Best OptimoRoute Alternatives: Complete Comparison Guide 2024

keyTL;DR:
  • OptimoRoute is an ideal route planning platform with automated routing, real-time route modifications, and fleet tracking.
  • OptimoRoute doesn’t provide a simple interface, traffic-based routing, driver-dispatcher chat, or address or contact book, necessitating its alternatives.
  • The 6 best OptimoRoute alternatives include Upper, Onfleet, Route4Me, Circuit, Routific, and RoadWarrior.
  • Upper is the best software for businesses seeking extensive route management capabilities.
  • Onfleet is ideal for businesses that require on-demand dispatch management.
  • Circuit is a perfect fit for small-sized businesses and individual drivers.
  • Routific is perfect for straightforward routes that don’t involve tangling and overlapping.
  • RoadWarrior is a good solution for teams and individual drivers looking for core multi-stop routing capabilities.

Are you using OptimoRoute for your day-to-day route planning and optimization requirements? 

Have you found yourself looking for features like real-time driver-dispatcher communication or traffic-aware route adjustments?

Or maybe you are interested in learning about OptimoRoute alternatives that are more efficient.

In this blog, we explore six of the best alternatives to OptimoRoute available in 2024. We’ll delve into a detailed comparison of these alternatives, examining key functionalities like advanced route optimization, ease of integration, and additional innovative features that might be crucial for your business operations. 

This comparison will help you identify the right software to elevate your routing efficiency and meet your specific logistical demands.

Never Settle for Inefficient Routes

Use Upper’s next-gen routing algorithms to optimize routes, reduce travel distances, minimize idle time, and increase stops per delivery journey to maximize efficiency.

OptimoRoute’s Brief Overview

Capterra: 4.6 (153 reviews)

G2: 4.8 (31 reviews)

OptimoRoute is a powerful route planning and optimization software solution designed to help you organize a mobile workforce.

OptimoRoute’s Key Features:

  • ‘Breadcrumbs’ tracks drivers’ time and degree of deviation from planned routes and allows you to determine the reason behind them. 
  • Multi-day long-haul routing helps create routes that teams can follow to ensure they arrive at different predefined stops along the route on time without getting overburdened. 
  • ‘Return to depot,’ which allows you to schedule your drivers so they can return to the warehouse and reload their trucks, minimizing idling wasted time and vehicle-related costs, including fuel costs and vehicle maintenance.
  • Customer experience feedback that lets customers review their delivery experience upon delivery completion.

OptimoRoute’s Downsides That Lead People to Consider OptimoRoute Alternatives

Several businesses seek OptimoRoute alternatives for the following reasons.

  • The user interface and appearance could be clearer.   
  • Absence of sophisticated route optimization capabilities, including traffic-aware routing. 
  • There is no driver-dispatcher chat
  • The timeline view is missing, making it challenging to tell routes apart.
  • The address/contact book functionality to manage recurring clients is not there.
  • Multi-lingual support is not present.

OptimoRoute Pricing

The first plan starts at $35 per vehicle per month (billed annually) and has a limit of 700 stops. The second plan costs $44 per vehicle per month and provides advanced features, including analytics, real-time order tracking, proof of delivery, and customer feedback. Custom pricing is for more complex routing needs and isn’t publicly available.

Top 6 Alternatives to OptimoRoute

Name Best for What Outshines or Is Good? What Lacks or Can Be Improved?
Upper Businesses seeking AI-powered route optimization and dynamic route adjustments Clean and intuitive interface
One-click dispatch
GPS-based tracking
In-app navigation
Flexible proof of delivery (photos, signs, and notes)
Customer notifications
Custom fields
Offline routing capability
Multi-depot management
Barcode scanning
Routific Businesses seeking shorter routes Mathematically optimized routes, RESTful API Steep learning curve, missing features (return to the depot, breadcrumb trails)
Onfleet Businesses seeking on-demand delivery management capabilities Automated dispatching, traffic-constrained routing, in-app chat Inaccurate ETAs, bulk task optimization
RoadWarrior Businesses and professional drivers seeking basic multi-stop routing Passing stops between drivers, availability time windows Cluttered interface, address duplication, expensive add-ons
Route4Me Businesses seeking variably priced add-ons to customize deliveries Extensive marketplace of modules, advanced route simulations High prices for add-ons, tangled routes, inaccurate ETAs
Circuit Small-sized businesses and independent drivers Synchronized driver-dispatcher dashboard, package-finder function Zapier integration issues, route editing difficulties, lack of load planning

1. Upper

Capterra: 4.6/5 (44 reviews)

G2: 4.8/5 (11 reviews)

Upper Route Planner's dashboard

Upper’s route planner software stands out for its AI-powered multi-constrained routing algorithms, which help optimize routes based on traffic, drivers’ availability, customers’ service/delivery time windows, and vehicle specifics. This reduces delivery times and increases daily deliveries.

The best part? These routes don’t involve crisscrossing or overlapping. This minimizes double-backing, lowering fuel consumption and boosting delivery drivers’ convenience.

We prioritize adaptability and flexibility. Our software lets you reassign in-progress delivery routes to another available driver in case of emergency, vehicle breakdown, or last-minute call-in sick. This helps prevent missed deliveries and customer dissatisfaction. 

Of course, Upper includes all the other features that people expect to find in route planning software to help them streamline their delivery operations, such as:

  • GPS-based fleet tracking to stay abreast of your team’s real-time progress.
  • Automated customer notifications and ETA updates to notify customers when they can expect a delivery or service visit and ensure transparency.
  • Proof of delivery to attach photos, digital signatures, and additional notes to confirm a successful delivery or service job
  • Reports & analytics to evaluate driver performance, identify areas of improvement, and eliminate them with strategic measures to increase delivery efficiency
  • Zoning to define driver service areas to simplify the management of large-scale field operations 
  • OpenAPI integration enables seamless connection with different business systems to fit unique business or industry needs.

A few areas where Upper surpasses OptimoRoute are:

  • Traffic-based routing: Upper considers real-time traffic conditions when planning routes, unlike OptimoRoute.
  • In-app navigation: Upper offers in-app navigation that lets drivers navigate routes from within their delivery app without switching to an external navigation app like Google Maps or Apple Maps. It enables hands-free navigation, enhancing focus and safety.
  • Clean and intuitive user interface: Upper provides a simplified web dashboard with clear instructions on how to use it, minimizing the learning curve and facilitating smooth onboarding, unlike OptimoRoute’s dashboard, which looks clunky and cluttered.
  • Contact management: This feature lets you create a contact book for recurring clients’ addresses. Whenever required, you can import these destinations from contacts and map them directly as location pins, expediting route planning.

Looking for a more exhaustive comparative analysis of Upper and OptimoRoute. Read our comparison blog on Upper vs OptimoRoute.

OptimoRoute vs. Upper Summarized:

Aspect OptimoRoute Upper
Pricing model Driver-based pricing is unsuitable for small businesses that may need you to pay a high amount for every driver you add.
  • User-based pricing that lets you create unlimited routes, each with up to 500 stops.
  • Ensures higher scalability, unlike driver-based prices that soar rapidly with each driver you add.
Free trial 30 days 7 days
User interface Crowded with small windows, disrupting the user experience Clean and intuitive, with directions on how to use it
Route edits and adjustments Hard and problematic Easy and smooth
Traffic-based routing Wrong Right
In-app navigation Wrong Right
Detailed live tracking features Right Right
Free Chrome extension Wrong Right
Customer support Limited support options It is more robust and offers live chat, priority email support, and technical consulting
Multi-day routing Right Wrong
  • Aspect upper logo Upper
  • Pricing model

    Driver-based pricing is unsuitable for small businesses that may need you to pay a high amount for every driver you add.

    • User-based pricing that lets you create unlimited routes, each with up to 500 stops.
    • Ensures higher scalability, unlike driver-based prices that soar rapidly with each driver you add.

  • Free trial

    30 days

    7 days

  • User interface

    Crowded with small windows, disrupting the user experience

    Clean and intuitive, with directions on how to use it

  • Route edits and adjustments

    Hard and problematic

    Easy and smooth

  • Traffic-based routing

    Wrong

    Right

  • In-app navigation

    Wrong

    Right

  • Detailed live tracking features

    Right

    Right

  • Free Chrome extension

    Wrong

    Right

  • Customer support

    Limited support options

    It is more robust and offers live chat, priority email support, and technical consulting

  • Multi-day routing

    Right

    Wrong

  • No credit card required

Optimize Routes, Cut Costs, and Elevate Driver Experience – All with Upper

Leverage Upper’s AI-powered routing algorithms to create the shortest and easily navigable routes that reduce time, fuel, and drivers’ inconvenience.

Upper’s Downsides

Looking at the features that Upper doesn’t provide yet, multi-day routing is first and foremost. While you can use this route planning software to plan multi-day route dispatch, it may not be suitable for complex routing with automated scheduling for weeks or months. 

We also don’t offer barcode scanning and on-demand delivery management. If these features are the deal-breakers for you, Upper may not be the right choice.

However, we continuously stay in touch with our existing clients and prospects to learn trends. Accordingly, we plan to incorporate features, especially the highly demanded ones. Long story short, we never close the door on innovative feature upgrades. 

Upper’s Pricing:

upperinc.om-pricing-plan

The best part about Upper’s plans is that they offer unlimited routes across all plans.

  • Essentials: Starts at $40 per user per month (billed annually) and allows 250 stops per route 
  • Growth: Starts at $48 per user per month (billed annually) and allows 500 stops per route.
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing for businesses with over 500 stops per route.

It also provides a to help you test your features before committing. You can also Book a free demo to learn how Upper can help you transform your business.

Upper’s Customer Reviews

“I really appreciate how Upper saves us time with its contacts that help us save our customers’ contacts. It’s really easy to look up delivery history for a particular address using this feature. Being able to upload multiple photos for proof of delivery is a game changer for keeping things transparent with our clients. The pure blessing is the customer support team whom we can count on whenever there is any challenge.”

~ Puru J., Customer Satisfaction, Information Technology and Services

“What we liked most about Upper is its efficient AI-powered route optimization, real-time tracking, and automated customer notifications. These features significantly reduced our delivery times, saved fuel, and enhanced customer experience.”

~ Smeet V., Manager, Information Services

Upper has been a lifesaver for managing our daily routes. It’s super easy to adjust routes on the fly, which is crucial for us because our schedule changes all the time. The interface is intuitive, and even our less tech-savvy drivers picked it up quickly. Plus, the customer service is top-notch—they’ve been responsive whenever we’ve had a question.

~ Verified User in Real Estate, Small-Business

“Upperinc offers highly accurate route planning and real-time tracking. The error rate is low, and the system is very user-friendly. We previously used apps that had frequent issues with delivery accuracy, but Upperinc’s precise tracking and simple interface have made a big difference.”

~ Verified User in Food & Beverages, Small Business

2. Routific 

Capterra: 4.9 (126 reviews)

G2: 4.7 (34 reviews)

routific

Routific is well-known for its ability to create mathematically shorter and ‘acceptable’ or ‘practical’ routes. 

It offers a stand-alone RESTful API for courier and delivery businesses that want to integrate only their route optimization algorithms.

Here’s what you may like about Routific: 

  • A decluttered user interface that makes software implementation and adoption easy.
  • Users appreciate Routific’s fast and responsive customer support.
  • GPS tracking lets you view your drivers’ locations in real time, monitor their progress, and communicate updated ETAs to customers. 

Routific’s Disadvantages

  • While Routific’s base tier includes route optimization, it doesn’t have GPS tracking, analytics, or proof of delivery, forcing users to choose expensive tiers.
  • Routific doesn’t provide ‘Return to Depot’ and ‘Driver-Dispatcher Chat’.
  • There is no feature to compare actual vs planned routes
  • Routific doesn’t have GPS tracking, analytics, and proof of delivery, triggering the need for expensive tiers.

Routific’s Customer Reviews

“Intuitive and easy to use for the most part. Getting the route to go in the direction I want from week to week is a little challenging, maybe a feature where you can select from a map areas in order of priority of delivery.” – Meir H., Owner Baker, Food & Beverages

“It is incredibly easy to set up, a breeze to learn, and a pleasure to use.” ~ Dave H., CEO, Food & Beverages 

“No communication directly to the customer from the app.” 

~ Swier P., Account Manager, Logistics and Supply Chain

“Customer notifications – I wish the platform could customize notifications per each customer. Meaning, that unless you deliver for one customer only; you can’t add their name or other customers will get that alert with another company’s name. It would be great to have customized alerts.”

Morgan H., CEO, Transportation/Trucking/Railroad

Routific’s Pricing

It starts at $49 per vehicle per month but includes only route optimization and dispatch. GPS reporting, proof of delivery, and reports start at $69 per monthly vehicle.

3. Onfleet

Capterra: 4.6 (93 reviews)

G2:4.6 (121 reviews)

onfleet-route-planner

Onfleet is a last-mile delivery route planning system popular among couriers, distributors, and on-demand delivery startups. Its ease of route planning and adding or removing stops on the go is impressive.

The ease of route planning and adding or removing stops on the go is impressive. 

Another standout feature that users love (and so did we) is automated dispatching and scheduling, which is a good fit for on-demand delivery management.

Other Onfleet’s strengths are:

  • Traffic-constrained routing that considers real-time traffic changes to reoptimize routes
  • In-app driver-dispatcher chat, minimizing the reliance on calls or messaging
  • Detailed insights into metrics, like successful/failed deliveries, on-time task completion percentage, and average duration per stop to make informed decisions
  • Extensive proof of delivery, including photos, signatures, notes, and barcode scanning. 

Onfleeet’s Downsides

  • Most users cited that the dashboard isn’t as intuitive as it should be and suggested improving it. 
  • Another complaint from users is that time estimates are off the mark and exceed the actual driving times by 50%
  • Route optimization should be better, as our testing revealed and some users reported. 
  • Some users faced issues while integrating Onfleet with other software solutions. 

Onfleet’s Customer Reviews

“Modern logistics platform for serious on-demand companies.” ~ James W., Co-founder, Construction

 We used to use paper delivery control sheets. The driver would forget sometimes. This is a game changer.” ~ Adrian A., Owner, Retail

“The time estimates are too pessimistic and overshoot actual driving times by at least 50%.” 

~ Verified Reviewer, Co-Founder, Food & Beverages”

“The optimization could be better as sometimes the routes are not the best and a nice idea is to change driver routes so that they don’t do the same route always.”~ Ellie M., COO, Health, Wellness and Fitness

Onfleet Pricing:

  • Launch: Starts at $550/month, includes unlimited users, 2000 tasks, route optimization, POD, and ETA customer notifications
  • Scale: It starts at $1,250/month and includes everything in Launch, as well as barcode scanning, 5000 tasks, and advanced ETA notifications.
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing includes scale, premium onboarding, multi-brand support, and unlimited historical analytics.

4. RoadWarrior

Capterra: 4.5 (52 reviews)

G2:4.4 (50 reviews)

roadwarrior

RoadWarrior features a desktop-based version for businesses and a mobile-based app for individuals. 

A highlight feature is the freedom of passing stops or the entire route from drivers behind schedule to those ahead of time for timely job completion. 

Other features worth noticing are:

  • Multi-user support allows you to grant different sets of permissions to users based on hierarchy or role and avoid unwarranted access to data, enhancing security. 
  • Efficient routes in most cases that don’t involve drivers circling stops, as users cited.
  • RoadWarrior enables uploading of FedEx, and OnTrack manifests to plot locations based on addresses and create routes.

RoadWarrior’s Weaknesses

  • The dashboard could be clearer and more intuitive, making it easier for beginners or non-tech-savvy users to learn and use. 
  • People often complain about the limits of 200 stops per route and 500 daily stops, which restricts their ability to optimize routes for daily deliveries exceeding 500.
  • In some cases, there have been instances of a mismatch between location coordinates and actual physical addresses.

RoadWarrior’s Customer Reviews

 Makes life easier when you have several addresses to visit, as it gives you the best route without the issue of going in circles. 

~ Verified Reviewer, Founder and Director, Religious Institutions

“Not user-friendly until you’ve learned it. Difficult to learn how to load routes from spreadsheets and save them. Couldn’t figure out how to save and I lost routes as a result. Menus are not intuitive. The word “save” does not appear anywhere on the menu, so I lost work.” ~  Verified User in Marketing and Advertising, Small-Business

“I don’t like the limitations on only having 200 stops, others have 500 or more. I don’t like that there’s a maximum cap on optimization. They give you a limit on how many times you can optimize per day. I’ve reached the cap too often and the team tells me not to overuse the optimization, but creating a good route to maximize my time for my job is essential.” ~ Verified User in Banking, Small-Business

“When using the navigation through Google Maps, sometimes the GPS coordinates don’t match the physical location. If the address is typed into Maps the directions are accurate, but not if sent via coordinates from RoadWarrior. This happens maybe 5% of the time and is easily corrected (so long as you have a driver that is paying attention!).” ~ Karin V., Owner, Small-Business

RoadWarrior’s Pricing:

$14.99 per month per team member

5. Route4Me

Capterra rating: 4.5 (388 reviews)

G2 rating:4.4 (50 reviews)

Route4Me

Route4Me is a delivery management solution popular for its extensive marketplace with roughly 70 differently priced routing components.

You can pick the modules, such as curbside routing, time windows, pickups and dropoffs, and recurring routes to suit your business needs.

Route4Me’s other key strengths are:

  • Territory management helps define and assign custom territories to multiple drivers based on their preferences, skills, and familiarity with an area.
  • Advanced route simulations help drivers view a controlled replica of what they can expect when they drive along a specific route, along with the information on turns and speed so they stay prepared beforehand.
  • We offer extensive integrations with business software, such as order management platforms, telematics gateways, and CRM software solutions, to achieve end-to-end last-mile automation. 

Route4Me’s Disadvantages

  • Users are highly unsatisfied with their high prices, additional amounts for basic functionality like time windows and text message notifications, and uninformed price increases.
  • As testing revealed, routes involved a lot of crisscrossing and required manual adjustments. ETAs are also inaccurate and often underestimated.
  • Customer support could be more reliable and supportive.

Route4Me’s Customer Reviews

“Very easy to use, daily routing, easy to set up and adjust routes once set up.” ~ Simon B., Operations Manager, Retail

“Easy to use and great at creating multiple routes can route a couple hundred stops in minutes each day” ~ Jacob A., Warehouseman, Real Estate, 201-500 employees

“They are like scammers( increase the price without letting you know). They increased our price from $200/month to $700 per month> We called them numerous times and they refused to give us the money back.” ~ Nicolae A., Owner, Wholesale

“Automatic System Route optimization: function could be improved for high-density areas -manual adjustments are necessary after optimization for multiple routes.” Verified Reviewer, Logistics Supervisor, Package/Freight Delivery

Route4Me’s Pricing:

  • Route Management: Starts at $200/month but lacks route optimization or time window management
  • Route Optimization: Starts at $300/month and includes only single-driver optimization but still lacks time window management 
  • Business Optimization: Starts at $450/month and includes route optimization for multiple drivers and time window management

Efficient Routes at Affordable Prices

Ditch expensive payable add-ons for multi-constrained route planning with Upper. Get a single subscription plan to handle all your delivery constraints.

6. Circuit for Teams

Capterra: 4.8 (100 reviews)

G2:5.0 (3 reviews)

circuit

Circuit for Teams is the synchronized delivery management software for drivers and dispatchers.

Right from importing addresses to optimizing routes to tracking deliveries in real time and collecting proof of delivery, Circuit helps achieve it all through a unified platform. 

The core functionalities, like proof of delivery, driver tracking, and analytics, are similar to OptimoRoute. This delivery management system is renowned for its aim to manage multiple drivers efficiently through driver-friendly features. 

Circuit’s key strengths are:

  • Driver-friendly features to help your drivers perform their deliveries more efficiently. The latest example is the ‘package finder’ feature. It lets drivers capture photos of parcels and note their placement in the vehicle to expedite identification and unloading.
  • Clean user interface, reducing the learning curve and enabling quick software adoption.
  • People appreciate the friendly and supportive customer support team.

Circuit’s Shortcomings

  • One of our clients who switched from Circuit to Upper reported that the Zapier integration was flawed, as our tests verified. 
  • Customers don’t look happy with stop-based pricing limitations, which limit users’ ability to create unlimited optimized routes and glitches with the OptimoRoute app.
  • Unwanted steps in adding stops make the delivery process tedious and time-consuming. 

Circuit’s Customer Reviews

Overall good app – Must have an improvement with more simple features. 

~ Avihai F., CEO, Food & Beverages

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

~ Hannah H., Owner, Marketing and Advertising

Overall the multiple clicks to add a stop, and make changes to a route are a bit cumbersome. It would be nice to streamline that process. ~ Derek N., Manager, Retail

“Sometimes, the app is glitchy, issues showing drivers next stop on Google Maps.” 

~ Mark W., Web Developer, Information Technology and Services

Circuit’s Pricing:

  • Starter: $100/month, includes first 500 stops + $0.20 per additional stop
  • Essentials: $250/month, includes 1,000 stops + $0.05 per additional stop
  • Standard: $500/month, includes 2,000 stops + $0.06 per additional stop
  • Pro: $750/month, includes 5,000 stops + $0.07 per additional stop 

Frequently Asked Questions

The features you should consider in an ideal delivery management software are route optimization, customizable time windows, effortless dispatching and tracking, a driver app, automated customer notifications with delivery tracking links, proof of delivery, delivery tracking links, advanced reporting capabilities, and excellent customer service.

There are several reasons to consider OptimoRoute alternatives. You may want specific features like driver-dispatcher chat, traffic-based routing, or pricing plans that suit your business needs better. Another use case may be when looking for a more user-friendly interface or a solution that integrates with your other software.

The features depend on your specific requirements, but some common features to look for in OptimoRoute alternatives include route optimization, real-time tracking, scheduling, fleet management, integration capabilities, reporting and analytics, and mobile app support.

The best alternative for you depends on your unique business needs and preferences. To determine the best fit for your organization, it is essential to evaluate different alternatives based on features, pricing, user reviews, customer support, and integration options.

OptimoRoute alternatives vary in pricing structures, so it’s important to research and compare costs. Some alternatives may offer more affordable pricing plans or provide a better return on investment based on your specific business requirements.

Yes, Upper, one of the OptimoRoute alternatives, provides open API integration. While some alternatives offer seamless integrations with popular software systems such as CRM or ERP solutions, others may require additional development or customization to achieve integration.

Yes, OptimoRoute alternatives like Upper provide mobile app support for improved accessibility and convenience. This can help drivers or field sales employees access route information, receive updates, and provide real-time feedback.

Final Words on Picking OptimoRoute Alternatives

OptimoRoute is undeniably an excellent delivery management system for creating optimized routes, ensuring real-time driver tracking, and sending automated customer notifications.

However, it may not align with your business requirements if you want traffic-constrained routing, secured driver-dispatcher chat, cash-on-delivery option, or advanced customer management through contact-based mapping. 

This is why we have enumerated 6 prominent alternatives to OptimoRoute, with their strengths and weaknesses. 

Sign up for their free demo, test out their free version, and register for a free trial as applicable to pick the one that suits your needs the best. If you are still unsure, you can take our to find out how Upper can help you.

Author Bio
Jeel Patel
Jeel Patel

Jeel Patel is the Chief Executive Officer at Upper. With 5+ years of experience in dev, outbound, and inbound sales, He is committed to growing conversion through inbound and outbound activities. Outside the office, Jeel loves to spend time with his dog and take him on long walks. Read more.