5 Waze Route Planner Alternatives for Every Need

Waze is one of the most popular navigation apps on the planet. Known and loved for its crowd-sourced live map and sense of fun, Waze has over 140 million users who help contribute to its real-time data and notifications. 

But can you use Waze to plan a multi-stop route? It could be a delivery route, a road trip, or a holiday food parcel drop-off for families in need. Can Waze get the job done?

The answer: No. Waze route planner isn’t a thing.

The good news? Other options offer free, easy route planning — and you can still use Waze for your driving directions!

💡 If you need a powerful route planner that can handle multiple routes with more than 10 stops, check out Routific. You get simple web-based route planning, powerful delivery management, and Waze built in as a navigation option.

Can you do multi-stop route planning with Waze? Yes and no — but mostly no

People love Waze as a basic navigation app for turn-by-turn directions. So if you just need to get from point A to B, using Waze makes sense. 

The Waze app:

• Delivers real-time traffic updates
• Has alerts on road closures and road conditions
• Offers live re-routing when conditions change
• Helps you find the best route to your destination
• Has a user-friendly interface and fun icons for Wazers

But there’s one thing the app fails at — helping you plan multiple stops.

Sure, you can add one stop, but that’s it. Let’s say I want to visit Vancouver from my home in the US for some of the world-famous cinnamon buns at Grounds for Coffee. But it’s a long drive, so I’ll need some coffee to wake me up before I arrive. I can add a coffee stop, no problem — but that’s it!

Have a look at these screenshots. You can see that Waze gives me the option to add one stop (it will even help me find parking lots). But once I’ve added that one stop, there are no more:

So while I appreciate real-time traffic data just as much as anyone else, Waze just doesn’t cut it as a true route planner app. When it comes to long trip planning, you need a better solution.

Delivery drivers, road trip warriors, and adventurers need a more robust and reliable solution. Fortunately, there are several route planner apps that will easily plan a multi-stop route. Many of them even sync with Waze, so you can plan your route and still use your favorite navigation app. 

So, what’s the best multi-stop route planner? Top 5 Waze alternatives to try

The best route planner is one that’s easy to use and practical, whatever you need it for. 

• For everyday use and short routes, Google Maps and Apple Maps are good choices. 
• For Google Maps lovers who want longer routes, the Routific Chrome extension offers route optimization up to 25 stops.
• For planning longer routes like delivery rounds, solutions like MyRouteOnline and Routific have the features you need to create an efficient route and save time.

Let’s explore each option and its pros and cons.

1. Google Maps: Free, available everywhere, limited to 10 stops

Pros

• Super easy to add stops and change their order.
• Get live traffic updates and alerts for speed cameras while en route.
• See your ETA in real-time.

Cons

• No option to optimize your route.

For planning road trips, running errands, or exploring new places, Google Maps is a great alternative for Waze users. Just enter your start and end points to get started. Then with the tap of a button, you can add as many stops as you want to your route. Tap and hold the two-line icon ＝next to a stop, then drag it up or down to change the order of your route.

Google Maps also makes it easy to:

• Find gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and other stops along your route.
• Choose the most fuel-efficient route for your journey.
• Download maps for offline use in remote areas.
• Save locations for future visits.
• Share your location with others.
• Connect with Android Auto for streamlined navigation.

Google Maps is available on both Android and Apple, so this is a Waze alternative that everyone can use.

Technically, you can also use this app as a route planner for deliveries, although it’s not a robust solution. 

If you love Google Maps but need to plan routes longer than the 10-stop limit, Routific’s Chrome extension for Google Maps is a good option. Let’s look at that next.

2. Routific Chrome Extension for Google Maps: Free, up to 25 stops

Pros

• 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.
• Get all the benefits of Google Maps, like live traffic routing and accurate arrival times.

Cons

• 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.

Routific’s Chrome extension for Google Maps fills the route planning gaps in the basic Google Maps app, and with a bit of work can handle up to 25 stops.

To get the most out of it, do your planning ahead of time in a desktop Chrome browser. Then save the link to your optimized route so you can access it from your iPhone or Android phone later.

3. Apple Maps: Free, Apple devices only, limited to 10 stops

Pros

• Add multiple stops with the tap of a button.
• Hold and drag stops to customize your route.
• Search for nearby attractions or business names for easy route planning.

Cons

• Only available on Apple devices.

In many ways, Apple Maps is just as capable as Google Maps, but it loses some points for its limited availability. Naturally, Apple Maps is only available on iOS devices.

And with the launch of iOS 16, iPhone users can finally add up to ten stops to a single trip. 

Along with the option to add multiple stops, Apple Maps also has:

• Traffic data — although it’s not as detailed as Waze.
• The option to save spots to your Places Library.
• The ability to share your live ETA with friends and family.

If you’re using Apple Maps to plan an adventure or road trip, you can even use the app to discover hikes in national parks and create custom walking routes. 

For everyday use, Apple Maps is an excellent alternative to Waze if you need to make multiple stops. And if you connect your phone to Carplay, you can even use the app to find your parked car. 

4. My Route Online: Basic route optimization, one vehicle only

Pros

• Compatible with any browser or smartphone.
• Option to import your address list.
• Routes are optimized with the tap of a button.
• Syncs with Waze for easy navigation.

Cons

• No option for navigation inside the app. 
• The interface is a little old-fashioned.
• You have to create an account to make a route with more than 6 stops.
• With an account, you get up to 20 stops — but only once. If you want to add a few stops or plan one more route, you will need to buy credits at a cost of $24 for 50 stops.

MyRouteOnline doesn’t offer GPS navigation, nor does it provide driving directions. But it can help you find the fastest route for your multi-stop trip or delivery route. In fact, My Route Online was designed with delivery drivers and businesses in mind.

To build your route, you can enter addresses manually or import them from Excel (up to 1,000 addresses at a time). You can choose to optimize your route by distance or time, to help you find the shortest or fastest route. Alternatively, you can plan routes based on the order in which you entered the addresses.

The platform allows you to track deliveries and even get live updates on completed stops.

The only catch? You’ll need to export your route to a GPS or a navigation app on your mobile device. You can also only plan one route a time, so if you’re planning for more than one vehicle it’s much less useful.

My Route Online is compatible with Waze map, so drivers can enjoy all of the benefits it has to offer, like updates on traffic conditions and road hazards.

On a side note, I found this app’s interface to be a little archaic and, at times, cumbersome to navigate. 

5. Routific: Top-notch optimized routes and delivery management for growing businesses

Pros

• Optimize routes based on traffic, driver preferences, or other factors.
• Desktop route planner with timeline makes it easy to manage multiple routes.
• Dispatch routes to the driver app and use Waze, Google Maps, or Apple Maps for turn-by-turn directions.
• Import stops via Excel or API.
• Drag-and-drop adjustment to customize routes.
• Includes delivery management features like proof of delivery (POD), live tracking, and customer notifications. 

Cons

• Routes must be planned on desktop and then sent to mobile. 

Routific is a user-friendly, powerful route optimization solution for delivery drivers and businesses, sales teams, and local service providers. Our goal? To help businesses slash their delivery costs by 25% while creating routes that drivers love. 

Just import your addresses, and we’ll take care of the rest. We’ll optimize your routes based on traffic data, driver preferences, or other factors.

Want to change things up? No problem. Click-and-drag stops to make adjustments or even add last-minute stops.

When you’re ready to go, you can dispatch routes to our driver app and use Waze, Apple Maps, or Google Maps to navigate. 

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a Waze route planner alternative, these five apps will help you get from point A to point B — and C and D — with ease. Planning a multi-stop route doesn’t have to be complicated. For delivery businesses, Routific is an obvious choice for route optimization and everything else. For everyday users, Google Maps or Apple Maps will more than suffice.