Introduction
"Free route planner" means four different things: a no-cost consumer app, a capped developer API, an open-source engine, or a time-limited trial. Each comes with different restrictions, and mixing them up is how teams end up with a surprise bill or a stalled prototype.
This guide serves two audiences: people planning occasional multi-stop trips, and teams building delivery, field-service, or fleet software on routing APIs. We compare stops per route, monthly quotas, rate limits, optimization, traffic, vehicle restrictions, matrices, and commercial terms. Limits below reflect official documentation as of October 21, 2026. Confirm them before you build, because free tiers change often.
Key Takeaways
- Free planners map multi-stop trips for users; free APIs feed routing data into software.
- The binding limit is often stops, matrix elements, or commercial terms, not the request quota.
- Routing follows a given order; optimization chooses the order and assigns vehicles.
- Check current official pricing pages before committing to any provider.
Route Planner vs. Routing API vs. Route Optimization API
A route planner is a web or mobile product where you enter stops and get directions. Some reorder stops automatically; Google Maps relies on manual dragging, while MapQuest offers shortest-time or shortest-distance optimization.
A routing API is built for integration. Your application sends coordinates or addresses and gets back geometry, distance, duration, and legs. A matrix API returns durations and distances between many points, without route geometry.
A route optimization API decides stop sequence, assigns work across vehicles, and applies time windows, capacities, breaks, and shifts. TomTom's documentation draws the same distinction: routing preserves a supplied order, while optimization calculates a better one.
Which tool fits your use case:
- Occasional, human-led trips: a free planner
- Embedded directions and ETAs: a routing API
- Delivery, dispatch, field service, multi-vehicle planning: an optimization API
How Free Tiers and Limits Really Work
Free access models
Providers use several models, and they don't reset the same way:
- Monthly per-SKU caps (Google)
- Daily credits (Geoapify: 3,000 credits/day, 5 requests/second, no card)
- Daily endpoint quotas plus per-minute limits (OpenRouteService)
- Time-limited trials (Maptive: 10 days)
- Open-source code that is free to run but needs your infrastructure
Google's March 1, 2025 change replaced its $200 monthly credit with per-SKU free caps, so older guides quoting the credit are out of date. Rollover of unused allowances is unconfirmed across these providers, so check each vendor's terms before assuming credits carry forward.
Stop, waypoint, and matrix limits
For dispatch, matching, and ETA work, matrix and optimization limits usually bite before request quotas do. Metering units differ too:
- Google bills returned matrix elements.
- Mapbox counts sources × destinations.
- HERE uses a dimension-dependent transaction formula.
- Geoapify charges credits by waypoint pair or location count.
So "one request" is rarely one billable event.
Rate, concurrency, and feature restrictions
Rate limits vary widely:
- Google Routes: 3,000 requests/minute
- Mapbox Directions: 300/minute
- OpenRouteService: 40/minute
Traffic-aware options can push Google into higher-priced tiers. Geocoding, tiles, and navigation carry separate allowances, so a routing quota never implies address-to-coordinate access.
Hidden commercial and operational terms
Check these before launch:
- Card requirements: HERE ties its Base free usage to providing a payment method (April 2025 release notes); TomTom and Geoapify require no card.
- Caching: Google Routes permits caching latitude/longitude for 30 consecutive days only. Mapbox temporary geocoding results can't be cached.
- Attribution: Geoapify and OpenRouteService require it.
- SLAs: Geoapify's 99.5% monthly SLA covers paid subscriptions, not the free plan.
A free allowance suits a prototype. Production needs predictable latency, monitoring, uptime commitments, and a fallback provider.
Free Route Planners and Routing APIs Compared
Consumer and small-business route planners
| Planner | Free access | Ordering |
|---|---|---|
| Google Maps | Up to 9 stops including destination | Manual |
| Apple Maps | Up to 14 stops (iPhone) | Manual |
| MapQuest | Up to 26 locations | Shortest time or distance |
| RouteXL | 20 stops free, no account | Automatic |
| Spoke | Free version: 10 stops | Automatic, editable |
| RoadWarrior | Free: 8 stops | Automatic |
| Maptive | 10-day trial, no card | Travel-time optimization |
| Route4Me mobile | 7-day iOS trial; ongoing free tier status unclear | Automatic |
Google, Apple, MapQuest, and RouteXL suit errands, sales visits, and short delivery runs. Maptive and Route4Me limit you by a trial clock rather than a stop cap. HERE WeGo supports added stops, though a published numeric cap is unclear.
NextBillion.ai also offers a free, no-signup Route Planner App for individual drivers and small businesses. It imports stop lists, auto-sequences for shortest total drive time, and exports routes to Google Maps or Waze.
Developer-facing routing APIs
Routing and matrix endpoints
| Provider | Free allowance | Notable limits |
|---|---|---|
| Google Routes | Essentials 10,000/month; Pro 5,000; Enterprise 1,000 (per endpoint) | 25 intermediate waypoints; 625 matrix elements/request |
| Mapbox | Directions 100,000 requests/month; Matrix 100,000 elements | 25 coordinates; 300 requests/minute |
| TomTom | Routing 20,000/month; Matrix 2,500/month | 150 waypoints |
| Geoapify | 3,000 credits/day | Matrix up to 1,000 elements |
| OpenRouteService | Directions 2,000/day; Matrix 500/day | 50 waypoints; 3,500 matrix combinations |
| HERE | Free usage per API; exact caps unclear | Matrix transactions follow a formula |
Optimization endpoints are separate. A free directions quota does not cover them:
- Google Route Optimization: 5,000 single-vehicle and 1,000 fleet shipments free monthly
- Mapbox Optimization v1: 100,000 requests/month, but only 12 coordinates
- Mapbox Optimization v2 (public beta): up to 1,000 locations
- HERE Tour Planning: 250 jobs synchronous, 6,000 asynchronous
- TomTom Waypoint Optimization: 12 waypoints
- Geoapify Route Planner: 300 locations
- OpenRouteService: 500/day, 3 vehicles
Truck routing needs extra scrutiny. Google's large-vehicle routing requires provisioning and covers the contiguous 48 states. HERE warns that missing restriction data means restrictions aren't considered.
Open-source and self-hosted options
| Engine | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| OSRM | BSD 2-Clause | Routing, matrices, heuristic TSP |
| GraphHopper | Apache 2.0 | Hosted matrix/optimization are separate paid offerings |
| Valhalla | MIT | Tiled architecture, regional updates |
| OpenRouteService | GPL 3.0 | Docker self-hosting |
Public demos are not production infrastructure. The OSRM demo caps usage at 1 request/second and bars heavy use. Valhalla's demo enforces fair use.
Self-hosting removes the per-request bill, not the costs: servers, map-data updates, geocoding, traffic data, monitoring, scaling, and engineering time. OpenStreetMap data also carries ODbL attribution and share-alike obligations.
How to Choose and Test a Free Routing Option
Start with the actual workload
Estimate before you compare:
- Daily and monthly route requests
- Addresses per route and vehicles
- Concurrent users
- Matrix calculations and re-optimization frequency
- Manual versus automated planning
A prototype running a few hundred requests a month is a different problem from customer-facing ETAs that recalculate constantly across a fleet.
Test route quality with representative US data
Run the same address set through every shortlisted provider. Include:
- Dense urban stops, rural addresses, and apartments
- Business parks, ambiguous addresses, and restricted-access sites
- Traffic-aware ETAs, tolls, one-way roads, and closures
- Truck dimensions, hazmat rules, service times, and time windows
Measure the full cost, not just API calls
Factor in every cost line, not only route calls:
- Geocoding, matrices, and optimization jobs
- Map rendering, storage, and support
- Infrastructure, overages, and engineering time
Then estimate usage:
- Calculate calls per user or vehicle per day.
- Multiply by active users and operating days.
- Add peak-demand and retry headroom.
- Convert to the provider's billing unit, not raw requests.
Check production readiness
Review these production factors:
- Documentation, SDKs, and authentication
- Rate-limit headers, error handling, and async jobs
- Webhooks, status reporting, and privacy terms
- Uptime history and support response
Confirm in writing that you may cache results, store geocoded locations, show results to end users, and use the service in a commercial US application.
Make the decision
- Occasional manual trips: a consumer planner
- Small prototype: a free API tier
- Team that can run infrastructure: an open-source engine
- Business operations needing reliability, constraints, or volume: a paid API or optimization platform
When to Move Beyond a Free Tier
Free routing tiers start to break down once volume, constraints, or support needs outgrow the free allowance. Common warning signs include:
- Recurring quota exhaustion or rate-limit errors
- Rising geocoding costs
- Slow optimization jobs
- Missing vehicle restrictions or inaccurate ETAs
- No production support
- Unpredictable monthly spend
When you hit these limits, NextBillion.ai is one option for logistics, fleet, field-service, and delivery software teams. It is an API-first platform, not a free tier. Documented capabilities include:
- Up to 10,000 stops per optimization request
- Distance matrices up to 5,000×5,000, versus the 25×25 matrix limit on Google Maps Platform
- 50+ hard and soft constraints
- Truck mode with vehicle dimensions
- Per-order or per-vehicle pricing instead of per-call billing; the Grow plan is listed at $499/month for up to 5,000 orders
- A 14-day trial for the routing and dispatch app, no card required
Verify current plans on its pricing page before deciding.
Before switching, run a controlled test. Feed representative historical routes through your free provider and the shortlisted platform. Compare distance, drive time, constraint compliance, latency, failure handling, and total cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a free route planner API?
Yes, several providers offer free allowances, trials, public endpoints, or open-source engines. Limits apply to requests, stops, matrices, traffic, commercial use, and rate limits, and some require billing setup.
What is the difference between a free route planner and a free routing API?
A route planner is a ready-to-use web or mobile product. A routing API supplies route data to your software and requires development, authentication, and quota management.
Are free routing APIs suitable for commercial applications?
Some are, with conditions. TomTom permits commercial use under free evaluation access; Geoapify requires attribution. Check attribution, caching, billing, rate limits, and support in each provider's current terms.
Do free routing APIs include route optimization?
Usually separately. Standard routing connects points in a supplied order, while optimization sequences stops, assigns vehicles, and handles time windows and capacities, often under its own quota.
Which limits matter most when comparing free routing APIs?
Compare monthly requests, requests per second, stops, matrix elements, optimization jobs, geocoding, traffic, vehicle restrictions, and overage behavior. For dispatch, matrix and optimization caps usually matter most.
Can an open-source routing engine replace a paid routing API?
It can cut per-request fees, but you take on hosting, map updates, geocoding, traffic data, monitoring, scaling, and engineering ownership.
