Route planners look alike in a demo and differ on the invoice, because each meters something different: drivers, orders, unique addresses, stops or API credits.
This guide ranks thirteen of them on what ninety days of ordinary use costs, which caps force a bigger tier, which add-ons are really needed, whether data and exports leave with you, and which kind of operation each is built for.
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In short
What route planning software does
Route planning software takes a list of stops, vehicles and time windows and calculates the order and assignment of visits that cuts driving time, then sends the routes to drivers.
In this order: setup effort, what it really costs, how your data comes back out, whether
you can leave, and who each route planning tool is built for. One rule sits on top of those tests:
Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. Why those five, and why there is no
score out of ten, is on the how we work page.
Outside sales teams routing visits between accounts with CRM sync
Delivery fleets that need dispatch, driver tracking and proof of delivery
Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a
different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the
entry says so.
Per-driver route planning with a long trial and published tiers
Ranked #1 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
OptimoRoute charges for the drivers you plan for each month and states its order ceilings openly, which makes the invoice easy to forecast. Lite covers the driver app, live tracking, exports and a web API; Pro adds analytics, proof of delivery and customer feedback.
Annual billing earns a discount and monthly plans carry no contract. The catch is the tier jump: pickup and delivery lives in Custom, so mixed workloads outgrow Pro quickly.
What stands out
Per driver
30-day trial
Order caps
Where it costs you
Orders planned at once are capped at 700 on Lite and 1,000 on Pro
Pickup and delivery routing is only in the Custom tier
Weekly planning on Pro has to be activated by contacting the company
Right for
Delivery or service fleets of five to fifty drivers wanting a predictable per-driver bill
Wrong for
Operations that need pickup-and-delivery routing without a sales contract
United StatesPer driver per month, published; 30-day trial
Pays per scheduled order, with a small plan at no cost
Ranked #2 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
Routific switched in mid-2024 from per-vehicle to per-order pricing, which changes the maths for a business with many drivers and few orders: adding drivers costs nothing, adding orders does.
Every feature is in both plans apart from SMS. A paid plan covers 1,000 orders, then a falling per-order rate applies. Phone or video onboarding is reserved for paying customers; the free plan gets email and live chat.
What stands out
Per-order billing
Free plan
Unlimited drivers
Where it costs you
SMS notifications are excluded from the free plan and priced separately by country
Above 1,000 orders a month the bill moves to per-order tiers
The vendor's site does not state where the company is based
Right for
Small delivery businesses with swinging order volume and many part-time drivers
Wrong for
Fleets with steady thousands of daily stops watching unit cost
Not stated by the vendorPer scheduled order, published; free plan to 100 orders a month
Credits per address instead of seats, with every feature in every plan
Ranked #3 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
The pricing page states that plans are charged per address and not per user, and every plan carries route optimisation, a driver app, live tracking, proof of delivery and API access.
The effect is that credit consumption decides everything: a stable list of customers reused inside 30 days is cheap, a daily parade of new addresses is not. Recurring plans renew every 30 days until cancelled.
What stands out
Per address
All features
Unlimited users
Where it costs you
Each unique address costs one credit, so volume is the bill
Pay-as-you-go credits are priced higher per credit than recurring plans
No company address or country appears in its legal pages
Right for
Occasional or small-volume planners who want many logins at one price
Wrong for
Operations planning thousands of unique addresses every day
Not stated by the vendorPer address credit, published; trial without card
Base fee plus a price per stop beyond the included allowance
Ranked #4 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
Three plans differ by included stops, extra-stop price, custom stop properties, photos per stop and how long history is kept.
Because drivers are unlimited, the stop is the only meter, and the rules for what counts as a stop are broad. The free trial gives the unlimited version and converts to a monthly subscription unless cancelled, so diarise the end date.
What stands out
Per stop
Unlimited drivers
Formerly Circuit
Where it costs you
Stops are consumed by exports, prints and API reads as well as deliveries
Entry plan keeps data history for only 30 days
The site does not state the company's country
Right for
Courier firms with unlimited drivers and a predictable monthly stop count
Wrong for
Teams that audit work more than a month back on the cheapest plan
Not stated by the vendorMonthly base plus per-stop overage, published; trial of unlimited version
Per-user plans capped by stops per route and driver profiles
Ranked #5 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
Starter, Professional and Optimize differ in caps on stops, driver profiles, address book size and data retention (6 months, 1 year, 2 years). API and webhooks appear only in Enterprise.
The seven-day trial carries Professional features, but not customer SMS. Yearly billing takes a fifth off. Count the add-ons you actually need before comparing it with per-driver rivals.
What stands out
Per user
Stop caps
7-day trial
Where it costs you
Stops per route are capped at 250, 500 or 1,500 depending on tier
Live customer tracking, capacity optimisation and barcode scanning cost extra
Enterprise stop cap appears as both 1,500 and 3,000 on the same page
Right for
Local delivery teams whose longest route is a few hundred stops
Wrong for
Fleets needing API or webhooks without buying the top tier
Not stated by the vendorPer user per month, published; 7-day trial
Per-driver-seat plans from a courier app up to fleet tooling
Ranked #6 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Three self-serve plans (Route Optimization, Route Management, Fleet Management) plus a sales-led Enterprise tier for 200+ vehicles. Upgrading is self-service from the dashboard, but a downgrade goes through support.
The seven-day trial covers all plans without a card. Because the cost is per seat, a fleet with seasonal drivers pays for the seats it assigns, and can unassign them at any time.
What stands out
Per driver seat
7-day trial
API on top tier
Where it costs you
API and webhooks are limited to the Fleet Management plan
Message alerts are bought as add-ons
Downgrading a plan requires contacting support
Right for
Courier drivers and small fleets starting on one seat and growing
Wrong for
Teams that need an API without paying for the top plan
United StatesPer driver seat, billed quarterly or yearly, published; 7-day trial
Three published tiers with many functions sold as paid add-ons
Ranked #7 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Route4Me sells itself as a platform with dispatch, tracking, analytics, a driver app and an API. The real price depends on the add-on list, and some options such as HIPAA compliance and label scanning are contact-us.
The driver app has a free plan limited to ten stops and a separate paid plan. Ask which add-ons your use case needs before setting the budget.
What stands out
Add-on heavy
Unlimited routes
Driver app
Where it costs you
Recurring routing, avoidance zones and texts are paid add-ons on every tier
Pricing page does not state the billing basis
Routes are saved for 7 days on the home page
Right for
Operations wanting a wide feature catalogue and API with a tryout first
Wrong for
Buyers who need a single all-in price before talking to sales
United StatesThree monthly tiers, published; web trial of seven days
A flat monthly fee with four vehicles included, then per vehicle
Ranked #8 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
Routal is run by Routal Tech SL in Barcelona. The standard plan packs planner, driver app, customer notifications and API with webhooks, so the bill grows only by vehicle.
What does not come bundled: a second user or project, white-label branding and the extras above. The price page was updated on 15 October 2026 and shows figures in euro, dollars, pesos and reais.
What stands out
Flat fee
Per extra vehicle
10-day trial
Where it costs you
Standard plan includes one user and one project
Live-traffic routing and the multimodal optimiser are extras
ERP integration and onboarding sit in the custom Enterprise tier
Right for
Small fleets of four to fifteen vehicles wanting one fixed monthly figure
Wrong for
Companies needing ERP connections without an Enterprise contract
SpainFlat monthly fee with vehicles included, then per vehicle; 10-day trial
Routing and optimisation APIs billed in daily credits
Ranked #9 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
GraphHopper suits teams with engineers: the Route Optimization API takes vehicles and stops and returns routes, billed from a daily credit pool.
Because the engine is Apache 2.0 licensed on GitHub, a company can read the code and self-host the routing part. The price is development time. Nothing on the pricing page offers proof of delivery, customer notifications or a driver app.
What stands out
API only
Open-source engine
Daily credits
Where it costs you
Free plan is non-commercial and limited to five locations and one vehicle per request
Rate limits apply per plan, and excess requests may be blocked
The pricing page lists no driver app or dispatch screen
Right for
Developers embedding route optimisation into their own software
Wrong for
Dispatchers who want a ready driver app and live tracking
GermanyCredit-based API, published; free plan for non-commercial use
Proof-of-delivery software with per-driver or per-order plans
Ranked #10 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
Plans split into per-driver (three driver minimum) and per-order, so a business can choose the meter that suits its volume. Higher tiers raise web users from seven to fifty to a hundred, and photos per order from ten to twenty.
The product list centres on ePOD, GPS tracking, barcode scanning and offline operation. The contact page lists a Vilnius office and a North York, Ontario office.
What stands out
Proof of delivery
Per driver or order
Trial
Where it costs you
Lowest driver plan has a three-driver minimum and 6,000 orders a month
SMS notifications are charged on top of every plan
Trial length is not stated on the pricing page
Right for
Distributors that need signatures, photos and barcodes captured at delivery
Wrong for
Teams wanting only route optimisation without delivery-proof tooling
Not stated by the vendorPer driver or per order, published; free trial
Per-vehicle subscription with a four-vehicle minimum
Ranked #11 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
The pricing page offers two named products, RouteManager and RouteManager360, billed monthly, quarterly or annually per vehicle, and says it does not charge by delivery count. That helps high-stop routes and hurts small fleets. WorkWave describes itself as a field-service software provider with several product lines, so RouteManager is one product within a larger group.
What stands out
Per vehicle
Four-vehicle minimum
WorkWave
Where it costs you
Minimum of four vehicles to start
Only a starting price is published, bundles go through sales
No trial is mentioned on the pricing page
Right for
Fleets of four or more vehicles wanting per-vehicle pricing regardless of delivery count
Wrong for
Single-vehicle operators or teams that want a self-serve trial
United StatesPer vehicle per month, starting price published; custom bundles on contact
Monthly task tiers for last-mile dispatch, billed on completion
Ranked #12 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Launch gives unlimited users, driver app, proof of delivery and API access with 2,500 included tasks; Scale adds barcode scanning, auto-dispatch and advanced optimisation with 5,000.
Tasks count only when completed. The 14-day trial gives full access to the chosen plan. The price is aimed at operations where delivery management is the product, not a spare tool.
What stands out
Task tiers
Dispatch
14-day trial
Where it costs you
Advanced route optimisation starts on the middle tier
Texts and calls are billed separately after use
The Enterprise tier requires contacting sales
Right for
Courier and delivery companies where dispatch and customer tracking matter as much as routing
Wrong for
Small operations needing route planning only, at a low entry price
United StatesMonthly tiers by included tasks, published; 14-day trial
Route planning for outside sales reps, priced per user
Ranked #13 of 13 in Best Route Planning Software in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Badger sells to sales managers: territories, lead routing and activity dashboards are separate paid add-ons priced per territory or user. Business adds two-way CRM sync for a single object; Enterprise adds multi-object sync and SSO.
A 90-day money-back guarantee covers teams of two or more. It sits last because the buyer it fits is a sales team, not a route-planning team.
What stands out
Field sales
Per user
Free plan
Where it costs you
Records per licence are capped at 2,000 on Personal and Business
Route optimisation is limited to 120 stops on the free Personal plan
Plan lists show no dispatch or proof-of-delivery features
Right for
Outside sales teams routing visits between accounts with CRM sync
Wrong for
Delivery fleets that need dispatch, driver tracking and proof of delivery
United StatesPer user per month, published; free personal plan
Route planning software takes a list of stops, vehicles and time windows and calculates the order and assignment of visits that cuts driving time, then sends the routes to drivers. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is
the order we would work through them.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
12 of the 13 tools here publish what they cost; the other 1 quote per organisation. The ones you can compare without a sales call: OptimoRoute, Routific, MyRouteOnline, Spoke, Upper Route Planner, Zeo Route Planner, Route4Me, GraphHopper, Track-POD, WorkWave RouteManager, Onfleet, Badger Maps.
02
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
These 13 vendors are established in 4 countries across 3 regions (North America 6, Elsewhere 5, Europe 2). That decides whose disclosure law applies to what the vendor holds, wherever the servers are.
Route planning software is metered four different ways
Four ways to meter route planning appear in this market, and the cheapest depends on your stop pattern. OptimoRoute and Zeo Route Planner charge for the driver or driver seat, so a fleet with many stops per driver gets cheap routes. Routific charges for each order scheduled and nothing for drivers, which favours small volume with many part-time drivers.
MyRouteOnline charges per unique address and allows reuse within 30 days, which favours fixed customer lists. Spoke sets a monthly base with an included stop count and an overage price. Before comparing plans, convert your own week into drivers, orders, unique addresses and stops.
Count last month's drivers, scheduled orders and unique addresses separately.
Ask what the vendor counts as one unit: Spoke counts exports and prints as stops.
Price a quiet month and a peak month, not an average one.
Caps decide which tier you actually buy
The headline price is rarely the tier you end on, because limits sit on route size and history. Upper caps stops per route at 250, 500 or 1,500 and limits driver profiles, so a long rural route can force the Optimize tier. OptimoRoute limits orders planned at once to 700 on Lite and 1,000 on Pro.
Track-POD limits web users and monthly orders on its lower plans. Badger Maps limits records and leads shown on the map. Find your largest single route and your peak simultaneous orders, then read the plan table row by row; the cheapest tier often fits only your average day.
Write down your longest route in stops and your biggest day in orders.
Check the number of web users and driver profiles each tier allows.
Ask what happens, bill or block, when you exceed a cap.
Add-ons and notification texts move the real price
Several vendors in this list publish a plan price that leaves out functions a delivery business normally wants. Route4Me sells recurring routing, avoidance zones, commercial-vehicle optimisation and text notifications as paid add-ons on all three tiers. Upper prices customer live tracking and capacity optimisation per driver, and texts per message.
Routific and Zeo Route Planner also sell customer messaging separately. Onfleet bills texts and calls after use. A buyer comparing the base figure of one vendor against the all-in figure of another will pick wrongly. List the features you need on day one and ask each vendor to price them together.
Mark recurring routes, customer alerts and avoidance zones as needed or not.
Ask for the SMS price per message in your country.
Compare the all-in monthly figure, not the plan name.
Retention, exports and who the product is built for
Route data has a shelf life that differs by vendor and tier. Spoke keeps history for 30 days, one year or five years depending on the plan, and Upper keeps six months, one year or two years. Route4Me states routes are saved for seven days.
If you need to answer a customer complaint from last quarter, or hand records to an auditor, that retention matters more than a feature list. Fit matters too: Badger Maps routes sales visits, GraphHopper supplies APIs for developers, and Track-POD starts from proof of delivery. Choose the category of product before the vendor, and test an export during the trial.
Export a month of routes during the trial and open the file.
Ask how long routes, photos and signatures are retained on your tier.
Confirm the product's main job matches yours: delivery, field service, sales or API.
What goes wrong most often when buying route planning software
Choosing on the price per driver without checking whether the vendor charges per order, per address or per stop instead.
Buying a tier whose stop-per-route cap is below your longest real route, then discovering it on the first busy Monday.
Treating customer text notifications as included, when Routific, Upper, Route4Me and Zeo Route Planner all price them apart from the plan.
Using a sales-visit planner such as Badger Maps, or an API such as GraphHopper, for a delivery fleet that needs dispatch and proof of delivery.
07
Frequently asked questions
6 answers
What is the best route planning software in 2026?
OptimoRoute leads our ranking of 13. A single-product company that prices by the driver, shows its tiers and gives a 30-day trial, so the first ninety days are cheap to test.
The planning ceiling is explicit: 700 orders on Lite and 1,000 on Pro are planned at once. Pickup-and-delivery and multi-day long-haul routing sit only in the sales-quoted Custom tier, which matters if your work is not simple deliveries.
Which route planning tools publish their pricing?
12 of the 13, with the pricing model each one publishes:
OptimoRoute: Per driver per month, published; 30-day trial.
Routific: Per scheduled order, published; free plan to 100 orders a month.
MyRouteOnline: Per address credit, published; trial without card.
Spoke: Monthly base plus per-stop overage, published; trial of unlimited version.
Upper Route Planner: Per user per month, published; 7-day trial.
Zeo Route Planner: Per driver seat, billed quarterly or yearly, published; 7-day trial.
Route4Me: Three monthly tiers, published; web trial of seven days.
GraphHopper: Credit-based API, published; free plan for non-commercial use.
Track-POD: Per driver or per order, published; free trial.
WorkWave RouteManager: Per vehicle per month, starting price published; custom bundles on contact.
Onfleet: Monthly tiers by included tasks, published; 14-day trial.
Badger Maps: Per user per month, published; free personal plan.
The other 1 quote per organisation.
Is there a free route planning tool?
Routific, GraphHopper, Badger Maps offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition.
Where are these route planning software vendors established?
In 4 countries across 3 regions: North America 6, Elsewhere 5, Europe 2.
OptimoRoute: United States.
Routific: Not stated by the vendor.
MyRouteOnline: Not stated by the vendor.
Spoke: Not stated by the vendor.
Upper Route Planner: Not stated by the vendor.
Zeo Route Planner: United States.
Route4Me: United States.
Routal: Spain.
GraphHopper: Germany.
Track-POD: Not stated by the vendor.
WorkWave RouteManager: United States.
Onfleet: United States.
Badger Maps: United States.
What should you use instead of OptimoRoute?
Routific and MyRouteOnline are the next two on this page. Routific is for small delivery businesses with swinging order volume and many part-time drivers; MyRouteOnline is for Occasional or small-volume planners who want many logins at one price.
Who should not buy OptimoRoute?
Operations that need pickup-and-delivery routing without a sales contract. Orders planned at once are capped at 700 on Lite and 1,000 on Pro.
If your route planning software product belongs among these 13, tell us what it does and who it is for. Inclusion is an editorial call; what a listing is and is not is set out under software advice.
