Upper Route Planner: Detailed Review, Pricing, and Alternatives

Upper Route Planner is route optimization software for last mile delivery businesses and field service teams. It's designed mainly for small to medium-sized businesses. Its major competitors include Routific, Spoke Dispatch, Route4Me, Onfleet, and Optimoroute.

This article compares Upper to its competitors to identify its major strengths and weaknesses. Our assessment is based on:

• User reviews
• Our own testing
• Notes from our conversations with Upper customers
• Publicly available information about each different route planning software app.

The goal is to explain Upper's main features, identify the use cases it's best suited to, and help you decide if it's worth the investment — or if you'd be better off with an alternative.

💡 Pro tip: Routific and Upper both offer a 7-day free trial. Test both with your actual delivery volumes, and compare the results.

Upper Route Planner: Overview and key features

The company behind Upper Route Planner offers two main products:

• Upper Solo is for individual drivers. This is a phone-based route planner app for iOS and Android, simply called Upper Route Planner in the app stores.
• Upper For Teams is for small businesses that have more than one driver, with a dispatcher or planner doing route management. This product includes a separate driver app so that planners can send routes to drivers and monitor their progress in real time.

Note: In this article we're reviewing Upper for Teams. For a detailed review of phone-based route planning apps including Upper, see our review of the best route planning apps for delivery drivers.

Key features

Upper Route Planner offers most of the features you'd expect from a route planning and delivery management tool:

1. Multi-stop route optimization. Upper will automatically create the most efficient route from a list of addresses. These can be uploaded using a spreadsheet, or via integration with an order management or e-commerce system like Shopify.
2. A driver mobile app. Once planned, routes can be sent directly to a driver's mobile device. This also enables real-time tracking while drivers are on the road.
3. Customer notifications: On all but the lowest-priced plans, Upper will send automatic email notifications so customers know their delivery times.
4. Proof of delivery: Photo and signature proof of delivery are available on the top two plans.
5. Analytics and reporting: Upper users can download route plans and basic reports.

Upper's shortcomings

Upper is a good, basic route planner for small businesses with simple needs. But we don't believe it's a good fit for businesses that plan to grow, or need more sophisticated delivery management tools.

These are some of the issues that came up in our testing:

• Upper's optimized routes aren't the best. If you look at the screenshot above, you can see lots of overlap and criss-crossing routes. There is also one route that involves multiple bridge and tunnel crossings. These are bottlenecks where traffic jams are most likely to happen, so algorithms should look for optimized routes that minimize bridge and tunnel crossings.
• One of the benefits of route optimization is that the algorithm can tell you how many drivers you'll need to complete a round of deliveries efficiently. But with Upper, the only option is to assign your drivers before optimizing. And it will optimize for that exact number of drivers, regardless of whether their shift times make sense. You might end up with one shift of 18 hours, or three shifts of only four hours. It's better when an app can tell you how many drivers you need, or at least warn you that the assigned number of drivers will break shift hours. This is especially useful for people who use contract drivers or who need some flexibility.
• It's hard to edit routes after optimization. You can't drag and drop stops from one route to another — you have to open the detail window for a stop and reassign it to a different driver.
• Upper supports time windows to some extent, but only from its Professional pricing tier.
• The app feels slow and clunky, with lots of errors. For example, in our test Upper didn't recognize the addresses we uploaded as valid, despite having accurately placed all of them on the map. We had to manually confirm that 75 addresses were correct before we could optimize.
• Upper's published pricing is misleading: there is a three-user minimum, which means the actual prices are three times the prices quoted on their website. We only discovered this at checkout.

Overall, Upper feels a bit like a "me too" product. They've copied some great features from competitors like Routific and Spoke Dispatch, but there are no unique features. Every time I go back to test Upper, it feels a little more buggy and difficult to use. It doesn't seem like a lot of thought or effort has gone into making it pleasant to use, and it's definitely not as easy to use as Routific or Spoke Dispatch.

If you've been doing all your delivery route planning using Excel spreadsheets and Google Maps, Upper will feel like a huge improvement, and will definitely streamline your delivery process. But it's not the best solution in the market, so test it against other competitors before you commit.

Upper pricing

Upper has four pricing tiers.

• Starter: $50 per user per month, or $40 per user per month if billed annually. This price doesn't include GPS driver tracking, customer notifications, or proof of delivery.
• Professional: $60 per user per month, or $48 if billed annually.
• Optimize: $89 per user per month, or $71 if billed annually.
• Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing.

💡 Important note: Upper's pricing page lists per-user prices without mentioning that there's a three-user minimum. When you go to subscribe, the minimum is enforced — so the real starting prices are $150/month (Starter), $180/month (Professional), and $267/month (Optimize), if you opt for monthly billing.

There are some paid extras as well:

• Live tracking link for customers: $20 per driver per month.
• In-app navigation: Contact sales for an estimate.
• Capacity optimization: $25 per driver per month.
• Barcode scanning: $50 per company.

In summary, Upper Route Planner is expensive for what you get. Their per-user pricing looks low at first glance, but a lot of the essential features, like a live tracking link and barcode scanning, are paid extras. This can make the real price much higher.

What users actually think about Upper

Upper has a Capterra rating of 4.6, with 40+ reviews. Here are some of the standout reviews from Capterra and G2:

Some users appreciate Upper's ease of use:

“What I like the most about Upper is how easy it is for me to use. It has been of a lot of help to me and when teaching the drivers how to use it, it is easy for them to understand.” — Hector R, pharmacy delivery.

“I really appreciate how Upper saves us time with its contacts that help us save our customers' contacts. It's really easy to look up delivery history for particular address using this feature.” — Puru J, IT customer satisfaction.

The major issues are pricing, route quality, and route management:

“I do wish the subscription model was more flexible to accommodate smaller or less frequent users without feeling overpriced.” — Jeetesh H, IT marketing manager

“Routing choices can be odd and need to be fixed manually by us.” — Christopher C, transportation team leader.

“Lacks the ability to drag and drop a location from one route to the other.” — Gary T, non-profit organization.

Upper Route Planner at a glance

Upper vs the competition

Upper vs. Routific

Compared to Upper Route Planner, Routific has three main advantages:

1. Better route optimization

Routific's route optimization algorithm prioritises driver-friendly routes with minimal overlap and criss-crossing. It also takes historical traffic data into account for more accurate ETAs.

“Rapid, same day route creation allowing significant adjustments to be made right up to dispatch.” — Chris H, Food & beverage logistics manager.

2. Easier to use, with better customer service

User reviews consistently rate Routific highly for ease of use and optimization quality. Reviewers also consistently cite its excellent customer service.

“The ease of use, simplicity, and customer service is second to none. I have tried and demoed every routing tool out there and none come close to Routific with ease of use and simplicity.” — Morgan H, SMB CEO

3. More competitive pricing

Routific offers more competitive pricing, with automated customer notifications and proof of delivery included in all paid plans. Pricing is per stop, not per driver, which gives businesses more room to scale up and down as they grow, and to cope with seasonal fluctuations.

• The first 100 orders every month are free, to accommodate the needs of very small businesses, non-profits, and occasional users.
• 100–1,000 orders: $150 a month.
• Above 1,000 orders Routific charges a few cents per stop. Pricing starts at 15c a stop up to 2,000 orders a month, going down to 3c a stop for more than 20,000 orders a month.

Upper vs. Spoke Dispatch

Spoke Dispatch (formerly Circuit for Teams) provides excellent ease of use and good pricing. It's probably a better choice than Upper for courier-type businesses that combine pickups and deliveries.

Here's an overview of its advantages:

1. Better usability

Spoke's interface consistently gets praised for being simple and easy to use. Their single driver app is popular worldwide, and they've brought the same attention to detail to their Teams product.

“I love how easy Circuit is to use. It is user friendly and easy to understand.” — Hannah H, SMB business owner. [Review predates rebrand to Spoke Dispatch]

One downside is that Spoke's optimized routes are not easy to edit.

2. Better value for money

Spoke Dispatch pricing includes customer notifications in all plans. Like Routific, it offers flexible stop-based pricing rather than per-driver pricing.

Spoke Dispatch offers three price tiers:

• Starter: $125 a month for up to 1,000 stops, then 4c per stop.
• Premium: $200 a month for up to 2,000 stops, then 6c per stop.
• Expert: $1,000 a month up to 12,000 stops, then 7c per stop.

Note that Spoke's pricing goes up as order volume increases, whereas Routific's pricing goes down. This means Spoke will get more expensive as the business grows.

3. More long-term stability and ability to scale with your business

Spoke's product is under active development, and they regularly release new features.

Here's what one Capterra reviewer had to say:

“Circuit is improving all the time. It is a great product for the price, and the team seems to actively be working to upgrade it. Their customer service is accessible and they listen and work to fix any issues that arise.” — Katherine H, midmarket sales professional [Review predates rebrand to Spoke Dispatch]

Upper vs. Onfleet

Onfleet targets larger operations, with more robust features for complex routing needs. While more expensive, Onfleet provides enterprise-grade functionality that Upper lacks.

Here are the main advantages Onfleet has over Upper:

1. More advanced enterprise features

Onfleet offers automated driver assignment and dispatch for on-demand deliveries. This enables customer self-service and makes Onfleet a good option for courier businesses.

It also has features like:

• Barcode scanning
• ID verification
• In-app chat for easy communication between drivers, dispatchers, and customers

Customers say:

“Modern logistics platform for serious on-demand companies.” — James W, cofounder, midsize construction company.

2. More integrations

Onfleet has integrations with Zapier, Shopify, Square, GigSmart and many other e-commerce partners.

Onfleet disadvantages

Onfleet's route optimization relies on third-party technology. As a result, most complaints we hear from Onfleet users are about poorly optimized routes. This in turn has a negative impact on efficiency in the delivery process, leading to higher operational costs.

“The route optimization is definitely not 100% and occasionally throws up some odd routes which would require amphibious delivery vehicles.” — Brett K, midmarket Director.

Other problems that Onfleet users have mentioned in our conversations include:

• It's difficult to make changes to Onfleet's routes.
• There's no timeline view, which can make daily delivery management more difficult.

Onfleet is also expensive, with a $599 per month starting price that confirms it's not a good fit for smaller businesses. Here's a summary of their pricing:

• Starts at $599 per month with a limit of 2,500 pickup or delivery tasks.
• Barcode scanning, age verification and 5,000 pickup or delivery tasks start at $1,299 per month.
• Enterprise pricing for 10,000+ tasks per month starts at $2,999.

“Onfleet is not cheap by any means, and I have much better support with other tech companies that cost a fraction of what Onfleet does.” — Hobey W, General Manager, small business.

Upper vs. OptimoRoute

OptimoRoute is a solid mid-range alternative for businesses that want more configuration options than Upper.

Here are the main advantages OptimoRoute has over Upper:

1. More flexible pricing for smaller teams

OptimoRoute offers two main tiers: Lite at $35.10/driver/month and Pro at $44.10/driver/month (both billed annually). There's no driver minimum, so a one- or two-driver operation pays for exactly what they use — unlike Upper's Starter plan, which requires a minimum of three drivers.

Key features by tier:

• Lite: Route optimization, driver app, live tracking, up to 700 orders at once, web API.
• Pro: Everything in Lite plus proof of delivery, analytics, real-time order tracking, customer notifications, and weekly planning. Up to 1,000 orders at once.

A 30-day free trial is available, compared to Upper's seven days — though the trial is limited to 250 stops, which can make it hard to test performance at real delivery volumes.

2. More configuration options

OptimoRoute includes features that Upper locks behind its Optimize plan or sells as add-ons: time windows, driver skills, vehicle capacity, and weekly planning are all available on the Pro tier.

OptimoRoute disadvantages

Route quality is a known weakness. In testing, OptimoRoute produces overlapping, crisscrossing routes similar to Upper's, and routes often require manual correction after optimization.

Without a computer it's nearly impossible to edit or change routes — the mobile app doesn't support route changes, which can be a problem when dispatchers need to make on-the-fly adjustments.

Upper vs. Route4Me

Route4Me is one of the oldest and most feature-rich route planning platforms on the market. It targets a broader range of industries than Upper — including field service, territory management, and commercial trucking — and is significantly more powerful.

1. More features and configurability

Route4Me's feature set is extensive: time windows, driver skills, vehicle constraints, pickup and delivery, territory management, avoidance zones, and commercial truck routing are all available. For businesses with complex or unusual routing requirements, it's hard to beat.

The platform also has a longer feature history and a larger integration ecosystem, including connections to ERP and CRM platforms, telematics systems, and e-commerce tools.

2. Scales to larger operations

Route4Me is designed to grow with a business — from a handful of drivers to enterprise fleets. It handles mixed fleets, multi-depot routing, and cross-facility optimization that Upper can't touch.

Route4Me disadvantages

Pricing is genuinely opaque. Route4Me's pricing page lists four plans — Route Optimization, Business Optimization, Commercial Truck Route Optimization, and Commercial Truck Business Optimization — but shows no prices. All plans require contacting sales. This makes it almost impossible to budget without speaking to their team, and the module-based add-on model means costs can escalate significantly.

Reviewers consistently flag that costs have increased over time and that smaller companies find it expensive.

It's also significantly more complex than Upper. Route4Me automatically optimizes routes to use the minimum number of vehicles, and this setting can't be overridden — meaning one driver could sit idle while another works overtime. For a small business running its own fleet, that's a real problem. Add the learning curve and the lack of transparent pricing, and Route4Me is a tough sell for anyone coming from Upper.

The bottom line on Route4Me: it's a better fit for mid-market and enterprise operations than for the small businesses Upper primarily targets. If you're running three to five drivers and want something straightforward, it's probably not the right tool.

When Upper might work for you

Upper could be suitable for:

• Small service businesses with simple routing needs (3–5 drivers maximum)
• Businesses with predictable, shorter routes (under 15–20 stops per route)
• Companies already using basic routing who want a modest upgrade

When to choose an alternative to Upper

Consider other options if you need:

• Teams with 1–2 drivers (Upper requires a 3-driver minimum)
• Customer notifications and proof of delivery in your base plan
• High-quality route optimization for complex or longer routes
• Intuitive interface design that drivers can learn quickly
• Advanced analytics and reporting capabilities

The bottom line

Upper Route Planner is a decent route optimization tool, but it's hard to recommend when it has competitors that have more features, are easier to use, AND cost less.

The forced 3-driver minimum pricing, missing features in the base plan, and user complaints about optimization quality make it a questionable choice for most delivery businesses.

For small to medium operations, Routific offers better value with superior optimization and more inclusive feature sets. For teams prioritizing ease of use, Spoke Dispatch provides a more intuitive experience. And for larger operations, Onfleet delivers enterprise-grade capabilities.

If you're considering Upper, take advantage of the 7-day free trial — but also test alternatives like Routific's free tier to compare optimization quality and ease of use before making a decision.