Best 6 Courier Software to Try in 2024

When it comes to finding the best courier software for your business in 2024, the variety of options available can be overwhelming. As the logistics industry evolves, using advanced software solutions has become crucial for optimizing operations and staying ahead of the competition.

In this article, I’ll introduce you to 6 of the top courier software options you should consider trying this year. Each offers unique features designed to streamline your delivery processes and improve overall efficiency.

Factors to Consider while Choosing a Courier Software

When choosing a courier software, several key factors should be considered to ensure it meets your business needs effectively. Here are the main factors to keep in mind:

Factor 1: Features and Functionality

When evaluating courier software, the features and functionality it offers are paramount. Essential features such as real-time tracking allow both you and your customers to monitor deliveries in real-time, enhancing transparency and customer satisfaction.

Route optimization ensures that your delivery routes are the most efficient, saving time and fuel costs. Automated dispatch streamlines the process of assigning deliveries to drivers, reducing manual errors and improving efficiency. Proof of delivery, including digital signatures and photos, ensures accountability and reduces disputes.

Factor 2: Integration Capabilities

Seamless integration with your existing systems and tools is crucial for efficient operations. Courier software that integrates with your accounting software, CRM, and inventory management systems helps create a cohesive workflow.

This interoperability ensures that data flows smoothly between different parts of your business, reducing the need for manual data entry and minimizing the risk of errors. It also allows for better coordination between departments, leading to more accurate and timely decision-making.

Integration capabilities are essential for maintaining a unified system that supports your overall business objectives.

Factor 3: Customization

The ability to customize courier software to meet your specific business needs can greatly enhance efficiency and user experience. Customization options allow you to tailor the software to fit your unique workflows and processes, ensuring that it aligns perfectly with how your business operates.

This flexibility can lead to increased productivity, as the software adapts to your needs rather than forcing you to adapt to the software.

What is the Best Courier Software?

The best courier software is:

1. NextBillion.ai
2. Routific
3. OptimoRoute
4. Bringg
5. Track-POD
6. ShipStation

NextBillion.ai

NextBillion.ai offers advanced Courier software capabilities that can easily be integrated into your operation with their highly customizable tech-stack.

 

Who is it for?

NextBillion.ai is suitable for all types of courier service providers whether it is on-demand or batched delivery.

Features

NextBillion.ai offers variety of APIs that can be used for your end-to-end courier service operations along with a Driver App. Let’s look at some of the main features that stands out:

Feature 1: Multi-Stop Route Optimization

NextBillion offers an advanced Route Optimization API that can be used to plan route routes for multiple vehicles and multiple locations simultaneously. The API generates the most efficient path for you by considering your business objectives.

Get Dispatch-Ready Routes with 50+ Constraints

One of the standout features of NextBillion’s Route Optimization API is its ability to handle over 50 constraints, both hard and soft. This means that the system can automatically consider factors such as delivery windows, vehicle capacities, driver shifts, and traffic conditions to produce routes that are both practical and efficient.

 

The ability to handle complex constraints and multiple vehicles makes the software scalable for growing businesses with expanding delivery needs.

Fulfill Ad Hoc Orders with Minimal Re-optimization

In courier services, last-minute orders and service requests are common. NextBillion’s Route Optimization API is designed to handle these ad hoc changes with minimal disruption to existing routes.

New orders can be inserted into ongoing routes, and the system will re-optimize the itinerary with minimal changes, ensuring that deliveries remain timely and efficient.

By generating the most efficient routes and handling ad hoc changes seamlessly, the software reduces time and fuel costs, enhancing overall productivity.

Custom Cost Matrix

The Custom Cost Matrix feature allows users to define the cost of traveling between different locations. This customization is crucial for businesses that need to factor in specific travel costs, such as tolls, fuel prices, or time-based expenses, to generate the most cost-effective routes.

Feature 2:  Dynamic Geofencing

Dynamic geofencing is a feature designed to enhance last-mile delivery efficiency and reliability. By using the Geofencing API, courier software can generate virtual perimeters around store or warehouse locations, known as geofences. These geofences help identify accessible areas within a given time window, enabling precise job assignments and ensuring timely deliveries.

This feature goes beyond basic location-based marketing and fleet tracking. It optimizes delivery time and speed by taking into account various parameters such as vehicle type, historical traffic patterns, real-time traffic conditions, and custom rules set by the business.

For example, a geofence can be adjusted dynamically to reflect changes in traffic or road conditions, ensuring that deliveries are assigned to the most appropriate vehicles and routes.

By integrating dynamic geofencing into courier operations, businesses can meet their last-mile delivery promises more consistently. This results in improved customer satisfaction, better resource allocation and management.

Feature 3: Live Tracking 

Live Tracking is an important feature, offering a robust solution for real-time management and monitoring of various assets, including vehicles, users, and drivers.

The Live Tracking API delivers up-to-the-minute information on the location, status, and activity of these assets, enabling you to maintain oversight of your courier operations.

You can create and manage assets efficiently, ensuring that all vehicles and personnel are accounted for and tracked. You can also search assets within a specific area.

The system also allows for the creation of monitors to track assets continuously. These monitors can be set to provide alerts based on specific asset activities, such as arrival at a location, deviation from a route, or unexpected stops.

NextBillion.ai Pricing

NextBillion.ai provides adaptable pricing options tailored to meet the varying needs of businesses, from startups to large enterprises. Their pricing models are designed to optimize delivery operations effectively and support scalable growth. The options include pricing per API call, per asset, and per task, ensuring flexibility for different operational scales and requirements.

NextBillion.ai offers the following pricing plans:

1. Starter Plan: Small businesses can use the Starter Plan, which comes with the basic tools you need to start managing deliveries. Base APIs, email support, and access to community resources are all part of this plan.

2. Premium Plan: The premium plan offers a comprehensive set of advanced APIs and additional support options. This plan includes support for both trucks and motorcycles, making it suitable for businesses with diverse delivery needs.

3. Enterprise Plan: The Enterprise Plan is geared towards large-scale enterprises with complex delivery operations. This plan encompasses the complete product suite and provides support for all vehicle types, ensuring comprehensive coverage of all logistics needs.

NextBillion.ai Pros and Cons

✅ NextBillion.ai is known for its user-friendly software that your team can quickly adopt

✅ For businesses that require advanced route optimization capabilities, NextBillion.ai excels.

✅ If you value fast and reliable software performance, NextBillion.ai is an excellent choice.

❌ Smaller businesses with limited logistics needs might find the investment in this advanced platform to be disproportionate to their requirements.

❌ For businesses that need support for multiple transportation modes, NextBillion.ai’s starter plan may fall short. It currently supports only car mode.

Book a Demo

Routific

Routific is a comprehensive courier software solution designed to streamline and optimize delivery routes.

Who is it for?

Routific is ideal for small to medium-sized delivery businesses that require efficient route optimization and management. It’s particularly beneficial for companies with dynamic delivery needs, such as those in e-commerce, food delivery, and local logistics, where timely and accurate deliveries are crucial.

Features

Routific offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to enhance delivery efficiency.

Routing: It provides Master Routing for creating default routes for recurring deliveries, ensuring consistency with Default Routes, and Route Assignment to allocate routes to drivers based on availability and capacity.

Scheduling: Routific allows businesses to maintain a Master Schedule for recurring delivery times, set various delivery Constraints such as time windows and vehicle capacities, and make Adjustments in real-time as needed. It also provides ETA notifications to customers, ensuring they are informed about their delivery times.

Optimization: Routific’s optimization capabilities include the ability to set Priorities for deliveries based on urgency or customer importance, real-time optimization to adjust routes as conditions change, and dynamic routing to respond to traffic or last-minute orders seamlessly.

Analytics: Routific excels by tracking overall performance metrics, monitoring time & costs associated with routes, and analyzing productivity to gauge driver efficiency. These features collectively enable businesses to optimize their delivery operations and enhance customer satisfaction.

Pricing

Routific offers the following pricing plans:

• Essentials Plan: $39 per vehicle per month, includes all necessary tools for creating and dispatching optimized routes.
• Professional Plan: $59 per vehicle per month, adds proof of delivery and delivery status tracking.
• Customer Notifications Add-on: $19 per vehicle per month for SMS or email notifications.

Routific also offers a 7-day free trial for up to 20 vehicles, allowing businesses to test the software without any commitment.

Pros and Cons

✅ The user-friendly interface makes it easy to navigate and operate.

✅ Comprehensive tools for managing delivery operations.

✅ Efficiently handles and processes delivery data.

❌ Some users experience routing inaccuracies.

❌ Optimization speed can be slow at times.

❌ Limitations on data downloads.

OptimoRoute

OptimoRoute stands out as a comprehensive and flexible solution for businesses looking to optimize their delivery routes and improve operational efficiency. Its wide range of features, coupled with scalable pricing plans, make it a strong contender in the courier software market.

Who is it for?

OptimoRoute is particularly suited for those looking to streamline their delivery processes, manage large volumes of orders, and provide real-time updates to customers and drivers.

Features

OptimoRoute offers an extensive array of features to support efficient delivery management, like:

Routing: OptimoRoute provides robust routing features, including Master Routing, which allows businesses to create default routes for recurring deliveries.

Scheduling: The scheduling capabilities of OptimoRoute are designed to enhance delivery efficiency. With the Master Schedule feature, businesses can maintain a master schedule for recurring delivery times, ensuring that deliveries are always on track.

Analytics: OptimoRoute’s analytics features provide valuable insights into delivery operations. The Performance tracking feature allows businesses to monitor overall delivery performance metrics, ensuring that standards are met.

Pricing

OptimoRoute has three pricing editions to accommodate different business needs, with a free trial available to help you decide which plan best suits your requirements:

• Lite: $35.10 per driver per month. Plan up to 700 orders at once, use the mobile app for drivers, access route history, and export to Excel, Garmin, and more.
• Pro: $44.10 per driver per month. Plan up to 1000 orders at once, with all the features of the Lite plan plus additional capabilities.
• Custom: Contact OptimoRoute for pricing. Plan thousands of orders at once with customized features to meet your specific needs.

Pros and Cons

✅ The interface is user-friendly, making it easy to navigate and operate.

✅ Comprehensive set of features that cover all aspects of route planning and optimization.

✅ Provides a complete solution for managing delivery operations.

❌ Some users report challenges during the initial setup.

❌ The interface can be complex for new users.

❌ Occasional connectivity problems have been noted.

❌ Some users have experienced issues with data management.

Bringg

Bringg is a leading logistics software platform designed to streamline and optimize the end-to-end delivery process for businesses. With a global presence and an extensive carrier network, Bringg supports a wide range of delivery needs, from standard deliveries to on-demand services.

Who is it for?

Bringg is ideal for large enterprises with complex logistics operations spread across multiple locations. It is particularly well-suited for businesses that require robust supply chain management, extensive third-party carrier integrations, and seamless integration with Salesforce.

Features

Bringg offers a robust solution for companies with intricate logistics operations. Its end-to-end supply chain management capabilities allow businesses to seamlessly manage everything from warehousing to final delivery. Additionally, Bringg supports reverse logistics, enabling companies to handle returns and exchanges efficiently.

Bringg’s Delivery Hub product boasts partnerships with over 250 carriers, including major names like FedEx, Uber, DHL, UPS, Aramex, DoorDash, and Deliveroo. This extensive network allows businesses to leverage a wide range of delivery options and ensures a broad geographical reach.

Pricing

Bringg does not publicly disclose its pricing information. Businesses need to contact Bringg directly for detailed pricing and to understand the costs associated with its services. This approach allows Bringg to offer customized pricing based on specific business needs and requirements.

Pros and Cons

✅ Seamlessly connects order management with delivery management for organizations already committed to Salesforce.

✅ Partnerships with over 250 carriers provide a wide range of delivery options and global reach.

✅ Supports both in-house deliveries and outsourced 3PL, covering standard last-mile delivery and on-demand services.

❌ The broad scope and complexity of Bringg’s features require extensive training and may need external consultant support for implementation.

❌ Custom pricing lacks public information, and feedback indicates it can be expensive.

❌ Bringg’s route optimization capabilities are not as strong as some competitors, potentially undermining efficiency gains.

Track-POD

Track-POD is a versatile courier software designed to optimize delivery operations with a strong focus on real-time tracking and proof of delivery.

Who is it for?

Track-POD is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses as well as larger enterprises that require efficient delivery management. It is particularly beneficial for companies needing robust routing, real-time tracking, and comprehensive dispatching features.

Features

Track-POD offers an extensive array of features to support efficient delivery management:

Scheduling: The scheduling features in Track-POD are robust and flexible. Adjustments allow for real-time modifications to schedules, ensuring that any changes in delivery requirements or unforeseen circumstances can be accommodated smoothly.

Analytics: Track-POD provides powerful analytics tools to help businesses monitor and improve their delivery operations. Performance tracking offers insights into overall delivery performance metrics, helping identify areas for improvement. Productivity analysis allows businesses to evaluate driver productivity and efficiency.

Driver Tools: Track-POD offers comprehensive tools for drivers. Proof of Delivery captures electronic proof of delivery, ensuring accuracy and accountability. Onboarding features facilitate easy integration of new drivers into the system, reducing training time and improving operational efficiency.

Pricing

Track-POD offers flexible licensing options with the ability to pay per driver or per order and switch anytime. Businesses can choose between month-to-month or annual payments, with an annual discount of 17%. Here’s a breakdown of the pricing plans:

Standard: $35.00 per driver/vehicle per month. Includes 3K jobs, 3 web users, proof of delivery, cash on delivery, and live tracking for customers.

Advanced: $59.00 per driver/vehicle per month. Includes 6K jobs, 7 web users, load check, vehicle safety check, proof of delivery, and ETA live updates.

Advanced+: $79.00 per driver/vehicle per month. Includes unlimited jobs, 15 web users, Route Manager app for Android, live tracking page with updated ETA, proof of delivery, and updated route start time.

Enterprise: Contact Track-POD for pricing. Includes unlimited jobs, unlimited web users, and unlimited analytics.

Pros and Cons

✅ User-friendly interface simplifies delivery management.

✅ Real-time tracking enhances visibility and transparency.

✅ Comprehensive tools for managing delivery operations.

❌ Some users report occasional technical problems.

❌ Occasional connectivity problems can disrupt operations.

❌ Mapping inaccuracies can affect routing efficiency.

ShipStation

ShipStation is a comprehensive shipping software designed to simplify and streamline the order fulfillment process for e-commerce businesses.

Who is it for?

ShipStation is ideal for e-commerce businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises. It caters to companies that require a robust solution for managing shipping labels, tracking orders, and integrating with multiple e-commerce platforms.

Features

ShipStation offers a wide array of features designed to streamline shipping and enhance order management processes:

Labels: ShipStation simplifies label management with tools to efficiently print shipping labels, generate return labels for customer convenience, and utilize barcodes for streamlined tracking and inventory management.

Order Management: Businesses can track orders from dispatch to delivery using ShipStation’s order tracking capabilities. The platform integrates smoothly with various e-commerce platforms, allowing businesses to consolidate and manage orders from multiple selling channels effectively.

Carrier and Rate Management: ShipStation facilitates quick rate comparison across different carriers, ensuring businesses can choose the most cost-effective shipping options. Users can check carrier availability and service options, and access flat rate shipping services for economical shipping solutions.

Inventory Management: With ShipStation, businesses can stay on top of inventory levels effortlessly. Low stock alerts notify users when inventory levels are running low, while automated inventory orders help automate replenishment processes to avoid stockouts.

Reports: ShipStation provides powerful reporting tools to monitor shipping and inventory performance. Users can generate detailed shipment reports to analyze delivery metrics and optimize processes. Inventory reports enable businesses to track inventory levels and movements accurately, while the ability to manage unshipped products ensures timely fulfillment and customer satisfaction.

Pricing

ShipStation offers six pricing plans to cater to different business needs. Each plan includes a range of features and supports a varying number of shipments and users:

• Starter: $9.99 per month for 50 shipments. Includes all selling channels, 1 user, and branded shipping labels and packing slips.
• Bronze: $29.99 per month for 500 shipments. Includes all selling channels, 1 user, and branded shipping labels and packing slips.
• Silver: $59.99 per month for 1,000 shipments. Includes all selling channels, 2 users, and branded shipping labels and packing slips.
• Gold: $99.99 per month for 2,000 shipments. Includes all selling channels, 3 users, and branded shipping labels and packing slips.
• Platinum: $149.99 per month for 5,000 shipments. Includes all selling channels, 5 users, and branded shipping labels and packing slips.
• Enterprise: $229.99 per month for 7,500 shipments. Includes all selling channels, 10 users, and branded shipping labels and packing slips.

A free trial of ShipStation is also available, allowing businesses to test its features before committing to a plan.

Pros and Cons

✅ Seamlessly integrates with a wide range of e-commerce platforms.

✅ Comprehensive tools for managing shipping processes.

✅ Facilitates easy integration with other software and platforms.

❌ Some users report occasional technical problems.

❌ Limitations on shipping options can be restrictive.

❌ Customer support can be lacking at times.

Integrate Advanced Route Optimization in Courier Logistics with NextBillion.ai

When selecting the best courier software from the above-listed options, it’s crucial to align your choice with your business’s specific requirements and priorities.

While some software excels in certain areas, NextBillion.ai emerges as the best choice for its adaptability and cost-effectiveness in addressing a wide range of logistical challenges.

By evaluating your operational goals and growth strategies for 2024, you can confidently choose NextBillion.ai to streamline your courier logistics, optimize efficiency, and drive sustainable business success.