By Rakesh Patel
90% of people in the United States with smartphones use navigation apps or digital maps for directions. For the most part, these digital planners are available at our fingertips on our mobile devices.
The goal for anyone planning the fastest route is to find the best fit for them and their purpose. This write-up will show the way forward and list the best free route planner apps with unlimited stops. We believe it’s better to know the truth upfront than to be disappointed later on.
Average user then has two options for online route planning. Option #1 is a free route planner app with limited features and 10 stops (not unlimited). Option #2 is a paid version of these route planners for more robust optimization features.
So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
12 Free Route Planners with Unlimited Stops
Route planners are one of the crucial assets in a delivery business. It helps delivery drivers carry out deliveries efficiently and without roaming around the town wasting time in finding addresses.
There are many free multi-stop route planners available in the market. Here we have listed and given a brief about the top 12 of them.
1. Google Maps route planner
Great for: road trips, daily commute, public transit info, walking route
Available on: Mac, PC, Android & iOS devices
Of course, when we think of a free route planner tool, we think of the Google Maps Route planner. Google Maps not only successfully locates the location you put in, but also provides the best turn-by-turn directions in the mapping industry.
Google Map route planner helps users plan a variety of routes, whether it is for personal or recreational purposes. Google Maps has been a vital resource for users around the world.
Users can create a list of places and save frequent stops or routes. Sharing real-time start location and end location with others is also possible.
In case you are heading to an area without any internet connection, you can download the map beforehand on your mobile phone.
Unknown localities can be explored using Google Street View, to get to know the place better.
The most important part – users can select route preferences. So you can avoid toll roads, highways, and ferries.
- Available on a mobile device and web.
- Offline navigation, street-view, and accurate ETAs.
- Navigation for driving, cycling, walking, and public transport..
- Archive routes using the “Pin” feature.
- Automatically re-routes in case you miss an exit.
- Collects user data.
- Only creates routes with up to 10 stops.
- No proof of delivery.
- Doesn’t consider factors like time windows, individual driver speeds, or restrictions.
2. Upper Route Planner
Great for: Planning & optimization for multiple routes with multiple stops
Available on: Web, Android & iOS devices
If you are running a delivery business or managing a team of professional drivers, Upper Route Planner is all you need to perform delivery operations. Upper is capable of churning out the best optimal route in a matter of seconds. You just need a few clicks to create a route plan, optimize routes, and dispatch drivers.
Upper is ideal for small or medium-sized businesses so that you can plan routes, including hundreds of stops. Just import your Excel file into the route planner, get optimal routes and share them with your drivers.
The route planning and optimization software eliminates manual things in such a way that there will be no room for errors. The good thing is it reduces your working hours to minutes by using a fully automated delivery process.
Key features of Upper Route Planner:
- Route optimization: Optimizes routes with hundreds of stops and divides them among multiple drivers.
- Excel Import: Import a list of addresses using an Excel sheet or CSV.
- One-click dispatch: Dispatch routes to all your drivers with a single click.
- Analytics & reports: Generates reports and analytics to keep a tab on your daily delivery operations.
- Automated notifications: Keeps your ideal customers informed about their delivery with SMS and email notifications.
- Proof of Delivery: Drivers can record proof of delivery by clicking pictures or collecting customer signatures.
- Quick route optimization with no manual intervention.
- Allows more than hundred of extra stops in a route plan.
- It has an ability to auto-assign routes and reassign routes.
- Provides accurate delivery status to drivers.
- It offers only a 7-day free trial.
- No voice-guided driving directions.
Add Unlimited Stops to Your Route Plan
On Upper, import as many as stops you want to add to the route plan and get optimized routes instantly. Use Upper for route planning without any manual intervention.
3. RouteXL
Great for: Delivery route planning & optimization
Available on: Web, Android & iOS devices
RouteXL is a web-based free online route planning software based in the Netherlands. Also made available on iOS and Android, RouteXL’s mapping software helps users plan actual routes using geocoding, a global positioning system, and various other features. One of the key elements that users or businesses find useful is importing or exporting via excel.
Create multi-stop routes for pickups, delivery services, and deliveries using RouteXL. Its smart algorithm arranges the addresses in a way to make the route time-efficient.
You can import up to 200 stops using a spreadsheet for quickly adding the addresses.
In addition to that, RouteXL offers geocoding, live driver tracking, data sharing, QR code scanning, and share and save routes for future use.
- Users can add up to 200 stops per route.
- Automatically saves previous routes for future use.
- It has an in-built drag & drop scheduler.
- Poor customer service.
- No proof of delivery.
- Tutorial and guidance for users need improvement.
4. MapQuest
Great for: Daily commuting & route planning
Available on: Mac, PC, iOS & Android devices
MapQuest is the “old kid on the block.” It is one of the best free route planners and has been around for many years before TomTom, Facebook, Twitter, Garmin, and everyone else on this list.
This company has adapted well to users’ changing driving preferences, and their current product is simple, intuitive, and multi-platform. MapQuest is an excellent road trip planner with multiple stops for simple travel.
It helps find the shortest time and shortest distance by avoiding country borders, seasonal roads, toll roads, and ferries. It also locates businesses, gas stations, restaurants, shops, and book hotels.
- It allows 20 stops by importing an Excel Spreadsheet.
- Easy to use route planner.
- Gives you turn-by-turn navigation and traffic flows information.
- Smart address for creating routes.
- Many drivers report inaccurate stops or directions in the app.
- Offline mode not available.
- Pop-up ads are bothersome to many professional drivers.
5. TruckRouter
Great for: Long-distance trucking routes, trip cost calculator, & regulation information
Available on: Website
The trucking industry can be quite demanding, and it has some specific needs, unlike small or medium-sized delivery companies. TruckRouter, a web-based route planner, is one of the best options for truck drivers, specifically designed to meet the challenging requirements of the trucking industry.
TruckRouter creates truck-specific routes for a list of truck stops, provides a trip cost calculator, fuel cost calculator, and offers weight/height restrictions.
Users can receive toll information along with delivery costs, route elevation information, and truck warning.
- Free web-based dynamic routing service.
- Very easy to use for long-haul truck drivers.
- Provides accurate routes and information.
- Focuses on truck routes only.
- No mobile app for navigation to check routes on the way.
6. MyRoute
Great for: Route planning & optimization for multiple stops
Available on: Cloud, SaaS, Web, Android & iOS devices
MyRoute is a great option for advanced route planning software that helps businesses like trucking, courier, deliveries, recycling, and maintenance for efficient route planning. MyRoute is an efficient route planner for trucking and logistics companies.
Along with offering apps for route planning & optimization, it offers dispatch management, fuel management, work order management, territory management, mileage tracking, and delivery driver tracking.
Drivers can use MyRoute to plan and optimize 350 addresses per route. It reloads saved driving routes, imports contacts, and imports address lists from cloud storage. MyRoute Online is a paid tool with pricing starting at $29 per month and offers a free trial.
Users can set default or specific travel time for each location and make manual changes to the shortest route.MyRoute offers optimization goals like reduced planning time, minimize distance, balance distance and driving time. Businesses can integrate their software with this free routing software.
- Address import feature is really useful.
- Offers delivery tracking for each driver.
- Export routes to Google Maps, TomTom, and Garmin.
- Cannot divide stops among multiple drivers.
- Consumes more time while planning routes.
7. inRoute
Great for: Weather charts, exporting routes to other apps, elevation, and curviness during a road trip
Available on: iOS
inRoute is a powerful mapping tool that uses intelligent routing to plan optimal routes using curves, elevation, and weather. It offers great navigation with voice guidance and turn-by-turn directions. The highlight of using inRoute is that it focuses on checking your route for severe weather.
Drivers can optimize waypoints & receive voice-guided directions. inRoute creates customer routes based on weather, elevation, and curviness.
Users can add departure and layover times, save their favorite spots and routes, and export routes to Waze, Navigon, and Google Maps.
- Voice-guided navigation for multiple locations (mostly 150) per route.
- Users can optimize waypoint order or manually reorder the route.
- Allows users to set departure and layover times.
- Export routes to navigation apps like Google Maps, Navigon, Waze.
- Users have to buy a paid subscription to access extra features.
- It has a confusing interface.
8. Apple Maps
Great for: Daily commuting, privacy, and Apple users
Available on: Apple devices
Maps by Apple is an excellent tool to use for drivers. The sense is that this route scheduling app offers fewer capabilities than other route planning apps.
The beauty of the app falls within the details of the map, and delivery times where users may want to use this app would be if they’re going to stay within the Apple ecosystem.
Users can quickly find stops for restaurants, groceries, services, shopping, and travel. Users can also send maps to their iPhone using Mac.
Exporting a map as PDF is easy with Apple Maps. Users can find stops for gas and food along the way, pause playback of podcasts and audiobooks.
- Excellent map design and visual style, including 3D map view.
- Prioritizes privacy and security.
- Syncs between all Apple devices.
- It has features of route directions and voice navigation.
- It might have issues locating destinations.
- Users point to incorrect information and exit directions.
- It offers a maximum of two stops- not very useful for businesses.
9. Waze
Great for: Road trips, daily commute, recreational purposes, community feedback, real-time data, hotels, stores, & gas stations
Available on: Mac, PC, Android & iOS devices
Waze is a go-to route planner for drivers after Google Maps. It offers riders and drivers efficient routes to avoid bad traffic jams. Waze aims to offer a practical solution that helps people in making better choices by collecting real-time updates from other Waze users.
Waze uses real-time data from other drivers to find stops, create routes, and get guidance on your route. Users can connect to Spotify to listen to their favorite music and podcasts.
Waze offers voice features, shortcuts, community feedback, and parking notifications, street closures, and event-specific traffic updates.
- It has a game-like interface for a better user experience.
- Provides information regarding restaurants, gas stations, and cost of fuel.
- Accessible to Facebook and Google Calendars.
- The community advantage is lost on routes with less activity.
- Only creates routes with two stops.
- No directions for stops further than 1,000 miles.
10. Speedy Route
Great for: Route optimization & time boxing for delivery drivers
Available on: Cloud, SaaS, Web, Android devices
Speedy Route is one of the best free options for any delivery driver that is looking to optimize routes with multiple stops. It has been popular as a dependable app that reorders stops efficiently.
With Speedy Route, users can drag & drop addresses on the map. Traveling salesmen and business delivery drivers can get directions and also time boxing while visiting multiple stops.
Speedy Route allows dispatch management, mileage tracking, performance metrics, and fuel management.
- It is free of cost upto 10 or fewer stops per route.
- Creates and calculates routes for different vehicle types.
- It does not have a mobile app.
- Users have to purchase a subscription for more than 3 routes per day.
11. OnFleet
Great for: Dispatch management, driver management, customer management, & fleet management
Available on: Cloud, SaaS, Web, Android & iOS devices
Onfleet is a modern and gratifying cloud-based route optimization software. It helps your business manage and analyze the local deliveries.
The users of Onfleet routing software belong to a variety of industries like distributors, retailers, courier service, and on-demand delivery businesses.
Onfleet allows managing routing and dispatch operations from a web dashboard. Along with route optimization and auto-dispatch, Onfleet offers real-time data and proof of delivery.
Predictive ETAs and driver chat, integrated customer communication and real-time driver tracking help improve customer experience and driver performance.
- Offers a 14-day free trial.
- Simple to add a destination or even just create a route plan.
- Integration with third-party apps.
- It does not map out locations based on traffic.
- Users can’t view history.
12. Maps.me
Great for: Offline navigation and offline route planning
Available on: Android and iOS
Maps.me is mainly used for providing offline navigation services. If your delivery route goes through an area with less or no signal, no one can help you better than Maps.me.
Maps. me lets you download an unlimited number of offline maps and is ideal for offline trips. You can add a maximum of 5 stops in a route. Additionally, you can use their navigation system, search for locations on route, and download an unlimited number of routes.
So, if your delivery routes demand you to travel in rural areas or you are worried about your internet bills, Maps.me is a considerable option.
- Offers offline map navigation
- Helps you save mobile data.
- Get access to routes and travel guides of popular destinations.
- Allows only 5 stops in a single route
- Not effective for long route journeys
- Does not have any advanced route management features
How to Add Multiple Stops on Free Route Optimization Software?
Opting for a route optimization software is not enough. It requires detailed knowledge of the ins and outs of the software. Here you will get a detailed guide on how to add multiple stops on free route optimization software.
Step: 1
Once logged in, you have to create a route plan by clicking on the button “Create Route Plan”.
Step: 2
Further, you have to enter stops if required. You can add stops manually or by importing an Excel file. In case you have a ready CSV or excel file, click on the “Upload File” or just drag and drop to let the software fetch the data.
Thereafter, if you want to add manually, click on “+ Add Stops” and enter all the stops you want to include in your route.
Step: 3
Once done, click on “Next” to land on the driver selection page to assign routes to the driver/s. After assigning them, you’ll get the planned and optimized routes with all your selected stops.
Step: 4
In the next step, review your route plan in case you want to swap routes or reassign it to another driver. If all looks good, go ahead as per your pre-planned route.
Step: 5
After reviewing, you can share the routes with your drivers directly on their mobile app. As soon as you dispatch routes, they will get notified via the driver app about delivery tasks.
This is how a free route planner or any paid software can help you plan multi-stop routes. But the question is, which one should you choose for planning routes efficiently? Let’s discuss this in the next section.
Upper Route Planner
A simple-to-use route planner
that every one is talking about
Paid vs. Free Route Planners
A free version or a free route planning tool for planning routes always has certain limitations.
While these apps might be useful for cost-cutting purposes, they would not be efficient for adding hundreds or thousands of stops to your route plan. Here’s why:
| Free Route Planners | Paid Route Planners |
|---|---|
| Can only plan routes with a limited number of stops | Can plan routes with an unlimited number of stops |
| Users may get inefficient routes most of the time | Can help you create efficient routes quickly |
| Users might not have an option for optimization | Optimizes routes along with efficient planning |
| Have no fleet management, customer management, or driver management capabilities | Mostly support fleet management, customer management, and driver management |
| Have no integrated features to support the delivery function for a logistics and last-mile delivery business. | Have features that are integrated to make the delivery process easier for all businesses. |
| Do not provide real-time customer alerts | Provide real-time customer alerts with a customization option |
| Might leave your customers unhappy at the end of the process | Make sure your clients get a better user experience |
Since a free route planner doesn’t tick all the boxes right, we may need to look for a feature-rich route planner. That sums up why paid route planner has a clear edge over free software.
Most route optimization tools mentioned in this list offer a free trial. You can sign up for the trial versions and get a better idea of the difference between free and paid route planners.
Plan Routes With Unlimited Stops on Upper Route Planner
As a solution to all the limitations of free route planners, Upper Route Planner comes up with a combination of the best features and a user-friendly interface. With Upper, you can plan unlimited routes with hundreds of stops in them.
Not only planning, Upper also optimizes routes by following which, you can save fuel and hours of route planning time. Also, we enable you to send customer notifications and ETAs to your customers to practice a transparent delivery business model. Your manual effort vanishes decreases routing errors, and helps you complete deliveries on or before time.
Along with route optimization, you get additional features like one-click dispatch, collecting proof of deliveries, importing excel sheets, reporting, and integrating APIs and FTPs.
All in One Route Planning Solution with Unlimited Stops
Plan routes in minutes, share with drivers in seconds, share ETAs with customers, collect proof of delivery, generate reports and much more with our advanced route optimization tool
Try Upper for Free
FAQs
It depends on your requirements. If your entire route has less than 10 stops, then you can easily get it done with the help of a free route planner like Waze, Google Maps, MapQuest or RAC’s mapping service.
Every free route planner software available out there will have a limit on the number of stops it allows. Even some of the most popular tools do not allow you to plan a route with unlimited stops per day or route.
The benefit of using paid route planners is that it offers several advanced route planning features like route optimization, unlimited stops, and proof of delivery. An ideal route planner app with a standard membership comes with good planning tools that are important for logistics. You must try out the Upper Route Planner to find the shortest route path available for your drivers.
Google Maps, Waze, RAC Route Planner, and MapQuest are the best delivery route planning software available for free. You can easily find these free tools on Google Play Store and App Store.
Yes, Google Maps does have a route planner. But it can only plan routes for up to 10 stops, including the start location and end location. Google Maps can be used when you want to use it for personal travel or commute, plan a road trip with less than 10 stops, and run a delivery business that is not logistics-intensive. It is not ideal for large businesses.
The best choice for planning a route with multiple or unlimited stops is to use a paid route planning app instead of doing manual route planning. You can try using Upper Route Planner to create the best route. Upper helps you create multiple route schedules with unlimited stops. Other basic route optimization platforms like Circuit app and Routific can help you create the best routes with as many stops and routes you like.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, the downside is that there are no available free multi-stop routing planning solutions with unlimited stops.
There are three multi-stop route planners that can give you up to 25 stops without cost. But for quality route optimization in the delivery process, you must opt for the right route planning software.
With Upper Route Planner, we thrive to provide every possible robust solution for your delivery business. From route planning to route optimization and collecting proofs of delivery to generating analytical reports, we provide it all. We aim to provide the best combination of technology and support. If you have any questions, you can reach out to us.
Plan 500+ stops at once