DispatchDeck vs Motive

Motive (formerly KeepTruckin) is one of the best-funded telematics platforms in trucking, sold mostly through a large outbound sales team. DispatchDeck is the flat-rate, all-in-one dispatch and compliance app for small carriers who want published pricing and a same-day signup. Here's an honest side-by-side.

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Most carriers comparing DispatchDeck vs Motive are running 5 to 50 trucks and frustrated with one of two things: Motive's per-vehicle pricing model that climbs with every truck added, or the requirement to go through a sales conversation before seeing a real number. Motive is a strong enterprise telematics product — hardware ELD, AI dashcam, native GPS — built for fleets large enough to negotiate a custom contract. DispatchDeck is built for the small carrier who needs dispatch, DVIRs, maintenance, billing, and DOT compliance in one app, at a price that's published on the homepage. Both tools work. They're aimed at different buyers. This page lays out the differences honestly.

Feature-by-feature comparison

Honest scoring. Where DispatchDeck doesn't have something Motive does, we say so.

Capability	DispatchDeck	Motive
Pricing model	Flat $150/mo, unlimited users	Per-vehicle, contact sales for quote
Public pricing	Yes — on homepage	No — sales call required
Vehicles included	50 included (+$25/mo per 50)	Priced per vehicle
Hardware required	No — bring-your-own phones	ELD device + dashcam per vehicle
Dispatch board + driver app	Yes	Yes
DVIR / pre-trip + post-trip	Yes — photo + defect → work order	Yes — paired with ELD device
Maintenance + work orders	Yes — full PM + repair tracking	Yes — paid add-on tier
Customer + job tracking	Yes — built-in CRM + price books	No — third-party integration
Billing / invoices	Yes — clock-to-invoice in one flow	No — needs QuickBooks/AP add-on
Time off / PTO tracking	Yes	No
Payroll CSV export	Yes — Gusto / ADP / Paychex format	No
Plaid bank sync + QBO push	Yes	No
Background check + MVR (FCRA)	Yes — Checkr-powered, FCRA Adverse Action in-app	No — third-party
Drug & Alcohol program (49 CFR §382)	Yes — random pool, policy receipts, supervisor training tracking	No — third-party
Mobile app (iOS + Android)	Yes — App Store + Play Store	Yes
Hardware ELD (FMCSA-registered)	No — see "Where Motive wins" below	Yes — FMCSA-registered ELD
AI dashcam / driver scoring	No	Yes — major Motive feature
GPS / telematics	Via integration (Samsara API today)	Yes — native hardware
Compliance partner portal	Yes — DOT consultants manage carrier compliance in one dashboard	No

Last reviewed: May 2026. Motive features inferred from gomotive.com public pages and FMCSA ELD registry. If we got something wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.

Where Motive wins

If any of these matter more than flat pricing or a unified ops app, Motive is probably the right tool — go buy it.

Hardware ELD. Motive operates one of the largest FMCSA-registered ELD fleets in the country. Cellular failover, tamper-resistant install, over-the-air firmware updates. DispatchDeck doesn't make hardware. If you need a registered ELD device for HOS compliance, you need a hardware ELD provider — Motive, Samsara, Geotab, or one of the smaller registered vendors.
AI dashcam program. Motive's dashcam is widely deployed across enterprise carriers, with side-mirror cameras and event-trigger video review. If liability exposure or insurance premium reduction is a board-level concern, Motive's safety package is built for it.
Sales + onboarding team. Motive runs a large outbound sales organization with dedicated account executives, implementation specialists, and ongoing customer success. If you want a human to walk you through procurement and a 90-day rollout, Motive will assign one.
Brand recognition + insurance discounts. Some commercial insurance carriers offer telematics-tier discounts that require a recognized ELD provider on the policy. Motive is on the approved-vendor list at many commercial insurers — worth checking with your agent if telematics discounts factor into your premium.
Native GPS telematics. Motive's hardware streams real-time GPS, engine, idle, and fuel data without needing a third-party integration. If you want native vehicle telemetry from day one, Motive delivers it out of the box.

Where DispatchDeck wins

If your fleet is 5 to 50 trucks and you'd rather see pricing on a webpage than negotiate it on a call, here's what changes when you switch.

Flat $150/mo. Published. Unlimited users. No per-vehicle math. No per-driver math. No "let me get you a quote." Add 10 trucks tomorrow and your bill doesn't move. The price is on the homepage; the signup is two clicks away.
No sales conversation required. Sign up for a 14-day free trial without talking to anyone. Open the live demo without entering an email. If the app feels right for your fleet, you keep going. If not, you close the tab. We chose published pricing over "contact sales" because small carriers shouldn't have to sit through a discovery call to learn what software costs.
One app for the whole shop. Dispatch board, DVIR, maintenance work orders, customer CRM, price books, time tracking, payroll-ready CSV, invoicing, HR, and DOT compliance — all in one tool. Motive sells most of this as separate add-on tiers or through partner integrations. DispatchDeck includes everything in the flat price.
FCRA Adverse Action workflow built in. If you run background checks, you have FCRA obligations: pre-adverse notice, copy of the report, 5-business-day window, final adverse-action notice. DispatchDeck runs the full sequence in-app with audit trail. Many fleet platforms make you do this manually in email.
Compliance partner network. DOT consultants and CTPAs sign up as compliance partners and manage their entire book of carrier clients from one dashboard — random-pool generation, policy receipts, supervisor training, expiring docs. A partner portal at this depth is unusual in small-fleet software.
Built by a fleet owner. DispatchDeck was written by the owner of Tripp In Trucking, a North Dakota oilfield carrier. Every feature exists because a dispatcher or driver complained about doing it the old way. We use the app to run our own fleet every day.

Who DispatchDeck is for

Not every carrier is the right fit for DispatchDeck. Here's who it works for, and who should probably stay with the enterprise platforms.

Good fit for DispatchDeck

Small carriers (5-50 trucks) running oilfield, regional, or local delivery
Founder-operators who don't want to manage a dispatcher team to manage the software
Carriers who don't want to sit through a sales demo before learning the price
Compliance partners (DOT consultants, CTPAs, drug-testing companies) managing 5-50 carriers each
Fleets that already own ELD hardware (Motive, Samsara, Geotab) and want a separate app for dispatch + billing + HR
Carriers tired of bolting QuickBooks, Fleetio, and a TMS together to do what one app should do

Probably stay with Motive

Enterprise fleets (100+ trucks) with a dedicated safety department
Fleets where AI dashcam + accident video review is a board-level safety priority
Buyers who want a dedicated account executive and a multi-week implementation plan
Companies replacing an existing Motive contract with another telematics platform
Operations that need real-time engine diagnostics, geofence alerts, and harsh-event scoring from native hardware

Pricing comparison

DispatchDeck publishes pricing on the homepage. Motive does not — the gomotive.com pricing page asks you to contact sales for a quote. Public reviews and FMCSA filings place Motive's effective cost at roughly $30-$50 per vehicle per month for ELD plus hardware, climbing higher with dashcam and maintenance add-ons.

DispatchDeck

$150 / month flat

Includes up to 50 vehicles. Unlimited users. Every feature — dispatch, DVIR, maintenance, billing, CRM, HR, compliance, BG checks.

+$25/mo per additional 50-vehicle block. +$25 one-time for an SMS credit pack.

Annualized for a 15-truck fleet: ~$1,800/year all-in.

Motive (typical)

~$30-$50 / vehicle / month

Per-vehicle ELD pricing. Multi-year contracts common. Hardware lease additional. Dashcam, maintenance, and AI-safety modules billed as separate tiers.

Pricing not published — sales-call quote required.

Annualized for a 15-truck fleet: ~$5,400-$15,000/year (software) + hardware.

Honest disclaimer: Motive does not publish pricing — we can't show you a real Motive quote because Motive doesn't show one to anyone without a sales call. The numbers above are public-data estimates from FMCSA ELD registry filings and customer reviews. Your actual Motive quote may be higher or lower. The contrast that matters: DispatchDeck shows $150 on the homepage; Motive shows "contact sales."

Frequently asked questions — DispatchDeck vs Motive

Quick answers for fleet owners evaluating both.

Is DispatchDeck a Motive alternative?

It's an alternative for the dispatch, DVIR, maintenance, billing, CRM, HR, and compliance pieces of what Motive sells. It is not an alternative for hardware ELD — if you specifically need an FMCSA-registered ELD device for HOS compliance, you still need a hardware vendor like Motive, Samsara, or Geotab. Many carriers run Motive (or another vendor) for ELD + dashcam and DispatchDeck for everything else.

Is Motive the same as KeepTruckin?

Yes. KeepTruckin rebranded to Motive in 2022. You may still see "KeepTruckin" in older review articles or insurance carrier paperwork. The product line is the same company.

Can I switch from Motive to DispatchDeck mid-contract?

You can run both in parallel for as long as your Motive contract has left. A common pattern: keep Motive for the ELD + dashcam piece, move dispatch, DVIR, maintenance, billing, and HR over to DispatchDeck on day one. When your Motive renewal comes up, you decide whether to keep the hardware piece, switch to a different ELD vendor, or negotiate Motive down.

Does DispatchDeck have ELD?

No. DispatchDeck is software — we don't sell or manufacture a registered ELD device, and we don't claim to. If your operation requires a hardware ELD for HOS compliance, pair DispatchDeck with a registered ELD provider. We integrate with Samsara today and are open to integrating with Motive's API as well.

Why doesn't Motive publish pricing?

Their business model is enterprise outbound sales — pricing varies by fleet size, contract length, hardware terms, and which add-on tiers you select, and a sales rep negotiates each deal. That's a legitimate model for big-fleet buyers who want a custom quote. It's also why a 15-truck carrier evaluating Motive ends up in a 30-minute discovery call before seeing a number. DispatchDeck publishes one number on the homepage because at our size of customer, custom contracts aren't worth the friction.