What’s the Best Route4Me Alternative? 7 Competing Route Planners

Key takeaways

• Route4Me is a popular route management software, but it isn’t always the best fit for delivery businesses, especially if you have a large team of drivers. 
• Circuit for Teams, Badger Maps, and OptimoRoute are among the best alternatives to Route4Me.
• Circuit for Teams is a cost-effective, comprehensive delivery software for last-mile delivery companies.

Route4Me’s route management software isn’t a good fit for every delivery business.

First, its pricing structure is a flat rate for up to 10 drivers, with an additional $50 for every extra driver.

If you manage a team of three delivery drivers, you pay more per driver than a team of seven delivery drivers.

Plus, if you’re working with a large delivery business with more than ten drivers, your monthly rate can quickly increase.

Second, Route4Me makes its service extremely customizable by offering most of its features as extras you can get for an additional fee.

Route4Me has three main pricing tiers, with only their most comprehensive package offering multidriver route optimization. 

But other standard delivery software features, such as proof of delivery or route monitoring, need to be purchased through Route4Me’s online marketplace for an extra fee.

For reasons like these, Route4Me may not be the best delivery software for you and your delivery team.

To help you find a suitable alternative, we looked at several software products with various features.

In this post, we cover these seven alternatives to Route4Me:

1. Circuit for Teams
2. Badger Maps
3. OptimoRoute
4. RoadWarrior
5. Onfleet
6. Track-POD
7. Upper

1. Circuit for Teams: An all-in-one Route4Me alternative for last-mile delivery

Circuit for Teams is our delivery software, and it has two separate options.

Individual drivers can download our free mobile app for iOS and Android devices, Circuit Route Planner.

If you’re a dispatcher or manager supervising a delivery team, however, you’ll need Circuit for Teams, which includes a web app.

In the web app, you can create optimized delivery routes for multiple drivers, make changes throughout the day, send customer notifications, monitor routes in progress, and more.

After you add any number of deliveries, your assigned driver logs into the Circuit for Teams mobile app, gets their route, and can start making their drops.

Note: The Circuit for Teams mobile app works with all major navigation apps, such as Google Maps, Waze, and Apple Maps.

Below, we explain how Circuit for Teams works as a Route4Me alternative.

Circuit for Teams Route4Me alternative

Circuit for Teams comes in three pricing plans, with our most popular being Standard.

Our Standard plan includes:

• Spreadsheet import
• Route optimization and customization
• GPS tracking
• Recipient notifications (both SMS messages and email notifications)
• Proof of delivery

Spreadsheet import, route optimization, and route customization

You get started with Circuit for Teams by adding your customers’ addresses into the app. You can do this through spreadsheet import or manual entry.

While spreadsheet import is significantly faster than manual entry, manual entry is a valuable feature for when drivers or dispatchers need to modify routes currently in progress.

The Circuit for Teams manual entry feature uses the same autocomplete technology as Google Maps, meaning that as you type in an address, it will recognize your location and suggest the most likely destination.

This makes manual entry quick and easy.

With your addresses in Circuit for Teams, you can now optimize and customize multiple driver routes.

Optimizing means making your Teams’ routes as efficient as possible. When working on optimal routes, your delivery business saves money on fuel and labor costs.

With Circuit for Teams, you can optimize routes for many drivers at the same time on our Standard plan.

Compare that with Route4Me, where you can only plan multidriver routes on Route4Me’s most expensive plan.

Once your stops are in Circuit for Teams, you can customize your driver’s route, setting additional parameters, such as:

• Priority stops. Make one stop the priority. When you do this, Circuit automatically makes it the first stop to complete.
• Time windows. Set delivery time windows for specific stops, so you can schedule deliveries that need to happen before or after a certain time.

Again, these advanced features aren’t built into Route4Me’s plans but are extra services through Route4Me’s marketplace.

To help you compare the price of Route4Me versus Circuit for Teams for managing your delivery team, we’ve performed a real cost calculation for a team of 25 drivers. 

Route4Me (Route Optimization Plus plan)

Route4Me requires its top-tier plan to support more than 10 team members (including dispatchers and other management staff), so to manage a team of 25 drivers, you’ll start here. 

The base price is $349 a month and that includes up to 10 team members. Additional team members cost $69 each per month. 

Because managers and dispatchers count as team members, managing a team of 25 drivers means you’ll pay for 25 drivers plus at least one additional team member for the management role. 

So, you’ll pay for a minimum total of 26 team members on your monthly plan.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Included team members. 10 at $349 per month
• Additional drivers. 16 at $69 per driver ($1,104) per month 
• Total team members. 26 at $1,453 per month

Total cost per month for 25 drivers = $1,453 per month

Circuit for Teams (Essentials plan)

To manage a team of 25 delivery drivers with Circuit for Teams, you can start with the lowest Essentials plan, which costs $100 per month. 

It covers your first two drivers and unlimited dispatchers. Additional drivers cost $40 each per month. 

Only drivers are accounted for in pricing, so your number of management team members never affects your monthly cost. 

That means with Circuit for Teams, you’ll pay for a minimum total of 25 drivers and unlimited dispatchers on your monthly plan.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Included drivers. 2 at $100 per month
• Additional drivers. 23 at $40 per driver ($920) per month 
• Total drivers. 25 at $1,020 per month

Total cost per month for 25 drivers = $1,020 per month

As you can see, when you compare Route4Me pricing with Circuit for Teams pricing, it’s clear that Circuit is a better choice based on cost and the difference in features.

💡 Delivery driver pro tip: When you load your vehicle, do it while referencing your final optimized route.

Conveniently, the Circuit for Teams driver app has a feature that helps drivers load packages into their vehicles more efficiently. 

By loading your vehicle strategically, you reduce the time it takes to find the right package when you arrive at your stop. Learn more delivery driver training tips.

GPS tracking (route monitoring)

GPS tracking (route monitoring)

Included in every Circuit for Teams pricing plan is our route monitoring feature. 

Because your delivery drivers are using our companion mobile app on their smartphones, you get real-time updates on where your delivery drivers are within the context of the route.

For example, Circuit for Teams doesn’t just tell you what cross streets your driver is currently at when you track a route’s progress on your desktop app.

Instead, you know what stop they just completed and where they’re going next with updated ETAs on the screen.

This keeps you in the know of your driver’s whereabouts, which is helpful for two reasons:

1. You need to make changes to ongoing routes

A customer may call and cancel an order or place a new one, or you need a driver to stop and pick up a package.

These are common last-minute changes that affect ongoing routes.

By knowing where your drivers are within the context of the route, your dispatch manager can quickly make a more informed decision.

2. A customer calls for an updated ETA

Without a live tracking tool, you’re in the dark when a customer calls to ask about their order status.

You need to reach out to your driver — interrupting their route — get an update, and relay that information to the customer.

With route monitoring, you can look at your Circuit dashboard and give the customer an update.

But there’s also a better — and easier — way to keep your customers informed about their delivery, which we go over below.

Customer notifications

With Circuit for Teams, you can send customer notifications to inform them when their package arrives.

You can offer dynamic or fixed delivery windows to customers, resulting in greater transparency and flexibility.

First, customers get an email or SMS message (or both) when the driver starts their route.

In this message, the customer gets a link that takes them to a dashboard where they can track their order status.

You also have the option to include customer service details with these tracking links.

As their delivery progresses, customers get another notification when drivers are close to completing their stops.

With this notification, your customer can directly communicate with the driver, such as telling them the gate code or asking them not to knock because they just finished putting their newborn down for an afternoon nap.

Note: Customer notifications aren’t in Route4Me’s plans, but you can add basic options for free through Route4Me’s marketplace, and add premium options for an extra $20 per team member per month.

Proof of delivery

With Circuit for Teams, your delivery drivers can get proof of delivery in two ways:

• Taking a photo of where the package is left
• Collecting a digital signature given by the customer

One of Circuit’s most advanced features is the recent update that allows users to copy, view, and share proof of delivery (POD) documents without hassle, streamlining document management for delivery companies.

If your delivery driver collects a digital signature, they can use their smartphone. The customer signs their screen using their finger. 

The signature is stored securely in the drivers companion Circuit for Teams app, so you can reference a digital copy of the proof of delivery in the future if needed.

Similarly, when a driver leaves a package in a secure area, they can take a photo with their smartphone and upload it to Circuit for Teams. 

Your dispatch team and the customer get a notification that the driver has completed their delivery, along with a copy of the photo.

Proof of delivery helps give customers peace of mind and limits any liability your delivery team may face.

For a real customer example of the value of using proof of delivery, discover how Sagar Dhaliwal’s food subscription service used proof of delivery to reduce the number of customers claiming failed delivery.

2. Badger Maps

Badger is a good Route4Me alternative if you’re looking for mapping and routing software for your field sales team.

However, field service teams need different features from a route planning tool than traditional courier delivery teams.

For example, your team of field sales reps can use Badger for check-ins.

After completing a sales presentation, your reps can update the customer account with notes, such as whether you closed a sale. This data then helps to generate weekly reports.

Another feature unique to Badger is finding leads.

You can use Badger’s app to find leads in a specific area and easily create customer accounts.

For example, you can type “doctors” if you sell a medical device or service to private practitioners. 

Doctors listed will pop up in the Badger app, and you can create an account for them. Once you have your list of leads, you can optimize your route and start making cold visits.

Note: Badger is used exclusively by field sales and service reps. This means it doesn’t have advanced delivery software features like proof of delivery or what we covered when discussing Circuit.

Badger pricing

Badger has two plans: Business and Enterprise.

Badger’s Business plan is $49 a month per user when billed annually ($59 if billed monthly).

You get Badger’s route optimization software, its basic CRM integration (to bring in your prospect line from platforms like Salesforce), and weekly reports that help you see how many prospects you’re closing.

Badger’s Enterprise plan is $95 a month per user when billed annually ($105 if billed monthly).

In Badger’s Enterprise plan, you get everything in the Business plan plus one-on-one account training, a more advanced custom CRM integration, the ability to set custom roles and permissions, and more.

3. OptimoRoute

What sets OptimoRoute apart from other options on our list is how you can download OptimoRoute’s optimized routes onto Garmin TomTom or Navigon GPS devices.

While more delivery teams benefit from the convenience — and lower costs — of having their drivers use their smartphones, some companies have invested in physical GPS devices.

If you’re currently using Garmin or Navigon and have no plans to stop, OptimoRoute is a good Route4Me alternative to consider.

OptimoRoute pricing

OptimoRoute has three plans, each using a per-driver, per-month pricing model.

• OptimoRoute’s Lite plan lets you create an automatically optimized route of up to 700 orders at once and support customer ETAs, but this plan doesn’t include real-time order tracking, proof of delivery, or pickup features — only delivery. Analytics aren’t available at this level.
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• OptimoRoute’s Pro plan lets you plan a route with up to 1,000 orders at once, plus it supports real-time order tracking, proof of delivery, and analytics. Pickups still aren’t supported in this tier.
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• OptimoRoute’s Custom plan gives you access to all features and lets you plan routes with thousands of stops at once — both deliveries and pickups.
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4. RoadWarrior

Think of RoadWarrior as a lightweight alternative to Route4Me.

It doesn’t have a marketplace of add-ons you can use, nor does it have all the core features of Circuit for Teams. 

But RoadWarrior is an affordable alternative to Route4Me, especially for delivery teams only needing specific features, which we cover in the pricing section below.

RoadWarrior pricing

RoadWarrior has three pricing plans: (1) Basic, (2) Pro, and (3) Flex.

RoadWarrior’s Pro plan costs $14.99 a month, but the size of your route is limited.

You can’t make more than 120 stops per route, and the number of stops you can make daily is limited (no more than 500).

RoadWarrior’s Flex plan is like its Pro plan but built for multiple drivers.

It’s $14.99 a month per team member. Only in RoadWarrior’s Flex plan can you start tracking and monitoring your in-progress routes.

5. Onfleet

Onfleet’s flat-rate pricing and advanced driver management features make it an ideal choice for larger businesses that want to enhance delivery efficiency. 

In contrast, Route4Me is better suited for smaller businesses and has more basic capabilities. 

• Onfleet’s flat-rate pricing and advanced features make it ideal for larger businesses.
• Route4Me is more suited to smaller businesses and has more basic capabilities.
• Onfleet offers comprehensive mapping, routing, and visualization tools, automated route optimization, and enhanced customer experience with delivery updates and notifications.

If your company wants to optimize its delivery operations at scale, Onfleet could be the right solution.

Onfleet pricing

Onfleet offers a fixed monthly fee and a limit on the number of tasks your delivery team can do every month, making it different from route planners like Route4Me and Circuit for Teams. 

For example, Circuit for Teams charges per driver and has no limit on the number of stops you can make each month. 

So, depending on your number of vehicles and monthly volume, Onfleet’s pricing could benefit your business. 

Small businesses requiring barcode scanning and moving from Route4Me can opt for Onfleet’s Scale plan at $1,150 per month, including 5,000 tasks. 

Onfleet can be a feasible alternative to Route4Me for small delivery teams with a moderate number of monthly deliveries.

6. Track-POD

Like Onfleet, Track-POD’s pricing structure and advanced features make this delivery management software ideal for midsize to large businesses.

Route4Me might be a good fit for smaller businesses with basic mapping capabilities and tools to automate routing optimization. But Track-POD’s flexibility makes it worth considering for eCommerce companies looking to automate their workflows and streamline their large-scale delivery operations. 

• Offers geocoding, dynamic routing, and visual mapping and analysis tools to help optimize your delivery process.
• Automated route optimization makes it easy to find the best route, and tracking metrics can save your business time and money.
• Ideal for midsize to large businesses wanting to customize their delivery process and optimize delivery operations.

If you’re running a well-sized business and need a route planner customized to fit your unique needs, Track-POD might be the way to go. 

Track-POD pricing

Track-POD’s seven-day trial is free, and you can test all features for its three small business plans (Standard, Advanced, and Advanced Plus). 

This lets you set up three drivers and process up to 300 deliveries for free over a week.

The fourth-tier Enterprise plan requires you to schedule a demo with Track-POD for details.

You’ll select a payment plan based on the number of drivers/vehicles you have OR the number of monthly deliveries you make (with unlimited drivers).

Track-POD’s Standard plan costs $29 a month per driver when billed annually ($35 if billed monthly) and allows up to 3,000 orders per month. 

You can pay per order instead of per driver under the Standard Plan, which is $285 a month per 1,500 orders ($0.19 per order/task).

In contrast: Circuit has a free route planning service for individual drivers ($0 a month for one driver), and all of Circuit’s plans allow unlimited orders.

Track-POD’s Advanced plan costs $49 a month per driver when billed annually ($59 if billed monthly) and allows up to 6,000 orders per month. 

If you want to pay per order under the Advanced Plan, that’s $500 a month per 3,000 orders ($0.17 per order/task). 

This plan has significantly more features than the Standard plan, such as optimized route planning, ETA notifications, branded customer emails, and driver statistics. 

Track-POD’s Advanced Plus plan costs $69 a month per driver when billed annually ($79 if billed monthly) and allows unlimited orders per month. 

When you pay per order under the Advanced Plus plan, that’s $900 a month per 6,000 orders ($0.15 per order/task). Only in Track-POD’s Advanced plan can you access full geofencing capabilities.

Track-POD’s Enterprise plan is like its Advanced Plus plan but built for more drivers and unlimited orders, plus unlimited analytics capabilities. It also introduces the option to pay extra for customized support and services. 

If you pay per driver, Track-POD will work with you to agree on a per-month or annual rate that suits your needs and budget.

Track-POD’s Enterprise plan costs $1,400 a month per 12,000 orders ($0.12 per order/task). 

7. Upper

If you operate a small to midsize delivery service and you’re on the hunt for route planning software with plenty of bells and whistles, consider Upper. 

The cloud-based Upper route planner is for smaller companies looking for today’s standard route optimization features to help them save time and money. 

In comparison, Route4Me is for growing businesses looking for an easy way to take advantage of the best routing technologies on the market. 

It has basic mapping capabilities, automated route optimization tools, and advanced tracking metrics.

Route4Me also has a more intuitive interface than Upper. But if your business isn’t ready for Route4Me, Upper is a great multi-stop route planning option for managing local deliveries and company vehicles.

Upper pricing

Upper offers a free seven-day trial that lets you test the functionalities of the second-tier Growth plan (except for the delivery notification and SMS features).

Upper’s plan pricing structure mirrors the stages of a company’s growth, from the early stage of Essentials to the Growth stage of a full-grown Enterprise-level delivery company. 

The plan outline below explains how many drivers and deliveries you can manage per month with Upper and the pricing per plan:

• Essentials. This plan is $80 per month for three drivers and 250 deliveries.
• Growth. This plan is $160 per month for five drivers and 500 deliveries. It includes importing up to 500 stops at once with Excel, customer notifications, proof of delivery, and exporting routes to Garmin.
• Enterprise. This custom plan is for 25+ drivers and 500+ deliveries and includes custom API/FTP integration, custom reporting, and a dedicated support manager.

Note: These prices are an annual commitment. If you pay for Upper on a monthly basis, rates increase by 20%.

Final thoughts: Choosing an alternative to Route4Me

Whether Route4Me isn’t the right delivery software due to its pricing structure, add-on features, or dated user interface, there are several delivery software solutions to consider as an alternative.

Circuit for Teams is the best Route4Me alternative: Both mid-sized and large businesses use our all-in-one delivery management system to streamline their delivery operations.

If you manage a team of drivers and need a simple, cost-effective way to optimize your delivery team, Circuit for Teams is the best choice. Start your free 14-day trial now.