Line these up and one app stands alone: Bodha Drive is the only one that does all six. The tell is the uncommon features. Van loading is rare (only Bodha, Circuit, and Route4Me have it), curbside is rare (Bodha, MyWay, Route4Me), and a real undo is rarest of all (just Bodha and OptimoRoute), and Bodha is the only name that shows up in all three of those lists. Circuit comes closest overall but has no offline mode, no undo, and photo-only proof. Route4Me matches Bodha on van loading, curbside, and offline, but drops voice and map stop entry and has no undo. Everyone else does two or three of the six well and leaves visible gaps.

Now the detail, best first.

1. Bodha Drive: the most generous free tier

Bodha Drive is the free driver app, and its number is the one to beat in this whole list: 20 free stops per route. Every other genuinely free tier here gives you less, Circuit stops at 10, RoadWarrior at 8, Zeo and MyWay around 15, so for a driver who wants real optimization without paying, Bodha simply hands you more road before the paywall. You get proper multi-stop optimization and turn-by-turn navigation on both iOS and Android, and you can follow an optimized route even when the signal drops.

On features it’s the most complete driver app here, and most of it is free. You add stops by scanning a paper list with the camera, by voice, or by tapping the map; it plans a smart van-loading sequence so you know what order to load parcels; it navigates turn-by-turn or opens any stop in Google Maps, Waze, or Apple Maps; it works fully offline; and a one-tap undo fixes a stop you marked by mistake. The $14.99 plan adds one-tap re-optimize mid-route and proof of delivery with a GPS-tagged photo, an on-screen signature, and an automatic timestamp. That is the entire checklist above, from a single app.

It’s also the honest answer to “why pay at all.” A solo driver doing 20 or fewer stops a run may never need anything else, and if your runs regularly top 20, the paid app plan is $14.99 a month for unlimited stops, still under Circuit’s $20 Standard tier. And when you grow into a team, Bodha is the one app here that scales into a full product without making you switch: proof of delivery, customer SMS and tracking, and dispatch live in Bodha Fleet at a flat $29.99 per driver, bundled rather than sold as the per-feature add-ons several rivals here charge for. For most drivers reading this, though, the story is simpler: it’s the free route planner app with the highest free ceiling. Get it from the Bodha Drive app page.

2. Circuit (now Spoke): the polished solo favourite

Circuit, now branded Spoke, is the app most drivers name first, and the store scores back it up: 4.7 on Google Play across roughly 184,000 reviews and 4.7 on the App Store. That review count is an order of magnitude above anyone else here, which tells you how many working drivers rely on it. The app is genuinely slick, with fast stop entry by voice or camera and a clean navigation handoff, and it can navigate a loaded route offline even though optimizing a new one needs signal.

On features it’s strong for a solo driver: all three stop-entry methods (camera scan, voice, and map tap) and a Package Finder that tells you which parcel to grab at each stop. The gaps are proof of delivery (photo and notes only, no signature on the solo app), no offline mode, and no undo, and any customer notifications need the separate Spoke Dispatch product. The free plan caps at 10 stops, and unlimited stops cost $20 a month on the Standard plan. For a solo driver who wants the most polished experience and will pay $20, it’s the app to beat on quality.

3. Zeo Route Planner: built for high-volume gig drivers

Zeo is the workhorse for drivers doing serious daily volume, and it’s well reviewed for it: 4.7 on Google Play across about 35,000 reviews, with a lower but solid 4.5 on the App Store. Drivers can keep working through a route offline once it’s planned, and the free tier gives you around 15 deliveries to try it. The catch is the commercial model: paid plans bill annually rather than monthly, starting around $24 per driver, so it rewards drivers who are committed rather than casual. On features Zeo covers the core well: all three stop-entry methods, full proof of delivery (signature, photo, and barcode), and offline completion. It skips the rarer touches, with no van loading, curbside, or undo.

Choose Zeo if you’re a high-volume gig or courier driver comfortable with an annual plan.

4. MyWay Route Planner: the highest-rated small app

MyWay is the quiet standout on pure ratings: 4.8 on both Google Play and the App Store, the best scores in this list, though on smaller review counts (roughly 1,300 and 2,200). It gives a free Starter plan up to 15 stops, navigates a pre-optimized route offline if you’ve downloaded the maps, and offers a no-card 7-day trial for its paid tiers. The smaller user base is the only real caveat: fewer reviews means a bit less certainty than Circuit’s 184,000. On features MyWay punches above its size: it’s one of the few apps with a road-side (curbside) setting, plus offline mode and proof of delivery with photo and signature. Stop entry is voice and map only though, with no scan, and there’s no van loading or undo.

Choose MyWay if store ratings matter most to you and 15 free stops covers your runs.

5. RoadWarrior: the pro-driver name, now under MapQuest

RoadWarrior has a long history with professional drivers and now sits under the MapQuest umbrella. Its ratings split noticeably by platform: 4.0 on Google Play but a stronger 4.6 on the App Store, which suggests the iOS app is the better of the two. The free Basic plan is the tightest here at 8 stops, and Pro removes the cap. Offline behaviour isn’t documented, so treat it as unverified if dead zones are part of your route. On features it’s lightweight: map and search stop entry, drag-to-reorder, and photo-plus-signature proof of delivery on the Flex plan. There’s no scan or voice entry, no van loading, curbside, or undo, and offline isn’t documented.

Choose RoadWarrior if you’re an iOS driver already in the MapQuest ecosystem.

6. Route4Me: the one that truly works offline

Route4Me is the app to reach for when connectivity is the actual problem. It’s the only one here with a fully documented offline mode: it caches your loaded route and lets you navigate, update stop status, capture proof of delivery, and scan barcodes with no signal, then syncs when you reconnect. Store ratings are strong and consistent, 4.3 on Google Play (about 15,000 reviews) and 4.6 on the App Store. The trade-off is cost and commitment: there’s no permanent free plan, only a trial, and Route4Me is a per-user platform that gets expensive with add-ons. On driver features it’s deep: barcode scan-to-load, curbside routing, full proof of delivery, the most robust offline mode here, and the only genuine built-in voice navigation rather than a handoff. Its gaps are voice and map stop entry and an undo, and it leans on paid add-ons.

Choose Route4Me if your routes genuinely run through dead zones and offline reliability outranks price.

7. Upper Route Planner: strong on iOS, thin on free

Upper is a capable planner with a real platform split in its ratings: 3.5 on Google Play against 4.5 on the App Store, so Android drivers should test carefully before committing. Its bigger limitation for this list is that there’s no permanent free tier at all, just a 7-day trial (generous at 500 stops), so it’s an evaluate-then-pay tool rather than a free option. Offline capability isn’t documented. On features Upper has scan and voice stop entry, a clean “deliver this stop next” override, and full GPS-tagged proof of delivery, but no van loading, curbside, offline, or undo, and several extras are paid add-ons, so the working price climbs fast.

Choose Upper if you’re on iOS and happy to decide inside a trial window.

8. OptimoRoute Driver: a companion, not a standalone app

The OptimoRoute Driver app is the phone companion to the OptimoRoute platform, and its ratings show it isn’t the main event: 3.8 on Google Play and just 3.3 on the App Store, on very small review counts. It’s marketed as low-data and usable where cell service is poor, though full offline operation isn’t clearly confirmed, and it requires an OptimoRoute account, so there’s no standalone free plan for an individual driver. On driver features it’s the only app besides Bodha with a real undo (undo completed stops), plus full proof of delivery and offline use. But stop entry is barcode-for-completion only, with no add-by-scan, voice, or map.

Choose OptimoRoute Driver only if your team already runs OptimoRoute.

9. Google Maps: the free baseline everyone measures against

Google Maps is free, on every phone, and where nearly every driver starts, so it’s the honest baseline. It supports offline maps and gets a 4.7 on the App Store across millions of ratings. But it is not a delivery optimizer: it caps at about 10 manually entered stops and drives them in the order you type them, with no reordering, and none of the driver features either, no van loading, proof of delivery, offline route completion, or undo, just navigation. (Its Google Play rating is widely cited around 3.2 but we couldn’t verify it from the live listing, so treat that figure with caution.)

Use Google Maps as your control group. The moment you’re dragging pins around guessing the shortest loop, a real optimizer, even a free one, will beat it.