Free TMS Software: Why Free Costs More Than a Subscription
Your dispatcher spends 90 minutes every morning allocating missions on Excel. Your drivers call every hour to report a delay. Your customers saturate customer service to find out where their delivery is. This disorganization costs you 40 hours per month, equivalent to a full-time employee. A free TMS software promises to solve these problems without investment. Except that between limited features, lack of support and time lost in configuration, this free offer costs you much more than it brings you.
Key Takeaways
- A free TMS makes you lose 40h/month in configuration and bugs, i.e. €1,200 in hidden costs
- Free versions include neither white label, nor advanced optimization, nor responsive support
- The ROI of a complete TMS becomes positive from the first month thanks to measurable operational gains
- An all-in-one platform reduces disputes by 75% and customer service calls by 40%
What is a TMS and why look for a free version?
Software that centralizes all your transport operations
A TMS (Transport Management System) is transport management software that centralizes planning, dispatch, delivery tracking and invoicing. It replaces Excel spreadsheets, phone calls and post-it notes that still clutter too many logistics offices.
Concretely? You create your transport orders. You assign missions to your drivers. You track deliveries in real time. You generate your invoices automatically. All from a single interface.
For an urban carrier with 15 couriers or a retailer managing its own fleet for delivery, a TMS quickly becomes essential. Without this management tool, you spend hours manually coordinating your teams. With a TMS, you save between 1 and 2 hours per day on dispatch alone.
The last mile: 30% of your total logistics costs
The last mile now concentrates 30% of total logistics costs (source Meilleurescpi.com). This share continues to increase with the explosion of urban deliveries and growing demands from end customers: delivery in 2 hours, real-time tracking, precise time slots.
Every inefficiency in your dispatch or routes translates into unnecessary kilometers, wasted time and collapsing margins.
French transport SMEs operate with margins of 2 to 3%, among the lowest in the French economy. In 2024, 3,000 insolvencies mainly affected these SMEs (source BearingPoint). Faced with this pressure, looking for free TMS software seems logical: you want to digitalize without investing, test before committing, avoid complexity.
Why “free” attracts… and why it never suffices
Three reasons push carriers and retailers towards free TMS:
- Limited budget: a monthly subscription represents a fixed cost you want to avoid
- Desire to test: you prefer to validate the usefulness of a TMS before paying
- Fear of complexity: you fear that paid software will be too sophisticated for your structure
The problem? A free TMS rarely covers the complete needs of an urban carrier or a retailer with its own fleet. No fine optimization of routes. No real-time tracking of parcels. No dedicated mobile application for drivers. No white label to display your own identity to your customers.
“An interesting case: Parnass Transport developed a 100% custom in-house TMS, enriched by PTV Logistics’ route calculation API. An assumed approach to maintain total control of the tool while gaining operational performance.”
The reality on the ground? Between a free TMS that makes you lose 40 hours per month in configuration and bugs, and a complete platform from €139/month that saves you 40 hours per month, the ROI becomes positive from the first month.
TMS features: what really matters
You’ve identified the need for a TMS. You’re looking for a free version to test. But do you know precisely which features truly transform your transport operations? The difference between a basic TMS and a complete platform is not measured in number of clicks, but in hours saved and loyal customers.
Route optimization: much more than route calculation
A modern TMS integrates optimization algorithms that reduce kilometers traveled by nearly 20% on urban micro-platforms. This feature is not limited to tracing the shortest path between two points. It takes into account delivery time slots, vehicle capacity, traffic zones, and recalculates in real time if something unexpected happens.
Free TMS often offer only simple static route calculation. You plan your routes in the morning, and if a customer calls to change their time slot at 11am, you replan manually. This rigidity costs you time and degrades service quality. A dynamic optimization algorithm automatically reassigns missions and adjusts routes in seconds.
Automated dispatch: 1 to 2 hours saved per day
Manual dispatch on Excel or by phone mobilizes a dispatcher for 1 to 2 hours every morning. An automated dispatch system intelligently assigns missions based on driver location, their workload, and customer priorities. Simple. This automation frees your team for higher value-added tasks.
At Rexel, interconnection with carriers and the ability to manage each delivery enabled structuring a 2-hour delivery operation with real-time tracking. This transformation is not accessible with a free TMS, which often requires manual intervention for each assignment.
Real-time tracking and customer tracking: 40% fewer customer service calls
Your customers call to find out where their delivery is. Your customer service is saturated. Real-time tracking with automatic notifications reduces these calls by 40%. This feature is not a gimmick: it transforms customer experience and strengthens your professional image.
Minute Pharma deployed Everest to immediately gain traceability on its medication deliveries. Their customers now benefit from real-time tracking that reassures them. This real-time visibility requires robust technical infrastructure, rarely available in free versions.
White label: your identity, not the software’s
A free TMS displays its own logo on notifications and tracking pages. Your customers see the software’s name, not yours. This lack of white label dilutes your identity and reduces your differentiation.
A white-label platform personalizes every touchpoint: notifications, tracking interface, customer feedback. You control the end-to-end experience.
API integrations: connecting your logistics ecosystem
An isolated TMS is useless. You must connect it to your ERP to retrieve orders, to your WMS to synchronize inventory, to your e-commerce site to automate shipments.
Free TMS often limit these integrations or charge extra for them. A modern platform offers native connectors that activate in a few clicks.
Automatic invoicing and reporting: managing profitability
You deliver 200 parcels per day. You invoice your customers at the end of the month. Without automatic invoicing, you spend a full day centralizing data, checking rates, issuing invoices.
A complete TMS automatically generates invoices and detailed performance reports. This automation reduces errors and accelerates your cash cycle.
Free versions rarely include these financial management modules. You must export data to Excel, then recalculate manually. This double entry multiplies error risks and slows your management.
Free TMS: the hidden cost of free
A free TMS software attracts you with its price. Zero subscription fee. But how much does it really cost your operation? Free masks operational costs you discover after several weeks of deployment: time lost in manual configuration, total absence of technical support, and limited features that prevent you from scaling.
Configuration time: several weeks lost
A free TMS never deploys with one click. You must manually configure each dispatch rule, each delivery zone, each customer rate. This configuration takes between 3 and 6 weeks for an urban carrier managing 15 couriers. During this time, your teams continue dispatching on Excel. You gain nothing. You lose time.
Paid transport solutions include deployment support. At Minute Pharma, real-time tracking of medication deliveries was operational immediately after Everest installation. No weeks lost. Immediate gain in traceability.
Lack of support: you are alone facing bugs
A free TMS offers no professional technical support. You encounter a bug? You consult a community forum. You wait for an answer. Sometimes several days. Sometimes never.
Your transport operations continue with faulty tools. Your customers wait. Your image deteriorates.
A carrier who spends 2 hours per day compensating for the limitations of a free TMS loses 40 hours per month. That’s 5 working days. This time creates no value. It repairs what paid software would have handled automatically.
Limited features: impossible to scale
Free TMS impose strict limits:
- Number of deliveries per month capped
- Number of active drivers limited
- Number of tracked customers restricted
- Advanced features disabled
- Limited data exports
You start with 50 deliveries per day. Your business grows. You go to 100, then 200 daily deliveries. The free TMS saturates.
You must migrate to a paid version. Or change tools. You restart all configuration. You lose several more weeks.
At Rexel, complete digitalization of logistics with Everest enabled 2-hour delivery with real-time tracking, without volume limits. The tool followed growth. No migration. No operational disruption.
No white label: your customers see the software, not you
A free TMS displays its own name on notifications and tracking pages. Your customers receive an SMS with the software’s logo. Not yours. Your brand disappears. Your professional image suffers.
You invest in service quality, but a third party reaps the visibility.
“Notifications for our customers brought us exceptional customer experience quality.” — Benoit Ribault, Rexel
A white-label platform like Everest displays your visual identity everywhere: notifications, tracking, customer feedback. Your brand. Your control. Your impact.
Shipper TMS vs Carrier TMS: which one for your business?
You manage a fleet of bike couriers? You manage deliveries from your stores? The difference between shipper TMS and carrier TMS is not just a matter of vocabulary. It determines whether the tool you’re going to choose truly meets your operational needs.
Shipper TMS: manage your carriers from a single interface
A shipper TMS is aimed at retailers and e-merchants who manage their own last-mile logistics. You don’t transport yourself: you orchestrate several local carriers from a single platform.
Let’s take a concrete case. You’re a retailer with 12 ship-from-store locations. Each point of sale ships orders via three different carriers: bike couriers for ultra-local, road carrier for regional, and a national provider for the rest. Without a shipper TMS, you juggle three interfaces, three tracking systems, three invoicing modes. Your teams waste time. Your customers receive inconsistent notifications.
A shipper TMS centralizes everything. You create your transport orders from a single interface. You track all deliveries in real time, regardless of carrier. You offer your customers a unified delivery experience, under your brand.
Rexel deployed this approach with Everest: 2-hour delivery, unified real-time tracking, and exceptional customer experience quality (source: geteverest.io/temoignages).
Carrier TMS: optimize your routes and invoice your customers
A carrier TMS is aimed at logistics providers themselves. You’re an urban courier, cycle logistics, local carrier. You manage a fleet of drivers. Your priority: dispatch efficiently, optimize routes, and invoice your customers without errors.
Imagine an urban carrier with 15 bike couriers. Every morning, 80 missions arrive from five different customers. Without a carrier TMS, you dispatch by hand, you lose 1h30 allocating missions, you call your couriers to adjust routes during the day. At the end of the month, you spend two days reconstructing completed deliveries for invoicing.
A carrier TMS automates this workflow. Dispatch is done in a few clicks. Route optimization reduces kilometers traveled. Your couriers receive their missions on mobile. Invoicing is automatically generated from tracked deliveries.
Vlove structured its large-scale cycle logistics expansion thanks to Everest, opening new services without multiplying tools (source: geteverest.io/temoignages).
Why free TMS fail on both fronts
Most free TMS try to cover all use cases. Result: they don’t properly address either shippers’ or carriers’ needs. You get generic tools that lack critical features for your business.
A shipper needs white label for end customers. A carrier needs route optimization and automatic invoicing. Free TMS rarely offer both. You end up compensating for gaps with external other tools, Excel files, manual transport processes.
Free quickly becomes more expensive than specialized software.
Transport management software: beyond TMS, the all-in-one platform
You tested a free TMS. You added a management tool. Then a spreadsheet for carbon reporting. Result: three interfaces, two manual exports per day, and your customers receiving notifications in the name of software they don’t know.
The digital logistics market will reach $63.55 billion USD by 2029, with a CAGR of 16.43% (Mordor Intelligence). This growth is driven by all-in-one platforms that replace this costly fragmentation with unified management.
One tool for your entire delivery chain
A white-label logistics platform centralizes TMS, customer tracking, carbon reporting and native integrations. You manage 8 couriers or 80 stores from a single interface. Same tool. Same brand. Same control.
Vente-unique.com opened a second logistics platform to support +17.7% growth over 9 months to €172.6M (ITRnews). This integrated approach eliminates flow breaks between dispatch, tracking and invoicing.
Customer experience as differentiation lever
Your end customers don’t see your TMS. They see your notifications, your tracking page, your feedback form. A premium delivery experience reduces customer service calls by 40% (Everest).
Rexel deployed Everest to deliver in 2 hours with real-time tracking. Benoit Ribault, logistics manager, confirms: “Everest brought us interconnection with carriers, the ability to manage each delivery and finally notifications for our customers thanks to which we have exceptional customer experience quality” (Everest).
Your brand remains visible from dispatch to delivery.
Automatic carbon reporting: from constraint to commercial argument
You deliver by bike. You reduce your carbon footprint. But you can’t prove it. Automatic carbon reporting transforms your ecological impact into concrete commercial argument.
The 2026 logistics forecasts emphasize that predictive AI optimizes loading by +20-30%, strengthening resilience against labor shortages. This data becomes a differentiation lever against large road carriers.
Measurable ROI from the first month
| Indicator | Before TMS | With all-in-one platform | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily dispatch time | 90 min | 15 min | 75 min/day |
| Customer service calls | 100/week | 60/week | -40% |
| Customer disputes | 20/month | 5/month | -75% |
| Invoicing time | 2 days/month | 2 hours/month | 14h/month |
An all-in-one platform reduces disputes by 75% and saves 1 to 2h per day (Everest). Deployment is immediate: no weeks of configuration, no custom development to connect your tools.
Minute Pharma gained traceability from day one: “Everest was very simple to deploy. We immediately gained traceability, and our customers now benefit from real-time tracking to reassure them” (Everest).
You replace three tools with one, you reduce your operational costs, and you transform your logistics into competitive advantage.
How to choose your TMS software in 2026: decisive criteria
You’ve identified the problem. You know a free TMS is not enough. One question remains: how to choose the right transport management software without making a mistake? The decision is not just about comparing product sheets. It commits your ability to scale, your brand image and your profitability for the next 3 to 5 years.
Complete features or module puzzle?
A TMS must cover your entire operational chain: route optimization, automated dispatch, real-time tracking, invoicing, and white label. Some software sell you separate modules. Result: you pay three subscriptions to run a single operation.
Others integrate everything into a unified platform. At Rexel, interconnection with carriers, management of each delivery and customer notifications are managed from a single tool. Benoit Ribault, their logistics manager, confirms: “Everest brought us exceptional customer experience quality.”
An all-in-one software reduces interface bugs, accelerates your team training and eliminates friction between tools. You save time from the first week.
Real cost: beyond monthly subscription
A TMS at €0 per month seems attractive. But how much does time lost in configuration cost? An urban carrier who spends 40 hours per month compensating for limitations of free software loses the equivalent of 5 working days. At €30 per hour, that represents €1,200 in hidden costs.
An all-in-one TMS at €200 per month becomes profitable from the first month.
Add to that the cost of non-existent support, missing features that force you to multiply tools, and dispatch errors that generate customer disputes. The return on investment period for a well-executed TMS project is between 6 and 18 months according to Logistique Magazine (2025). But this ROI only materializes if you choose software adapted to your actual business.
Support, deployment and ability to scale
TMS software without responsive support leaves you alone facing bugs. Ask three questions before signing:
- How long to deploy the tool?
- Is training included?
- Does the hotline respond in less than 24 hours?
- Is support available in English?
- Is there personalized support?
Minute Pharma deployed Everest in a few days. Samy Layouni, their manager, testifies: “Everest was very simple to deploy. We immediately gained traceability, and our customers now benefit from real-time tracking to reassure them!” Fast deployment means faster ROI.
Then, check scalability. Your software must follow your growth without changing tools. Going from 50 to 500 deliveries per day should not force you to start over. A modular logistics platform adapts to your volume without brutal extra costs.
White label and native integrations: your identity, your ecosystem
Do your customers see your brand or the software’s? White-label tracking displays your colors, your logo, your messages. This strengthens your professional image and reduces customer service calls by 40% according to Everest field data. A free TMS displays its own name. You lose this loyalty opportunity.
Check native integrations. Your TMS must connect to your ERP, your e-commerce site, your other logistics tools without custom development. An open API gives you this flexibility. Closed software locks you into a limited ecosystem.
With these criteria in mind, you can now evaluate any transport management software and make an informed decision. The right TMS doesn’t cost: it pays.
Taking action
A free TMS attracts with its absence of initial cost. But the 40 monthly hours lost in configuration, lack of support and limited features transform this free offer into an operational black hole. Urban carriers and retailers managing their own fleet need route optimization, automated dispatch, white label and native integrations. These features are not found in free versions.
Everest offers an all-in-one platform that centralizes TMS, customer tracking and carbon reporting. Immediate deployment, responsive support, positive ROI from the first month. Rexel delivers in 2 hours with real-time tracking. Minute Pharma gained traceability from day one. Vlove structured its large-scale cycle logistics expansion. You too, transform your logistics into competitive advantage.
FAQ
Can a free TMS really manage my transport operations?
A free TMS covers basic needs: creating transport orders, manual mission assignment. But it offers neither advanced route optimization, nor white label, nor responsive technical support. You lose 40 hours per month compensating for these limitations.
What is the difference between shipper TMS and carrier TMS?
A shipper TMS is aimed at retailers who orchestrate multiple carriers from a single interface. A carrier TMS is aimed at logistics providers who manage their own fleet. Critical features differ: white label for shippers, route optimization and invoicing for carriers.
How much does a free TMS really cost?
A carrier who spends 2 hours per day compensating for limitations of a free TMS loses 40 hours per month, i.e. €1,200 in hidden costs at €30/hour. A complete TMS at €200/month becomes profitable from the first month thanks to measurable operational gains.
What is the ROI of paid TMS?
An all-in-one platform reduces disputes by 75%, customer service calls by 40%, and saves 1 to 2 hours per day on dispatch. ROI becomes positive from the first month. The return on investment period is between 6 and 18 months according to Logistique Magazine (2025).
Is Everest suitable for small structures?
Everest adapts to urban carriers with 8 couriers as well as retailers with 80 stores. Immediate deployment, training included, responsive support. Minute Pharma gained traceability from day one. Vlove structured its large-scale cycle logistics expansion.
