What does a load board cost?
The two largest UK freight exchanges charged owner drivers roughly £160 to £180 a month per licence in August 2026, sold as 12 month packages billed up front, which is about £1,900 plus VAT before you move a single load. Cheaper boards start around £30 a month. HaulageBoard is £9.89 a month for movers, free for posters, plus £2.98 per side on a completed load.
| Board | Monthly | Committed up front |
|---|---|---|
| Larger UK exchange | £160 to £180 | About £1,900 plus VAT, 12 month term |
| Lower cost exchange | From about £30 | Varies |
| HaulageBoard | £9.89 | Nothing, cancel any time |
Two things make the big exchanges expensive, and the monthly figure is only one of them. The first is that it is a fixed cost against variable work, so a quiet month costs the same as a busy one, which hits small operators hardest. The second is the commitment: packages are sold by the year, paid at the start, with a joining or accreditation fee of around £169 on top and VAT on the lot. If you are not VAT registered you cannot claim that back.
The practical effect is that an owner driver is roughly £2,300 down, including VAT, before a single load moves. That is a real barrier for somebody with one van deciding whether to give it a go.
A mover doing twelve loads a month on HaulageBoard pays £9.89 plus £35.76 in fees, so £45.65 for that month, with nothing to pay up front and nothing to cancel. Posting is free either way here, because the firms with freight to move are the side a board most needs.
None of this makes the big exchanges bad value. They carry far more traffic than we do, and for a busy fleet the subscription is rounding error against the work it finds. We are new and the board is smaller. That is the honest trade, and it is why we charge what we charge.
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Written by the HaulageBoard team. Last updated 23 August 2026.