CarrierScrub
At a glance
| Comparison point | CarrierScrub | Carrier411 |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost, USD | $0 on Pay-as-you-go. 25 lookups free every month, then $1.00 each | $99, one published rate (their site, 8 Sep 2026) |
| Checks without an account, per day | Three | None. Account required |
| Free trial or free tier | Free permanently, not a trial | 30-day free trial |
| Who may open an account | Anyone, including a carrier checking its own record | Trucking companies, dispatch services, attorneys, consultants and compliance services are blocked |
| Carriers per batch upload | Up to 1,000 carriers per upload, on Pay-as-you-go | Not published |
| Source you can open yourself | Every finding names its FMCSA filing and date | FreightGuard reports are filed by other customers |
| Paid plans | $79/mo Small Brokerage · $249/mo Agency, with unlimited API lookups | One published rate, $99/mo |
On the two facts that stop a fraudulent tender -- is the authority active, is insurance on file -- the gap is $99 a month and an eligibility screen.
What each checks
CarrierScrub's checks come straight from FMCSA's own files. From the operating-authority, out-of-service and insurance records: is the authority active, is a federal out-of-service order in force, and is insurance on file at or above the required amount. From FMCSA's current Motus record: a required cargo insurance or bond filing missing, and mail returned undeliverable. From registration history: a new USDOT number registering days after a revocation was served on a carrier at the same telephone number. And from FMCSA's SMS snapshot: the safety rating with its date, 24-month out-of-service rates and crash counts, and any acute or critical finding from an FMCSA investigation, each dated to the snapshot. What no result shows is a BASIC percentile: FMCSA does not publish them for property carriers. See the verdict rules.
Carrier411's own list covers operating authority, insurance, FMCSA safety ratings, BASIC percentile scores, inspections, violations, crashes, out-of-service orders and census data, plus FreightGuard reports filed by its own customers.
Who should switch
Brokerages paying $99 a month mainly to confirm a carrier's authority and insurance before a tender. CarrierScrub does that on Pay-as-you-go, with no trial clock and no eligibility screen, and adds batch upload, email alerts when a watched carrier's verdict or FMCSA contact details change, and packets with a public verification link. Small Brokerage and Agency add a vetting file: your written carrier-selection policy and every check by carrier or by load, printable and as a CSV. Carrier411 remains the deeper tool if your process depends on FMCSA safety history since 2005 or FreightGuard reports.
Switch in three steps
Export your carrier list
Any CSV or XLSX with a USDOT or MC column. There is no template to fill in.
Upload it free
Up to 1,000 carriers per upload on Pay-as-you-go. You get a verdict per row and a packet link per carrier.
Put the list on watch
Email lands when a watched carrier's verdict or its contact details on FMCSA's record change.
Where Carrier411 is the better choice
- BASIC percentile scores and inspection-level violation history -- Carrier411 has both; CarrierScrub adds the safety rating, out-of-service rates and crash counts from FMCSA's SMS snapshot, and no percentile, since FMCSA does not publish one for property carriers.
- A self-reported fraud-report database (Carrier411's FreightGuard, 200,000+ reports as of their own count) -- useful, but also exactly the kind of self-reported system reviewers say has been used to file false reports. CarrierScrub has no equivalent; every reason code it shows traces to a specific FMCSA filing and date instead.
- 20+ years of historical carrier data. CarrierScrub's data starts from its own ingest, not a multi-year archive.