How to Choose Between a Free and a Paid Route Optimization App?

Published on 24 July 2024 • Reading time: 7 min read

Are you wasting time organizing your daily routes? And you’ve heard of free software to optimize them. But you don’t know exactly what they include and whether their functionalities are enough for you.

In this article, we answer all your questions:

• What are the 5 key features of a route optimization app?
• What route optimization apps are free?
• What are the limitations of a free route app?
• What are the 5 additional benefits of a paid route optimization app?

A free route optimization app improves driver productivity. By opting for a paid solution, operations managers optimize overall costs and the customer experience.

What are the 5 Key Features of a Route Optimization App?

There’s a huge range of software on the market, some of which is available free of charge, with or without a premium version, and some of which is available exclusively on a paid subscription plan.

Before paying, take a quick look at the main features of these applications. Then it’s time to decide whether you need a paid version to optimize your route management.

Route optimization software is designed to plan, organize and optimize your delivery routes efficiently and cost-effectively.

They may contain 5 main functionalities:

1. Smart planning of routes

These software programs use advanced algorithms and predictive models to optimize routes and plan your many stops. They can take into account distance, traffic, traffic restrictions, delivery times and CO2 emissions. This feature saves time and resources and reduces your environmental impact, by avoiding unnecessary journeys and cutting travel costs. But optimization levels vary from app to app, as do the number of stops taken into account.

2. Real-time tracking and geolocation

Some apps track the position of vehicles in real time on an interactive map. This feature helps you to react quickly to unforeseen events, such as traffic jams or delays, by adjusting routes accordingly.

3. Proof of delivery management

It offers the possibility of capturing and managing proof of delivery via electronic signatures, photos or QR codes. The result: greater transparency, fewer disputes and less red tape.

4. Automated notifications

Apps equipped with this feature send notifications to customers about the status of their delivery (estimated time of arrival, departure confirmation, etc.). This improves your customers’ experience and reduces the cost of follow-up requests.

5. Integrated communication and route sharing

Integrated messaging features enable efficient communication between your drivers and your administrative team. In particular, they can share itineraries via email or SMS. The result: fewer errors and better coordination between your field workers.

These are not the only features available on the market. Paid-for software offers more advanced versions, as well as additional functions such as performance analysis, resource optimization and management of unexpected events. More about these in our dedicated chapter.

What Route Optimization Apps are Free?

You’re probably familiar with Google Maps and Waze. But there are other, lesser-known applications, such as Route XL, MapQuest, Speedy Route and others. Some, like Google Maps or Waze, are completely free, while others, like Speedy Route, offer a wide range of paid options.

To help you make your comparison, we’ve taken a close look at the functionalities of 3 of them: Google Maps, Route XL and Speedy Route.

The Google Maps app lets you plan routes to up to 10 stops. It also offers navigation guidance with real-time traffic updates. You can also view the current position of vehicles on the map and share planned routes via email or SMS.

Speedy Route is an interesting alternative. Like Google Maps, it lets you add multiple stops and share optimized itineraries. A nice bonus: it automatically optimizes the order of stops to minimize total travel time. But it doesn’t offer real-time position tracking.

Less well known is Route XL, an Open Source application. The free version automatically optimizes up to 20 stops per day. You can enter or import departure and arrival addresses. Routes are displayed live on your map. You can then export them to a navigation app or share them by email.

Table of features for free route optimization apps.

What are the Limitations of a Free Route App?

As can be seen from the table above, however, these applications are limited in their use.

Google Maps sets a limit of 10 stops to be manually optimized. Speedy Route is limited to 10 delivery addresses and 3 route calculations per 24-hour period. Route XL allows up to 20 stops per day, but can only import 10 addresses at a time.

These functions may be sufficient, however, if you manage a limited number of deliveries. Sharing planned routes is also an interesting option for preparing your drivers’ work in advance. And with Google Maps and Route XL, you can view live traffic or connect to a navigation application.

But if you want to go further, you’ll quickly find yourself limited.

With these free applications, you can’t automatically notify your customers of your deliveries or integrate proofs of delivery. Nor can your customers follow the status of deliveries live. In the absence of integration with your other tools, you’ll also be forced to enter or import your addresses one by one or by restricted list, which will greatly reduce your productivity.

So there are limits to free access, which can be counterproductive to the development of your business.

Free route apps have their limitations.

What are the 5 Additional Benefits of a Paid Route Optimization App?

As we’ve seen, by using a paid application, you’ll be able to integrate proofs of delivery, track your vehicles live and send notifications.

But the functionalities of paid software go much further.

An application like AntsRoute offers at least 5 additional features:

1. Analysis of performance: You get detailed reports and statistics on your deliveries. This makes it easy to identify areas for improvement and optimize your operations on an ongoing basis.
2. Easy integration with other systems: No need to re-enter everything. The route application software integrates with your ERP, CMS or billing software.
3. Optimization of available resources. AntsRoute’s software helps you optimize your delivery schedule according to the time and geographical constraints of your drivers and delivery sites, or according to the specific characteristics of your vehicles. By optimizing your resources, you reduce empty mileage, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
4. Management of unforeseen events: This tool modifies route schedules in real time to deal with unforeseen events without jeopardizing all the optimization work done upstream. You can also add vehicles or manage complex routes with no loss of performance.
5. Customer service: In addition to these 5 additional advantages, there’s one major difference: the availability of technical support, online documentation or tutorials and, above all, dedicated customer service. The latter can not only train your users, but above all respond to your questions and technical difficulties, without leaving you stranded.

If you include access to software updates and a more intuitive user interface, you’ll see that paid-for software is definitely ahead of the game. But whether or not you need to invest in such software will depend above all on your real needs.

For a better understanding, we’ve summarized in a table the 10 features offered or not by the 3 free apps mentioned and AntsRoute route optimization software. This will give you all the information you need to make an informed choice, based above all on your own needs.

Table of features for free and paid route optimization applications.

Paid software not only optimizes your travel times, it also reduces your overall costs and improves the customer experience. They succeed where free apps leave off: adapting to your specific needs, to respond to the constant changes in your market and your business, and ensure its development.

And the good news is that these paid applications aren’t all that expensive. AntsRoute software is available from 17 euros per vehicle per month.

WRITTEN BY

Maryline Lakh
Maryline worked for a major logistics company for 15 years. Since 2022, she has been an expert in communication and freelance writer for positive-impact logistics companies. She is passionate about new sustainable logistics solutions and writes for several clients, including AntsRoute.