Best fleet maintenance software for trucking companies

If you run a trucking fleet of 25 to 1,000 units, the software decision you make will shape your shop's daily reality for years and so will the vendor relationship that comes with it. We've compared the leading platforms on the things that actually matter in a trucking operation, including what happens after you sign.

In this article

1. What to look for including one criteria most buyers overlook

2. The five platforms compared

3. Side-by-side feature comparison

4. Who each platform is best for

5. How to make the final call

The fleet maintenance software market has gotten crowded. Between established names like Fleetio and Cetaris, generic CMMS tools that weren’t built for trucking, and shop management platforms that serve repair shops more than fleets, it’s genuinely difficult to know which platform fits your operation.

We’re not a neutral party, Squarerigger is one of the platforms in this comparison. But we’ve been in fleet maintenance long enough to know that recommending the wrong software to someone does nobody any favors. This guide is designed to help you make the right call for your fleet, even if that call isn’t us.

1. What to look for including one criterion most buyers overlook

Most software comparison guides focus on features. Features matter, but they’re also the easiest thing for vendors to embellish in a demo. The harder question is: what does the relationship look like once you’re live?

Fleet managers who've been through a software transition will tell you two things: the anxiety leading up to go-live is real, and the work doesn't end there. They worry about losing years of work order history, technician pushback, and the process changes that ripple through the shop. But the 18 months after go-live matter just as much when you hit an edge case, need training on a new workflow, or have a feature request that would genuinely change how you operate. Both phases are where a real partner separates itself from a vendor who disappears after the sale.

Before any demo, ask vendors directly: who answers the phone when something breaks at 6am? What’s your process for collecting customer feedback? Can you show me a feature that was added because a customer asked for it?

With that framing in mind, here’s what to evaluate:

1. PM automation: Mileage, hours, and date-based triggers, not just calendar reminders
2. Parts inventory: Integrated, not bolted, linked to work orders automatically
3. Multi-location support: Multiple shops with shared reporting, not siloed data
4. DOT compliance: Inspection records, DVIR logs, audit trails built in
5. Telematics integration: Connects to Samsara, Geotab, Motive, or others to pull full ranges of odometer readings, driving habits, safety data, etc. into your fleet maintenance platform
6. Ongoing partnership: Real humans, real support long after the implementation call ends

2. Five platforms compared

Squarerigger Fleet Maintenance Software

Built exclusively for commercial fleets since 1984, and completely rebuilt into an intuitive, modern fleet maintenance software.

Squarerigger was purpose-built for fleet operations at a time when most CMMS tools focused on industrial facilities. The platform covers PM scheduling, work order management, parts inventory, warranty tracking, and multi-shop operations in a single integrated system.

Where Squarerigger differs from most competitors isn’t just in the feature set, it’s in what comes after implementation. Customers work with a dedicated team throughout their time on the platform, not just during onboarding. That means a real person who knows your setup picks up the phone when something goes wrong. And when customers surface problems, they get fixed not filed.

When Joshua Lawrence, Operations Manager at TL Schwab Transportation, flagged that technicians were having to scroll back to the top of the screen to add parts on deep work orders, the issue was resolved within the week. One email. That responsiveness reflects something broader about how Squarerigger operates: customer feedback directly shapes the product roadmap. If a workflow doesn’t fit how your shop actually runs, that’s a conversation, not a closed support ticket.

For TL Schwab, a Western New York trucking operation managing 67 owned power units and accountable for more than 300 via contracts, the upgrade from legacy software to Squarerigger Pro changed the daily reality of the shop. PM scheduling moved off a dry-erase whiteboard and into automated, Samsara-connected triggers. Parts lookups and reorders that used to mean multiple windows, phone calls, and hold music now happen on a single screen. Technicians on road calls can pull up alternate part numbers, check vendor availability, and create work orders from the side of the highway without calling back to the shop. Within two months of go-live, their headquarters location was 97–98% automated.

Joshua’s word for the biggest benefit: time.

“You don’t realize how much time you are wasting. Once you have that set up, the system starts doing things for you.”

Strengths

• Integrated inventory linked to every work order
• Multi-location with shared visibility
• Warranty recovery tracking built in
• Samsara integration for live mileage-triggered PMs
• Dedicated customer team, not a support portal
• Customer feedback feeds directly into the product roadmap
• 40+ years of trucking-specific development

Limitations

• Less name recognition than some other platforms
• Implementation requires an onboarding investment
• Limited onboarding support for fleets 10 assets or less

Best for: Trucking and mixed fleets with 50–1,000 units that want a long-term operational partner, not just software. Especially strong for multi-location operations with in-house shops, active parts inventory, and a need for tight compliance control.

Fleetio Fleet Management Platform

The most widely adopted fleet software in North America, broad features, large integration ecosystem.

Fleetio has grown rapidly and covers most of the fleet management surface area: PM scheduling, work orders, fuel tracking, inspections, and a large telematics integration library. It’s a strong generalist platform with a polished mobile experience. Where it tends to fall short for active trucking operations is depth, particularly in parts inventory and warranty recovery, which feel more like add-ons than core features. Support scales with your plan tier, which for mid-size fleets can mean more self-service than some maintenance managers prefer.

Strengths

• 60 telematics integrations (Samsara, Geotab, Motive)
• Strong mobile app for drivers and techs
• Clean UI, low learning curve
• Large user community and resource library

Limitations

• Parts inventory is lighter than dedicated systems
• Warranty tracking requires manual workarounds
• Focus on light duty assets
• Multi-shop reporting limited in lower tiers
• Support access tied to pricing tier

Best for: Light-duty fleets and driver-facing features over deep shop management or a hands-on vendor relationship.

Cetaris Enterprise Fleet CMMS

A deep CMMS platform built for large, complex fleet operations, particularly public sector and enterprise.

Cetaris is a serious CMMS platform with strong asset management, warranty tracking, and compliance capabilities. It skews toward larger, more complex organizations like government fleets, transit agencies, and enterprise trucking operations with dedicated IT resources. Implementation is longer and the learning curve is steeper, but the reporting depth is genuine. Customer support is structured and professional, though the relationship model is more formal than hands-on.

Strengths

• Deep warranty and warranty recovery tools
• Strong compliance and audit trail features
• Solid asset lifecycle management

Limitations

• Long implementation timelines
• Many features are sold as add-ons, not natively included
• Requires IT involvement to manage
• Less suited to mid-size independent trucking fleets

Best for: Large enterprise fleets (500+ units) with IT resources, complex compliance requirements, and tolerance for longer implementation.

RTA Fleet Fleet Maintenance Software

A long-standing platform with strong shop management roots, actively modernizing for cloud deployment.

RTA Fleet has been in the market for decades and has a loyal user base, particularly in government, transit, and utility fleets. The platform has strong work order and shop management foundations, and it’s been actively moving toward cloud-based deployment. That transition is ongoing, which means some organizations experience a gap between the platform’s functional depth and its usability relative to newer tools.

Strengths

• Mature, proven work order management
• Good parts inventory tracking
• Strong public sector track record

Limitations

• UI feels dated compared to newer platforms
• Cloud migration still in progress for some modules
• Smaller integration library than Fleetio

Best for: Government, transit, and utility fleets with established RTA relationships or specific public-sector requirements.

Fullbay Shop Management Software

Built for heavy-duty repair shops, not fleet maintenance departments. Know the difference before you buy.

Fullbay frequently shows up in fleet software searches, but it’s worth being clear about what it is: a shop management platform for commercial repair businesses, not a fleet maintenance system. If you run an in-house shop that also bills external customers for repairs, Fullbay handles that billing workflow well. If you’re a fleet manager trying to track your own assets, schedule PMs, and manage parts inventory across your vehicles, it’s not the right tool, and no amount of configuration will make it one.

Strengths

• Excellent for shops billing external customers
• Strong labor and invoice management
• Good heavy-duty parts integrations

Limitations

• Not a fleet management platform
• No PM scheduling for owned fleet assets
• No fleet-level reporting (cost per mile, uptime %)

Best for: Independent repair shops and fleets running a significant external repair business. Not a substitute for fleet maintenance software.

3. Side-by-side feature comparison

✓ = Yes · ~ = Partial or tier-dependent · ✗ = No · * · Table reflects publicly available information. Confirm with each vendor for your specific configuration.

4. Who each platform is best for

5. How to make the final call

The right platform depends on two things most comparison articles skip: where your operation actually breaks down today, and what kind of relationship you want with your software vendor over the next three to five years.

On the features side: if your biggest headaches are missed PMs, parts stockouts, and warranty claims going unrecovered, you need depth in maintenance and inventory, not the broadest integration list. If your drivers are the weak link and telematics data is the gap, integration breadth becomes more relevant.

On the partnership side: if you’ve been through a software implementation before, you already know that the go-live is the easy part. The harder question is what the relationship looks like when something breaks at 6am, when you bring on two new shop locations, or when your workflow changes in a way the software wasn’t designed for. That’s worth asking about directly in every demo you take.

A few questions worth asking every vendor before you sign:

• Who answers the phone after implementation?
• What’s your process for collecting feedback from customers like us?
• Can you show me a feature that was added because an existing customer asked for it?

No software evaluation is purely rational. The platform your team will actually use consistently beats the one with the longest feature list. Request demos from at least two vendors, bring your maintenance manager and a dispatcher into the room, and ask each vendor to walk through a scenario that represents your worst week, not their best demo.

See what a real partnership looks like

We’ll walk through your fleet setup, your biggest maintenance headaches, and show you exactly how Squarerigger fits or doesn’t. No generic demo. And if you become a customer, that conversation doesn’t end when onboarding does.