Delivery route optimizer
A delivery route optimizer for businesses that deliver their own orders
Porch Routes is route planning for farms, CSAs and local own-fleet delivery. Its delivery route optimizer chooses which vehicle takes which stops, and in what order, so windows and temperature hold. Porch Light is free up to 150 orders on 1 vehicle, no card. Starter is $39, Porch is $79 and Route is $189 a month.
Free on Porch Light up to 150 orders a month, one vehicle, no credit card.
Updated By Porch Routes
What does a delivery route optimizer actually do?
A delivery route optimizer chooses which vehicle takes which stops, in what order, and when each customer should expect the knock. A list and a map can hold a short morning. Past about 20 stops, or once more than one vehicle is out, the combinations outrun a person.
That is why the software searches for a very good plan instead of checking every possible one. The vehicle routing problem is the name for that search. Stops per driver is a separate question: how many doors one shift can actually reach. Porch Light plans one vehicle. Several vehicles at once starts on Starter, or on the separate 14-day trial.
A delivery route planner is the product around that engine: the day's orders, the drivers, and the record of what happened. This page is the engine. The one-sentence definition lives in the glossary.
What does an optimizer have to respect?
An optimizer has to respect the rules that make a delivery usable: each time window, what the vehicle can carry, how much it can hold, which stops are locked, and where the route starts and ends. Breaking one of those to save a mile is a bad plan.
| Constraint | What it means | How Porch Routes handles it |
|---|---|---|
| Time windows | The stop has to arrive inside the span the customer was promised. | Stops are sequenced so the arrival falls inside each customer's window. |
| Vehicle capacity | Weight, a stop limit and a shift length, each set on the vehicle. | Known weights count against the cap. Unknown weights are flagged, not counted as zero. |
| What each vehicle carries | Frozen, refrigerated and dry are hard rules, not notes on the order. | A stop no vehicle can carry waits unassigned, with a plain reason such as “No vehicle can carry frozen items — mark a vehicle as frozen-capable.” |
| Locked stops | Someone has already decided this stop's vehicle and place in line. | A locked stop never moves. The rest of the plan is rebuilt around it. |
| Start and end | Where the van leaves from, and where it has to finish. | By default a route starts and ends at the depot. A vehicle can start from another point, such as a driver's home, or finish at its last stop. |
How does Porch Routes optimize a delivery day?
Porch Routes plans the vehicles you include as one capacitated vehicle routing problem with time windows. Porch Light plans one vehicle. Several vehicles at once starts on Starter, or on the separate 14-day trial. The same orders and the same vehicles always produce the same plan.
It builds a first plan by cheapest feasible insertion. Harder stops go in first: fewer vehicles that can carry them, a tighter window, farther from the depot. A locked stop is seeded on its vehicle and then left where it was pinned. Local search then improves the plan. The moves include 2-opt and Or-opt, and also relocate, swap and 2-opt*. There is no random draw and no clock in the search, so re-running an unchanged day returns the same plan. The search looks for a very good plan. It does not exhaust every possible one.
The classic savings algorithm (Clarke and Wright, 1964) is a different way to build that first plan. Porch Routes does not use it. The word “savings” on a finished plan means something else: miles, time and fuel against a baseline, which the next section spells out.
How do you know the optimizer saved anything?
Porch Routes shows savings against one stated baseline: the same stops on the same vehicles, in the order the orders arrived. The difference is shown per route and for the whole day, in miles, drive time and fuel dollars (from each vehicle's cost per mile). A distance that came from a straight-line estimate rather than a road is labelled estimated.
Be wary of any savings percentage with no baseline. The savings versus baseline entry is the definition this section uses. Porch Routes does not publish a typical percentage, and the sample on the free planner is a demo, not a result to quote.
Is an optimizer better than Google Maps or a spreadsheet?
Google Maps and a spreadsheet keep the order you type, and Google Maps is enough for a short list. An optimizer searches for a driving order. Porch Routes also applies windows, capacity and temperature. Porch Light plans one vehicle. Several vehicles at once starts on Starter, or on the separate 14-day trial. The free planner finds a driving order for one vehicle and up to 25 stops, with no account.
| Tool | Price | What it plans | Stop order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet | You already have it | Whatever you type into the sheet | The order you type |
| Google Maps | No price is listed on the directions help page | Up to 9 stops on a computer, counting the final destination | The order you enter. You can drag a stop to reorder it. |
| Free multi-stop planner | Free, no account | Up to 25 stops, one vehicle | A driving order from the same optimizer as our paid plans |
| Porch Routes | Porch Light $0; Starter $39 a month and up | Routes for each of your drivers and vehicles. | Windows, capacity and temperature. Several vehicles on Starter or the trial; Porch Light is one vehicle. |
What does route optimization cost?
Porch Light: Free. No credit card needed. Up to 150 orders a month. 1 vehicle. Email and tracking-link updates. Email support. Starter: $39/mo or $390 a year, two months free. Up to 500 orders a month. Unlimited vehicles and drivers. 750 customer texts a month. Email support. Porch: $79/mo or $790 a year, two months free. Up to 1,000 orders a month. Unlimited vehicles and drivers. 1,500 customer texts a month. Email support. Route: $189/mo or $1,890 a year, two months free. Up to 5,000 orders a month. Unlimited vehicles and drivers. 7,500 customer texts a month. Priority support. Fleet: Custom. Priced for your volume. More than 5,000 orders a month. Unlimited vehicles and drivers. Texts set for your volume. A dedicated contact. Paid plans: No fee per driver or vehicle. Porch Light plans one vehicle. Several vehicles at once starts on Starter, or on the separate 14-day trial. The trial is a separate offer: 14 days of Porch's allowances, up to 1,000 orders a month, no card.
Porch Light
For a first delivery day, free for good
Start freeWhat’s included freeFreeNo credit card needed
- Up to 150 orders a month
- 1 vehicle
- Email and tracking-link updates
- Email support
- Every feature on every plan
Starter
For a few delivery days a month
Start free$39/moBilled monthly
- Up to 500 orders a month
- Unlimited vehicles and drivers
- 750 customer texts a monththen $0.015 a text or $10 per 500
- Email support
- Every feature on every plan
Porch
14-day free trialFor businesses delivering every week
Start free$79/moBilled monthly
- Up to 1,000 orders a month
- Unlimited vehicles and drivers
- 1,500 customer texts a monththen $0.015 a text or $10 per 500
- Email support
- Every feature on every plan
Route
For busy fleets and platforms
Start free$189/moBilled monthly
- Up to 5,000 orders a month
- Unlimited vehicles and drivers
- 7,500 customer texts a monththen $0.015 a text or $10 per 500
- Priority support
- Every feature on every plan
Fleet
For 5,000+ orders a month
Talk to usCustomPriced for your volume
- More than 5,000 orders a month
- Unlimited vehicles and drivers
- Texts set for your volume
- A dedicated contact
- Every feature on every plan
| Plan | Monthly price | Orders a month | Vehicles and drivers | Customer texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porch Light | $0 | Up to 150 | 1 vehicle | Email and tracking links only |
| Starter | $39 | Up to 500 | No fee per driver or vehicle | 750 customer texts a month |
| Porch | $79 | Up to 1,000 | No fee per driver or vehicle | 1,500 customer texts a month |
| Route | $189 | Up to 5,000 | No fee per driver or vehicle | 7,500 customer texts a month |
| Fleet | By quote | 5,000+ | No fee per driver or vehicle | Set for your volume |
Where should you start?
Paste up to 25 stops into the free planner if you want a driving order now, or open Porch Light and build a real delivery day. The steps are in getting started.
- A driving order now. Paste up to 25 addresses into the free multi-stop planner. One vehicle, no account.
- A real delivery day. Start free on Porch Light. Getting started walks the account, the business name and time zone, the depot, the first vehicle, and how orders arrive. The product page covers the rest of the day.
- A person, if you want one. Get setup help. That is a message to support, not a scheduled sales call.
Questions
What is a delivery route optimizer?
A delivery route optimizer is software that chooses which vehicle takes which stops and in what order, so every order is delivered inside its constraints with less drive time. Those constraints include time windows, vehicle capacity, shift length and what each vehicle can carry. Porch Routes treats frozen, refrigerated and dry as hard rules.
Is route optimization the same as a route planner?
The terms overlap. A route planner turns a day's orders into an ordered list of stops for each driver. The optimizer is the engine inside it that works out the assignment and order under your constraints. Porch Routes uses one optimizer for both its free 25-stop tool and whole-fleet planning. Porch Light plans one vehicle.
Can I optimize delivery routes for free?
Yes, on one vehicle. The free planner optimizes up to 25 stops with no account. Porch Light is free up to 150 orders a month on 1 vehicle. Several vehicles at once needs Starter at $39 a month, or the separate 14-day trial of Porch's allowances (up to 1,000 orders a month).
How does Porch Routes build the first plan?
It inserts each stop where it costs least. Harder stops go in first: fewer vehicles that can carry them, a tighter window, farther from the depot. A locked stop stays pinned on its vehicle. Local search improves the routes with relocate, Or-opt, swap, 2-opt and 2-opt*. No random draw and no clock, so an unchanged day returns the same plan.
Does Porch Light include customer texts?
No. Porch Light sends email and tracking-link updates, and its text allowance is 0. Customer texts come with Starter, at 750 a month, once texting is ready. Porch includes 1,500 and Route includes 7,500. Texts past those allowances cost the published overage. Fleet sets its text allowance for that volume.
Sources
Plan your next delivery day free.
Porch Light: up to 150 orders a month, one vehicle, no credit card.