Top 10 Multi-Stop Route Planner Apps in 2024

keyKey Takeaways:
  • A multi-stop route planner is key to optimizing your routes with unlimited stops based on traffic constraints, delivery distances, customers’ preferred time windows, and your working hours.
  • Some leading multi-stop route planner apps include Upper Solo, DynoRoute, BadgerMaps, OptimoRoute, Onfleet, Circuit, Routific, Google Maps, MyRouteOnline, MapQuest, and Apple Maps.

Mapping a route with multiple stops is a logistical puzzle, leaving you with more questions than answers. For years, people have been planning routes manually using pen-paper and physical maps. These routes were not accurate and fuel-efficient. As technology advanced, tools like Google Maps came into the picture. However, it did not solve any of the previous challenges.

These challenges raise the need for a multi-stop route planner or route maker that can plan accurate routes in minutes. Today, there are plenty of shortest route planner apps available in the market, all with different features and pricing structures. So, the question is, which one suits your business best?

How Do We Analyze and Select These Software Solutions?

We began by scouring top search results and prominent review sites like Capterra and G2 to compile a preliminary list of 15 multi-stop route planner apps with user feedback. 

After narrowing down to 12 options with actual user reviews, we involved our in-house team of route planning experts to evaluate each software based on ease of use, prices, and driver-friendly features like viewing daily schedules and routes, as well as collecting proof of delivery. Following our research and findings, we finally hand-picked the 10 best multi-stop route planner apps that cater to routing requirements. 

To help you answer this question, we have curated the following list of the 10 best multi-stop optimizer apps that can be an ideal fit for your business.

  1. Upper: Delivery and service-based business
  2. DynoRoute: Fleet management companies
  3. BadgerMaps: Field sales businesses
  4. OptimoRoute: Mobile workforce
  5. Onfleet: Last-mile delivery management companies
  6. Circuit: Delivery or field service-based businesses
  7. Google Maps: Localized retailers
  8. MyRoute Online: Delivery, distribution, sales, and service companies
  9. MapQuest: Small-sized retail companies 
  10. Apple MapsApple users looking for limited route planning

10 Best Multi-Stop Route Planners

1. Upper

Number of stops: Up to 500

Route optimization: Available

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: Android

Ideal for: Delivery and service-based businesses 

Upper is the ideal route planner for streamlining your delivery or field service operations. What sets the Upper Solo route planner app apart from other apps is the advanced routing algorithms it leverages to create the most efficient routes for you. 

The app allows you to plan and optimize routes based on traffic, customers’ preferred time windows, stop distances, and your working hours. If you are a solo driver or technician delivering packages or fulfilling service requests in an area, Upper Solo is the right solution for you. 

Upper’s easy ‘drag and drop’ functionality lets you change the sequence of stops based on last-minute changes to avoid delays. This app also provides a Proof of Delivery feature to capture photos of items delivered or customers’ signatures to maintain as a verifiable digital proof for future reference. However, it doesn’t provide barcode scanning.

Cover Up to 20% More Stops Daily

Get Upper Solo to replace guesswork with optimized routes. Reach more customers in less time and boost your delivery efficiency.

Key Features:

  1. Multi-stop route planning and optimization: It allows you to create optimal routes based on time-based constraints like traffic and customers’ preferred service or delivery time windows. You can also factor in delivery distances, real-time traffic data, priority stops, and special delivery instructions while optimizing your routes. 
  2. Address validation: This app ensures every stop is correct, whether you import it from spreadsheets or your other software, eliminating typos, wrong zip codes, and incomplete addresses.
  3. Dynamic mapping: This helps you visualize your meticulously planned routes and customize the colors of pins to distinguish between types of stops, such as pickups and deliveries. 
  4. Adaptive customer notifications: They allow you to foresee and convey precise ETAs and delivery progress updates like “Out for Delivery” to your customers via email or text. These customer notifications pave the way to enhancing transparency and customer satisfaction levels.
  5. Analytics Route summaries: Give you an overview of each route’s total distance, time, and savings. They also provide real-time insights into total successful deliveries, delivery exceptions, and average time spent on each stop to comprehend your on-field performance and fine-tune your route planning.

Our verdict: Best for your delivery and service routes as long as you have a stable internet connection.

Upper solo testimonial - multi stop route planner app

Pricing:

Weekly: $4.99/ week

Monthly: $19.99/ month

Pros
  • Drag and drop files for addresses
  • Last-minute changes and updates to routes
  • Budget-friendly packages
  • Mapping visualization
Cons
  • Limited features in the free version
  • Usage may depend on stable internet at times

2. DynoRoute

Number of stops: Pay as you go

Route optimization: Available

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: iOS and Mac

Ideal for: Fleet companies and delivery/field service businesses

If you are an Apple user looking for a flexible pricing model, DynoRoute is one of the best route planner apps for iPhone. Every credit you buy strengthens your claim for better rates. We noticed that this app doesn’t just let you add stops along your route but also customize them by adding special instructions or delivery preferences.

If you are a solo driver, you can bank on DynoRoutes to take you to your intended destinations quickly. The strength of this app lies in its advanced routing algorithms that factor in delivery distances and preferred time windows to achieve dynamic route optimization. We also found that the latest version of DynoRoute supports Spanish and Portuguese. However, as much as we didn’t want you to hear it, you can’t access this app if you are an Android user as it currently supports only iOS users.

Our verdict: Best if you are a solo driver seeking a multi-stop route planner app based on a flexible pricing model if only you are an iOS user.

Key Features:

  1. User-friendly interface: It doesn’t require a steep learning curve for you to understand how it works and gets you started on navigation in minutes.
  2. Integration with Apple Maps: Seamlessly integrates with Apple Maps to prevent your hassle of switching between apps and get turn-by-turn instructions from within your app. 
  3. Route reports: Provide details like the number of stops assigned, delivered, and missed per day, week, or month to assess overall or individual drivers’ delivery performance and take appropriate improvement measures.
  4. Easy customization: This lets you choose your preferred distance unit, navigation app, and vehicle type to suit your delivery requirements.
Pros
  • Intuitive interface
  • Pay-as-you-go model
  • Excellent customer support
Cons
  • Not available for Android users
  • No free trial or monthly subscription plans

Pricing:

Starter Pack: $9.99 (500 credits)

Optimization Pack: $19.99 (1200 credits)

Advanced Package: $39.99 (3000 credit)

3. BadgerMaps

Number of stops: Starts at 100+

Route optimization: Availableoptimoroute

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: iOS and Android

Ideal for: Field sales teams and businesses

Badger maps - multi-stop route planning app

If you are a traveling salesperson traversing multiple addresses in a bustling city, Badger Maps can be your ideal routing partner. We loved the “Lasso” tool, which enables circling clusters of addresses with a fingertip to define territory and edit it based on visit frequency or customer type. It also lets you view your route for the entire day to prioritize your best opportunities.

Badger Maps supports comparatively more navigation apps than other apps, including Waze, Google Maps, Garmin, and Magellan, to let you choose your favorite GPS. Even after adding 100+ accounts, it worked seamlessly, letting us plan the most optimal routes to cover them.

We also loved how it let us find and accommodate new opportunities to compensate for canceled appointments on the fly to maximize the sales trip efficiency. However, our tests revealed the slow loading time and subpar note-keeping ability as two primary concerns that could be addressed.

Our verdict: Best if you are a sales rep seeking to maximize your appointments on your daily road trips and can bear with slow loading.

Key Features:

  1. Targeted focus: This feature lets you color your points and filter your opportunities based on predefined upselling or cross-selling criteria to maximize your deals.
  2. Follow-up route planning: This allows for checking in to appointment meetings, scheduling next follow-ups, and planning routes to accommodate them on further trips.
  3. Reminders and alerts: Help avoid overlapping events and remind you of upcoming appointments to ensure you never miss any.
  4. Detailed reports: These provide crucial details, including check-in photos, services completed, and surveys, so that you can plan your future trips more quickly.
Pros
  • Impeccable routing
  • Easy custom check-ins
  • Sales territory visualization

User Reviews:

Crystal H., Account Executive

Routing is my favorite feature. I can visual my travel on the map but most importantly I can plan my time. I couldn’t function efficiently without this app. It calculates the miles for each route, I send my route to my calendar & add the miles for each day which makes tracking my mileage a breeze.

Rowan G., Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)

The fact that it can show me potential clients on the map.

Cons
  • Slow loading time
  • Suboptimal functioning without the internet
  • Difficulty modifying stops at times

User Reviews:

Larry C., Territory Manager, Biotechnology, 201-500 employees

Only 2 things that I can think of to improve the service. First, the ability to optimize a map for walking (it currently only offers driving). This comes in handy in big cities where driving is impractical. Second, the ability to add call notes directly in the app would be great. This functionality might already be there; admittedly, I have fallen into a rut with my usage. Neither of these shortcomings would prevent me from renewing my subscription.

Anneliese D., Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)

That it stops working with no internet schedule. Some of the addresses I’m looking up doesn’t pop up.

Pricing:

Business: $58 per user per month (billed annually)

Enterprise: $95 per user per month (billed annually)

4. OptimoRoute

Number of stops: Up to 700 in Lite and 1000 in Pro

Route optimization: Available

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: iOS and Android

Ideal for: Organizing a mobile workforce

OptimoRoute

If you are looking to organize your mobile workforce, OptimoRoute can be a no-brainer fit for you. You can not only plan your routes with multiple addresses but also optimize them based on delivery distances, customers’ preferred time slots, and your daily working hours.

We also liked the dedicated driver app it provides, which allows you to follow the optimal sequence of stops. You can also make last-minute edits to accommodate priority changes or cancellations while maximizing routing efficiency. Another strong reason why we found it highly useful was advanced route scheduling

For an individual professional pressed to cover umpteen stops daily left with no time to plan routes daily, OptimoRoute can let them plan routes for up to 5 weeks. However, testing revealed loss of information when transitioning GPS waypoints into addresses, leading to fewer addresses than the waypoints on the map.

Our verdict: Best for automated route planning as long as you can afford to pay for each user you add. 

Key Features:

  1. Mobile app for drivers: It allows you to view and manage your routes on the go.
  2. Pickup & delivery: This option lets you accommodate pickups and deliveries on the same route to create a hybrid workflow, reduce the number of trips, and decrease operational costs. 
  3. Customer feedback. Facilitates configuring automated feedback requests to collect your customers’ ratings and reviews to improve your service based on them. 
  4. Proof of delivery: This enables you to maintain a repository of digital proofs (images of items or customers’ signatures) of successful deliveries.
Pros
  • Efficient route scheduling
  • Multiple driver management
  • 30-day free trial (highest among all)

User Reviews:

Meghana N., Operations Manager, Logistics and Supply Chain, 1-10 employees

1. Ease of uploading data. 2. Makes appropriate routes and can schedule 2 drivers at a time. 3. In some situations, we can schedule 2 delivery timings for 1 driver making the clearer for the user who is live tracking. 4. In case I put an address, it saves it in it’s data base for the next time which makes it easier to not rewrite the whole address again.

Jennifer S., Owner, Consumer Services, 1-10 employees

The ability to copy routes and individual stops is critical to our business. Also the ability with multiple drivers

Cons
  • Inaccurate ETAs, especially for rural delivery locations
  • Unintuitive interface
  • Missing customization in delivery reports

User Reviews:

Alfredo S., Operations Manager & Co-founder, Environmental Services, 1-10 employees

I wish there was a calendar feature. A Google Calendar sync would be amazing. The timeline features make it difficult to see the week or day at a glance. The ETAs in the automatic texts are sometimes off by an hour or more.

Julian Y., State Manager, Consumer Goods, 51-200 employees

Can’t cancel a delivery mid-route. Expensive to send sms to customers. Not always intuitive.

Pricing:

  • Lite: $35.10 per driver/month (billed annually)
  • Pro: $44.10 per driver/month (billed annually)
  • Custom: Varies based on your unique needs

5. Onfleet

Number of stops: Starts at 2000

Route optimization: Availablecircuit

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: iOS and Android

Ideal for: Last-mile delivery management companies

Onfleet - multi-stop route planning app

Onfleet bills itself as a “complete last-mile delivery software” that can handle your end-to-end delivery processes. Putting this claim to the test proved it to be quite right, if not fully. Besides the standard route optimization that almost all apps provide, it delighted us with AI-powered customer notifications and ETAs.

Trusted by over 1,000 customers worldwide, this app also supports Proof of Delivery, which records every successful delivery in the form of photos, signatures, barcodes, or digital notes. Another good thing is its versatility and usability across industries. 

However, due to its complex UI, it may take you some time to familiarize yourself completely with its features. High prices may also be a problem for you if you are a small delivery business owner with budget restrictions.

Our verdict: Best for your delivery business if you can patiently wait until you know the ins and outs of how Onfleet works to tap into its maximum potential.

Key Features:

  1. Advanced route planning: This allows you to plan routes for multiple weeks ahead of time, especially helpful in planning your daily start and stop if you are a long-haul driver. 
  2. Real-time data: It displays up-to-the-moment customer information, order details, and the route for navigation to help you meet delivery expectations.
  3. Feedback collection: Provides you with an integrated feedback form to receive your customers’ feedback and incorporate it to improve your service.
  4. Real-time reports: Gives you insights into on-time rates, service times, feedback scores, and distance traveled to assess your performance and implement improvement measures.
Pros
  • Easy onboarding and good customer support
  • Personalized customer communication
  • Real-time visibility into delivery progress

User Reviews

Branden H., Logistics Director, Retail, 501-1,000 employees, Overall rating: 5/5

Onfleet’s set up and onboarding is incredibly simple. Unified dashboard is great, and provides ease of use. Integration with our Point of Sale (Dutchie) works but leaves much room for improvement. Support from [sensitive content hidden] is great when needed

Kenny I., Operations Manager, Building Materials, 11-50 employees, Overall rating: 3/5

It’s easy to use, helps me manage my fleet, and gives me up-to-the-minute updates. I also like the way our customers can track the progress of our truck to their job site. It’s easy to add or delete tasks or users.

Cons
  • Inaccurate ETAs at times
  • Expensive add-ons
  • Speed issues

User Reviews:

Jaime M., Director of Delivery, Consumer Goods, 501-1,000 employees, Overall rating: 3/5 

The speed once the volume is added is borderline unusable.

Robbin C., Distribution Manager & Last Mile Lead, Food Delivery, 51-200 employees, Overall rating: 5/5 

My only issue is that things that should be commonplace are considered extra add-ons, which can increase your price.

Pricing:

Launch: $550 per month

Scale: $1265 per month

Enterprise: Not publicly available

6. Circuit for Teams

Number of stops: Starts from 500

Route optimization: Available

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: iOS and Android

Ideal for: Field service-based or delivery companies

Circuit multiple stops routing app

If you are stuck with juggling order priorities, traffic constraints, delivery distance, or speed while figuring out routes, Circuit can be your go-to route planner app to optimize your routes. The flexible and customizable data fields it provides can make your entry of stops easier, faster, and error-free, no matter how complex your addresses are.

An option that we found useful in cutting down address input time further was the “import stop data” using its driver app or even from e-commerce stores like Shopify. All you need is a custom API that supports this integration with your retail store. 

Another feature lets you organize stops and routes by your delivery zones to spend less time managing them manually. However, we found making changes to a route through multiple clicks a little cumbersome and unintuitive. It also failed to recognize some remote or rural addresses due to inaccurate location data that we entered.

Our verdict: Go for it if you are comfortable spending some time cross-checking addresses, especially rural ones in the United States.

Key Features:

  1. Delivery/service customization: This enables you to set priority levels, specific instructions, or the type of address (home/commercial) to meet your customers’ delivery expectations effectively.
  2. Proof of delivery: This lets you collect your customers’ digital signatures or photos of items delivered for a verifiable record and avoid delivery-related issues later. 
  3. Dynamic customer notifications: Facilitates keeping your customers informed on the estimated times of arrival and ensures they are available for delivery or service.
  4. Two-way API: This allows you to integrate Circuit with your existing software, like Shopify, and automate tricky processes like updating or importing lists of addresses.
Pros
  • Intuitive and clean interface
  • Reuse of pre-planned routes
  • Detailed delivery analytics

User Reviews:

Hannah H., Owner, Marketing and Advertising, Self-employed

I love how easy circuit is to use. It is user-friendly and easy to understand.

Steve S., IT Manager, Wholesale, 51-200 employees

The ability to easily map stops, optimize and reuse existing routes. Real time tracking of a delivery driver.

Cons
  • Lack of multi-language support
  • Less noticeable “Save Changes”
  • Difficulty editing stops

User Reviews:

Safa M., Co-Founder, Food & Beverages, 1-10 employees, Overall Rating: 5/5

Editing routes on the app can be a bit of a pain, but once you get used to it and reupload from an edited spreadsheet, it’s a real breeze! Just takes some getting used to the workflow. Any bugs have been very promptly dealt with and customer support is excellent!

Bradley H., Sales, Furniture, 11-50 employees, Overall rating: 5/5

Recently a “save changes” step was added after “re-order all/changed stops”. This extra click is easy to miss and has resulted in a few inaccurate routes when a browser was closed/computer restarted. Though, we are now on the lookout for that.

Pricing: 

Starts at $20 per month

7. Google Maps

Number of stops: 10

Route optimization: Available to an extent

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: iOS and Android

Ideal for: Localized retailers

google maps - multiple stops route planner app

With over 10 billion downloads worldwide, Google Maps app forms the most popular routing app. The biggest USP is that it is free to use and serves as one of the best for casual outdoor trips with multiple stops. Needless to say, everyone, including us, likes the advanced functionality of street view and indoor maps of buildings to provide an immersive experience when searching or visualizing a location or place.

Whether you are driving, walking, or taking public transport, using Google Maps route planner can help you navigate. One more feature that people like is a simple tap on a location in the map to view all its details, including time zones and nearby areas.

However, the biggest limitation is the upper limit of stops, i.e. only 10, rendering it infeasible for large retailers or delivery services. Moreover, it doesn’t optimize routes for commercial truck drivers based on factors like vehicle specifications, weight limits, or compliance regulations, making it unsuitable for logistics businesses.

Our verdict: Go for it you are a small retailer with a handful of addresses under 10 and can do some manual routing alongside.

Key Features:

  • Automated rerouting: Reroutes you on your trip based on real-time traffic updates, incidents, or road closures to save you transit time
  • Real-time ETAs: Displays accurate estimated times of arrivals for your stops based on traffic patterns.
  • Live view: This view shows you arrows and directions placed on your map to guide you along your route, turn by turn.
  • Multiple route options: This section informs you of multiple route options along with ETAs so you can choose the route that suits your urgency and preference.
Pros
  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Accurate traffic-based ETAs
  • Free to use

User Reviews:

Guy G., Director, Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees, Overall rating: 5/5

uper simple interface, great for planning multi-stop routes (desktop) or looking for re-routes (mobile) Also great for building the location of services… we have a healthcheck finder tool that lists client clubs and body composition device type and publishes this to the web

David C., IT Technician, Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees, Overall rating: 5/5

Clear, simple/easy to use. You get all of the main features you need immediately at no cost.

Cons
  • Unavailability of certain features in all countries
  • Not suitable for emergency or large-sized vehicles
  • Only up to 10 stops allowed
  • Criss-crossing paths

User reviews

Nilesh S., Intermediate Representative, Financial Services, 10,001+ employees,  Overall rating: 3/5

This is very rare, but sometimes the directions go around in circles and not get me anywhere.

Morale Ugan M., Student mentor, Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, 1,001-5,000 employees, Overall rating: 3/5

There is nothing I don’t like about Google Maps besides the fact that you need to be connected to internet, so if you go to a place that you don’t know and there’s no internet connection at the area, you might get lost.

Pricing:

Free

8. MyRouteOnline

Number of stops: 1000

Route optimization: Available 

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: iOS and Android

Ideal for: Delivery, distribution, sales, and service companies

If you want to map your territory and plan as many as 1000 stops in one go, MyRouteOnline can be what you are looking for. Tests revealed that it not only helps minimize distance and time by planning routes but also considers your working hours to optimize them accordingly. 

A feature that stands out, in particular, is the route animation, which lets you visualize and evaluate your routes before you start on them and make changes if necessary. The feature also lets you export your routes to Google Maps, Garmin, TomTom, and even Excel spreadsheets.

What didn’t work for us was printing export routes, which was slow and forced us to take screenshots instead. If you want to sort routes by distance to locate and start trips with the farthest stops first, we must tell you it doesn’t allow that.

Our verdict: Best for your delivery, distribution, or sales businesses if you don’t rely too much on routes printed on paper.

Key Features:

  1. Reloading and importing contacts: Allows you to reload and update preplanned routes to save you time planning them from scratch every time.
  2. Easy import: Supports the import of your address lists from cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox to save your manual entry time.
  3. Customized multi-routing: Lets you set a fixed duration for each stop, maximum route duration, or the number of stops to cover in each route while planning multiple routes.
  4. Save routes: Facilitates saving an unlimited number of routes online to facilitate easy access as and when needed.
Pros
  • Easy address upload
  • Good customer service
  • Extensive integration capabilities

User Reviews:

Leena W., CEO, Mental Health Care, 1-10 employees, Overall rating: 5

We love how quickly and easily we can set up routes to deliver flyers and send it to the online app on our phone to follow the most efficient route.

Calder B., Community Engagement Coordinator, Non-Profit Organization Management, 11-50 employees, Overall rating: 5/5

The address upload process is incredibly easy, and the software makes it simple to complete the inevitable data cleanup needed with street addresses. Perhaps the most helpful features are the user-friendly route customization options. Because our nonprofit receives help from volunteer drivers, the number of routes we need varies from day to day. MyRouteOnline makes it simple to optimize our routes based on changing needs. Finally, the app makes it easy for us to transfer routes to our drivers and for them to navigate.

Cons
  • Failure to designate a unique fixed “endpoint” for each route
  • Too many steps involved in adding a stop

User Reviews

Mike K., Transportation Manager, Transportation/Trucking/Railroad, Overall rating: 5/5

There is no way to specify a “permanent” start or end address, but you can easily move the addresses up and down the list.

Verified User in Construction, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

I dislike that if you want to add someone, you have to go back two steps add them and then go back forward two steps and possibly have the route you already made get messed up

9. MapQuest

Number of stops: 26

Route optimization: Available 

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: iOS and Android

Ideal for: Small-sized retail companies

MapQuest Routing app With Multiple Stops

Launched in 1966, MapQuest is the pioneer of web-based mapping services and forms a great turn-by-turn GPS navigation app. Equipped with voice-navigation capabilities, it guides you through your routes when driving or cycling. Furthermore, this route planner is also useful in optimizing routes based on traffic constraints and reducing driving distance, time, and fuel costs.

While testing the speedometer features, we found that it was really helpful in comparing a vehicle’s actual speed against the maximum legal speed along a route, ensuring compliance. We also found the way it compares prices at nearby gas or fuel stations really helpful, as you can choose the most effective filling station and save some dollars. 

It is even more beneficial when you are an individual delivery driver running on a tight budget. However, unlike MyRouteOnline, it may not work for you if you wish to add more than 26 stops in one go.

Our verdict: Go for MapQuest if you have a small delivery radius and don’t mind ads to save on paid routing software.

Key Features

  1. Multi-Stop Route Planning & Optimization: Allows you to set a start point other than your current location, add multiple stops, and optimize them based on traffic updates and toll roads/highway avoidance preferences.
  2. Multiple route choices: Typically displays two or three similar route options and ETAs for you to choose from based on your urgency and route preferences.
  3. Favorites: Lets you save your favorite routes to some recurring stops for quick referencing whenever needed.
Pros
  • Up-to-date satellite view, enhancing your user experience
  • Quick link buttons to POI
  • Local weather information to help plan your trip accordingly
  • Hands-free navigation and custom icons

User Review:

Justin K., Teacher, Primary/Secondary Education, 51-200 employees, Overall rating: 3/5

I like the quick link buttons at the top for finding common places quickly (restaurants, hotels, etc).

Cons
  • Route planning is available for only up to 26 stops
  • Lack of industry-specific features
  • Frequent ads

User Review:

Justin K., Teacher, Primary/Secondary Education, 51-200 employees, Overall rating: 3/5

I don’t like the ads that are present in the taskbar on the left and cover parts of the map. Google Maps offers a much more visually and user-friendly experience.

10. Apple Maps

Number of stops: 15

Route optimization: Available 

Multi-stop route planning: Available

Works on: iOS 

Ideal for: Apple users looking for limited route planning

Apple Maps - multiple stops route planning app

Headquartered in the United States, Apple Inc. released Apple Maps on September 19, 2012, making it the default map system for iOS or MacOS users. This web mapping service is free and globally popular for the clean and simple user interface that it provides for navigation. 

Apple Maps has banked on its USP – a high level of data privacy since the beginning, as it doesn’t require any sign-in using your Apple ID. So, you can stay assured your data is safe and secured while using Apple Maps. The turn-by-turn navigation guidance based on real-time traffic updates and quick detours to prevent congestion is also universally loved. 

We were also impressed by the alerts it sends out for upcoming exits and turns, which provide accurate lane guidance to avoid wrong turns or missed exits. However, you won’t be able to plan your routes for stops exceeding 15 and heavy commercial vehicles using it.

Our verdict: Suitable for you if you are an Apple user and are looking to plan routes for very few stops while ensuring robust data security.

Key Features:

  1. Transit support: This feature shows real-time information about public transport vehicles like buses or trains, including their arrival and departure times, to make navigation around a town easier. 
  2. Advanced search capabilities: It leverages ultra-specific filters in the search bar like price or distance to find restaurants, hotels, or clubs. You can also tap on Nearby to locate petrol stations, hotels, groceries, and coffee shops in your vicinity.
  3. EV routing: The latest iOS 17 upgrade also introduced EV routing to optimize your routes in case you have electric vehicles by showing you real-time EV charger availability for supported chargers.
  4. Offline maps: Lets you select an area you wish to access, search, and download even when you are off-grid or executing deliveries in far-flung areas.
Pros
  • Advanced navigation support for driving, walking, cycling, and public transit
  • Interactive place cards containing details like address, hours, website, and contact number
  • Immersive 3-D views of major cities through the Flyover feature
Cons
  • Requires a special JavaScript API (MapKit JS) to integrate into your website
  • Not available for Android users
  • Route planning is available for only up to 15 stops in one go

3 Limitations of Free Route Planner Apps

Although free route planner apps may be useful to start with, they may not let you scale up as your business grows. 

Here are the challenges they pose:

  1. Inability to handle multiple vehicles and stops

    Most free route planners allow you to optimize your route from Point A to Point B for just one vehicle. Even if some of them support multi-stop route planning, they usually let you add up to only a certain number of addresses, up to 20 or 25. It means that if you need to plan routes for more than this number of stops or multiple drivers or vehicles, a free route planner may not serve your purpose.

  2. Potential security concerns

    As free route planners are often open-source, they may pose data security issues, rendering them less safe than premium route planner.

  3. Installation and usage issues 

    While free route planners may be attractive, they may not always be easy to install or use. Moreover, you typically don’t get any customer service support or training to guide you on how to implement or use free route planners. 

So, it’s crucial to decide when to replace your free routing app with a paid one. The following section enumerates the signs that indicate you need an upgrade to help you out in this process.

6 Scenarios Where You Need Paid Route Planners

As already clear, a free route planner may be suitable for limited stops. However, as your business expands to add new customers and addresses, you may need to plan routes with multiple stops and distribute them optimally among your staff. 

It may become unmanageable with free planners that don’t support stops beyond a certain number and optimize routes often for only a single driver. So, if you want to plan routes for multiple delivery vehicles and drivers while optimizing your fuel and maintenance costs, a free route planner may not serve your purpose.

These are a few situations or scenarios that indicate you may need the long-awaited upgrade to paid service or delivery route planners.

  • Failure to meet your delivery deadlines 
  • Excess time spent on planning routes
  • Over-reliance on fixed routes
  • Poor visibility into last-mile delivery operations
  • Soaring transportation costs eating up profits
  • Higher failed delivery attempts and order returns

Now that you know when to upgrade to a paid route planner, let’s understand its advantages.

4 Benefits of Route Planner Apps

Route planner apps redefine the way you plan and optimize your routes by providing the following benefits.

1. High operational efficiency

An advanced multi-stop route planner app helps consider different criteria, including traffic patterns, distances, and delivery-related constraints like your customers’ preferred time windows while creating routes. It, thus, paves the way to creating the most efficient routes for your drivers to traverse. It helps reduce the time and distance to cover your stops, reducing associated operational expenses like fuel or repair/maintenance costs and enhancing your delivery efficiency.

2. Increased productivity

Creating optimal routes using a route planner helps you save time figuring out delivery routes manually. Optimized routes thus help them accomplish more deliveries in less time, boosting their productivity. When you can cover more stops in a given period, it also enables you to handle higher volumes of orders and expand your customer base. 

3. Enhanced customer satisfaction

Efficient route planning allows you to take into account your customers’ preferred time window while scheduling deliveries, reducing failed delivery attempts. Further, optimized routes also help you deliver every order on time. Some planners also provide GPS tracking to monitor your delivery progress and convey accurate ETAs to your customers, enhancing transparency. When customers receive orders within their preferred delivery windows without delays, it helps build their trust in your brand and boosts their satisfaction levels.

4. Improved decision-making 

Route optimization apps help you collect information and provide reports on data related to routes and deliveries. For instance, they let you view the total number of stops covered and missed per day, week, or month to analyze your overall performance. Based on this analysis, you can identify and address issues to elevate your route efficiency.

Multi-Stop Route Planner Apps: Navigate Your Multi-Stop Routes Confidently

A multi-stop route planner is the key to enhancing your delivery or field service operations and saving valuable time, costs, and resources. While several route optimization software are available, they may not let you add stops beyond a certain number (usually up to 25) and usually let you plan only one route at a time.

These limitations may hinder your ability to scale your delivery or field service operations and cater to the expectations of your ever-increasing customer base. The route planner you choose depends on factors like integration requirements, delivery distances, number of locations, and budget. So, it’s time to evaluate your business requirements and arrive at the right decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Choosing the right multi-stop route app involves considering factors like your specific needs, the number of stops you handle, ease of use, cost, and the quality of route optimization. Assess your requirements and compare available options to find the best fit.

To map out multiple stops, use a multi-stop route planning software. Input your destinations, and the software will generate an optimized route for you, ensuring efficient navigation between stops and saving time and resources.

The best route planning software depends on your unique needs. Some popular options include Upper, OptimoRoute, and Routific. Research and select the one that aligns with your business requirements for efficient multi-stop route planning.

Free route planners often have limitations such as a restricted number of stops, basic features, and limited route optimization capabilities. They may not be suitable for businesses with complex routing needs or large numbers of stops.

Consider upgrading to a paid route planning software when your business grows, and you require features like advanced optimization, real-time or GPS tracking, and support for a larger number of stops. Paid route optimizer apps offer enhanced functionality to meet your evolving needs.

A multi-stop route optimization app offers benefits such as time and cost savings, improved efficiency, reduced fuel consumption, accurate ETAs, and better customer service. It helps streamline your operations and maximize the productivity of your delivery or service teams.

Multi-stop routing is the process of choosing the most efficient route to perform multiple deliveries at different locations. The routes are calculated by considering factors, such as drivers’ availability, traffic flows, road closures, and the urgency of the stops. Advanced route optimizers can help users plan a multi-stop trip in the shortest amount of time possible.

Partly yes, partly no. You can plan multiple stops with Google Maps, but only up to the limit of 10 stops. However, this isn’t the best route planning software or app for multi-stop deliveries as it does not offer advanced route optimization features.

Use dedicated multi-stop route planners like Upper, OptimoRoute, and Routific, for planning routes with multiple location stops. Routes are not just planned but even optimized, dispatched among the delivery drivers, and can also be tracked with real-time updates.

Yes, if we take the example of Upper, one of the efficient route planners, the dispatch manager can anytime rearrange the sequence of the stops. They can even re-assign the stop to any other driver in case of an emergency or priority. This can be done flexibly using the drag-and-drop functionality.

Yes, Upper can let the user import the Excel or CSV file consisting of multiple stops or they can even let them add details manually. Further, with advanced route planning capabilities, these stops turn into the most efficient route, considering the priorities of the individual stop or the flexibility to plan pickup and deliveries in a single route or optimize them based on time or distance factors.

This feature might not be available in other route optimizer apps; however, Upper does provide the save and access functionalities. You can access your planned routes as and when you need them in the future.

Yes! A navigation app, Google Maps has a route optimization option that can optimize multiple-stop routes but is restricted to a limit of 10.

Some, but not all, multi-stop route planners have the feature of suggesting points of interest or attractions along the route. These suggestions can enhance your journey by offering opportunities to explore interesting landmarks, restaurants, or tourist destinations.

The best shortest route planner optimization app depends on your specific needs. Google Maps is great for real-time traffic updates, while Waze offers community-driven data. MapQuest suits individual and small business users. For advanced multi-stop route planning, Upper is the best shortest route planning software or logistics businesses of any size. Choose the one that aligns with your unique requirements.

Author Bio
Rakesh Patel
Rakesh Patel

Rakesh Patel, author of two defining books on reverse geotagging, is a trusted authority in routing and logistics. His innovative solutions at Upper Route Planner have simplified logistics for businesses across the board. A thought leader in the field, Rakesh's insights are shaping the future of modern-day logistics, making him your go-to expert for all things route optimization. Read more.

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