Routific Reviews: Is It Any Good? Expert Analysis

Routific is a popular delivery management software with an intelligent route optimization feature and great customer support. However, its cost structure could be better.

The question is, will it cut the time your drivers spend on the road (and cut your operation costs in turn)? In this article, we look into the experiences of real customers to find out.

Article contents:

• What is Routific? Routific’s Key Features
• Routific Reviews - We Analyze What Users Think
• Routific Reviews - Pros
• Routific Reviews - Cons
• Do Drivers Like Using Routific?
• Routific Pricing
• The Best Routific Alternative 👋

What is Routific? Routific’s Core Features

Getting packages delivered on the first attempt, reducing failed deliveries, and keeping customers happy are all top priorities.

If your delivery management software doesn’t support that, then what’s the point?

Routific does thanks to these core features:

1. Automated workflows—All you need to do is upload your delivery sheet or use Routific’s API integration to create routes based on customer orders.
2. Route optimization—Routific’s algorithm uniquely analyzes driver happiness, traffic patterns, and business priorities so that the routes are fast, easy to follow, and never overlap another driver’s route. It even has an API you can download and build into your own delivery management software.
3. Customer notifications—Routific keeps customers in the know with tracking links that show the location of their package, its estimated time of arrival, time of delivery, and where it’s been left (with photos to prove delivery) if they’re not home.
4. Dispatcher control—With Routific your dispatchers can be as hands on or hands off as they want to be. After uploading delivery spreadsheets or syncing your systems, they can alter routes, add in last-minute stops, add helpful details, and re-assign drivers.
5. Driver tracking—Your driver routes will be sent straight to their phones where they can connect them to Google Maps, Waze, or Apple Maps. Then you can track their progress and get in touch if something’s gone wrong. 

But there’s more to a great delivery management software than the basics and your drivers matter too.

Routific might be generally feature-rich but it lacks specific features that support driver experience and driver efficiency. For example, if a driver comes up against a roadblock or simply knows a better way, they can’t manually alter the route they’ve been given. 

And when a dispatcher adds a new stop into a route that’s underway, the entire thing re-optimizes. This may sound beneficial, but in reality, it causes confusion for drivers.

Source: Capterra

You also can’t ‘close the border’ between the US and Canada, meaning an optimized route may take your driver out of the country. 

Source: Capterra

Call us crazy but we think your drivers should be able to complete their routes without worrying if they have their passport. 

Routific is also on the expensive side with plans starting at $49 per vehicle, per month. 

That’s fine if you have a small operation with limited deliveries but the second you scale your operation those costs quickly add up.

Source: GetApp

There are other delivery management tools that scale more affordably and offer similar features. Circuit for Teams, for one.

Let’s see how the two stack up:

While Routific has a deep feature list, it doesn’t quite warrant the cost. 

We think Circuit is the best Routific alternative, giving you the same must-have features while taking better care of your drivers’ needs. (Yes, they can edit their routes from the app!).

Here’s what our users say about Circuit in Capterra and GetApp reviews:

• “It's a great inexpensive app which is easy to use, constantly being improved and is very well supported by their customer service team.”

• “This product has an excellent User Interface that is both friendly and intuitive”

• “The most impactful thing about Circuit is really the efficiency it has brought to our company overall. From communication between dispatchers and customers, to the effectiveness of the drivers, to the massively reduced training time of new employees, Circuit has made unbelievable changes to our overall performance.”

Try our 7-day free trial to see how Circuit for Teams can take your delivery management to the next level today.

Routific Reviews - We Analyze What Users Think

Still unsure if Routific is right for you? Here’s what their users had to say.

Is Routific Good for Route Optimization?

Efficient route optimization that reduces headaches and delivery costs is the most essential part of any delivery management software—and Routific has some mixed reviews.

Let’s take a look at an overview:

They claim that their software is better than others because it: 

1. Predicts traffic patterns.
2. Avoids ‘spaghetti routes’ where drivers' routes overlap each other.
3. And considers zone familiarity when assigning and optimizing different routes for drivers.

Real user reviews from G2 say the following:

• “Not the smartest when routing for clustered stops or by driver's end address, it often sends multiple drivers to the same street/building.”
• “Every time I move the order of a stop appears a message "re-optimizing," and if there are many changes to make those few seconds of that message accumulate and waste time”
• “It's harder to automatically optimize the route, because we have to take into account the number of items that fit in our van. This is not an easy thing to automize via the Routific.”

So, while Routific generally works well to optimize most routes, there are improvements to be made with re-optimization and driver efficiency. 

We can only imagine how frustrating it would be for a driver to run into another driver at the same location when they could have had fewer stops and ended the shift sooner. 

If you’re paying your drivers by time on the road or by number of stops this is a missed opportunity to cut costs.

Routific Reviews - Pros

Let’s look at two things Routific does well time and time again.

First, it’s easy to use. 

Routific’s interface is easy to navigate and the steps are so simple to follow that even those who struggle with tech can use it.

Dispatchers spend minimal time planning routes because all they need to do is upload a spreadsheet or integrate the Routific API with their e-commerce platform. 

The platform then optimizes the routes, sends them to drivers with the click of a button, and lets you track driver progress from your dispatcher dashboard.

Here’s what two Routific users had to say on Capterra:

Second, Routific has great customer support.

Software can become insufferable if you don’t have the support you need to use it. That’s not the case with Routific. 

Users regularly praise their responsiveness to problems, generous support, and willingness to go above and beyond. 

This type of support goes a long way when you have a delivery crisis or the app crashes on a day where hundreds if not thousands of deliveries are due to go out. 

Check out what this user said in their GetApp review:

Or how about this snippet from a rave review on G2:

If great customer service is what you want, great customer service is what you’ll get with Routific.

Routific Reviews - Cons

We’ve highlighted earlier some issues with its route optimization and its high price point. Now we’ll look at other ways it struggles to win customer loyalty.

First, customer text notifications are inconsistently branded.

Routific users struggle to send branded text notifications to customers in different states because of varying regulatory processes. This is easily avoided by other delivery management software (like Circuit) so we’re not sure why Routific hasn’t adopted more sophisticated customer notifications. 

You can see Circuit in action → here. 

But with Routific, some customers receive texts that look more like spam than a reputable update from the company they’ve ordered from:

Source: Capterra

Customers may ignore the delivery notification and not be in to receive their package. Depending on their preferences, your drivers may have to return another day, costing you time and money.

This could also negatively affect the customer experience and damage your business’s reputation.

Second, the ‘optimization’ of routes isn’t always…well, optimal. 

We briefly mentioned the review from G2 that said: “Not the smartest when routing for clustered stops or by driver's end address, it often sends multiple drivers to the same street/building.”

Beyond that, users experience inaccurate traffic adjustments which delays their delivery schedule and requires they manually adjust the route.

And the map for the route will take drivers down random small roads that, rather than cutting time, add inconvenience:

Finally, dispatchers want a better way to manage and track driver routes.

The Routific dashboard works well on a computer screen but dispatchers want the flexibility of assigning, editing, tracking, and updating routes from their phones or tablets. 

Look at these Capterra reviews from two Routific users:

It's no wonder some dispatchers want fast and easy access to the routes they oversee. Imagine getting a call from a disgruntled customer wondering where their package is while you’re away from the office? 

However, this issue only impacts dispatchers that don’t have a laptop and a mobile phone to tether to while on the road. If you’re usually stuck to your desk in the warehouse or at home, this won’t impact you.

Do All Users Like Routific? What Drivers Really Think

If your drivers hate using your delivery management software, they’ll hate delivering for your company. And driver turnover can become a logistical nightmare fast. 

Luckily, this shouldn’t be an issue with Routific.

Drivers get easy-to-follow routes that work with their favorite navigation apps (Waze, Apple, and Google Maps), can collect customer signatures to protect the company against disputes, and upload multiple pictures to prove delivery.

This is what a customer had to say on the Routific website:

And on Capterra, this user shared how effortless the app is for their drivers:

But that doesn’t mean Routific is the best app for drivers. 

At Circuit we’ve built two products in one—one for the drivers and one for the dispatchers. This guarantees both roles have the features they need to carry out their job such as when drivers need to edit their routes or a dispatcher needs to track driver locations.

🤔Curious? Learn more about Circuit for Teams.

Routific Pricing

Routific offers three pricing tiers:

• Essential at $49 per vehicle/month
• Professional  at $69 per vehicle/month
• Professional +  at $93 per vehicle/month

These prices do drop if you sign up for an annual plan. 

Essential becomes $39 per vehicle/month. Professional becomes $59 per vehicle/month. And Professional+ goes to $78 per vehicle/month. 

All three plans include route optimization features and a driver app. Unfortunately, the Essential plan lacks proof of delivery functionality leaving your company susceptible to disputes. 

We’d argue that’s a pretty ‘essential’ feature for a business of any size. Not to mention dispatchers using Routific can only track driver progress if they sign up to a Professional plan. 

Routific customers agree:

Source: Capterra

No wonder one of the biggest user complaints was price.

👋 Meet Circuit | A More Scalable and Reliable Delivery Management Software

Circuit is a delivery management software that scales affordably to the size of your driver fleet while helping you operate efficiently.

Here are the areas we shine most:

1. Operational Support

We know that the needs of your business change based on the number of deliveries you need to complete and the size of your operation. 

But we also know small operations don’t want to skimp on features for the sake of their budget. 

So while Routific withholds proof of delivery, driver tracking, and customer notifications from its most affordable package, we give these essential features to everybody.

Here’s how we deliver big on our promise to simplify delivery route planning and increase efficiency no matter your size:

• Accurate and optimized routes created at the click of a button. Dispatchers can adjust routes based on changes in data.
• Real-time driver tracking lets you monitor your drivers’ progress and see delivery statuses.

• Flexible proof of delivery and customer notifications lets you capture e-signatures and photos at each stop. We even make it possible to prove packages were picked up from the depot to begin with.

• An advanced analytics dashboard that shows you where time and cost savings can be made while maintaining a team of high-performing and happy drivers.
• A two-way API that lets you add stops automatically in real-time from your existing systems, eliminating manual entry and spreadsheet uploads
• A multi-depot management feature which makes it easy to assign drivers and routes to specific depots.

We also listen closely to customer feedback, and continuously release new features you’ve asked for. Visit this page to browse through the nuances of our new features.

And check out what Tim S., who works in the food and beverage sector, had to say about our ability to improve the product to meet customer needs:

Source: GetApp

2. Pricing That Scales With You

Our pricing model guarantees your growth won’t break the bank.

For example, if you needed to add a further 500 stops to your Starter plan, it would only cost an extra $20 a month. 

That’s an added cost you’ll make up in no time according to Jordan, a delivery manager in the US who wrote that “The cost of Circuit is only a fraction of the total savings we are getting by using the software.”—Source: Capterra

And you only pay for the stops you make. If you have 10 vehicles, but you think you’ll only make 1000 stops this month, you only need to pay $120 for the month. 

Compare that to Routific which is priced per vehicle. With Circuit, you’ll get a lot more flexibility.

You can head to our pricing page to see exactly what features come with each package and how the number of deliveries you need to make affects the price. 

3. Reliable Route Optimization

Circuit’s route optimization feature is reliable and consistent for dispatchers and drivers. 

They don’t need to worry about glitches, crashes, or poor route planning delaying their delivery process or ruining the experience of their customers.

Carlos, an operational manager based in Chile, wrote in his Capterra review: “In all the time I have been using it it has never failed me and the times that the application has crashed it has lasted minutes out of service which speaks very well of the response time of its workers to put it back on.”

Nina shared a similar experience: “When you are out on the road its operation is seamless. Works great with Google Maps. Reliable and easy to use for the most part. Has saved me so much time this past year.”

Circuit for Teams route optimization feature gives you flexibility and control unmatched by other delivery management software. 

• If a driver doesn’t turn up, you can quickly reassign the route to another. 
• If an order comes in you need to get out ASAP, you can manually add it in even after a route has started. 
• If you want a driver to prove they’ve picked up a package from the depot you can have them upload a photo to their app
• If a driver needs to manually reorder stops on the go (say to avoid traffic following an accident) without having to ask a dispatcher to do it for them

And you can set and save delivery zones that the software then uses to organize and allocate stops, routes, and drivers.

It all leads to more efficient deliveries that save you time and money. Your customers and drivers will love it too. 

→ Sign up for a free trial and take Circuit for Teams for a test drive today. ←

More Routific Comparisons

• Routific vs. Onfleet vs. Circuit: What Are The Differences? 
• Routific vs. Circuit for Teams: What to Know