Less-than-truckload shares a trailer. Full truckload gets one to itself. That single difference decides the price, the transit time and how often your freight is handled, and somewhere around six to eight pallets it decides which one is cheaper.
Ship LTL when you have one to six pallets and some flexibility on timing: you pay only for your share of a trailer. Ship FTL when you have more than about twelve pallets, or freight that is heavy, fragile, valuable or urgent at any size: you pay for the whole trailer, and in return it goes direct and is not handled on the way. Between six and twelve pallets, price standard LTL, volume LTL and a full truck against each other. A full truck often wins from about eight pallets, but on a given lane and day any of the three can come out cheapest.
Written by Aleksandrs Smetanins, President, Qeep Logistics · Last reviewed September 30, 2026
LTL means less-than-truckload: your freight shares a trailer with other shippers' freight, and you pay for the space and weight you use. FTL means full truckload: you book the whole trailer, and it runs from your dock to the delivery dock with nobody else's freight on it.
That is the whole definition. Everything else in the LTL vs FTL decision, from price to transit time to damage risk, follows from whether you share the trailer or not.
LTL carriers run a network. A local truck picks your pallets up along with other customers' freight and brings them to a terminal. There the freight is sorted onto a line-haul trailer heading toward the destination region, unloaded at another terminal, and delivered on a local route. Sharing the trailer is what makes it cheap. The terminal stops are what make it slower, and every time your pallets are moved by forklift is a chance for them to be damaged.
FTL is simpler. One truck, one driver or team, loaded at your dock, sealed, and not opened until it arrives. There is no sorting and no transfer, so it is faster and handled far less, but the trailer is yours and so is the whole cost of moving it, whether you fill it or not.
You will also see the terms spelled out as less than truckload shipping and full truckload shipping, or shortened to LTL freight and FTL freight. They mean the same things. A 53-foot dry van is the default trailer for both in North America.
Put the two next to each other and the pattern is clear. LTL wins when the shipment is small and the schedule is flexible. FTL wins when the shipment is big, fragile, urgent or valuable enough that the extra handling of a shared network costs more than the empty space in a dedicated trailer.
| LTL (less-than-truckload) | FTL (full truckload) | |
|---|---|---|
| The trailer | Shared with other shippers' freight | Yours alone, dock to dock |
| Typical size | One pallet up to about six, roughly 150 to 15,000 lb | Up to 26 standard pallets, or less when the freight is heavy, fragile or urgent |
| How it is priced | Weight, freight class or density, distance, plus accessorials | Per trip on the lane, plus fuel surcharge and accessorials |
| Route | Pickup route, origin terminal, line-haul, destination terminal, delivery route | Direct from shipper to consignee |
| Handling | Unloaded and reloaded at terminals | Loaded once, unloaded once |
| Transit time | Slower, often one to five business days regionally | Faster, limited mainly by distance and driver hours of service |
| Damage risk | Higher, because of the terminal transfers | Lower, because the load is not touched in transit |
| Best for | Small, regular, stackable shipments with some flexibility on timing | Six or more pallets, heavy loads, and anything fragile, high-value or time-critical |
Ranges are typical for North American dry freight and vary by carrier, lane and commodity. Get both prices when a shipment sits near the switch point.
There is no single number where LTL stops and FTL starts, but there is a range, and it is narrower than most shippers think. Once a shipment reaches about six to eight standard pallets, the LTL charges, class surcharges and accessorials have usually stacked up to the point where a full truck costs about the same, and the full truck is faster and handled less. Above that range, FTL usually wins on both.
Pallet count is only a proxy for the real measure, which is how much of the trailer floor your freight takes up. Standard 48 by 40 inch pallets load two across a 53-foot trailer, and each pair uses four linear feet of floor. Six pallets therefore take about 12 linear feet, which is the point where many LTL carriers stop treating a shipment as ordinary LTL and start pricing it on the space it occupies.
Between standard LTL and a full truck sits volume LTL, also called partial truckload. It is built for shipments of roughly 6 to 12 pallets: the freight shares a trailer but usually rides without terminal transfers, and it is priced on linear feet rather than freight class. For a shipment in that range, the right move is to price all three options, standard LTL, volume LTL and FTL, on the same lane on the same day.
Weight changes the picture too. Very dense freight can max out a trailer's legal weight long before it fills the floor, and very light freight can trigger an LTL carrier's cubic capacity rule, which prices a bulky shipment on the trailer space it uses instead of its weight.
| Shipment | Usually cheapest | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Under about 150 lb, a few cartons | Parcel | A pallet rate and LTL minimum charge cost more than a small-parcel label |
| 1 to 6 pallets | LTL | You pay only for your share of the trailer |
| 6 to 12 pallets, or more than about 12 linear feet | Volume LTL or FTL | Price both. Space-based pricing and a dedicated truck often land close together |
| More than about 12 pallets | FTL | The trailer is mostly yours anyway, so take the direct route and the lower handling |
| Any size, fragile, high-value or urgent | FTL | Fewer touches and a direct run are worth more than the empty space |
Rules of thumb for standard 48 by 40 inch pallets on a 53-foot dry van. Freight class, density, lane and season all move the line, so treat it as the point to get both quotes, not as a price.
An LTL rate is built from the shipment's weight, the distance, and, in most of the North American network, its NMFC freight class. There are 18 classes from 50 to 500. The lower the class, the lower the rate per hundred pounds. Class 50 is dense, durable freight that stacks well. Class 500 is light, bulky or fragile freight that takes up space out of all proportion to its weight.
Density is the main input. Measure the shipment as it will be handled, pallet and packaging included, multiply length by width by height in inches, and divide by 1,728 to get cubic feet. Divide the weight by that figure and you have pounds per cubic foot. Since 19 July 2025, under NMFC Docket 2025-1, many more commodities are classed on density alone, using the 13-step scale below.
A worked example. A pallet measuring 48 by 40 by 48 inches and weighing 500 pounds occupies 92,160 cubic inches, which is 53.3 cubic feet. Its density is 500 divided by 53.3, or 9.4 pounds per cubic foot. If the commodity is rated on density, that puts it in class 100.
Three things then change the bill after the base rate. Accessorials, which are charges for anything beyond dock-to-dock service, such as a liftgate, residential or limited-access delivery, inside delivery, or a delivery appointment. Reweighs and reclasses, when the carrier's own measurement does not match the bill of lading. And capacity rules: a common version of the cubic capacity rule applies when a shipment takes more than 750 cubic feet of trailer space at less than 6 pounds per cubic foot, though the thresholds differ from carrier to carrier.
| Density, lb per ft³ | NMFC class | A 48 × 40 × 48 in pallet in this class weighs |
|---|---|---|
| 50 or more | 50 | 2,667 lb or more |
| 35 to under 50 | 55 | 1,867 to 2,666 lb |
| 30 to under 35 | 60 | 1,600 to 1,866 lb |
| 22.5 to under 30 | 65 | 1,200 to 1,599 lb |
| 15 to under 22.5 | 70 | 800 to 1,199 lb |
| 12 to under 15 | 85 | 640 to 799 lb |
| 10 to under 12 | 92.5 | 534 to 639 lb |
| 8 to under 10 | 100 | 427 to 533 lb, which is where the 500 lb example lands |
| 6 to under 8 | 125 | 320 to 426 lb |
| 4 to under 6 | 175 | 214 to 319 lb |
| 2 to under 4 | 250 | 107 to 213 lb |
| 1 to under 2 | 300 | 54 to 106 lb |
| Under 1 | 400 | Under 54 lb |
The 13-step density scale in effect since 19 July 2025 under NMFC Docket 2025-1. It applies to commodities classed on density; others still carry a specific class. The class on your bill of lading is the one the carrier will check, so confirm the NMFC item for your product.
A full truckload is priced for the truck, not for your freight. The rate is set for the lane, from origin to destination, and it covers the tractor, the trailer and the driver's time whether you load two pallets or twenty-six. Freight class does not come into it.
What moves an FTL rate is the lane and the market. Outbound freight from a busy shipping region is easier to cover than freight into an area where trucks struggle to find a load home. Season matters, fuel matters through the fuel surcharge, and so does the equipment: a reefer or a flatbed costs more than a dry van on the same lane.
Accessorials exist in FTL too, but they are different ones. Detention when the truck waits beyond the free time at a dock. A lumper fee where a receiver requires paid unloading. A layover when the truck has to wait overnight. Stop-off charges for extra pickups or deliveries. None of them is unusual, and every one of them is easier to avoid when the appointment times are realistic.
Weight is the other limit. A typical tractor and 53-foot van running at the United States federal gross limit of 80,000 pounds can carry roughly 45,000 pounds of freight. Canadian provincial limits differ by axle configuration, but freight that crosses the border is usually planned to the US limit so it can travel the whole route legally.
Line-haul and fuel together, so two quotes can be compared on the same basis.
Dry van, reefer or flatbed, and the trailer length, so there is no surprise at the dock.
How long the truck can wait at each end before the clock starts, and what it costs after that.
Realistic appointment times cost less than the detention and re-delivery that follow unrealistic ones.
Most small businesses shipping freight weekly are shipping one to six pallets at a time, and for that LTL is almost always the right answer. The savings do not come from finding a magic carrier. They come from getting the basics right on every shipment.
Accurate weights and dimensions come first. A reweigh or reclass after the fact costs more than getting it right on the bill of lading. Dock-to-dock service comes second. A liftgate or a residential delivery is sometimes unavoidable, but it should be a decision, not a default. Good packaging comes third: square, stackable, shrink-wrapped pallets with no overhang are cheaper to move and less likely to be damaged.
The bigger lever is how the week's freight is grouped. Three separate two-pallet shipments to the same region pay three minimum charges and three rounds of handling. One six-pallet shipment pays once and may qualify for volume pricing. If orders can wait a day or two to ship together, that is usually the cheapest change a small shipper can make.
When weekly volume keeps landing above six to eight pallets, price a full truck against LTL on the same lane. At two or more full loads a week on a regular lane, a contracted rate or dedicated capacity is worth discussing, because a committed lane is easier to cover and often cheaper than booking each load on the spot market.
Length, width and height as it will ship, including the pallet and any overhang. Carriers measure what they handle.
A declared weight that does not match the carrier's scale is what triggers a reweigh charge on an LTL invoice.
Put the right NMFC item on the bill of lading so the class the carrier checks is the one you quoted.
Liftgate, appointment, residential or inside delivery all cost extra. Quote them in, do not discover them on the invoice.
One larger shipment usually beats several small ones to the same region.
Price volume LTL and a full truck whenever a shipment passes six pallets.
The comparison changes at the border. A cross-border LTL shipment often moves through more than one carrier, with freight handed from a Canadian network to a US one or the reverse, and each handoff adds time and another chance for damage or delay. Every LTL shipment also needs its own customs clearance and its own paperwork, however small it is.
A cross-border full truckload crosses as one shipment with one driver and one set of documents. The carrier sends the electronic manifest before arrival, a licensed customs broker files the entry, and the truck is released or referred at the crossing. There is one set of paperwork for the whole trailer rather than one for every pallet.
That makes consolidation even more valuable across the border than at home. Several small orders to the same US or Canadian region, combined into one larger shipment, pay for one clearance instead of several and avoid the extra carrier handoffs. For regular cross-border volume in the six-pallet-plus range, a full truckload or volume LTL is usually worth pricing every time.
The paperwork is the same whichever mode you choose: a commercial invoice that matches the shipment, a bill of lading, and a CUSMA certification of origin when the goods qualify and you are claiming preferential duty. Getting those right before the truck is dispatched decides whether it clears in minutes or sits at the border.
One to six pallets, rate-shopped across the national LTL carrier base.
Read more →A 53-foot trailer, one driver, dock to dock, covered same day on most North American lanes.
Read more →The density calculation step by step, and how it sets an LTL rate.
Read more →The parcel and air freight version of the same problem: when size, not weight, sets the price.
Read more →Several small shipments pooled into one line-haul, for the shipper who ships often and small.
Read more →LTL and full truckload across the border in both directions.
Read more →Where the weight, piece count and freight class the carrier checks are written down.
Read more →Every document that travels with a load, in the order it is asked for.
Read more →Send the pallet count, dimensions and weight, and we will price LTL and a full truck side by side.
Read more →LTL stands for less-than-truckload. It means your freight shares a trailer with shipments from other customers, and you pay for the part of the trailer your pallets use rather than for the whole truck. It is the normal way to move anything from a single pallet up to roughly six pallets.
FTL stands for full truckload. You book the whole trailer, usually a 53-foot dry van, and it goes from your dock to the consignee's dock without stopping to load or unload anyone else's freight. You pay for the trailer whether you fill it or not.
LTL shares a trailer and FTL does not. That one difference drives the rest: LTL is priced by weight, freight class or density and moves through carrier terminals, so it is cheaper for small shipments but slower and handled more. FTL is priced per trip on the lane, goes direct, and is faster and handled less, but you pay for the whole trailer.
For small shipments, yes, by a wide margin, because you only pay for your share of the trailer. The advantage narrows as the shipment grows, and somewhere around six to eight pallets a full truck usually becomes the cheaper option as well as the faster one. The only reliable way to know on a given lane is to price both.
A 53-foot dry van holds 26 standard 48 by 40 inch pallets loaded straight, two across and thirteen deep, and up to 30 when the pallets are turned in a pinwheel pattern. You do not need to fill it to book it as a full truckload, and many FTL loads carry far fewer pallets because they are heavy, fragile or urgent.
It is the middle option for shipments too big for standard LTL and too small to justify a whole truck, typically around 6 to 12 pallets. The freight shares a trailer but usually is not transferred through terminals, and it is priced on the trailer space it takes, measured in linear feet, rather than on freight class.
A linear foot is one foot of trailer length, measured along the floor. Standard 48 by 40 inch pallets loaded two across use four linear feet per pair, so six pallets take about 12 linear feet and a full 53-foot trailer holds 13 rows. Carriers use linear feet to price shipments that use up floor space out of proportion to their weight.
Freight class is the NMFC rating from 50 to 500 that LTL carriers use to price a shipment, based mainly on density along with handling, stowability and liability. It is an LTL concept. A full truckload is priced for the trailer on the lane, so freight class does not set an FTL rate.
LTL is slower because the freight is picked up on a route, sorted at a terminal, carried on a line-haul trailer and delivered on another route. Regional LTL is often one to five business days and cross-country longer. FTL goes direct, so transit is limited mainly by distance and driver hours of service.
Usually, yes. An FTL load is sealed at your dock and not opened until the consignee's, while LTL freight is unloaded and reloaded at terminals along the way. Every forklift move is a chance for damage, so fragile, high-value or unstackable freight often goes FTL even when it would fit in an LTL shipment.
For one to six pallets a week, standard LTL on a dock-to-dock basis is normally the cheapest option, and the biggest savings come from accurate weights and dimensions and avoiding accessorial charges such as liftgate and residential delivery. If the weekly volume grows past about six pallets, consolidating it into one larger shipment and pricing volume LTL and a full truck against each other is the next step.
Per pallet, cross-border LTL usually costs more than domestic LTL because the freight often changes carriers at the border and every shipment needs its own customs clearance. A full truckload crosses as one shipment with one driver. For small, regular cross-border volumes, consolidating several orders into one larger shipment can cut both the freight and the clearance cost.
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