"Freight marketplace" covers at least five different products. They look similar from the outside — a website where freight gets arranged — but they optimise for different things and answer to different customers. Picking the wrong category wastes more time than picking the wrong company within a category.
Category descriptions reflect publicly available information as of August 2026. Individual products change; verify current features before deciding.
The five models
| Model | What it does | Optimises for | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Directory | Lists providers you contact yourself | Discovery and breadth | Freightnet, Freightbook |
| Request-and-quote marketplace | You post a shipment; providers compete | Competitive tension per shipment | CargoLinked, Freightnet's request flow |
| Instant-rate marketplace | Priced, bookable options on the spot | Speed on standard lanes | Freightos, SeaRates |
| Digital forwarder | Is the forwarder, with a software front end | A single integrated experience | Flexport, iContainers, Ship4wd |
| Procurement / TMS | Structured tendering and rate management | Governance at volume | GoComet, Transporeon, Cargobase |
A sixth exists but is not for shippers: forwarder networks such as JCtrans, WCA-style alliances and Globalia connect forwarders to each other for agent relationships and reciprocal business.
How to choose
Shipping occasionally, standard cargo, major lane
An instant-rate marketplace gets you a number fastest, and a digital forwarder gives you one counterparty end to end. Both are reasonable; the digital forwarder costs more attention up front and less per shipment afterwards.
Shipping regularly, want a relationship
A request-and-quote marketplace or a directory. You are buying a provider, not a transaction, and the forwarder who quotes your third shipment already knows your cargo. Vetting matters here — see how to choose a freight forwarder.
Non-standard cargo or a thin lane
Request-and-quote, or a directory filtered to specialists. Instant rates thin out precisely where cargo gets unusual, because a pre-loaded rate cannot anticipate out-of-gauge, hazardous or temperature-controlled specifics.
Hundreds of shipments a year, several sites
Procurement or TMS territory. At that scale the problem is not finding a price, it is governing rate agreements, allocations and carrier performance — a different product from a marketplace.
You are a forwarder, not a shipper
Directories and request-and-quote marketplaces generate inbound demand; networks generate agent relationships. They serve different halves of the business, and most active forwarders use both.
What to check before committing to any of them
- Who holds the contract? A digital forwarder contracts with you; a marketplace usually steps aside so you contract with the provider. That changes who is liable when cargo is damaged.
- Where does the price come from? A pre-loaded lane rate, a live carrier feed, or a person quoting your shipment. Each has different reliability — see instant freight quotes explained.
- What is actually included? Origin charges, destination charges, customs, delivery. This is where quotes diverge most — how to compare freight quotes.
- What screening exists? Ask directly, and be sceptical of blanket "verified" claims. Many platforms, ours included, publish provider-supplied information without prior review. That is workable if you know it and do your own checks; it is a problem if you assumed otherwise.
- Can you leave? Whether you can take your provider relationships and shipment records with you.
Where CargoLinked sits
A directory plus a request-and-quote marketplace: providers listed across 194 countries for discovery, and posted requests so forwarders on your lane compete for a specific shipment. We are not a forwarder and we do not offer instant rates. Listings are self-published, with an optional Verified badge for those that submit documents for review. The mechanics are in how CargoLinked works, and the one-to-one comparison in CargoLinked vs Freightos.
Also useful: what a freight marketplace is, marketplace vs broker, and marketplaces by mode.
Want to test the request model? Post a freight request — free, and no obligation to accept a quote.
