less. Truck Packer vs Goodloading
CubeMaster, $49 to $89 per account a month. Beats us on axle balancing, stacking rules and ERP connections, with a 30-day trial. Truck Packer vs CubeMaster
3DLoadCalculator, $85 per user a month or $10 a day. Beats us on 6 cargo constraints and a center of gravity check. Truck Packer vs 3DLoadCalculator
PackApp, €240 a year for 50 calculations a month. Beats us on picking the container mix, center of gravity, and free seats for partners like your forwarder. Truck Packer vs PackApp

5 desktop and enterprise planners run from €69 a year to a quote

Source: Cargo Optimizer, Order, Daubnet, Buy Load!, packVol, Order and MagicLogic, FAQs

These mostly install on Windows and have the deepest solvers on this page. The plan usually reaches the loader as a PDF or a file.

CargoWiz, $879 once. Beats us on stack limits and axle weights, and you own it. Truck Packer vs CargoWiz
Load!, €9.95 to €29.95 a month. Beats us on price at the low tier, dangerous goods segregation and delivery order. Truck Packer vs Load!
Cargo Optimizer, €69 to €129 a year. Beats us on price, automatic container choice, stacking rules and a center of gravity marker. Truck Packer vs Cargo Optimizer
packVol, by quote, listed by EasyCargo at $1,008. Beats us on a stacking matrix, section weight limits, center of mass and a direct database link. Truck Packer vs packVol
Cube-IQ, by quote, listed by EasyCargo at $2,500 a year. Beats us on axle weights, pick-and-drop sequencing and connectors for SAP and the big WMS platforms. Truck Packer vs Cube-IQ

2 design tools cost $129 a year to $170 a month

Source: SketchUp, Plans and Pricing and Vectorworks, Buy Spotlight

A lot of production people plan trucks in the same software they design shows in. I did it in SketchUp for years.

SketchUp, $129 to $399 a year. Beats us on drawing anything, the stage and the venue included, not just boxes in a truck. Truck Packer vs SketchUp
Vectorworks Spotlight, $170 a month. Beats us on lighting and stage design, and it's the industry standard there, so a lot of shops run both. Truck Packer vs Vectorworks

3 rental systems run the inventory, and 0 of them plan a 3D trailer

Source: Do Flex, Rentman and Current RMS do 3D load planning?

Flex, Rentman and Current RMS. They beat us on everything that isn't the truck: inventory, quotes, scheduling, crew and invoicing. None of them places cases in a 3D trailer, so most shops keep their rental system and add a load planner next to it. The full rundown

2 cheap options cost $0 and $8.99 a year

Source: App Store, TruckPack by dgApps

A spreadsheet and floor tape, $0 plus labor. Beats us on cost, and everyone already knows how to use it. Truck Packer vs a spreadsheet and floor tape
TruckPack by dgApps, $8.99 a year. A load-order checklist for flight cases on iPhone. Different app, similar name, and cheaper if a checklist is all you need. TruckPack vs Truck Packer

1 planner on the list shut down in 2026: SeaRates

Source: FreightWaves, August 27, 2026

SeaRates Load Calculator, was $29 to $149 a month by the calculation. DP World stopped running SeaRates in August, and the site now forwards to dpworld.com. It had axle loads and handled round and bulk cargo. Where SeaRates users can go

Truck Packer is the easiest one to hand to a crew, for $28 a month

Source: Truck Packer, Changelog

Across all 18, the pattern is the same. The freight planners have deeper solvers, and several cost less than we do. Truck Packer builds the same 3D load plan in any browser, needs no training, and puts the plan on every phone on the dock with a link and a QR code. If you want a shortlist by what you're loading instead of by tool, I wrote the best load planning software in 2026, picked by job, and it says Truck Packer is the wrong pick for 5 of the 6 jobs. Whichever way you go, run your real load through two trials before you pay for either.

Got a load to plan this week? Log in to Truck Packer and pack it.