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SONAR Reviews & Product Details - Page 3

SONAR Overview

What is SONAR?

SONAR is the world’s leading freight forecasting platform, trusted by industry leaders to deliver unparalleled insights into the global freight economy. As one of the only solutions providing a complete and reliable view of every mode—trucking, rail, ocean, and air—SONAR empowers you to make smarter, faster decisions. With 93% of its data exclusive, SONAR goes beyond standard market tools, offering real-time intelligence derived from millions of freight tenders, ELDs, fuel transactions, shipping bills, and more. Gain access to the most comprehensive dataset available, allowing you to track rates, demand, capacity, weather, seasonality, and countless other market drivers. Whether you’re a broker, carrier, shipper, or supply chain professional, SONAR transforms complex data into actionable insights, helping you benchmark performance, manage risk, and outpace the competition. Stay ahead with SONAR’s cutting-edge tools and confidently navigate the ever-changing freight landscape. SONAR isn’t just a platform—it’s your competitive edge in the freight and logistics industry. Experience the power of real-time analysis and unlock unprecedented visibility into your supply chain like never before.

SONAR Details
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SONAR Community
Languages Supported
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Product Description

SONAR delivers data and analysis you can trust across the entire global freight market - in real time. SONAR allows carriers, brokers/3PLs, shippers, financial institutions, intermodal, air cargo, maritime, and final mile participants benchmark, analyze, monitor and forecast the global supply chain. They do so by accessing SONAR 93% exclusive data to help power better business decisions

How do you position yourself against your competitors?

SONAR isn’t just a platform—it’s your competitive edge in the freight and logistics industry. SONAR transforms complex data into actionable insights, helping you benchmark performance, manage risk, and outpace the competition. Experience the power of real-time analysis and unlock unprecedented visibility into your supply chain like never before.


Seller Details
Seller
SONAR
Company Website
Year Founded
2017
HQ Location
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Twitter
@SONAR_FW
3,586 Twitter followers
LinkedIn® Page
www.linkedin.com
44 employees on LinkedIn®
Description

FreightWaves is a leading provider of freight market intelligence and analytics, offering a comprehensive platform that delivers real-time data, insights, and tools for transportation and logistics professionals. Their flagship product, Sonar, empowers users with advanced forecasting capabilities and market visibility to make informed decisions in the supply chain. FreightWaves aims to enhance transparency and efficiency in the freight industry through innovative technology and data-driven solutions.


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Overview Provided by:

Recent SONAR Reviews

Verified User
U
Verified UserMid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
4.5 out of 5
"Market Insights at your fingertips"
The amount of data, the different types of data, and the quality of the data are unmatched in the marketplace.
Verified User
E
Verified UserMid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
3.5 out of 5
"Helpful platform with great industry insights, if you know how to use them."
Sonar provides insights that others in the marketplace either don’t have access to or don’t produce in a meaningful way. Their ability to pull data...
Gregory G.
GG
Gregory G.Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
5.0 out of 5
"Excellent Customer Service and great data for strategic business decisions."
The service that we receive is 10/10 good!
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SONAR Media

SONAR Demo - SONAR - Market Dashboard
A lane level management dashboard that shows the current spot rate (van, reefer, and flatbed) and contract rate with high and low values in a lane along with a historic chart view and multiple other market analytic data points such as origin and destination capacity conditions. The spot rate is ...
SONAR Demo - SONAR - US Summary Chart
SONAR provides different visuals to view our data. This chart displays our Outbound Tender Volume data sets, over the last few years. Our OTVI data set is all about the demand in the market. Our tendered data updates daily, and can help you be proactive in making the best decisions for your compa...
SONAR Demo - SONAR - Container Atlas
The Container Atlas dashboard allows users to get access to ocean market data collected from key industry providers. This data can help make more informed and profitable decisions while using granular carrier capacity and service metrics.
SONAR Demo - Supply Chain Intelligence (SCI)
SCI is our RFP tool that collects paid contract rates from freight shipper invoices, valued at $80 billion. This along with our TRAC spot rates and some of our scoring metrics in SCI helps provide insights into the contracted freight market.
SONAR Demo - Critical Events
SONAR's Critical Events (powered by WeatherOptics) is your trusted intelligence center during severe weather, natural disasters, fires or controlled power outages, allowing you to react smarter to events across the globe.
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115 SONAR Reviews

4.5 out of 5
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115 SONAR Reviews
4.5 out of 5
115 SONAR Reviews
4.5 out of 5

SONAR Pros and Cons

How are these determined?Information
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Pros
Cons

Overall Review Sentiment for SONARQuestion

Time to Implement
<1 day
>12 months
Return on Investment
<6 months
48+ months
Ease of Setup
0 (Difficult)
10 (Easy)
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G2 reviews are authentic and verified.
NL
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SONAR?

The data is obviously impressive and the depth of what you have access to is incredible! There are so much data that we can trust as legitimate and accurate, helping us stay ahead of market shifts. The team is also incredible. Teaching you how to maximize your opportunity with the data has been second to none. Caitlyn Glassco has been an incredible CSM for us and we've gotten so much from our partnership with SONAR! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

Once flatbed rates become more widespread at the same functionality of dry van, it will be incredible! The new UI has really eliminated any complaints on our end. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

Learning about past and current market conditions while anticipating market shifts. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ernie B.
EB
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SONAR?

I've had a genuinely positive experience using FreightWaves SONAR, particularly due to the level of support and the practical insights it offers into the freight market. From the get-go, the support team stood out for their responsiveness and eagerness to help, making the initial learning curve much smoother than expected.

What impresses me most about SONAR is its ability to demystify the macroeconomics of the trucking market. The platform provides a clear, concise view of market conditions, which has been instrumental in my decision-making process. It's not just about having access to data; it's about getting precise, relevant information that's actually applicable to my day-to-day operations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

There are some issues with the new UI that the product team is aware of and fixing Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

What impresses me most about SONAR is its ability to demystify the macroeconomics of the trucking market. The platform provides a clear, concise view of market conditions, which has been instrumental in my decision-making process. It's not just about having access to data; it's about getting precise, relevant information that's actually applicable to my day-to-day operations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

JL
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
More Options
Validated Reviewer
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SONAR?

The quantity and the quality of the data. It allows for users to articulate market swings with 3rd party data. We find this useful with educating our staff along with our customers. The customer service/support is top notch and they are constantly coming out with enhancements and improvements. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

There is a learning curve to nativiating the software. Once you have been properly trained, you come to enjoy the configuration but into to new users can be cumbersome. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

We use the market data to enhance our customer business reviews. We are an organization that has warehouse and truck assets as well so we use the data to help educate the organization of freight market movements and how that translates to our KPI's and P&L"s. We also use the lane rate index to enhance our lane costing algorthym. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Kelly Swan of SONAR

Thank you Joe! We love to hear how our users are harnessing our data to improve their organization.

SL
Director of Logistics
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Validated Reviewer
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SONAR?

Love the all the information that is at your fingertips. Also love the new RFP tool that helps companies to input lots of lanes and get results that can drive decisions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

Would love the platform to have LTL information Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

Gives us quick information that allows our team to make informed decision in the ever changing market place. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

CM
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SONAR?

The tender and rejection data on a macrolevel, regional level, and lane level are very impactful to making decisions not only for our assets, but also for 3rd party carriers. It allows for us to see what's happening in the marketplace much eralier in the process than other providers that have market data. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

SONAR is still building out their pricing tools. We feel like others that offer pricing guidance are more in line with what we are seeing in the marketplace. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

Letting us know where the hot/cold freight markets are so we can deploy our assets accordingly, and prepare for 3rd party carriers increasing their rates. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Food & Beverages
UF
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SONAR?

Large data pulls for benchmarking.Ability to create visuals to show market trends Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

Easer use of making graphs and setting up the correct data. Hard to get the right data sometimes Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

Benchmarking rates to market and understanding capacity trends Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Logistics and Supply Chain
UL
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Validated Reviewer
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SONAR?

Quick rates, market trends, customer service Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

Ease of integration. SONAR's rates are not inline with DAT which is a little concerning Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

Finding truckload rates Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Mike B.
MB
Young Executive Committee
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SONAR?

The visuals that you can manipulate and setup however you're trying to abosrbe the date. Easy to use! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

The limited perspective on the TL market. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

Understanding the market. Sharing visuals on both import and domestic data points. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Financial Services
IF
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
What do you like best about SONAR?

the breadth of informations and high frequency data points Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

hard to search within the app for new data sets...the search shouldnt be reliant on knowing the "ticker" for the data set and instead should be more intutive to search terms Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

having high frequency data points and interesting angles to disect supply and demand dynamics in various freight markets across modes Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Logistics and Supply Chain
UL
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Validated Reviewer
Verified Current User
Review source: Seller invite
Incentivized Review
(Original )Information
What do you like best about SONAR?

I like that there are always fresh new tickers to see new market data presented in easy to digest ways. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about SONAR?

I don't currently have any dislikes - they have done a great job. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is SONAR solving and how is that benefiting you?

SONAR helps to bridge the visibility and informational gaps. Customers appreciate that we can offer insight into challenges that have largely been invisible. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.