10 Best Driving Route Planners to Help You Create the Quickest Routes [Free and paid options included]
By Christina Carpio
Posted in Product, Sales Productivity, Sales Tools
By Christina Carpio
Posted in Product, Sales Productivity, Sales Tools
When you have a job that requires you to be on the road, there’s no way to get out of planning your day.
While you can schedule your appointments, organize leads you want to follow-up with, or what calls to make between meetings, there are many things you can’t anticipate such as traffic jams and appointment cancellations.
In fact, According to INRIX, in 2018, congestion cost each American 97 hours and $1,348. In cities that experience high levels of traffic, such as Los Angeles, time lost to traffic exceeded 200 hours per person!
By using a driving route planner, you can save time planning your daily routes and get the most out of your day — even when you encounter the unexpected.
Some key benefits of using a driving route planner include:
- Route optimization to cut planning time, driving time, and fuel costs
- Navigation and real-time traffic updates to guarantee you're always on the fastest route
- The ability to adjust your schedule at any moment and stay on track
- Account visualization on a map so you can make informed decisions and take quick actions
When should you use a Driving Route Planner?
Mapping routes for driving is likely something you don’t have to worry about in most day-to-day activities. But, when your job involves visiting customers, delivering goods, or dealing with logistics, using a driving route planner is absolutely essential.
Here are some cases where using a Driving Route Planner is beneficial:
- Road Trips: For finding the shortest route to your destination and for planning last-minute stops to get gas, eat, or sight-see.
- Outside sales: For planning out your day, optimizing your route, and visualizing key data on a map, enabling you to sell more.
- Delivery: For optimizing routes, easily adjusting driver schedules/routes, and receiving real-time traffic updates.
- Fleet: For optimizing fleet routes, increasing communication between drivers, and reducing costs.
- Logistics: For streamlining logistical processes and facilitating deliveries between hubs.
- Trucking: For optimizing truck routes so drivers get to their customers on time.
How do you choose the right Driving Route Planner?
Driving route planners are not one-size-fits-all, so the right planner for you will depend on a number of factors, such as the size of your business, your budget, your business goals, and so on.
The list below covers the best driving route planners on the market categorized by different use cases, as well as provide a brief overview of what sets each tool apart from the others. With this information, you’ll be able to choose the best option for your specific use case.
Pro Tip: What's the benefit of using a route optimization software designed for field salespeople when you already have Google Maps? Selling 25% more and driving 20% less.
The 10 Best Driving Route Planners of 2020
- Badger Maps - Best for field sales reps and teams
- Google Maps - Best for road trips
- Waze - Best for daily commuting
- MapQuest - Best for simple routes
- Roadtrippers - Best for road trips
- My Route Online - Best for logistics and trucking
- Route XL - Best for logistics and deliveries
- Speedy Route - Best for timeboxing and location reordering
- Flightmap - Best for delivery
- Maps.me - Best for road trips and traveling
1. Badger Maps
Price: $49/month Business, $95/month Enterprise (7-day free trial & 30-day team pilots available)
Best for: Field sales reps and teams
Main Features: Route Optimization, Visualize, Prospecting, Check-ins, Follow-ups
Badger Maps is a driving route planner designed specifically for field sales.
In addition to its routing features (route optimization, live traffic updates, and turn-by-turn directions), Badger Maps integrates seamlessly with many CRMs, allowing you access to valuable customer information in the field.
Badger also allows you to streamline your entire sales process from planning your day, to following up with customers.
On average, sales teams using Badger drive 20% less and sell 22% more by being able to meet with many more customers per week.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Optimized route building | Requires Internet connection |
| Ability to create custom check-ins | No mobile invoicing |
| Automatic weekly reports | Only available in English |
| Native mobile applications for iOS and Android | |
| Easy to use (and free training & resources) | |
| Great customer support |
2. Google Maps
Price: Free
Best for: Road trips that don’t involve more than 9 stops
Main Features: Routing, Turn-by-Turn Directions, Live Traffic Conditions, Street View
Google Maps is a reliable and easy-to-use route planner for traveling by foot, car, bicycle, or public transport.
With Google Maps, you can create routes with up to 9 stops, receive turn-by-turn directions, and real-time traffic updates. Google Maps allows you to visualize the map in a number of ways including satellite imagery, aerial view, and a 360° interactive street view.
Google Maps is best at providing the best driving route from point A to point B since it does not optimize routes with more than one stop.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| User-friendly | Limited to only 10 stops |
| Free | Can’t set departure, arrival, or duration time |
| Reliable | Can’t track customer information |
| Create optimized routes with up to 10 stops | |
| Can’t view top priority customers at a glance |
3. Waze
Price: Free
Best for: Daily commuting
Main Features: Turn-by-Turn Directions, Traffic Notifications, Mobile Speed Checks, Carpool
Waze is a GPS navigation software that provides turn-by-turn directions and live traffic updates. Waze relies on user-submitted data to provide information on accidents, traffic jams, and speed/police traps.
With Waze's trip planner, you can plan trips in advance and decide on the best departure time. Waze also has a carpool feature that allows you to pair up with users going in the same direction and split travel costs, while remaining on the quickest driving route.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Easy to use | Cluttered layout |
| Free | The app can be distracting |
| User-based Data for traffic, hazard, and police detection | Can only add up to 2 stops |
4. MapQuest
Price: Free
Best for: Road trips and simple routes
Main Features: Real-time Traffic Updates, Point of Interest Search, Hotel Booking
Launched in 1996, MapQuest is the first commercially available web mapping service. MapQuest is great for creating simple routes and locating destinations such as gas stations, restaurants, and grocery stores.
MapQuest provides real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation. You can also use MapQuest to find and book hotels near you, which makes it a great route planner for road trips.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Free | Limited number of stops |
| Reliable | Not designed for outside sales/delivery services |
| Easy to use | Difficult to plot multiple stops |
5. Roadtrippers
Price: Free up to 5 stops or $29.99/year for Plus
Best for: Road trips
Main Features: Turn-by-Turn Directions, Live Traffic Updates, Point of Interest Search
RoadTrippers is a web-based software application and mobile app designed to help travelers plan road trips with up to 150 stops.
It allows users to discover independently owned points of interest across the United States and Canada. You can use RoadTrippers to create a trip and then sync it to the RoadTrippers app to receive turn-by-turn directions and live traffic conditions.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Can route up to 150 stops (paid option) | Only available for U.S. based users |
| Ability to discover points of interests | Not designed for outside sales/delivery services |
BADGER PAYS FOR ITSELF WITH GAS SAVINGS
Sales Reps using Badger sell at least 22% more and drive 20% fewer miles.
See the potential return on investment you can get by using Badger Maps with your field sales team.
6. My Route Online
Price: Starts at $29
Best for: Logistics and trucking
Main Features: Route Optimization, Data Import
My Route Online is a web-only route planner. It’s a simple, no-frills planner that lets users map upwards of 350 stops per route.
You can import a spreadsheet of all your addresses to My Route Online and create a route optimized by either distance or time. Once you have your route created, you can upload it to your GPS or mobile device to receive turn-by-turn directions.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Simple User Interface | No Mobile App |
| Maps upwards of 350 stops | Limited features for sales |
Download availability: Web Only
7. RouteXL
Price: Free, €35/month RouteXL 100, €70/month RouteXL 200
Best for: Logistics and deliveries
Main Features: Route Optimization, Data Import
Route XL is a simple web-based route planner that enables you to save time and money. With Route XL, you can import your list of addresses from a spreadsheet, e-mail, or simply copy and paste.
Route XL doesn’t have a mobile application, but you can export your optimized route to a GPS device.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Easy to use | No Mobile App |
| Limited features for sales |
Download availability: Web Only
8. Speedy Route
Price: $10/day or $50/month
Best for: Delivery
Main Features: Timeboxing, Location Reordering
Speedy Route is a globally available web-based route optimizer. Speedy Route has a simple interface and helpful features such as timeboxing, that enable you to reach your destinations by pre-set times. You can also re-order your locations at any moment, giving you full control over your route.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Easy to use | No Mobile App |
| Free up to 10 stops | Limited features for sales |
Download availability: Web Only
9. Flightmap
Price: Free for Bootstrap, $209/month Growth, $375/month Growth
Best for: Delivery
Main Features: Route Optimization, Live Traffic Updates, Store Locator
Flightmap is a great web-based software for delivery drivers. With Flightmap, you can create optimized routes, provide real-time traffic updates to your customers, and create customized maps.
After creating your optimized route in Flightmap, you can export it and upload it to a GPS device for turn-by-turn directions.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Easy to use | No Mobile App |
| Can provide real-time updates to customers | Limited features for sales |
Download availability: Web Only
10. Maps.me
Price: Free
Best for: Road Trips, general traveling
Main Features: Offline Maps, Offline Search, Offline Navigation
Maps.me is an offline route planner designed to help travelers navigate without the internet. Maps.me allows you to download maps and create routes for navigation by foot, car, bicycle, or public transportation.
The app also features a number of travel guides to help you explore your destination.
Conclusion
Adding a driving route planner to your tool belt will ultimately save you both time and money. With all the options available, it’s guaranteed there is a route planner that will meet all your business needs.
If you’re looking for a tool that optimizes not only your route but your entire sales process, then Badger Maps is the perfect option for you.
The Best App for Field Sales People
Learn how you can maximize your sales routes & sell more with Badger Maps
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