Google Maps vs Waze: How Do They Compare

Google Maps vs Waze: this debate has existed since these two navigation apps became popular globally. 

In reality, if you just have to go from one location to another, both work for you.  

But it’s not all that most people seek in a navigation and mapping app. 

Instead, they look for multiple functionalities before selecting the right app, choice, including:

• Turn-by-turn directions
• Real-time traffic updates
• Freedom of customization of colors, icons, or voice instructions
• Offline maps

If you are also one of those people, this blog is for you. It discusses how they compare to help you decide which suits your needs.

Here we go:

Overview: Google Maps vs Waze

Google Maps and Waze have long been popular names in the field of navigation apps. So, before delving into the details of their comparison, let’s briefly glimpse what they are and what purpose they serve.

What is Google Maps used for?

With over 10 billion downloads, Google Maps has emerged as the most popular navigation app since its inception in 2005. Whether you want to find routes, check for nearby eateries or gas stations, or save offline maps, Google Maps can be your go-to choice. 

Google Maps suggests alternative options to pick the fastest route, avoiding traffic jams or poor road conditions. It highlights the most fuel or energy-efficient route, indicated by a green leaf. 

Google Maps keeps rolling out new functionalities to help you plan your journey and navigate routes more confidently. At I/O 2023 this year, it announced the rollout of ‘Immersive View for Routes,’ which uses computer vision and AI to let you visualize each segment of your route.

Google Maps integration with Google Assistant enables voice-guided turn-by-turn directions to ensure hands-free navigation, making driving safer and more convenient.

Click here to learn potential Google Maps alternatives.

What is Waze used for?

Founded in 2008, Waze had already become renowned for community-driven navigation before Google acquired it in 2013. It provides real-time crowdsourced information on road closures, safety hazards, traffic, accidents, police presence, and speed cameras. 

Further, Waze enables sharing this information with fellow Waze users, helping them avoid roadblocks and reach destinations faster and more efficiently. It stands out for playful icons representing points of interest, like other Wazers, construction zones, and stopped cars.

Based on local Waze drivers’ insights, community members, and municipal partners, it recently released emergency vehicle alerts, such as an ambulance stopped along your route, so you can adjust your driving speed and avoid accidents.

Best Suitable For

Google Maps	Waze	Upper Route Planner
Decluttered and accurate route planning	Real-time traffic-based rerouting	Multi-constrained route planning for complex delivery or field service routing scenarios
Small businesses with a small delivery radius not exceeding 10 stops	Individuals looking for just the fastest routes	Suitable for medium to large-sized businesses with multiple drivers and multi-stop routes

At a Glance

According to user reviews for both free navigation services, Google Maps is the preferred option, with a higher overall ranking than Waze.

Google Maps is renowned for routing accuracy, while Waze’s USP lies in its cleaner and simplified interface. While both Google Maps and Waze provide help articles, Waze lets you submit a ticket, making it a clear winner in customer support.

If we compare Google Maps to Waze and add Upper, Upper has the best scores. It provides a clean user interface with clear instructions to help you maximize the functionalities.

Plus, it helps create routes, considering multiple constraints specific to delivery, field sales, or service businesses, such as delivery time windows, priority, and drivers’ availability. That’s what makes it a much-preferred app among those looking for navigation and mapping apps.

Feature	Google Maps	Waze	Upper
Overall Rating
User Interface
Routing Accuracy
Multi-stop Routing
Real-time Traffic Updates
Customization Options
Customer Support
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Quick Comparison: Google Maps vs Waze

Waze and Google Maps are free navigational services that help you plan a route from A to B while avoiding traffic, tolls, or tolls as desired. 

If you look at the ease of navigation, Waze is better as it provides detailed real-time information on traffic or road conditions. Google Maps, on the other hand, outperforms Waze in journey planning capabilities, such as identifying pit stops and adding several stops.

However, unlike Upper, they fail to factor in delivery-specific constraints like stop priority, drivers’ working hours, and customer availability.

Let’s have a detailed comparison of the features to help understand which service leads in which area. 

Reviews of Google Maps vs Waze

Google Maps

Positives:

• Google Maps is easy to use and requires no prior coding or programming knowledge to customize it to meet your needs.
• The geocoding feature is available in even the remotest parts, making Google Maps easily accessible to users worldwide.
• Features that extend beyond navigation, including offline maps, public transport integration, and points of interest, make Google Maps a comprehensive mapping app.

Negatives:

• Google Maps doesn’t indicate police traps or speed cameras.
• Occasional inaccuracies in live traffic updates lead to longer detours and unforeseen delays, impacting time-sensitive journeys. 
• Rerouting suggestions are sometimes not as efficient as they should be and may cause travelers to get stuck or delayed.

Waze:

Positives:

• Traffic-based routing saves travel time on the road, getting people to their destination in the shortest time possible.
• The vocal guidance and the readability of the map are great, making navigation easy. 
• Waze features playful icons representing other Waze users, making it appealing and interesting. 

Negatives:

• No offline navigation capabilities, including traffic-based updates, restrict Waze’s usability to areas with proper cellular data coverage.
• Too many icons and information on the map may make the app look cluttered and overwhelm users, causing unwanted distractions.
• Waze recalibrates whenever users stay away from it for a few minutes and doesn’t give alerts.

Upper:

Positives:

• Upper optimizes routes based on traffic, drivers’ working hours, priority, and vehicle capacity constraints, making it ideal for complex delivery or field service scenarios.
• Upper allows for real-time route adjustments based on sudden unforeseen changes, such as roadblocks, inclement weather, vehicle breakdowns, or accidents.
• Upper provides advanced customization features that enable adding priorities, notes, and availability.

Negatives:

• Upper requires some initial setup and familiarization with its advanced features for optimal utilization.
• The free plan offers basic features but advanced functionalities like customization and might require paid subscriptions.

An In-Depth Comparison of Google Maps vs Waze

Google Maps and Waze are undeniably the two leading names in navigation apps. Still, they have limitations regarding factors like the number of stops along a route, multi-constrained routing capabilities, and the number of drivers.

Feature
Multi-stop Route Planning	10 stops, 1 driver	stops, 1 driver	500 stops, unlimited total
Multi-driver Management
Time Windows
Contact Book Functionality
Detailed Live Tracking
Route Customization	Limited	Limited	Extensive
Customer Communication
Load Planning
In-transit Route Edits
Proof of Delivery
Smart Analytics
Advertisement Interruptions
Attempted Location
Package Finder
Delivery Zones
OCR Address Scanner

• Feature Google Maps Waze Upper

• Multi-stop Route Planning

  10 stops, 1 driver

  stops, 1 driver

  500 stops, unlimited total

• Multi-driver Management

  

  

  

• Time Windows

  

  

  

• Contact Book Functionality

  

  

  

• Detailed Live Tracking

  

  

  

• Route Customization

  Limited

  Limited

  Extensive

• Customer Communication

  

  

  

• Load Planning

  

  

  

• In-transit Route Edits

  

  

  

• Proof of Delivery

  

  

  

• Smart Analytics

  

  

  

• Advertisement Interruptions

  

  

  

• Attempted Location

  

  

  

• Package Finder

  

  

  

• Delivery Zones

  

  

  

• OCR Address Scanner

  

  

  

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1. Navigation and live traffic updates

Navigation is a crucial part of a map app and helps you get from one location to another efficiently. While both offer satisfactory navigation capabilities, Google Maps, unlike Waze, lets you add up to 10 stops along a route. 

Google Maps suggests alternate routes but highlights the shortest one by default. Unless you manually recommend another route, it doesn’t reroute you based on traffic. Moreover, it lets you pick from multiple transport options, including car, bike, cycle, or walking.

Contrarily, Waze is designed for only cars or bikes but focuses on getting you to your destination as fast as possible, even if it means rerouting you frequently based on worsening traffic or roadblocks. 

Overall, Waze has the upper hand in traffic-based routing but may leave you seeking at least some control over your routing and more public transit options beyond a car or van.

2. User interface and design

Google Maps’ interface resembles a traditional app with a professional look. On the other hand, Waze is unconventionally cartoonish and displays Waze users as cartoon icons on the roads on the map.

While both provide clean and decluttered interfaces, the latest Google Maps redesign includes updated colors in daytime and night mode. Google Maps also lets you view routes in satellite view instead of using simple graphics like Waze, giving it a slight edge. 

3. Advertisements

While both Google Maps and Waze display in-app ads and sponsored content, they differ in how they do it. Google Maps shows them while navigating the map or searching for a destination, and they mostly contain relevant business information. 

On the other hand, Waze is more straightforward and flashes banner ads when you stop your vehicle, which disappears when you are in motion. These ads are distracting and intrusive, especially if your phone screen size is small, hindering a smooth navigational experience.

Hence, Google Maps is a clear winner here as it doesn’t restrict your ability to navigate the screen easily. 

4. Discovery 

Both Google Maps and Waze let you discover and add points of interest along your route. Waze provides three preset options, including gas stations, restaurants, and parking lots, while Google Maps doesn’t. 

However, Google Maps offers a wider range of options that you won’t find in Waze, including: 

• Restaurants
• Bars
• Gyms
• Attractions
• Nightlife
• Live Music
• Films
• Museums
• Car dealers
• Sporting goods
• Convenience shops
• Dry cleaning
• Chemists

Regarding information, Google Maps and Waze provide ratings, hours of operation, address information, photos of places (if available), contact numbers, and links to websites. 

However, Google Maps provides additional options, including ‘About’ to describe a place briefly. Unlike Waze, it also allows users to view the menu and book a table at a restaurant, coffee bar, or hotel, making it a greater alternative for discovery. 

5. Customization and personalization

Google Maps provides limited customizability. For voice-guided navigation, you can choose from the three-vehicle icons or traditional blue arrow and select a voice option based on your region or country.

On the contrary, Waze Map provides far more customization options, such as car icons, voice instructions or options, and avatars.

You can use it to select the “mood” or avatar you want other Wazers to see you in. Regarding car icons, Waze provides multiple options, unlike Google Maps, which provides only three vehicle icons and a blue arrow. 

Some of them include: 

• Bus
• Blue car
• Green car
• Motorbike
• SUV
• Woof wagon
• Meow mobile
• Pickup truck
• The Minivan 
• Pony Ride
• Airship

Besides, if you contribute significantly to Waze’s data, you can unlock special mood icons, including a golden crown or T-rex, making it a better alternative for customization.

6. Hands-free control 

Google Maps and Waze provide hands-free control. If you are an Android user, you can use Google Assistant to navigate routes directly using Google Maps. However, if you are an iPhone user, you can use Siri to get directions to your desired location but need to mention “Waze” to prevent it from redirecting you to Apple Maps. 

Alternatively, you can tap on the on-screen microphone to give a voice command to get directions. When using Android, you can select toggle on the ‘Access Your Assistant with Ok Google’ command to deactivate Siri when using Google Maps. 

Overall, there isn’t much difference between navigation apps regarding voice commands. Both can let you use voice commands to navigate to new destinations, change your current route, and view traffic conditions. You can report road accidents, traffic lights, jams, or stuck vehicles you encounter while on your journey, so it’s a tie. 

7. Offline capabilities

If you are heading to an area where you can’t stay online or where cellular signals are weak, offline navigation is handy. Google Maps lets you download and save offline maps for multiple areas to find and navigate to your desired locations even when you lose signal.  

Contrarily, Waze may let you follow a predefined route but fail to get real-time traffic information and reroute you accordingly to prevent congestion or delays. So, Google Maps undoubtedly outshines Waze in this aspect. 

Google Maps vs Waze: Which is Better?

Both Google Maps and Waze are excellent navigation apps but in their own ways. Your choice depends on what you expect from a navigation app at a given point in time.

Google Maps may be an ideal choice if:

• You prioritize accurate and detailed route planning.
• You frequently use public transportation and want up-to-date information.
• You need offline maps for areas with limited internet access.
• You prefer a professional and user-friendly interface.

Waze may be better if:

• You prioritize reaching your destination as quickly as possible, even if it means rerouting.
• You value real-time traffic data updates from other drivers.
• You prefer a gamified experience with community interaction.

Want the Capabilities of Google Maps and Waze Combined in One App?

Upper Route Planner is for you if you are looking for an app that gives you the best of these apps and far more advanced features. It lets you create multiple routes based on numerous routing factors, including traffic, drivers’ shifts, customers’ availability, and vehicle capacity constraints.

Moreover, it lets you add 500 stops and more, unlike Google Maps and Waze, which allow you to add only 10 and 2 stops along a route, respectively. 

Moreover, advanced features, such as CSV/Excel spreadsheet import for quick address entry, multi-constrained route optimization, ETA notifications, and route summary reports, make it far more powerful and efficient than Google Maps and Waze.

If you want to know more, book a free demo.