Hotshot Load Boards in 2026: Prices, Search Filters and Broker Data on DAT, Truckstop and Free Boards

DAT's equipment list has more than 60 trailer types. Two of them have "hotshot" in the name. 123Loadboard doesn't have a hotshot trailer type in its search form at all: its help center tells you to search Flatbed, Step Deck and Removable Gooseneck, then cap the weight and length yourself.

Equipment categories and load suitability aren't the same thing. The broker picks the category, and a load posted as flatbed may fit a one-ton with a gooseneck or may need a semi. The category tells you what trailer the broker had in mind, not whether the load fits your rig. So the board that suits a hotshot is the one that lets you filter by weight and length quickly, and shows broker credit and days-to-pay next to the load.

Quick answer: On any board, search the hotshot type where one exists and the plain flatbed, step deck and gooseneck types as well. Set your real maximum weight and deck length. As a first filtering step, you can hide loads posted without weight or length, then come back to them: some are worth a call to the broker. Pay for a board only after it shows you enough loads you can legally haul on your own lanes, with broker credit and days-to-pay next to them.

Everything below about each board comes from that board's own website, as we read it on 2 November 2026. Prices are the list prices the sites publish, before fees and taxes. They are not quotes, and what's included can change with the plan. We could not read every board: 123Loadboard's main site, FR8Star and LoadMatch returned an access error to our browser, so we quote no prices for them.

The Boards at a Glance

Prices are list prices as each board's site published them on 2 November 2026, before fees and taxes. They are not quotes.

A Hotshot Search Is a Weight and Length Filter

Here is how each board handles hotshot freight, from its own pages:

• DAT has hotshot equipment codes. Its equipment type list includes Flatbed Hotshot (FH) and Van Hotshot (VH) among more than 60 types, next to Flatbed (F), Step Deck (SD) and Removable Gooseneck (RG).
• 123Loadboard handles it with filters. Its help article on hotshot loads says to enter Flatbed (F), Step Deck (SD) and Removable Gooseneck (RG) as trailer types, set your maximum weight and length, and exclude loads without weight and without length so you aren't "calling on many loads that will require a transport semi-truck." It also says to read the load notes, where a broker "might mention hotshot (HS)," and to use the HS option under trailer specs on the results page.
• Trucker Path TruckLoads shows a trailer type filter and separate deadhead radius fields for pickup and drop-off on its load search page. We found no hotshot-specific wording on that page.

The same 123Loadboard article adds a fair warning: "some loads without the weight and/or length posted may be worth contacting." Hiding them is a first pass, not a rule.

Two habits follow, whichever board you use:

1. Search the hotshot code and the plain types. If you search only FH on DAT, you see only what brokers chose to post as FH.

2. Type in your real numbers. A weight and length filter set to what your rig can legally haul does more work than any hotshot label.

The label is the broker's choice. The weight limit is yours.

What the Paid Boards Publish

DAT

DAT's hot shot load board page defines hot shot loads as "freight that needs to be delivered fast and is small enough to fit in a box truck or on a removable gooseneck," often from oil and gas or construction. For research it lists credit scores and company reviews, inbound and outbound load volume by state, and average market rates on each lane you search, plus alerts and the mobile app. The page lists the DAT Load Board from $59 a month.

The volume figures on that page are "over 291 million trucks and loads posted every year," "nearly 722,500 loads posted daily" and "more than 266 million loads posted annually." Those figures cover all equipment types, not hotshot loads alone.

Truckstop

Truckstop's hot shot load board page names "bumper pull, gooseneck, step deck, or lowboy" trailers and claims "tens of thousands of new loads posted daily." It lists three plans, priced per user per month:

• Basic, $42: load search, truck posting, an authority age filter, backhaul search and broker factorability data, among other features.
• Advanced, $135: everything in Basic plus Report a Broker, Broker Rating and Book It Now.
• Pro, $159: everything in Advanced plus real-time live loads, rate insights and load alert notifications.

The prices exclude fees and taxes, and a "$42 non-refundable Application Fee applies," credited to your first month if you're approved.

Three lines on that page matter more to a hotshot than the price:

• Authority. "Loads shown in the Load Board match your operating authority. Carriers with intrastate-only authority will see intrastate loads." If you started out intrastate, you'll see a smaller market.
• Alerts. The page says hotshot loads "are generally time sensitive," and its plan list puts load alert notifications in Pro only.
• Book It Now. The page says it lets you book "outside broker business hours." Truckstop describes Book It Now as free to carriers but lists the feature under its Advanced subscription. Confirm which plan provides access and whether any booking fees apply before subscribing.

123Loadboard

We couldn't read 123Loadboard's pricing or membership fee pages: its main site returned an access error to our browser on 2 November 2026, so we quote no price. Its App Store listing describes the mobile app as free with in-app purchases and says loads display "Credit Scores from eCapital and TransCredit." PC*Miler mileage, routing and toll costs and Rate Check are marked "limited access for guest users; add-on required." Ask 123Loadboard for the current membership price before you compare it with the others.

Trucker Path TruckLoads

The TruckLoads load search page offers a 7-day free trial of its paid insight (lane market rates, broker payment speed and credit score). It also offers to connect a Truckstop account for "150,000+ more loads," starting at $42 a month.

Compare the 24 load boards on TruckMyApps

TruckMyApps lists 24 load boards, from DAT and Truckstop to free boards and car-hauling marketplaces. Open a listing to see what the board offers, then try its hotshot search on the board's own site.

See load boards →

The Free Boards, and Who Pays for Them

• Direct Freight invites you to "Create a Free Account" on its home page, and lists credit scores, days-to-pay, broker authority, bond and insurance details, alerts and deadhead mileage among its tools. The home page says nothing about hotshot freight, and we couldn't load its pricing page, so we can't tell you what the free account includes.
• HaulPay offers its load board to carriers as a "Free web or mobile app," with load search, truck posting and trending market rates. HaulPay lists carrier factoring and a fuel card among its other services.
• PickATruckLoad says on its home page that searching and posting are free and that "Over 50,000 to 100,000 Loads posted every day." It also says the free service is "provided courtesy of 1st Commercial Credit," a factoring company.

A free board is still a business, and on two of these three the business behind it is factoring. That's no reason to skip them. It's a reason to treat any factoring offer that comes with the board as a separate decision.

For how the big boards compare beyond hotshot freight, see our load board comparison.

Sizing Hotshot Freight on Your Own Lanes

Every volume figure above counts all equipment. The only page we read that sizes hotshot freight at all is 123Loadboard's help article, which says "hundreds of LTL / Hotshot loads," without saying over what period.

So test it yourself before you pay for a year:

1. Pick the two lanes you actually run, out and back.

2. On the same morning, run the same search on two boards: your trailer types and your maximum weight and length, with the same filters on both boards.

3. Count the loads you could legally haul, and how many of their brokers show days-to-pay you can live with.

4. Repeat on another weekday. Then pay for the board that won on your lanes.

A board is worth what it shows on your lanes. A nationwide count covers every trailer type and every lane, so it can't tell you that.

Which Setup Fits Which Hotshot

• If you run weekends or part-time, start on a free board such as Direct Freight, HaulPay or PickATruckLoad, and add a paid month only for the weeks you plan to run hard.
• If you run full-time with interstate authority, pick one paid board with broker credit and days-to-pay where available, using the two-lane test. On Truckstop, decide whether you need alerts (Pro) or Book It Now (Advanced) before you pay for either.
• If you have intrastate authority only, Truckstop says it will show you intrastate loads. Ask any other board how it handles your authority before you subscribe.

Find your hotshot board on TruckMyApps

Open the TruckMyApps load board list, pick two boards that cover your lanes, and run the same hotshot search on both before you pay for either.

Browse load boards →

We read the hotshot and load board pages of DAT, Truckstop, 123Loadboard (help center and App Store listing), Trucker Path TruckLoads, Direct Freight, HaulPay and PickATruckLoad on 2 November 2026. Prices and features are what those sites publish, and they change often: check the board's own site before you subscribe. Directory counts are TruckMyApps data as of 2 November 2026.