If you are a small or mid-size freight forwarder or maritime services company who has been using CargoWise mostly for billing, vendor management, and PO tracking, the December 2025 Value Pack repricing probably hit hard. Base is the simpler, cheaper platform that handles the invoice, AP, vendor, and accounting work CargoWise does, without the freight forwarding TMS overhead you are not actually using. We will be honest about which CargoWise users this fits and which ones should look at a real TMS replacement.
Value Pack price hikes since Dec 2025
Built for lean teams, not enterprise rollouts
Typical Base deployment, no implementation project
Transparent tiers, no Value Pack repricing on renewal
If you mostly use CargoWise for invoicing, AP, vendor management, and accounting sync, you are paying TMS prices for billing software. This table is the honest side-by-side for the workflows SMB maritime teams actually use.
A side-by-side spec sheet for the questions buyers actually ask in evaluations.
| Feature | CargoWise | Base |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Freight forwarders, customs brokers, 3PLs | Port agents and maritime operations teams |
| Air freight booking and tracking | ✓ | ✕ |
| Ocean freight forwarding | ✓ | ✕ |
| Customs brokerage and compliance | ✓ | ✕ |
| Port call operations (SOF, NOR, crew) | ✕ | ✓ |
| PDA and FDA generation | ✕ | ✓ |
| Vendor management for port agents | Partial (forwarder vendors) | ✓ |
| Native QuickBooks and Xero sync | ✕ | ✓ (out of the box) |
| Embedded sanctions screening | ✕ | ✓ |
| Embedded vessel compliance data | ✕ | ✓ |
| Tariff and HTS lookup | Customs entry focus | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Value Packs (raised 20-50% Dec 2025) | Per-user, transparent tiers |
| Typical deployment | Months | 2 to 3 weeks |
| On-prem deployment option | ✓ | ✕ (cloud only) |
Based on public documentation as of April 2026. If anything is wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
Most SMB maritime teams on CargoWise use a slice of it. Invoices to clients, AP for vendors, PO tracking, vendor records, and an accounting handoff. The deep freight forwarding TMS, the customs brokerage, the air and ocean booking engine, those sit unused on the same Value Pack invoice. Base is the platform built around the work you actually do, at a price that matches the slice you actually use.
Base handles the workflow your finance and ops team runs every day. Build invoices to clients with full job context, capture vendor invoices via OCR, match POs to deliveries, track vendor records and approvals, and push everything to QuickBooks or Xero. No customs entries, no shipper bookings, no air waybill engine, no Value Pack repricing.
If your team books ocean and air freight every day, files customs entries, and runs deep TMS workflows, Base is not your replacement. These are the CargoWise alternatives worth your evaluation time. We are calling this out because honesty is faster than a wasted demo cycle.
Full freight forwarding suite covering bookings, customs, warehouse, and accounting. Frequently cited as the closest CargoWise alternative for mid-market forwarders who want a single platform without the Value Pack pricing model. If you are running ocean, air, and customs brokerage in one place today on CargoWise, Magaya is usually the first tool on the shortlist.
A modern freight forwarding TMS growing fast among SMB and mid-market ocean and air forwarders. Cloud-native, quicker onboarding than CargoWise, and popular with teams that want a cleaner user experience than WiseTech ships. Worth a demo if you are a forwarder under 200 users and tired of Value Pack math.
An affordable freight forwarding TMS for smaller operators, NVOCCs, and fast-growing forwarders who need the core booking, tracking, and invoicing workflow without an enterprise price tag. If CargoWise feels oversized for your team, Linbis is worth a look before you commit to a Value Pack renewal.
Two patterns. The first is the SMB maritime team that mostly uses CargoWise for invoicing, AP, PO management, and vendor records. The Value Pack invoice does not match the value, and Base does that exact slice of work for far less. The second is a vertically integrated logistics group, the forwarding arm stays on a real TMS, the port agency arm runs on Base.
We spoke with finance and ops leads at SMB forwarders and port agents who had been running CargoWise mostly for billing and vendor work. The Value Pack repricing in December 2025 was the moment they finally evaluated alternatives.
A Base demo walks the workflow you care about. Build an invoice with full job context, capture a vendor invoice via OCR, match a PO, and watch it sync to QuickBooks or Xero. We will not pitch you a freight forwarding TMS. We will show you the billing, AP, PO, and vendor pipeline your team runs every day, at a price that matches what you actually use.
“Our Value Pack quote tripled the per-user cost for features we never touched. Base does the billing and vendor work at a fraction of the renewal we were quoted, and the migration paid for itself in the first quarter.”
– Finance Lead, SMB maritime services company
SMB maritime teams that move from CargoWise to Base typically have invoicing, AP, PO matching, and accounting sync working within two to three weeks, with no Value Pack repricing on renewal.