Alternatives to Route4Me

Route4Me is an established route optimization tool that has been around since 2009. Their product has a very complex marketplace structure that makes figuring out the actual cost of the product very difficult. It is also something of a legacy tool which might not have the flexibility that newer, more modern tools have. Finding an alternative to Route4Me can be difficult as the landscape of competitors is varied and includes different pricing structures connected to features sets that are not direct comparisons. In this article we will take a look at five of the best known alternatives to Route4Me. Hopefully, this will help you to make an informed decision as to how to move forward with a better software solution for your business.  

Why use delivery management software?

Firstly, let us just say that the case for using a delivery management software is pretty compelling. Why?

1. Route planning manually is horribly time consuming and it produces inefficient routes that will waste fuel and driver wages.

2. Route optimization is necessary for carbon emission reduction and meeting sustainability objectives.

3. Delivery management software brings visibility into what is happening with your vehicles/drivers in the field.

4. The data you glean from GPS tracking leads to better decisions for your delivery work.

5. Customers are happier with the delivery experience that includes automatic notifications, out-for-delivery reminders and the live package tracking map that shows them where their package is in relation to them.

6. You can capture proof of delivery electronically.  

5 Best Route4Me alternatives

Let’s take a look at some of the Route4Me alternatives that do these things for your business.

1. SmartRoutes alternative to Route4Me

SmartRoutes is a total delivery management software for all sizes of logistics teams. With SmartRoutes you can plan and optimize your routes while tracking drivers and capturing  proof-of-delivery. SmartRoutes keeps your customers informed of their delivery with up-to-the-minute notifications and a delivery tracking portal.

Route4Me users or people who might have used Route4Me in the past will find SmartRoutes to be a comparable platform in terms of functionality but with a more user friendly interface and pricing structure.

There are pricing options to meet the needs of small teams who simply want route planning and optimization but there are bigger packages that provide the entire delivery management suite.

SmartRoutes offer customer support calls as standard with most of their plans and give unparalleled access to the product roadmap to their customers, allowing them input into what feature sets will be built next.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $29 per vehicle monthly, with additional functionality at $49 per vehicle monthly and €59 for full functionality.

Compared to the Route4Me marketplace, SmartRoutes pricing is very transparent and clear. With Route4Me many people are unclear about what the final cost will be as each piece of functionality like left turn avoidance, territory management, and so on all come with a further price tag.

*Drivers and admin staff are included for free with these plans, only the number of vehicles being used are counted resulting in huge savings for teams. No restrictions on numbers of drivers using the vehicle licences or number of routes planned within fair usage parameters.

Verdict

SmartRoutes is a great solution for delivery teams and has a great mix of functionality and price points that just make sense for businesses with vehicles. There is a free trial for 7 days that allows teams to fully test and pilot the software on real routes.

2.  Onfleet alternative to Route4Me

Whereas Route4Me is used by all sizes of business, Onfleet’s delivery management tool only becomes an economical option when it is used by large fleets which aren’t necessarily dealing in a high volume of monthly deliveries. This is due to Onfleet’s flat-rate pricing tier. Onfleet is an enterprise solution that prices based on the number of stops you drop to. This means if you do a lot of delivery volume and you want to link what you pay to the value you get from the product, then Onfleet might be good for you.

How it works

Your business pays a flat rate every month and is allotted a specific number of deliveries. We will give a detailed explanation of Onfleet’s pricing structure later, but first let’s cover the features Onfleet offers its delivery teams.

Starter: $149 per month for 1,000 tasks. Plus, in this plan you can import routes into Onfleet via CSV files, get Live ETAs of routes in progress, and collect proof-of-delivery.

Basic: $349 per month for 2,500 tasks. In this plan, you get everything from the Starter plan plus route optimization, driver chat, and access to API integrations.

Premium: $799 per month for 5,000 tasks. In this plan, you get everything from the first two plans, plus your drivers can now scan barcodes on packages — a plus for courier companies with an inventory system.

Professional: $1999 per month for 12,500 tasks. The Professional plan gets you all the previous features above, plus your team gets priority customer support, complete access to driver analytics, and more.

This is a different approach than Route4Me, who charge per driver and put no limit on the number of stops you can make per month. Depending on your fleet size and your average monthly volume, Onfleet’s pricing model may or may not be in your favor. Certainly, with Route4Me charging $299 per month for the basic functionality of route planning and optimization for multiple drivers then Onfleet is not overly expensive by comparison.

Verdict

If you’re a small business leaving Route4Me because you need to be able to scan barcodes, then you’re looking at Onfleet’s Premium plan, which is $799 per month with 5,000 tasks. That means your delivery team is limited to an average of 250 deliveries per day.

If you need a full feature set and do a lot of stops per week then Onfleet may be a viable alternative to Route4Me.

3. Tookan alternative to Route4Me

Tookan is an order management platform that offers common features such as route optimization and route tracking, but also offers services catered towards on-demand delivery courier companies.

Tookan is a well known product offering of Jungleworks, an online ordering, ecommerce and last mile delivery solution set. Tookan focuses on the delivery management side of things offering basic route optimization and fleet tracking.

Tookan’s pricing is similar to Onfleet’s, in that it’s a per month rate with unlimited drivers but a limited amount of deliveries. However, it does not provide much value, starting at a $35 per month price tag for functionality similar to Google Maps. As the price plans expand to $99-$229-$429 and beyond they simply offer more stops per month without adding functionality. This is the major drawback of Tookan compared to more advantageous pricing structures of delivery management systems.

Verdict

If Route4Me is being used by a company that doesn’t run many stops but wants to access a wide variety of features more related to ecommerce then Tookan’s pricing structure and feature set could work. Being part of the larger Junglework’s feature family gives strength to the Tookan offering.

4. RoadWarrior alternative to Route4Me

If you are looking for a cheap and basic tool for route optimization then RoadWarrior is a good option. It doesn't have the full feature set of SmartRoutes or Onfleet but it can plan and optimize your routes.

RoadWarrior costs just $10 and then you pay for every user on your team including drivers, admin staff and so on. It can add up but it is generally very affordable. If you are looking to add other features like notifying customers when their package is due or capturing proof of delivery though RoadWarrior will not do this for you.

Price

$10 per user monthly for driver app, route optimization and data export [Max Route Size 120 Stops]

$10 standard + $10 per user for team features and [Max Route Size 200 Stops]

Verdict

RoadWarrior is very straightforward and has the driver in mind with its focus on the app rather than the admin interface. It has a very low price point that allows it to compete with Google Maps and RouteXL and has a FedEx integration that is widely used. For Route4Me users who are frustrated with too many complex features that they don’t need or price points that are simply too high then RoadWarrior could be the cheap solution that they need.

5. Paragon Routing alternative to Route4Me

Paragon's Route Planning Software maximizes use of drivers and vehicles, reduces costs and improves customer service. It is used in over sixty countries worldwide.

Paragon Routing is, again, a large enterprise solution for delivery management and telematics. Trading since 1991 Paragon, is embedded with many logistics teams worldwide, giving it an industry credibility that others can’t match. However, it has legacy issues like not being cloud hosted and it is next to impossible to have customized workflows built. Given the price that Paragon customers pay it should be expected that feature sets can at least compete with Route4Me. Paragon can be used by single depot teams or multi depot companies.

Recent reviews on G2Crowd suggest:

“This tool has a very visual optimization engine that allows users to clearly see the effects of their plans - one of the best I've seen out there. The optimization is also pretty quick to run for thousands of lines of data. A lot of work in the data prep needs to be done separately which I think the tool could have more support on to help minimize the prep work but overall a good solution".

Verdict

If you are using Route4Me for a large fleet with feature requirements above and beyond delivery management then Paragon Routing might be the right solution for you.

What is the best Route4Me alternative?

To conclude, it should be noted that all solutions are highly valuable to any business doing deliveries and can be used in most countries. Deciding which one is right for you depends on your functionality requirements and budget but it should be clear that SmartRoutes provides incredible value for the price points compared to the other alternatives.

Route4Me is a great delivery management tool that is trusted by businesses all over the world but it is certainly not cheap and can be difficult to master effectively, especially for small businesses.

SmartRoutes, with its mix of functionality, support and pricing is an excellent alternative to Route4Me in 2022. Try it out for free today!

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