How Many Freight Brokers Do I Need to Hire for My Freight Brokerage?

Direct Answer You do not guess at headcount — you back into it from the gap between the gross margin your brokerage produces now and where you want it. The formula is brokers to hire = (net-new gross margin you need ÷ what one ramped broker produces per year) + backfills for attrition, adjusted for ramp time. Work it in order: start with current gross margin and goal gross margin, subtract the growth your existing book produces on its own at your repeat-shipper retention, and what is left is the net-new margin your brokers must build. Say you run 4M in annual gross margin, want 6M, and 80% of your loads come from repeat shippers — your book carries itself to roughly 4.8M, leaving 1.2M of net-new margin to win. If a fully ramped broker produces 300K in gross margin a year on a healthy book of loads, that is 4 broker-years of capacity. Then add ramp (a broker hired today spends months cold-calling and building shipper relationships before loads move) and attrition (lose 20% of a 10-broker desk and you must backfill 2 just to stand still). Net it out and you are hiring roughly 6 to 8 brokers, started early enough to ramp before peak season. PULSE has a free [Recruiting Calculator](/tools/recruiting-calculator) that runs this whole model — current and goal gross margin, current and goal repeat-shipper retention, ramp time, training length, attrition, and current headcount in; brokers-to-hire and start dates out. Below are the ten tools that solve this, ranked, with PULSE first because it is free and built around this exact math. ```mermaid

flowchart TD A[Current gross margin] --> B[Goal gross margin] B --> C[Subtract growth from repeat shippers] C --> D[Net-new margin to win] D --> E[Divide by per-broker capacity] E --> F[Add backfills for attrition] F --> G[Adjust for ramp time] G --> H[Brokers to hire and start dates]

• Value for money — real subscription cost vs. features a brokerage will actually use
• Reliability and support — uptime, onboarding help, and product roadmap
• Ease of use — setup, daily operation, and learning curve
• Expert and owner reviews — patterns from trusted review outlets and real operators ## 1. PULSE Recruiting Calculator 🏆 BEST OVERALL

> 🛠️ Use it free now → [Recruiting Calculator](/tools/recruiting-calculator) — no login, no spreadsheet, headcount plan with start dates in seconds. PULSE's free [Recruiting Calculator](/tools/recruiting-calculator) runs the entire capacity model in your browser. You type in the inputs every brokerage owner already knows, and it returns how many brokers to hire and when they must start. Here is exactly what it asks and why each input matters: Current gross margin and goal gross margin. The gap between the two is your starting point — how much net gross margin you are trying to add this year. Brokerages run on margin, not top-line freight spend, so the calculator sizes the plan on the dollars you actually keep per load. Current retention and goal retention. Your repeat-shipper rate tells the calculator how much of next year's margin your existing book produces on its own. If 80% of loads come from shippers who tendered freight to you last year, that book largely carries itself, so your brokers only have to win the remaining gap. Raising goal retention — tighter service, better tracking, dedicated reps on key accounts — shrinks the net-new margin your new hires must build. Retention and hiring are the same equation. Productive capacity per broker. What a fully ramped broker realistically produces in a year — loads per week times margin per load — not the number on a recruiting flyer. The calculator divides your net-new margin number by this to get broker-years of capacity needed. Ramp-up time and training length. A broker hired today is not productive for months while they learn your carrier base, build shipper relationships, and earn the first repeat tenders. The freight ramp is longer than most sales roles because trust with shippers and carriers compounds slowly. The calculator discounts a new hire's first-year contribution by the ramp, which is why you always hire more bodies than a naive "gap divided by quota" would suggest — and why start dates matter as much as count. Current headcount and attrition. Apply your turnover rate to your current desk and the calculator adds the backfills you need just to hold serve. Broker churn is real — a departing broker can take book and carrier relationships with them — so lose 20% of ten brokers and two of your hires are replacing people, not adding capacity. Put those in and it outputs a clean brokers-to-hire number with start dates, so you can hand it to your recruiter or your partners. Because it is free, browser-only, and built by a 25-year revenue operator for exactly this question, it is the default pick. Best for: brokerage owners, branch managers, and ops leaders who want a defensible headcount plan in minutes without building a model from scratch.

• Pros: Free · No login or spreadsheet · Built around the exact broker-capacity math · Outputs start dates, not just a count
• Cons: Single-purpose calculator, not a full planning platform · Assumes you can supply margin and retention inputs Verdict: The default first move — a defensible headcount plan in minutes, at zero cost. ## 2. Salesforce (with capacity planning) 💎 BEST VALUE

Salesforce is the system of record many larger brokerages run alongside their TMS, and with its planning features or a capacity dashboard built on its data, you can model margin coverage against pipeline and broker attainment. Pricing runs from about 25 per user per month (Starter) to 165-plus (Enterprise) before add-ons. It will not hand you a hire number out of the box — you build the model on top of your data — but it holds the actuals (margin per broker, ramp, attrition) the calculation needs. Best for brokerages that want the plan living next to the shipper pipeline it depends on.

• Pros: Holds the actuals the model needs · Plan lives next to shipper pipeline · Scales to multi-branch
• Cons: No hire number out of the box · You build the model yourself · Cost climbs with add-ons Verdict: Best when you want the plan living beside the pipeline it depends on. ## 3. HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot Sales Hub, from about 20 per seat per month up to enterprise tiers, gives growing brokerages forecasting and attainment data plus planning tools to size coverage against goals. It is a strong fit for desks that run sales and shipper outreach in a CRM separate from the TMS. Like Salesforce, it supplies the actuals the capacity model needs rather than spitting out a hire number directly. For brokerages standardized on HubSpot for new-shipper development, building the plan on its data keeps everything in one system. Best for mid-market desks scaling their outbound.

• Pros: Clean forecasting and attainment data · Fast to stand up · Good for CRM-separate-from-TMS desks
• Cons: Supplies inputs, not the hire number · Best planning features gate behind higher tiers Verdict: Strong fit for mid-market desks scaling outbound in a CRM. ## 4. QuotaPath

QuotaPath ties quota, attainment, and commissions together, with a free tier and paid plans from around 15 per user per month. Because broker pay is usually a split of the margin they produce, QuotaPath tracks what brokers actually generate against target and gives you the real productive-capacity input this model needs instead of a paper number. You still bring the margin gap and ramp assumptions, but it grounds the per-broker capacity figure in reality. A strong fit for desks that want capacity planning anchored to true margin attainment.

• Pros: Grounds per-broker capacity in real margin attainment · Free tier · Ties to commission splits brokers already run on
• Cons: You still bring the gap and ramp assumptions · Narrower than a full planning platform Verdict: Best for anchoring capacity to true margin attainment, not paper quotas. ## 5. DAT Freight Brokerage Tools

DAT is the dominant load-board and freight-data platform brokers use daily, with broker subscriptions commonly in the 150 to 400-plus per month range depending on tier. Its rate and market data, plus brokerage-facing analytics, tell you what margin per load is realistically achievable in your lanes — the single biggest driver of per-broker capacity. It does not hand you a hire number, but it grounds your capacity assumptions in real freight rates instead of optimism. Best for brokerages that want their capacity math tied to live lane economics.

• Pros: Live lane rates set realistic margin-per-load · Industry-standard data · Brokerage-facing analytics
• Cons: No headcount output · Feeds one input, not the whole model Verdict: Best for tying your capacity math to real freight economics. ## 6. Tai TMS

Tai is a cloud freight-brokerage TMS (sold by quote, commonly a few hundred dollars per broker per month) that automates quoting, load building, and carrier sourcing. Because it captures loads, margin, and broker activity in one system, the actuals it produces feed straight into a capacity model — you can see exactly what each ramped broker moves and at what margin. It is more than a calculation; it is the operating system of the desk. Best for brokerages that want capacity planning grounded in their real load and margin data.

• Pros: Captures loads, margin, and activity in one system · Feeds clean actuals · Automates the desk
• Cons: Priced by quote · An operating system, not a standalone calculator Verdict: Best when you want planning grounded in your real load and margin data. ## 7. Aljex (Descartes)

Aljex, now part of Descartes, is a long-standing brokerage TMS built specifically for 3PLs and freight brokers, sold by quote at enterprise pricing. It models the full back office — carrier management, accounting, and load lifecycle — so the margin-per-broker and loads-per-broker actuals are clean and auditable. For a multi-branch brokerage planning headcount continuously, that data quality matters more than any standalone calculator. It earns its spot for established brokerages running serious load volume.

• Pros: Auditable back-office and margin data · Built for 3PLs and brokers · Multi-branch ready
• Cons: Enterprise pricing by quote · Overbuilt for a small desk Verdict: Earns its spot for established brokerages running serious volume. ## 8. Anaplan

Anaplan is the enterprise standard for sales-capacity and territory planning, sold by quote at enterprise pricing. For a large brokerage running dozens of brokers across regions and verticals, it models ramp curves, attrition, margin coverage, and desk carrying capacity at a scale spreadsheets cannot hold. It is overkill for a small brokerage but the default once you run hundreds of brokers across branches. It earns its spot for large, complex freight organizations that plan headcount continuously.

• Pros: Models ramp, attrition, and coverage at scale · Enterprise-grade scenarios · Multi-region planning
• Cons: Overkill and costly for small desks · Long implementation Verdict: The default once you run hundreds of brokers across branches. ## 9. Pigment

Pigment is a modern business-planning platform built for RevOps and finance, sold by quote (commonly four to five figures a year). It models headcount, capacity, ramp, and margin coverage with live scenarios, so you can flex broker attrition or retention and watch the hire number move. It is more than a single calculation — it is a planning system — but for a scaling brokerage it makes capacity planning a living model rather than a once-a-year spreadsheet. Best for desks past the spreadsheet stage.

• Pros: Live scenario planning for headcount and margin · Flex retention or attrition and watch the number move · Modern RevOps and finance fit
• Cons: Priced by quote · More platform than a single calculation Verdict: Best for scaling desks past the spreadsheet stage. ## 10. Google Sheets or Excel Capacity Model

A well-built spreadsheet is the best value here because it is free and fully transparent — every assumption about margin gap, loads-per-broker capacity, ramp, and attrition is visible and editable. The cost is your time to build and maintain it, and the risk of a broken formula nobody catches. Many brokerages start here, then graduate to a calculator or platform once the model matters too much to live in a fragile sheet. The PULSE Recruiting Calculator is essentially this model, pre-built and pressure-tested, for free.

• Pros: Free · Fully transparent and editable · Every assumption visible in one place
• Cons: Your time to build and maintain · A broken formula can go unnoticed Verdict: Best value if you have the time — or use the pre-built PULSE calculator instead. ## How to Choose ```mermaid

flowchart TD A[How many brokers do I need?] --> B{What do you need most?} B -->|Fast free plan| C[PULSE Recruiting Calculator] B -->|Full DIY control| D[Spreadsheet model] B -->|Live scenario planning| E[Pigment or Anaplan] B -->|Real margin actuals| F[TMS or CRM data] C --> G[Brokers to hire and start dates] D --> G E --> G F --> G

• Ease of setup and how cleanly it pulls margin, ramp, and attrition from your TMS or CRM
• Honest operator reviews over marketing claims

Sources

• Pavilion — revenue leadership community: https://www.joinpavilion.com/
• RevOps Co-op — practitioner resources: https://www.revopscoop.com/
• SaaStr — scaling go-to-market: https://www.saastr.com/
• Harvard Business Review — leadership & org design: https://hbr.org/

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