The best AI tools for freight forwarders each do one job well: answering quote requests, reading shipping documents, clearing customs entries, matching invoices or sorting a shared inbox. Pick by the job that costs your team the most hours, not by the longest feature list.
Disclosure: we make Laneworks, so it's listed first, and we've said where it's not the right fit. Other tools are described from their own published pages, checked November 2026; check their sites for current details. Updated 8 November 2026.
| Job | Tools | Laneworks fit |
|---|---|---|
| Answering quote requests | Laneworks, Expedock (Freya), Freightify | Yes: this is what it does |
| Shipping documents and customs entries | Raft, Expedock | No |
| AP invoices and reconciliation | Raft, Expedock | No |
| AI shared inbox across mailboxes | Logixboard Helm, Raft (Intelligent Inbox) | Quote requests only |
| Everything inside one system | CargoWise, Magaya, Logistaas | Works alongside them |
| Reading and drafting general email | ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot | Prices what they can't |
Reads the customer's quote request (email, Excel or PDF attachment, website form), prices every line from your own rate sheet by fixed rules and drafts the reply with a PDF quotation in about two minutes. Anything the sheet doesn't cover is flagged, never guessed. Fully priced quotes can be sent automatically from your own mailbox.
Price: Starter A$1,500/month (up to 150 quote requests), Growth A$3,500, Operations A$7,500 (ex GST), unlimited users. Unlimited users. More
Freya is Expedock's AI agent for forwarders. Its published tasks include classifying email, drafting freight quotes (from an existing rate sheet or by emailing carriers and truckers for spot rates), shipment status replies, booking coordination and invoice posting, with an Expedock operator reviewing its work.
Price: On request. More
Rate management and quoting platform for forwarders, with a QuoteAI feature and an Outlook add-in.
Price: Contact sales; 7-day trial (published, checked Oct 2026). More
Raft's AI extracts data from commercial invoices, packing lists, bills of lading and certificates of origin for customs clearance, validates and matches carrier invoices for AP, and classifies and routes inbound email to the right team.
Price: On request.
An AI inbox for forwarders, priced per connected mailbox with unlimited users.
Price: From US$1,000/month for 1–10 mailboxes (published, checked Oct 2026). More
Each includes quoting and rate management as part of the wider system. CargoWise and Magaya are full forwarding platforms; Logistaas is a lower-cost TMS for small and mid-sized forwarders.
Price: Part of your licence (CargoWise transaction pricing; Logistaas from US$45–85 per user per month plus implementation, published Oct 2026). More
Good at summarising threads, pulling details out of messy emails and drafting replies. They don't hold your current rates, can get surcharges and arithmetic wrong without saying so, and can't show where a figure came from, so they shouldn't set prices.
Price: Included in many Microsoft 365 and ChatGPT business plans. More
More: Microsoft Copilot for freight forwarders · Best freight quoting software · AI for freight forwarders: what works today
Laneworks publishes its test: 22 typical quote requests run against a rate sheet you can download, with every total recalculated by hand. It will also run 20 of your own requests against your rate sheet, free, and send back the scored workbook. See the benchmark
It depends on the job. For answering quote requests from your own rate sheet, Laneworks; for customs entries and AP invoices, Raft; for an AI agent working alongside an outsourced operator, Expedock; for rate management with carrier rates, Freightify. Most forwarders start with the task that takes the most hours each week, which is usually quoting or data entry.
Yes, when the AI only reads the request and the price comes from your own rate sheet by fixed rules. Ask any vendor to run your own recent requests against your rates and show the totals line by line.
No. Laneworks, Raft and Expedock work alongside your TMS. Replacing the TMS itself is a separate, larger project.
It is useful for reading and drafting emails, but it doesn't hold your rates or show where a price came from, so it shouldn't set prices.
Forward a real quote request to try@getlaneworks.com; the priced draft comes back in about two minutes.