More than 10 stops? Plan it here, then drive it in Google Maps.
Google Maps is great at directions. Lite handles everything before them, from the long list and the best order to the saved route and the driver, then hands each stop back to Google Maps.
- Free for up to 50 addresses
- No credit card
- No app to install
- Free plan
- Up to 50 addresses, no time limit
- Free
- Paid plans from
- $19.99/mo, billed every 6 months
- Free
- No per-driver or per-user fees
- Yes
- Yes
- Driver app works with no install
- Yes
- Not a driver app
- Color the map by last visit
- Yes
- No
The short answer
Updated
Google Maps plans a trip of up to 10 places, your start plus 9 stops, and keeps them in the order you enter them, so it won't work out the shortest order for you. Lite Route Planner plans routes of up to 500 stops, reorders them for the shortest drive in one click, saves them, and keeps a history of every visit. When it's time to drive, each stop opens in Google Maps with one tap. It's free for up to 50 addresses, with unlimited routes and no credit card.
How to plan a route on Google Maps, and where it stops
On a computer or phone, open Directions, enter where you're starting, and add stops until you reach your destination. Google Maps takes up to 10 places in one trip: your start plus 9 more, counting the destination. You can drag stops into a different order by hand, and then it gives you turn-by-turn directions for the whole trip.
For a few errands, that's all you need. For a working day it runs out fast. Stop 11 needs a second trip. The order is whatever you typed, so a list sorted by customer name sends you back and forth across town. Nothing is kept as a route you can open next week or hand to someone else, and a shared directions link carries only 3 waypoints when it's opened in a phone's browser (9 elsewhere).
Our guides cover the workarounds in detail: adding multiple stops in Google Maps, getting past the 10-stop limit and whether Google Maps optimizes routes.
Google Maps and Lite, line by line
Checked October 2026 against Google's own help and developer pages. Google Maps isn't trying to be a route planner for a business, so most of the gaps below are by design, not oversights.
Checked October 19, 2026 against each company's own pricing and help pages. Prices in US dollars; vendors change them, so check before you buy. Sources: support.google.com/maps/answer/144339, developers.google.com/maps/documentation/urls/get-started.
The work that happens before the drive
Six jobs Google Maps leaves to you, and how Lite handles each one.
More than 10 stops
Put up to 500 stops on one route. Import them from Excel or CSV, paste a list, or click the map to drop pins.
The best order
Press Optimize and the stops reorder to cut the miles, from your start to the last stop or back where you began. Optimize as often as you like.
Routes you keep
Every route is saved with its stops in order. Plan unlimited routes from the addresses you already have.
The day's total
After you save, see drive time and distance for every leg, plus the day's total with time at each stop.
Someone else driving
On Business, assign a route to a driver and it's on their phone, with unlimited drivers and no per-driver fees. On any plan, share a link or QR code.
What happened at each stop
Mark a stop Visited or Attempted with a note. The history stays with the address, and the map can show who you haven't seen in a while.
How a route gets from here to Google Maps
- 1
Plan and optimize
Add your stops, lasso them into a route on the map and press Optimize.
- 2
Put it on the phone
Assign it to a driver on Business, open it yourself on any plan, or share a link or QR code that opens without an account.
- 3
Tap a stop
Each stop opens in Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze, whichever the driver picked, with turn-by-turn directions from where they are.
- 4
Or open the whole route
From the planner, open the route in Google Maps in ten-stop pieces. Each piece starts where the last one ended, so no stop is skipped.
- 5
Mark it done
Back in the driver app, mark the stop Visited or Attempted and add a note. The planner shows it within seconds.
When Google Maps is all you need
Choose Lite if
- Your day has more than 10 stops
- You want the stops put in the shortest order for you, not dragged around by hand
- You plan the same customers week after week and want them saved, with notes and a visit history
- Someone else drives, and you want to send them the route and see stops checked off
- Your customers are in a spreadsheet and you want them on a map in one step
Choose Google Maps if
- You have a few stops and already know the order
- You need directions right now and don't want to make an account
- It's a one-off trip, not a list you'll come back to
- You only want to see a spreadsheet on a map: Google My Maps imports up to 2,000 rows per import for free, though it doesn't put them in order