Motive Pricing 2026: What Small Fleets Actually Pay

If you've tried to find out what Motive costs, you already know the frustration: there's no price on the page. Click "Pricing" on Motive's site and you land on a form that asks for your industry, fleet size, and contact details before anyone will talk numbers. For a 50-truck trucking operation with a procurement team, that's normal. For a 12-van HVAC or plumbing shop that just wants to know where the trucks are, it's a wall.

This guide breaks down how Motive's pricing actually works in 2026, why the number you'll be quoted is built for a different kind of fleet than yours, and what to ask for so you don't overpay. We'll keep it honest: we won't invent a Motive price, because Motive doesn't publish one.

Spytec GPS is a self-serve GPS fleet tracking platform built for small and mid-size fleets, with free hardware on every plan, no contracts, and transparent pricing from $8.95/vehicle/month on the annual plan — the price is on the page, not behind a sales call.

How Motive pricing works in 2026

Motive (formerly KeepTruckin) does not publish per-vehicle pricing. As of June 2026, the "Pricing" link on gomotive.com routes to a multi-step "get in touch" form — you pick your industry, answer a few qualifying questions, and a sales rep follows up with a custom quote. There is no published monthly rate, no published hardware cost, and no contract terms listed on the pricing page itself.

That's not an accident. Motive is built and priced as a compliance and safety platform for DOT-regulated trucking: electronic logging devices (ELD), Hours-of-Service tracking, IFTA fuel-tax reporting, and an AI dash cam safety suite. Its own pricing page headlines "ELD" and "Dash Cam." That positioning is a great fit for interstate carriers and large mixed fleets — and it's the reason the quote is structured around things a local service fleet may never use.

Because pricing is quote-only, the real cost depends on factors you negotiate one-on-one: how many vehicles, which hardware (ELD, AI dash cam, asset trackers), which software tier, and the contract length. Those last two are where small fleets get surprised.

What you'll actually be quoted on

When the rep builds your quote, expect line items for: the software subscription (per vehicle, per month), the hardware (often bundled into the monthly rate over a multi-year term), the dash cam tier if you add safety, and any compliance add-ons. The headline "per vehicle" number a salesperson mentions early in the call is rarely the all-in number — ask for the total including hardware and the term length before you compare anything.

The question most small fleets skip: do you even need an ELD platform?

Here's the part the quote won't volunteer. The federal ELD mandate applies to drivers who are required to keep Hours-of-Service records — generally commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce over 10,001 lbs, or drivers who otherwise fall under HOS rules. A lot of small local service fleets — HVAC, plumbing, pest control, landscaping, electrical, pool service — run light vehicles, stay intrastate, or qualify for the short-haul exemption, and aren't subject to the ELD mandate at all.

If that's you, a big chunk of what makes Motive "Motive" — the ELD hardware, the HOS logs, the IFTA reporting — is tooling you're paying to carry but aren't required to use. You're buying a compliance platform to solve a tracking problem. (Confirm your own status with the FMCSA rules or your fleet's compliance advisor — exemptions depend on weight, distance, and how your drivers are classified.)

What a service fleet usually needs is narrower and cheaper to deliver: real-time location, route history, geofence alerts, idle and speeding reports, and maintenance reminders. That's the job Spytec is priced for.

Motive vs. Spytec GPS: what each is built and priced for

We'll only put facts in this table that we can stand behind. Where Motive doesn't publish something, we say so rather than guess.

Where Motive genuinely wins

If your fleet is regulated, Motive is a serious, well-built platform and worth the quote. Its specific edges: certified ELD and DOT compliance tooling, a mature AI dash cam safety program with driver coaching, IFTA fuel-tax automation, and the enterprise procurement, onboarding, and account management that large carriers expect. If you run interstate trucks subject to HOS, those aren't nice-to-haves — they're the job. Spytec doesn't try to be a DOT compliance suite; it's a fleet tracking platform for fleets that need visibility, not regulatory logging.

What to ask for in a Motive quote (so you can compare apples to apples)

If you do request a quote, the fastest way to make it comparable is to pin down the all-in, multi-year cost. Ask for:

• The total monthly cost per vehicle, hardware included — not the software-only rate.
• The contract length, and what happens to the term when you add or remove vehicles mid-contract.
• The hardware cost if you cancel early — whether devices are leased, financed, or owned.
• Which line items are compliance features (ELD, HOS, IFTA) you can drop if you're not regulated.
• Any activation, onboarding, or early-termination fees.

Then multiply the all-in monthly number by the contract length. That's the figure to put next to a no-contract option — a three-year commitment at a low monthly rate can cost more than a month-to-month plan you can leave whenever you want. Our fleet GPS pricing comparison walks through how to run that math across providers, and our Samsara pricing breakdown covers the same quote-only model from the other big enterprise vendor.

The transparent alternative for service fleets

Spytec is built for the fleet Motive's quote isn't optimized for: the 5-to-100-vehicle service operation that needs to know where its trucks are, keep jobs on schedule, and cut idle time and theft — without compliance overhead or a sales process. The Pulse OBD plug-in tracker installs in seconds, the hardware is free on every plan, and the service is $8.95/vehicle/month annual ($14.95 month-to-month). Wired, long-term battery, and AI dash cam options are all free-hardware too, and volume discounts kick in automatically from five devices. If it's not right, the 30-day money-back guarantee means you're not stuck.

If you're specifically weighing the two platforms feature-for-feature, our Motive alternative for small service fleets and the Motive alternative comparison page go deeper on the tracking side.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Motive cost per vehicle?

Motive does not publish per-vehicle pricing. As of 2026, its pricing page routes to a quote form that asks for your industry and fleet size before a sales rep provides a custom number. Expect the quote to bundle software, hardware, and a multi-year term, so ask for the all-in monthly cost and contract length before comparing. By contrast, Spytec publishes its rate: $8.95/vehicle/month on the annual plan, with free hardware.

Does Motive require a contract?

Motive does not publish contract terms on its pricing page; those are provided in the custom quote. Multi-year commitments are common in enterprise fleet software, so confirm the length and what happens when you add or remove vehicles. Spytec has no contract — you can cancel anytime with no cancellation fee.

Is Motive worth it for a small service fleet?

It depends on whether you're regulated. Motive's value is concentrated in DOT compliance (ELD, Hours-of-Service, IFTA) and AI safety tooling. If your fleet runs light vehicles, stays local, or is otherwise exempt from the federal ELD mandate, you may be paying for compliance features you don't need. For pure visibility — location, routes, geofences, idle and maintenance alerts — a tracking-focused platform like Spytec covers the job at a published, lower price.

Do small service fleets need an ELD?

Often not. The federal ELD mandate generally applies to drivers required to keep Hours-of-Service records — typically interstate commercial vehicles over 10,001 lbs or drivers under HOS rules. Many local HVAC, plumbing, pest control, and landscaping fleets run lighter vehicles or qualify for the short-haul exemption and aren't required to use an ELD. Confirm your status with current FMCSA rules, then decide whether you're buying compliance or just tracking.

What's the cheapest way to track a small fleet without a contract?

A self-serve, no-contract platform avoids both the multi-year commitment and the hardware cost. Spytec offers free hardware on every plan, $8.95/vehicle/month on the annual plan ($14.95 month-to-month), automatic volume discounts up to 25%, and a 30-day money-back guarantee — with self-serve checkout and no sales call required.

The bottom line

Motive's pricing is opaque because Motive is a compliance platform sold to regulated trucking fleets through a sales process — and for that buyer, it earns the quote. But a small service fleet that just needs to see its trucks is often paying for ELD and HOS tooling it isn't required to run, on a contract it can't easily leave. If you're not regulated, the better question isn't "what does Motive cost?" — it's "why am I buying compliance to solve a tracking problem?" Spytec answers the tracking problem with a price you can see before you ever talk to anyone.