fleetchart vs a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is free, flexible and instantly available, and it is how most carriers start. It fails on discipline: every figure depends on someone typing it, so the record drifts the moment a week gets busy. fleetchart reads the rate confirmation for you and gives expenses one place to land, which is the difference between a record that is current and one that is three weeks stale.
Last reviewed · by the fleetchart dispatch desk
Almost every owner-operator has kept a spreadsheet. Many still do, and for a single truck with a dozen loads a month it can genuinely be enough — provided it is filled in.
That proviso is the whole comparison. A spreadsheet is not wrong about anything; it is just empty until somebody types into it, and the person who has to type is the same person who has been driving all day.
| Dimension | fleetchart | a spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Quoted monthly, or free with dispatch service | Free |
| Setup time | Same day | Immediate |
| Flexibility | Fixed model built for trucking | Anything you can construct |
| Data entry | Rate cons read automatically; expenses logged once | Every figure typed by hand |
| Staying current | Updates as documents arrive | As current as your last free evening |
| Document storage | Every document stored against its load | Separate folders, email, glovebox |
| Deadhead in the maths | Counted automatically | Only if you built the formula |
| Multi-user | Role-scoped owner, dispatcher, driver | Shared file, no permissions |
| Tax categorisation | Automatic, IRS-recognised categories | Manual, if at all |
| Audit trail | Every change recorded | None |
| Works offline | No | Yes |
| You own the data | Yes, exportable to CSV and PDF | Yes |
marks the side that genuinely does this better.
Choose fleetchart when
- You have more than a handful of loads a month
- Receipts go missing before they reach the spreadsheet
- You want profit per load rather than a monthly total
- Drivers or a dispatcher need scoped access
- Tax time currently means reconstructing the year
Stay with a spreadsheet when
- You run one truck and a few loads a month and genuinely keep it current
- Your modelling is unusual and you need total control of the formulas
- You have no budget at all — a maintained spreadsheet beats unmaintained software
- You need to work entirely offline
The honest answer
If your spreadsheet is current today, it is not costing you anything and you should keep it. The moment you find yourself reconstructing last month from a carrier bag of receipts, the spreadsheet has already stopped being the cheaper option — you are just paying for it in evenings instead of dollars.
Questions
- Can I import my existing spreadsheet into fleetchart?
- Historical loads and expenses can be brought in from CSV during setup. Most carriers start from the current month and let the history stay where it is, because the value is in what happens from now on rather than in rebuilding the past.
- Is a trucking spreadsheet template good enough?
- A good template solves the structure problem — it will not solve the data entry problem, which is the one that actually causes records to drift. If you have tried templates before and stopped filling them in, the template was not what failed.
- What does a spreadsheet actually miss?
- Usually three things: deadhead miles folded into the rate, irregular expenses like tyres and permits amortised across the year, and unreimbursed lumpers. Each is easy to leave out and each makes loads look more profitable than they were.
Decide with your own numbers.
Bring a week of paperwork to a demo. You will see what your operation looks like in fleetchart before you decide anything.