The freight rate API

Price a truckload between any two places in the lower 48 with one GET request. 8 truck types, monthly history since December 2003. It works without a key; a free key raises the limit.

Request

curl "https://lanecost.com/api/v1/estimate?origin=chicago-il&destination=atlanta-ga&equipment=dry-van"

Base URL: https://lanecost.com/api/v1
Auth: None needed. A free key raises the limit.
Limit: 60 requests a minute per IP address, or 600 with a key
CORS: Open: call it from a browser
Spec: OpenAPI 3.1

Response

{
  "data": {
    "origin": {
      "slug": "chicago-il",
      "city": "Chicago",
      "state": "IL"
    },
    "destination": {
      "slug": "atlanta-ga",
      "city": "Atlanta",
      "state": "GA"
    },
    "miles": 691,
    "month": "2026-10",
    "estimates": [
      {
        "equipment": "dry-van",
        "name": "53' dry van",
        "totalUsd": 3035,
        "lowUsd": 2701,
        "highUsd": 3369,
        "ratePerMile": 4.39,
        "linehaulUsd": 2400,
        "fuelUsd": 635,
        "transitDays": 2
      }
    ],
    "url": "https://lanecost.com/lanes/chicago-il-to-atlanta-ga"
  },
  "meta": {
    "apiVersion": "v1",
    "indexMonth": "2026-10",
    "dataUpdated": "2026-11-13",
    "basis": "modeled_estimate",
    "docs": "https://lanecost.com/developers"
  }
}

What the numbers mean

Every price is a modeled estimate of the all-in cost of one full load: linehaul plus fuel, for standard freight picked up a few days out. It is not a quote or an offer to haul freight. lowUsd and highUsd give the typical range. How the estimate works.

Prices are in US dollars. Months are YYYY-MM. Places are a city and state (Chicago, IL, chicago-il or Chicago, Illinois) or a 5-digit ZIP; a city alone picks the largest of that name, and the response says which place was used. Truck types are dry-van, reefer, flatbed, step-deck, power-only, hotshot, box-truck, sprinter-van.

Responses and errors

A success is { "data": …, "meta": … }. meta.indexMonth is the latest month the index covers and meta.dataUpdated is when its source data was last refreshed.

A failure is { "error": { "code", "message", "param" } } with a matching status: 400 invalid_parameter, 404 place_not_found or not_found, 401 invalid_api_key, 429 rate_limited (wait the Retry-After seconds).

Version 1 only adds fields. Anything that would break a client ships as a new version.

Get a free key

You do not need a key to start. A key raises your limit from 60 to 600 requests a minute, counted per key instead of per IP address, so a shared office or cloud IP does not eat your budget.

Send it in a header, never in the URL:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer lc_live_…" "https://lanecost.com/api/v1/rates"

X-API-Key: lc_live_… works too. The same key works for the MCP server. Keep it on your server: a key in browser code is visible to everyone.

Use it from an AI tool

Lane Cost runs a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, so an assistant can look up rates itself. It works without a key and has the same data, limits and optional key as the API.

MCP server

https://lanecost.com/mcp

In Claude, ChatGPT or any app that accepts a remote MCP server, add this URL as a custom connector. It uses Streamable HTTP and needs no sign-in.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http lanecost https://lanecost.com/mcp

With a key, add --header "Authorization: Bearer lc_live_…".

Cursor and other JSON configs

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lanecost": {
      "url": "https://lanecost.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Tools it offers

estimate_lane_rateEstimate a truckload lane
get_lane_rate_historyA lane's price history
get_national_ratesNational truckload rates
get_rate_historyRate history for a truck type
get_state_ratesTruckload rates by state
list_equipmentTruck types
get_diesel_priceDiesel price
search_placesFind a place

Without MCP

Custom GPTs and function calling: import the OpenAPI spec as an action or tool definition. Every operation has a name and description written for a model.
Agents that browse: llms.txt lists the endpoints, and every endpoint is a plain GET that returns JSON.

Terms of use

Free to use, in commercial and non-commercial products, within the rate limits.
Credit the source. Where you show these figures to people, say they come from Lane Cost and link to lanecost.com.
Call them estimates. Do not present a figure as a quote, a bid or an offer to haul freight.
No warranty. The figures are modeled and can be wrong for a given load. Do not rely on them alone to price or book freight.
We may change limits, or revoke a key that abuses the service.

Endpoints

GET /api/v1/estimate

Estimate a lane

The all-in cost of one full truckload between two places, for every truck type or one. Linehaul plus fuel, standard freight, picked up a few days out.

Parameter	Required	Value
origin	Yes	A city and state (Chicago, IL, chicago-il or Chicago, Illinois) or a 5-digit ZIP. A city alone picks the largest of that name. The response says which place was used.
destination	Yes	A city and state (Chicago, IL, chicago-il or Chicago, Illinois) or a 5-digit ZIP. A city alone picks the largest of that name. The response says which place was used.
equipment	No	Limit the answer to one truck type. Default: all.
month	No	Price the lane as of an earlier month, YYYY-MM from 2003-12. Default: the latest month.

/api/v1/estimate?origin=chicago-il&destination=atlanta-ga

GET /api/v1/estimate/history

A lane's monthly history

The same estimate for every month since 2003-12, for one truck type.

Parameter	Required	Value
origin	Yes	A city and state (Chicago, IL, chicago-il or Chicago, Illinois) or a 5-digit ZIP. A city alone picks the largest of that name. The response says which place was used.
destination	Yes	A city and state (Chicago, IL, chicago-il or Chicago, Illinois) or a 5-digit ZIP. A city alone picks the largest of that name. The response says which place was used.
equipment	No	Truck type. Default: dry-van.

/api/v1/estimate/history?origin=chicago-il&destination=atlanta-ga&equipment=dry-van

GET /api/v1/rates

National rates

This month's national average rate per mile for every truck type, on a 750-mile haul, with 1, 3 and 12-month changes.

/api/v1/rates

GET /api/v1/rates/{equipment}

One truck type, with history

The rate per mile for one truck type and its monthly history since 2003-12: national, or for freight leaving or entering one state.

Parameter	Required	Value
equipment	Yes	Truck type.
state	No	Two-letter code of a lower-48 state. Default: national.
direction	No	With state: freight leaving the state or entering it. Default: outbound.

/api/v1/rates/reefer

GET /api/v1/states

Rates by state

Outbound and inbound rate per mile for each of the lower 48 states and DC, for one truck type.

Parameter	Required	Value
equipment	No	Truck type. Default: dry-van.

/api/v1/states?equipment=flatbed

GET /api/v1/equipment

Truck types

The truck types the index prices, with deck size and capacity. The `equipment` value is the one every other endpoint takes.

/api/v1/equipment

GET /api/v1/diesel

Diesel price

The US average on-highway diesel price (EIA): the latest week, and each month since 2003-12. It is the fuel input to every estimate.

/api/v1/diesel

GET /api/v1/places

Find a place

City-name or ZIP-prefix search. Returns the slugs the estimate endpoints take.

Parameter	Required	Value
q	Yes	Start of a city name (optionally with a state: spring il), or three or more digits of a ZIP.

/api/v1/places?q=dallas