Is a route planner app worth it?

Short answer: yes, if you drive more than about ten stops a day to addresses that change. A driver who covers 100 miles a day saves about $42 of gas and 9 hours a month if the route gets just 10% shorter, against $9.99 a month for a paid plan such as MyWay Pro. On gas alone, the app pays for itself once your route gets 2.4% shorter. It isn’t worth paying for if you drive the same loop every day, have only a few stops, or your employer’s app already fixes the order.

How we calculated. Gas: $4.465 a gallon, the US average for regular in the week of 28 September 2026 (U.S. Energy Information Administration). Fuel use: 23.5 mpg. Average speed between stops: 25 mph, the same assumptions as our cost per stop calculator. Month: 22 working days. Value of an hour: $36.38, what an hour of work costs an employer in US transportation and material moving jobs, wages and benefits included (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Q2 2026). We make MyWay Route Planner, so we also list the cases where you don’t need any app.

What a shorter route is worth

The gas column alone covers a $9.99 plan four times over at 100 miles a day and a 10% shorter route. How much shorter your route gets depends on how you plan it today. By our own figures, MyWay makes routes about 30% shorter on average. Drivers who already know their area well will see less than that.

Time is the bigger saving

The hours column is usually worth more than the gas. For a company, an hour of a driver costs wages and benefits whether the truck moves or waits in traffic. For a self-employed driver, an hour saved means one more block, one more batch of deliveries or getting home earlier. A route 10% shorter at 100 miles a day gives back about 24 minutes a day.

When a route planner pays off

• New addresses every day. Parcel, food, pharmacy and lab deliveries, field sales and service calls.
• More than about ten stops. With 10 stops there are already 3.6 million possible orders (why route optimization is so hard).
• Changes during the day. A new pickup or a cancelled stop means a new order, and re-optimizing takes seconds.
• Time windows. Customers who are only home at certain hours make the order harder to work out in your head.

When you don’t need one

• You drive the same route every day. If you already know the best loop, an app adds little.
• You have only a few stops. With five stops there are 120 possible orders, and you will usually find a good one yourself.
• Your company’s app sets the order. If you can’t change the sequence, an app that re-orders stops won’t help, though a map app still helps with navigation.
• Short routes. If your routes stay within 15 stops, MyWay’s free plan already covers them, so you don’t need to pay at all.

Free or paid?

Most route planner apps have a free plan with a stop limit, usually between 5 and 20 stops per route. MyWay gives you 15 stops for free, and Pro takes up to 200 stops per route for $9.99 a month, with a 7-day free trial. Before paying for any app, check what its cheapest plan leaves out: some limit how many times you can optimize a day, delete routes after a week or keep spreadsheet import for the more expensive plan. We list what to check in what to look for in a delivery route planner app, and compare the prices and free plans of 8 apps in route planner apps compared.

Sources

• U.S. Energy Information Administration: weekly US regular gasoline retail price, 28 September 2026.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation: total compensation per hour, transportation and material moving occupations, private industry, Q2 2026.
• MyWay Route Planner plans and trial: pricing.