Best DOT compliance software for trucking carriers, compared.
Thirteen vendors, side by side — what each one actually is, who it genuinely suits, the real starting price where the vendor publishes one, and whether it needs hardware or a contract. Written by a vendor on this list, and we say so.
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- ✓ What the product actually is
- ✓ Published starting price, or “quote only”
- ✓ Hardware required in the truck?
- ✓ Contract length or month-to-month
- ✓ Who it honestly beats us for
For a small-to-mid carrier that wants driver qualification files, expiration alerts, audit-ready documents and driver settlements in one flat-priced app, Fleetive (that’s us — from $29/month, no hardware, no contract) is the right-sized buy. For hours of service, GPS and dashcams you need an ELD, and Samsara or Motive are the strongest — Fleetive is not an ELD and does not record HOS. To outsource compliance entirely, Foley or J. J. Keller do the work for you; for high-volume driver recruiting, Tenstreet is the category leader. Most compliant carriers run two tools: an ELD for the truck, and a compliance system for the paperwork.
Last updated 6 September 2026. Prices are as published by each vendor on that date — confirm current pricing with the vendor before buying.
DOT compliance software compared
Every price below was read off the vendor’s own website. Where a vendor does not publish pricing, the row says “Quote only” — we have not estimated, and we have not repeated a number from a third-party directory as if it were the vendor’s.
| Vendor | Best for | Starting price | Hardware required | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fleetive (that’s us) All-in-one DOT compliance and driver back office for small-to-mid carriers | Small-to-mid carriers who want compliance, driver files, documents and settlements in one flat-priced app | $29/mo (Owner-Operator) | No | Month-to-month |
| Foley Managed DOT compliance service plus a compliance platform | Carriers who want compliance done FOR them — drug & alcohol program, Clearinghouse queries and MVR monitoring handled by a team | Quote only | No | Not published |
| J. J. Keller (Encompass) Fleet safety and compliance platform from a long-standing regulatory publisher | Carriers who want the deepest regulatory expertise, managed services and ELD under one roof | Quote only | Optional (ELD) | Not published |
| Tenstreet Driver recruiting, marketing and onboarding platform | Fleets hiring drivers continuously and at volume | Quote only | No | Flexible — annual not required |
| Fleetworthy Enterprise safety, compliance, tolling and weigh-station bypass | Larger fleets that also want toll management and bypass alongside compliance | Quote only | Yes for bypass | Not published |
| FileFlo Document-compliance and driver-file platform for SMB fleets | Carriers who mainly need documents organised and audit-retrievable fast | $199/mo (up to 15 trucks) | No | Month-to-month |
| Motive ELD, GPS telematics, AI dashcams and fleet operations | Carriers who need ELD, hours of service, GPS and dashcams | Quote only | Yes | Not published — confirm |
| Samsara Enterprise connected-operations platform: ELD, telematics, video, sensors | Larger, mixed fleets wanting one telematics platform across vehicles and equipment | Quote only | Yes | Not published — confirm |
| DOTDriverFiles Driver qualification file software with instant MVR and PSP ordering | Very small carriers who want the cheapest possible per-driver DQF tracking | Free + per report | No | Month-to-month |
| Dotra AI-assisted DOT compliance software for carriers and owner-operators | Carriers who want an AI assistant on top of document and deadline tracking | $149.99/mo (1–9 trucks) | No | Month-to-month |
| Whip Around Mobile DVIR inspections, defect management and maintenance | Fleets whose weak point is daily inspections and maintenance records | $5/asset/mo | No | Annual billing; terms vary |
| FleetDrive 360 Compliance software plus à-la-carte filing and authority services | New-entrant carriers who need authority, BOC-3, UCR and a consortium set up at once | $5/driver/mo | No | Not published |
| Simplex Group Full-service DOT compliance, permitting and insurance agency | Carriers who want a person, not a dashboard — especially around permits and insurance | Quote only | No | Not published |
Pricing as published 6 September 2026. “Quote only” means the vendor publishes no price and requires a sales conversation. Fleetive is our own product and is labelled as such. Full price detail and the source page for each figure appear in the vendor sections below.
The 13 vendors, honestly
Each entry says what the product is, where it genuinely beats the others — including where it beats us — and what it costs you to choose it.
Fleetive
Our product- Pricing:
- $29 / $69 / $99 / $179 per month by fleet size; $290 / $690 / $990 / $1,790 annual; Enterprise custom. 14-day free trial, no credit card.
Fleetive is back-office software for carriers with 1–25 trucks, with custom plans above that. It keeps driver qualification files against 49 CFR Part 391, tracks CDL, medical-card, MVR and annual-review expirations with alerts ahead of the lapse date, stores audit-ready documents per driver and per unit, runs FMCSA hiring and onboarding, and calculates itemised driver settlements. Everything runs in a browser — no device to install in a truck.
Where it wins: one flat price that does not scale per driver or per seat, no hardware, no annual contract, and a compliance model built around what actually fails a DOT audit — incomplete files and expired credentials.
Where it does not: Fleetive is not an ELD and does not record hours of service. It has no GPS tracking, no dashcams and no IFTA mileage capture. If you run CDL drivers subject to the HOS rule you still need a registered ELD alongside it. It is also not a load board or a driver-sourcing engine, and it is deliberately sized for small-to-mid carriers rather than 500-truck enterprises.
Foley
- Pricing:
- Three published tiers — Essential, Professional, Power — with no dollar amounts listed on the pricing page.
Foley is a done-for-you compliance provider first and a software platform second. It acts as a certified third-party administrator for the FMCSA Clearinghouse, runs DOT drug and alcohol testing programs, manages background screening and MVR monitoring, and keeps digital driver files with audit support behind it. The published plan ladder is Essential, Professional and Power, with CSA monitoring, PSP/CDLIS access and audit services appearing on the higher tiers.
Where it genuinely wins: if you do not want to own compliance at all, Foley is a stronger answer than any pure software product. A team runs the drug and alcohol consortium, files the queries and picks up the phone during an audit. For a carrier with no safety manager and no appetite to become one, that is worth paying for.
Where it costs you: recurring service fees, and less day-to-day control over your own records. Pricing is not published, so you cannot size it without a sales conversation.
J. J. Keller (Encompass)
- Pricing:
- No price on the Encompass product page or the DQ File Management Service page — both route to a contact form. Third-party directories circulate per-vehicle figures; we do not repeat them because the vendor does not publish them.
J. J. Keller has been publishing DOT regulatory material for decades, and Encompass is the software expression of that. It covers driver qualification tracking, hours-of-service logging, training, accident recording, vehicle maintenance and credential management, with optional AI dashcams, and is positioned for fleets from 1 to 3,000 drivers. Managed services are available on top, so the same vendor can both sell you software and do the work.
Where it genuinely wins: regulatory depth. When a rule changes, J. J. Keller is often the source other vendors are reading. If you want one supplier for compliance software, ELD, training content and expert help, it is the most complete option on this list.
Where it costs you: no published pricing, an enterprise-shaped product a 5-truck carrier will use a fraction of, and hardware in the mix once ELogs are included. Small carriers frequently find the platform heavier than the problem.
Tenstreet
- Pricing:
- Tenstreet states pricing varies by products used and fleet size, and that an annual contract is not required. No dollar amounts published.
Tenstreet is a driver-acquisition machine. Its IntelliApp is one of the most widely used driver applications in US trucking, and the platform wraps it in recruitment marketing, lead management, previous-employer verifications, onboarding workflows and safety modules. There is a lighter "On Demand" tier aimed at smaller fleets, and Tenstreet says annual contracts are optional.
Where it genuinely wins: high-volume recruiting. If your bottleneck is sourcing and processing drivers — dozens of applications a week, verifications piling up, recruiters needing a pipeline view — Tenstreet beats a general compliance tool decisively. Fleetive does not source drivers or run recruitment advertising.
Where it costs you: it is sized and priced for fleets that hire constantly. A carrier that hires four drivers a year is buying a recruiting engine to solve a filing problem, and pricing is quote-only so you cannot check the fit yourself before talking to sales.
Fleetworthy
- Pricing:
- Billed per driver and per vehicle depending on the services taken; the pricing FAQ describes the model but publishes no dollar amounts.
Fleetworthy combines safety and compliance management with toll management and weigh-station bypass — a bundle aimed at fleets whose costs are dominated by miles, tolls and inspections. On the compliance side it covers driver qualification files, medical-card and CDL monitoring, drug and alcohol testing, MVR checks, hours-of-service compliance, preventive maintenance, DOT inspections and DVIR defect tracking from one dashboard.
Where it genuinely wins: scale and breadth. If you run enough trucks that tolling and bypass are a real line item, having them in the same platform as compliance is a legitimate advantage no small-carrier tool matches. Its audit and consulting muscle is enterprise-grade.
Where it costs you: pricing is per driver and per vehicle and quote-only, bypass involves in-cab hardware, and the platform assumes a fleet with someone whose job is compliance. At 5 trucks that is over-buying.
FileFlo
- Pricing:
- $199/mo up to 15 trucks ($1,990/yr); $399/mo for 16–50 trucks ($3,990/yr); optional $499 one-time "Audit-Ready Setup". 14-day free trial, month-to-month.
FileFlo is a document-compliance layer: driver qualification files, compliance scoring, audit packets and an inspector portal, with a paid onboarding option that promises your records are organised and audit-retrievable inside 14 days. It is not trucking-only — the same platform is pitched at OSHA, EPA and healthcare recordkeeping — and it also sells an aviation product.
Where it genuinely wins: the setup service. If you are staring at a filing cabinet, a shared drive and an audit letter, paying someone to impose order in two weeks is a real product, and the flat pricing does not charge per driver.
Where it costs you: at $199/mo for up to 15 trucks it is materially more expensive than several trucking-native alternatives, its breadth across industries means less trucking-specific depth, and it stops at documents — no settlements, no driver pay, no fleet maintenance records. Note that third-party directories list a $299/mo figure; the vendor’s own pricing page says $199.
Motive
- Pricing:
- No published rate card; hardware is billed separately and terms are negotiated with sales. Third-party directories circulate per-vehicle figures; we do not repeat them because the vendor does not publish them.
Motive (formerly KeepTruckin) is an ELD and telematics platform: hours-of-service logging, GPS tracking, AI dashcams, driver safety scoring, IFTA fuel-tax reporting and equipment monitoring, with a vehicle gateway installed in each truck.
Where it genuinely wins: everything that requires a device in the truck. If you need a registered ELD, live location, dashcam footage after an incident, or automatic IFTA mileage, Motive does that and Fleetive flatly does not. This is not a close call — it is a different job.
Where it costs you: hardware billed up front per vehicle, pricing that is not published, and contract terms set in the quote rather than published. It is also not a driver-file system: Motive will log your hours, but it will not tell you that a driver’s medical card expires in 30 days or that his annual review of driving record is missing from the DQF. Most compliant carriers run an ELD and a compliance system, not one or the other.
Samsara
- Pricing:
- No dollar amounts published; the pricing page routes to a quote form keyed to fleet size.
Samsara is the enterprise end of telematics: ELD and hours of service, GPS, AI dash cameras, trailer and equipment tracking, environmental sensors, maintenance and a large integrations ecosystem. It is built to be the single operational data layer for a fleet running hundreds or thousands of assets.
Where it genuinely wins: breadth and reliability of hardware-driven data. For real-time visibility, video-based safety coaching and mixed-asset tracking, Samsara is best in class, and a large fleet with a safety department will use most of what it buys. Fleetive competes on none of that.
Where it costs you: hardware per asset, quote-only pricing, and contract terms set in the quote rather than published — the reason "Samsara alternative" is a search term at all. Small carriers routinely report buying a platform sized for someone ten times larger, and like Motive it is a telematics system rather than a driver-qualification-file system.
DOTDriverFiles
- Pricing:
- Free plan (pay per report); Pro $50/driver/year (~$5/mo); Pro+ $50/driver + $20/vehicle per year. MVRs from $12.95, PSP $19.99. No setup fees, cancel anytime, 14-day trial.
DOTDriverFiles is a focused DQF tool: build and store driver qualification files, order MVRs and PSP reports inside the same workflow, and bill only for drivers you have moved to active status. There is a genuinely free tier where you pay only for the reports you pull.
Where it genuinely wins: price transparency at the very small end. A two-driver operation can be compliant on driver files for the cost of a couple of MVRs a year, and per-driver billing that ignores inactive drivers is fair.
Where it costs you: per-driver pricing crosses over quickly — at 20 drivers the Pro plan is roughly $100/month, above Fleetive’s top published tier — and the scope stops at driver files. No settlements, no fleet or maintenance records, no document vault for the vehicle side of an audit.
Dotra
- Pricing:
- $149.99/mo for 1–9 trucks, $249.99 for 10–24, $349.99 for 25–49, custom at 50+; ~20% off annual. 14-day free trial, no card, month-to-month.
Dotra is a newer, trucking-native compliance platform: a compliance centre for documents and deadlines, human-verified regulatory alerts, an AI compliance assistant, driver qualification and vehicle files, and FMCSA monitoring. Pricing is banded by truck count with every feature on every tier, and setup is offered within a business day.
Where it genuinely wins: the AI assistant is a real differentiator for an owner-operator with no safety manager and a regulation question at 9pm, and publishing a full price ladder puts it ahead of most of this list on transparency.
Where it costs you: at $149.99/month for a single truck it is roughly five times Fleetive’s owner-operator plan, and the band jumps to $249.99 at ten trucks. The scope is also compliance-only — no driver settlements or pay calculation — so a carrier that pays drivers per mile still needs something else.
Whip Around
- Pricing:
- Basic free for one asset; Standard $5 per asset per month (annual) for inspections and defects; Pro $10 per asset per month (annual) adding preventive maintenance and work orders.
Whip Around turns the driver vehicle inspection report into a phone workflow: drivers complete a DVIR on their handset, defects route to maintenance, work orders and parts inventory are tracked, and the paper trail is retained. Pricing is per asset per month with a free single-asset tier for owner-operators.
Where it genuinely wins: inspection and maintenance discipline. If your violations come from missing or sloppy DVIRs and deferred defects, this is a sharper instrument than a general compliance suite, and it is cheap to start.
Where it costs you: it is not a driver-side compliance product. No driver qualification files, no medical-card or CDL expiration management, no Clearinghouse, no settlements. Per-asset pricing also compounds — a 30-truck fleet on Pro is $300/month. It pairs with a compliance system rather than replacing one.
FleetDrive 360
- Pricing:
- Platform access $5 per driver per month; service packages priced separately, e.g. CDL Carrier Package $633, Full Authority Package $1,270, drug & alcohol consortium $185/driver, DQF $199 initial / $159 renewal.
FleetDrive 360 sits between software and service bureau. The platform itself is inexpensive per driver and covers document storage, driver hiring, maintenance logs and an accident registry, but the substance of the offer is the packaged filings — DOT and MC numbers, BOC-3, UCR registration, Clearinghouse registration and drug and alcohol consortium enrolment, each individually priced.
Where it genuinely wins: day one of a new carrier. If you do not yet have authority, buying the filings and the software from the same place removes a lot of guesswork, and the itemised price list is unusually transparent for this category.
Where it costs you: the à-la-carte model means the real annual cost is the sum of many line items rather than the $5 headline, DQF preparation is billed per file, and contract terms are not published. Once you are established and filing your own renewals, a flat platform fee is usually cheaper.
Simplex Group
- Pricing:
- No pricing published; services are scoped and quoted per carrier.
Simplex is a long-standing full-service compliance and permitting agency with a software layer attached. It handles compliance planning, driver qualification management, filings and registration maintenance, and also sells trucking insurance — a combination that matters to carriers who would rather make one phone call than administer three systems.
Where it genuinely wins: hand-holding, and breadth beyond software. Permits, registrations, IRP/IFTA paperwork and insurance are things no compliance app does for you, and a lot of small carriers value a named account contact over a dashboard.
Where it costs you: nothing is published — not prices, not terms — so comparison is impossible without a sales call, and an outsourced model means your records live with a vendor rather than in a system you control. Carriers who eventually want to run compliance themselves tend to migrate to software.
“Compliance software” means four different things
The reason those thirteen products are so hard to line up is that they are not really competitors. When an owner-operator searches for “DOT compliance software,” the results mix four different kinds of tool — and buying the wrong category is how small carriers end up overpaying for features they never use while still missing the deadlines that actually get them in trouble. Sort the landscape first, then choose.
Managed compliance services
Foley, J. J. Keller managed services, SimplexBest when: You want to fully outsource compliance and pay a team to do it.
Watch for: Recurring service fees; you give up day-to-day control of your records.
Compare with Fleetive: Foley alternative →Telematics & ELD platforms
Samsara, Motive, J. J. Keller ELogsBest when: You need hours of service, real-time GPS, dash cams and IFTA mileage.
Watch for: Per-vehicle hardware plus unpublished contract terms; no driver qualification files.
Compare with Fleetive: Samsara alternative →Recruiting & onboarding
TenstreetBest when: Your bottleneck is sourcing and processing drivers at volume.
Watch for: Modular quote-only pricing; sized for fleets that hire constantly.
Compare with Fleetive: Tenstreet alternative →Accounting & bookkeeping
QuickBooks, RigbooksBest when: Your books, invoicing, and (sometimes) IFTA math.
Watch for: Not trucking-compliance-aware — pair it, don’t rely on it for DQFs or deadlines.
Compare with Fleetive: Rigbooks alternative →The fifth category: all-in-one compliance + back office
There is a fifth option the four categories miss — software that runs the whole back office of a small carrier rather than one slice. That is the gap Fleetive fills. Instead of stitching together a service, a telematics platform, a recruiting tool and a spreadsheet, you get compliance and DQF tracking, driver management, onboarding, settlements and audit-ready documents in one app. It still will not log your hours of service — pair it with an ELD, as most carriers on this list already do. If you want the underlying rules rather than the tools, our FMCSA regulation library and DOT compliance guide cover what each product is trying to automate.
How to choose, by fleet size
Fleet size changes the answer more than any feature checklist, because it changes which billing unit is cheap and which failure mode is likely.
Buy flat, avoid hardware, keep control
At this size nobody has “compliance” in their job title, and the failure mode is almost always an expired medical card, a missing annual review of driving record, or an MCS-150 nobody updated. You need alerts and a complete file — not a telematics platform.
- ✓ Prefer a flat platform fee over per-driver billing — per-driver looks cheap at three drivers and stops being cheap fast.
- ✓ Refuse hardware and multi-year terms for the compliance side. Your ELD is a separate, unavoidable purchase.
- ✓ Insist on a real free trial. Fleetive, Dotra and DOTDriverFiles all offer 14 days; several vendors here offer none.
- ✓ If you genuinely will not do the work yourself, buy a service — Foley or Simplex — instead of buying software you will not open.
Typical shortlist: Fleetive, DOTDriverFiles, Dotra — plus an ELD.
Watch the billing unit, and split the jobs
Past ten trucks you hire often enough that onboarding becomes a workflow, and someone is now part-time responsible for safety. This is where per-driver and per-vehicle pricing quietly overtakes flat pricing — do the arithmetic at next year’s headcount, not today’s.
- ✓ Model the cost at next year’s driver count. $5/driver is $250/month at 50 drivers; a flat plan is not.
- ✓ Expect to run two systems: an ELD/telematics platform for the truck, and a compliance system for driver files and documents.
- ✓ If you hire constantly, price Tenstreet properly — recruiting volume is a real reason to add a specialist tool.
- ✓ Ask every quote-only vendor for the number in writing before a demo. If they will not, you have learned something.
Typical shortlist: Fleetive, FileFlo, Fleetworthy, J. J. Keller — plus an ELD, plus Tenstreet if hiring is the bottleneck.
Not sure which gaps you are buying to close? Run the free DOT audit readiness quiz, or build a driver qualification file checklist for your next hire.
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How we compare these
Disclosure first: Fleetive is one of the products on this list. We have marked our own row, given every competitor a use case where it legitimately beats us, and stated plainly what we do not do — Fleetive is not an ELD, does not record hours of service, does not track GPS and does not source drivers.
- 1. Prices come from the vendor’s own site. Each vendor section names the page the figure was taken from. Where the vendor publishes nothing, the row reads “Quote only” — we do not estimate, and we do not present a third-party directory’s number as the vendor’s own.
- 2. Where a widely-quoted figure disagrees with the vendor, we say so. FileFlo is listed at $199/month from its own pricing page, not the $299 that appears in several software directories.
- 3. “Best for” is a judgement, not a ranking. These products do different jobs; there is no single winner, and a list with one would be less useful.
- 4. No star ratings or review scores. We hold no first-party review data for competing products, so we publish none rather than recycling someone else’s.
- 5. Pricing moves. Everything here is as published on 6 September 2026. Confirm the current price and contract terms with the vendor before you buy.
Last updated 6 September 2026. See all our head-to-head breakdowns on the comparison index, or the narrower best DQF software and best driver settlement software comparisons.
Choosing DOT compliance software
What is the best DOT compliance software for a small trucking carrier?
For a 1–10 truck carrier that wants to own compliance itself, an all-in-one back office is usually the right buy — Fleetive starts at $29/month with driver qualification files, expiration alerts, documents and settlements included, with no hardware and no contract. If you would rather outsource the work entirely, Foley or Simplex are services rather than software. If your real gap is hours of service, you need an ELD such as Motive or Samsara instead, or in addition.
Is Fleetive an ELD?
No. Fleetive is not an ELD and does not record hours of service. It has no GPS tracking, no dashcams and no automatic IFTA mileage. If your drivers are subject to the HOS rule you need a registered ELD — Motive, Samsara or J. J. Keller ELogs — and most carriers run one alongside a compliance and driver-file system rather than expecting either to do both jobs.
Do I still need compliance software if I already have an ELD?
Usually yes. An ELD covers Hours-of-Service logging — one slice of compliance. It does not maintain driver qualification files, track medical-card and CDL expirations, run Clearinghouse queries, hold insurance records, watch your MCS-150 biennial update, or produce an audit-ready document package. Those are recordkeeping obligations under 49 CFR Parts 391 and 382, and they are what auditors ask for first.
How much does DOT compliance software actually cost?
Published prices in this category range from about $5 per driver per month (DOTDriverFiles) through flat platform fees of $29 to $399 per month (Fleetive, Dotra, FileFlo). Several of the largest vendors — Foley, J. J. Keller, Tenstreet, Fleetworthy, Motive, Samsara and Simplex — publish no pricing at all and quote per carrier. Watch the billing unit as closely as the number: per-driver and per-vehicle pricing that looks cheap at three trucks can overtake a flat fee well before twenty.
Should I buy compliance software or a managed compliance service?
A service such as Foley, Simplex or J. J. Keller managed services does the work for you for a recurring fee; software such as Fleetive, Dotra or FileFlo keeps you in control and automates the tracking. Services win when nobody in the business has time to learn the regulations. Software wins on cost and on data ownership. Many carriers start with a service and move to software once the routine is established.
Which DOT compliance tools require hardware or a long contract?
Anything with an ELD or telematics component requires a device in each truck — Motive and Samsara both bill hardware separately and do not publish their contract terms, so confirm the commitment length in writing before you sign; J. J. Keller ELogs and Fleetworthy weigh-station bypass also involve in-cab equipment. Pure software — Fleetive, Dotra, FileFlo, DOTDriverFiles, Whip Around — needs no hardware, though billing terms vary by vendor.
Is QuickBooks or a spreadsheet enough for DOT compliance?
No. QuickBooks is accounting software with no concept of a driver qualification file, a Clearinghouse query, a medical-card expiry or a DOT audit package, and a spreadsheet will not warn you before a credential lapses. Keep the books where they are and pair them with a compliance system.
What should I check before buying any DOT compliance software?
Five things: does it alert you before an expiration rather than merely storing files; does it check driver files against the regulation so an incomplete DQF is flagged; can it export a complete audit package on demand; is the billing unit flat or does it scale per driver and per vehicle; and can you leave — no hardware to strand, no multi-year term.
Fleetive is one of the products compared on this page. Vendor offerings, pricing and contract terms change — confirm current details with each provider before purchasing.
The right-sized tool for a small carrier
Fleetive runs compliance, driver management, onboarding, settlements, and documents in one app — flat pricing, no hardware, no contract. Start your 14-day free trial, no card required.