Truck Packer vs CubeMaster: The Same 3D Load Plan for $28 vs $49 a Month

Truck Packer and CubeMaster do the same core job: they put a 3D load plan for your trucks, trailers, containers and pallets in a browser. Truck Packer starts at $28 a month and CubeMaster Online starts at $49 per account a month. I built Truck Packer to be the easiest load planner to use, so the real differences come down to price, how fast your crew picks it up, and a couple of solver rules CubeMaster has today that we're still building.

CubeMaster costs $49 to $89 per account per month

Source: CubeMaster Online pricing

CubeMaster lists three regular plans: Standard at $49 per account a month for single users, Premium at $59 for "power planners," and Collaboration at $89 for teams. There are also team packages at $99, $169 and $290 a month that bundle one to three full accounts with two or three view-only seats. Each tier caps shipments per day, cargo per shipment and the size of your master database, so the Standard plan tops out at 300 cargo items in the database. The CubeMaster site offers a 30-day free trial.

Truck Packer Pro costs $28 a month, 25% less billed annually

Source: Truck Packer pricing

Pro is $28 a month for one person, with unlimited packs, the case and container library, CSV import, PDF export, AutoPack, weight visualization, shareable packs and a loadout checklist. That's $21 a month less than CubeMaster's cheapest plan. You can pause and resume the subscription when work slows down, which matters if your shipping is seasonal. Business is contact-for-pricing and adds multi-user orgs, collaborative packs, multi-truck packing, API access, WMS integrations and SSO. The trial is 7 days with no credit card, which is shorter than CubeMaster's 30.

Both plan trucks, sea containers, air ULDs and pallets in 3D

Source: Logen Solutions, Load Plan Optimization

Logen describes CubeMaster loading "shipcase, roll, full single pallet load and mixed pallet load" into trucks and sea containers, and it handles truck, sea container, air ULD and pallet loads plus carton optimization for order picking. Logen says it has 13,000 subscribers using it "in a daily mission-critical job." Truck Packer covers the same ground. You load cartons, crates, pallets or road cases into trailers, ISO containers, ULDs, rail cars or rental trucks, AutoPack fills the space, and you get weight per container, collision flags and a PDF for the dock.

Truck Packer ships with about 83 container presets

Source: Truck Packer shipping container library

The preset library covers trailers, ISO 20, 40 and 45 foot containers, air ULDs, pallets, rail cars and rental trucks, so most loads start from a real container instead of typed dimensions. About 24% of our users run warehouse and distribution and another 9% are in freight and logistics. The other 67% are tour production, which is where I come from as a FOH engineer. For those shops there's a bonus: a manufacturer road case library you import from in one click.

CubeMaster has axle balancing today, Truck Packer's is in progress

Source: CubeMaster Online

CubeMaster advertises "Hi/Ti pallet stacking, axle weight balancing, and 53FT dry trailer space optimization," and its pricing page lists stacking, weight, grouping and balancing rules. Truck Packer shows payload per container and a weight heat map, but axle and kingpin weights aren't shipped yet, and AutoPack doesn't take stack limits, bottom-only items or unload priority yet. Just want to be transparent with you on the roadmap: axle weights are being built now. Until then you drag the few items with rules where they belong.

Truck Packer opens on any phone, no account or install needed

Source: Truck Packer changelog, v0.10.2

Truck Packer runs in any browser with nothing to install, and you build a load by dragging items in, so nobody needs training to read or edit a plan. A shared pack opens in Crew View on a phone without anyone signing up, and each truck gets a QR code the crew can scan at the dock. There's a slider showing what percent of items are packed, so the lead can see progress without walking the floor. CubeMaster shares load plans and reports by a link, and its team packages include view-only seats. For a loader standing in a trailer at 1am, a phone and a QR code with no login is faster.

Both import spreadsheets, CubeMaster also connects to ERP

Source: Logen Solutions, CubeMaster Online

CubeMaster has an Excel/CSV import wizard, an external DBMS wizard that can read MS SQL, Oracle or DB2, and a cloud API that Logen pitches for "ERP, WMS & SAP." That's deep enterprise plumbing and it's a real strength, and Truck Packer doesn't have a SAP or ERP connector. Truck Packer imports CSV and XLSX, and the Business importer reads dimensions packed into one column like 48x24x30. Business also adds a REST API and WMS integrations, so your own system can push loads in. Production shops get Stagera pull sheets pushed straight into Truck Packer, and Flex pull-sheet import shipped in September.

Truck Packer does the same load plan for $28 instead of $49 to $89

Source: CubeMaster Online pricing and Truck Packer pricing

Both tools take a list of boxed items and a container and give you a 3D plan with weights you can hand to the dock. Truck Packer does it for $28 a month with a pause button and a crew link that opens on any phone without an account or any training. CubeMaster still has axle balancing, stacking rules and an ERP connector today, and if you need those on every load right now, that's the honest reason to pay more. For everyone else, run the same truck through both trials and see which one your crew can use on day one.

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