Five Ways To Find The Fastest Route Around Multiple Stops

If you want to find the quickest route from one place to another, apps like Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze are fantastic. But what if you need to make a lot of stops, and you want the fastest route that includes all of them? Maybe you’re delivering groceries, doing lawn maintenance, visiting yard sales, or even just have a lot of errands, and you want the most efficient route to visit all your destinations as quickly as possible. 

What you need is route optimization. Route optimization is the process of finding the best route around many stops. 

“Best” can mean different things to different people — for example, if the fastest route includes paying tolls, you may want the most cost-effective route instead. So there’s no perfect solution. 

But there ARE some good free route planner apps, as well as more complex route optimization software tools that use algorithms to find the shortest route. Here are a few quick options for when you just want to get the job done, fast:

1. Google Maps
2. Routific’s Chrome extension for Google Maps
3. Apple Maps
4. MapQuest
5. Routific

Let’s look at each of them in more detail.

💡If you want a delivery route planner, don’t waste your time with navigation apps like Google Maps. Check out Routific for free instead.

Five easy ways to plan the fastest route for multiple stops

1. Google Maps

No routing algorithm. Up to 10 stops, on mobile or desktop. Free. 

Give the Google Maps route planner any two points and it will instantly plan a route for you, taking traffic conditions into account and giving you an estimate of travel time and distance. Fabulous! But when it comes to handling multiple stops, Google Maps just doesn’t have the functionality to give you an optimized route on its own. You’ll have to do some extra work. 

Here’s how: If your route has 10 stops or fewer, just enter the first stop you want to visit, then click “Directions” to start adding more stops. (We have a whole article on how to use Google Maps to create a multiple-stop route if you want more detailed instructions). 

We added our stops in a fairly random order, and ended up with something like this: 

That’s a messy route! But you can tidy it up by dragging and dropping your stops into an order that makes sense. I played around for a couple of minutes and ended up with this:

I started with 115km and 3 hours of driving, and ended up with 40km and 1.5 hours of driving. Not bad for a few minutes’ work! 

The process is exactly the same in the mobile Google Maps app. 

But what if you have more than 10 stops to visit? Google Maps can’t help you. Routific’s Chrome extension can take you up to 25 stops, though. We’ll discuss that in the next section before moving on to Apple Maps, Mapquest, and Routific.

2. Routific Chrome Extension for Google Maps

Real route optimization. Up to 25 stops, in the Chrome browser only. Free.

Routific’s free Chrome extension for Google Maps fills the route optimization gap in Google Maps:

• Optimize up to 10 stops directly inside Google Maps.
• Get up to 25 stops by combining addresses using the free More Than 10 tool.
• Send your route directly to a phone, or save the link for later use.

There are a couple of limitations to consider, though:

• The extension only works inside Google Maps in the Chrome browser.
• You will need to give the extension limited access to your Google account so that it can change your Google Maps.

If the Google Maps app is your navigation app of choice, this is your best option for planning the fastest route when you have multiple stops. It’s easy to share the optimized route from a desktop browser to your phone: Just copy the link to your optimized map and send it your phone. This works for both Android and iOS phones. 

What if you don’t like to use Google Maps? If you’re an iPhone user, Apple Maps is a good alternative route planning app.

3. Apple Maps

No routing algorithm. Up to 15 stops, on mobile or desktop. Free.

Apple Maps has caught up to Google Maps in the past couple of years in many ways, and you can now use the app on Mac or iPhone to do basic multi-stop route planning. Just add up to 15 stops in any order, then drag and drop them around the list to get the fastest route.

So if you’re a big fan of Apple in general and you have simple route planning needs that can all be met with the mobile app — go ahead. (We have more detailed instructions in our article on using Apple Maps as a route planner). 

But if you’re going to be planning multi-stop routes on a regular basis, you’ll need more. 

Let’s take a look at two apps that are specifically designed for planning multi-stop routes.

4. MapQuest

Basic routing algorithm. Up to 26 stops free, ad-supported. Desktop only.

The desktop version of MapQuest has a multi-stop route planner option that will optimize up to 26 stops:

• Add stops by typing address, copying and pasting a list, or uploading a spreadsheet from excel or google maps.
• Check the box labeled “Let us re-order stops”, and MapQuest will optimize your route. 

Once you have an optimized route you can print out driving directions. You can also copy the link to the website containing your optimized route,  and share it by text or email. 

The problem? You won’t get turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic updates, or anything else you’ve probably come to expect from navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze. 

Your best option is to print or save the optimized MapQuest route, then add the stops to your favorite navigation app on your mobile device to get actual driving directions.  

MapQuest limitations 

• MapQuest Route Planner is supported by ads, which keeps it free — but you may find the ads intrusive.
• There’s no option to upgrade so that you can route more than 26 stops.
• The route optimization option is only available in a web browser. You can’t use the MapQuest mobile app to optimize a multi-stop route. 
• You can’t share a MapQuest route directly to a mobile device. 

5. Routific 

Intelligent routing algorithm. Unlimited stops, free up to 100 stops a month.

At Routific, route optimization is what we’re all about. Many of our customers are delivery businesses, so we have a bunch of delivery management features as well, but fundamentally finding the most efficient, fastest route around multiple stops is our thing. The most efficient order of stops is usually the fastest, but we also take into account things like driver shifts, vehicle types, and whether the route actually makes sense to a human driver.

We also have driver apps for both Android and iPhone, so once a route has been optimized it’s easy to send to a mobile phone. Once the app is open, drivers can use their choice of Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze for actual driving directions. 

You can import stops by uploading a spreadsheet, or using our two-way API to pull data from your e-commerce or order management system.

We don’t put a limit on the number of stops you can optimize, even in our free version. During your 7-day trial you can plan routes with thousands of stops if you like. 

Routific limitations

• Routific offers 100 stops a month free, even after the 7-day trial period is over. If you still need multi-stop route planning functionality after that, you’ll need to upgrade — our pricing starts at $150 a month for up to 1,000 orders. 
• Our focus on delivery routes means that we don’t have all the features some other kinds of business might need. For example, if you’re mostly making sales or service calls, you probably want some kind of integration with a customer management system. 

If you ARE looking for route planning software with delivery management features, then you should definitely check us out! Features like time windows, automated customer notifications, a dispatcher view with real-time updates, and proof of delivery all come standard. We pay a lot of attention to delivery driver happiness as well.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial of Routific route planner here.