EDI is the language that moves the global supply chain. x12port is the one platform that speaks it — for freight brokers, retailers, manufacturers, automotive suppliers, and every business in between.
Also available: Developer demo • View pricing
EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange. In plain terms, it's the standardized way that companies send business documents to each other computer-to-computer — without anyone typing, re-entering, or emailing a thing.
Think about what happens when PrimeMart Inc. places an order with a supplier like Acme Retail Co. That purchase order doesn't arrive as a PDF or an email. It arrives as a structured electronic file — an X12 850 transaction — that the supplier's system reads automatically, confirms with a 997 acknowledgment, then ships against by sending back an 856 advance ship notice and an 810 invoice. Every step is machine-to-machine, instant, and auditable. No phone calls. No manual entry. No errors from misread faxes.
The same thing happens in freight. When a shipper tenders a load to a carrier, that's an X12 204. When the carrier accepts, that's a 990. Status updates during transit are 214s. The final freight invoice is a 210. Healthcare works the same way: medical claims are 837s, eligibility checks are 270/271s, remittance advice is 835s.
X12 is the American standard, governed by the ANSI Accredited Standards Committee X12. It covers more than 300 transaction set types across every major industry. If your business is required by a trading partner to "do EDI," X12 is almost certainly what they mean.
Historically, EDI required a VAN (Value Added Network) — a private intermediary network that charged per-kilocharacter fees and took weeks to onboard a new partner. Companies also needed specialized consultants and expensive middleware just to translate their internal data into X12 format. That world still exists. x12port replaces it.
x12port supports the full X12 transaction library. Whether you move freight, sell to retailers, bill insurance, or manufacture parts — the documents your partners require are already here.
x12port puts every part of the EDI stack under one roof. Setup takes hours, not months. Most businesses are processing real documents within their first week.
Sign up as a Business — the company that needs to exchange EDI with trading partners — or as a Developer, who builds and manages those integrations via API. Your 14-day free trial starts immediately. No credit card, no sales call, no onboarding specialist required.
Free trial • No credit card • Under 5 minutes to set upA trading partner is any company you exchange documents with — a retailer, a carrier, a supplier, a healthcare payer. Add their ISA/GS identifiers, choose how you'll connect (SFTP, AS2, REST API, VAN, or an inbound webhook URL), and you're configured. Most partner setups take under ten minutes.
SFTP • AS2 • REST API • VAN • WebhookYour internal systems speak JSON, CSV, or XML. Your trading partners speak X12. The Visual Mapper bridges that gap with a point-and-click interface — drag fields from your data format onto the matching X12 segments, add conditional logic where needed, and save the map. x12port reuses it automatically for every document of that type with that partner. No EDI specialist, no custom code.
No code • X12 ↔ JSON / XML / CSV • Reusable per partner
Every account includes a full sandbox environment. Use sandbox API keys
(xp_test_...)
to submit transactions that are completely isolated from production — your partners never
see them, and nothing costs you credits. The built-in X12 Validator
checks every document at the segment level and flags errors before they can cause
partner chargebacks or compliance failures.
Switch to a production API key
(xp_live_...)
and your EDI is live. x12port delivers outbound documents to your trading partners
over their preferred transport, receives their inbound documents, and generates
997 Functional Acknowledgments automatically — so your partners always
know their documents were received and accepted.
The Transaction Hub gives you a live feed of every inbound and outbound document across all partners — with ACK status, direction, and test/production separation at a glance. For freight, the Pipeline Tracker shows the complete lifecycle from load tender to final invoice in one view. Set up webhooks so your own systems are notified the moment a document arrives, is acknowledged, or is rejected.
Real-time dashboard • ACK tracking • Webhook alertsEvery document in these flows is validated, routed, stored, and tracked automatically by x12port. Select an industry to see its document cycle.
Every document above is validated, stored, and tracked automatically — available in your Transaction Hub the moment it's processed. Browse all supported X12 transaction sets →
No separate VAN bill. No third-party mapper license. No add-on validation service. The entire EDI stack ships with every x12port account.
x12port is built for both the businesses that need to exchange EDI and the developers who build those integrations.
Legacy EDI was built for a different era. x12port is built for how supply chains actually move today — fast, self-serve, and transparent.
| Category | Traditional EDI / VAN | x12port |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first live transaction | 3 – 6 months | ✓ Hours to days |
| Partner onboarding | 2 – 4 weeks per partner, typically requires EDI specialist | ✓ Self-serve — under 10 minutes per partner |
| Cost model | VAN transaction fees + per-document charges + annual license | ✓ Flat subscription or Pay-As-You-Go |
| Technical expertise required | EDI specialists or expensive consultants ($150 – $300/hr) | ✓ Non-technical users can self-serve completely |
| Data format translation | Separate middleware license ($5K – $50K/yr) | ✓ Visual Mapper included — no code, no extra fee |
| Transaction visibility | Batch reports with 12 – 24 hour lag | ✓ Real-time dashboard, instant webhook alerts |
| Testing environment | Difficult to set up, often costs extra | ✓ Full sandbox on every account, always free |
| Document storage & archiving | Not included — manage your own archiving | ✓ Cloud Document Vault included on all plans |
| Freight lifecycle tracking | Not available — separate TMS required | ✓ Built-in Pipeline Tracker for 204 → 820 flows |
| REST API access | Rare — most VANs use FTP-only interfaces | ✓ Full REST API with sandbox, webhooks, and docs |
Start your free trial today. No credit card, no implementation fee, no EDI consultant needed. Sign up, add a trading partner, and start testing real transactions within the hour.