Put a whole paper route in order: up to 500 stops.
Paper routes are long: a few hundred houses, before sunrise, in the same order every day. Import the route list once, optimize it, then check and print the order you'll drive.
- Free for up to 50 addresses
- No credit card
- No app to install
The short answer
Updated
Lite Route Planner plans newspaper and flyer routes with up to 500 stops on one route, enough for a paper route of a few hundred stops in a single list. Import the subscriber list from Excel or paste it, press Optimize for the shortest order, then print it or open it on your phone. The free plan holds up to 50 addresses, enough to test one section; a full route of a few hundred papers needs Business, from $59.99 a month ($39.99 billed every six months).
How many stops fit on one route
Paper routes run long. Here's where common route planners stop.
| Feature | Lite | Google Maps | Apple Maps | MapQuest | RouteXL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops on one route | Up to 500 | 10 places | 15 stops | 26 stops | 20 free, up to 200 paid |
| Puts stops in order | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Saves the route | Unlimited routes | No | No | With an account | Not stated |
| Imports a spreadsheet | Yes | No | No | With an account | Paste from Excel |
Checked October 19, 2026 on each product's help or pricing page. Apple Maps' multi-stop routes need iOS 16 or later. A route of a few hundred stops needs a plan that holds that many addresses; see pricing.
A carrier's route list
| A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| 1 | Seq | Address | City | Product | Placement | Hold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 102 Birch Ln | Ames, IA | Daily | Porch | |
| 3 | 2 | 108 Birch Ln | Ames, IA | Sunday only | Tube | |
| 4 | 3 | 115 Birch Ln | Ames, IA | Daily | Inside storm door | Y |
| 5 | 4 | 2304 Hayes Ave | Ames, IA | Weekend | Porch | |
| 6 | 5 | 2310 Hayes Ave | Ames, IA | Daily | Mailbox tube |
Product and Placement come in as text fields and Hold as a yes/no field, so you can color the map by any of them. Keep Seq: it's your old order, handy for comparing against the optimized one.
Turn a route list into a driving order
- 1
Get the list
Ask your distributor or district manager for the route list as a spreadsheet. If it only comes on paper, type or paste the addresses in.
- 2
Import and fix the flags
Rural routes and new subdivisions can fail to place. Lite flags them, and you can click the map where the house actually is.
- 3
Set the start
Save the spot where you pick up your bundles as a base, and choose to end at the last stop.
- 4
Lasso and optimize
Draw one loop around the whole route and press Optimize. A few hundred stops reorder instantly.
- 5
Walk the order in your head
The optimizer works on distance. It doesn't know which side of the street a tube is on or which alley is one-way, so drag stops where you know better. Undo is there if you change your mind.
- 6
Print it or carry it
Export a printable PDF for the seat beside you, or open the route on your phone and tap through stops.
If you're new to a paper route
Lots of people pick up a paper or flyer route as a second job. A few things that help before the first morning.
The order is the job
Most of a route's time goes to driving between stops, so a good order is the biggest saving. Plan it once and refine it the first week.
Holds and starts change weekly
Subscribers go on vacation and new ones start. Filter out holds when you rebuild the route, and import updated lists: addresses you already have get their fields filled in, not duplicated.
Apartment buildings
Add a building once, with the units in the stop note, rather than one stop per door.
Flyer routes move around
Flyer and door-hanger routes often cover a new neighborhood each week. New addresses count toward your plan's new stops for the month.
Which plan a paper route needs
Plans are sized by how many addresses you keep. Free for up to 50 addresses, enough to try Lite on one section of your route. Personal holds up to 200 addresses for $19.99 a month billed every six months ($29.99 month to month), which fits a smaller route.
A full route of a few hundred papers needs Business 1,000, from $59.99 a month or $39.99 a month billed every six months. It also lets a helper or family member sign in to the driver app and mark stops on their own phone. Every plan has unlimited routes and unlimited optimizations, so re-planning after starts and stops costs nothing extra.