Optimize a route
Optimize a route in Upper: add stops, assign drivers, and click Optimize Route. Upper sequences every stop for the fastest, most efficient completion.
Upper builds your route order for you. Add your stops, assign your drivers, and click Optimize Route — Upper works out the most efficient sequence for each driver based on distance, time, and the settings on the route. For multi-driver plans, it also distributes stops across the drivers you assign.
This guide uses Upper's default labels — Assign Drivers, Optimize Route, Share to Drivers. Your workspace may instead show Technician / Service wording (for example "Assign Technicians"), since the label set is configurable. The steps are identical either way.
Before you start
- Stops loaded into a route — added by import, manual entry, contacts, or tasks. They all land in the same stop list.
- At least one driver assigned in the Assign Drivers tab.
- Accurate stop data — addresses, time windows, and service times all feed the optimizer. Bad data in, bad route out.
Basic stop sequencing runs on any plan. Some optimization controls are plan-gated — see Optimization settings worth knowing below.
Optimize your route
Add your stops to the route
Bulk import, manual entry, contacts, and tasks all feed the same stop list.
Assign your drivers
Open the Assign Drivers tab and select one or more drivers.
Click Optimize Route
Upper calculates the optimal sequence and, on multi-driver plans, distributes stops across the drivers you assigned. The result appears on the map and in the stop list.
Review the result
Check the sequence on the map and in the stop table. You can adjust manually if a customer rule demands it — reverse a driver's route, or add, move, edit, or delete individual stops.
Share to drivers when ready
Click Share to Drivers to dispatch the route. The route moves from Draft toward Ready for Dispatch and Dispatched as you send it out.
Need to keep your exact stop order instead of re-sequencing it? On a single-driver route, use Quick Share — it preserves the sequence you entered rather than re-ordering it. Quick Share is single-driver only; for multiple drivers, use Optimize Route.
What Upper considers during optimization
When you run Optimize Route, Upper:
- Analyzes every stop, its address, and any constraints set on it.
- Calculates driving distance and time between stops using historical traffic data.
- Honors stop time windows so stops aren't sequenced outside their earliest/latest times.
- Respects the route's Advanced Settings — including how you've set Optimize For and, on multi-driver plans, Workload Distribution.
- Returns the sequence with the lowest total time or distance, depending on your Optimize For setting.
Stops inside a restricted zone are flagged ("inside a restricted zone") rather than dropped — they're still included in the route. For more on the inputs, see Factors Upper considers during optimization.
Re-optimize after changes
After a route has been optimized, the button becomes Re-optimize Route. Run it again whenever the inputs change — you add or remove stops, swap a driver, or change a start location.
Re-optimize after every meaningful change. Adding new stops, removing a driver, or changing a start location all change the math, and re-running takes only a few seconds to update the whole sequence.
If you want to protect a particular driver's route from being re-sequenced, you can lock that route (the padlock icon on the driver row). Locked routes are left as-is when you re-optimize.
Optimization settings worth knowing
You don't need to touch any settings to run a basic optimization. When you want more control, open Advanced Settings (the gear icon in the route builder). The drawer is saved with Save Changes, which may re-run optimization. The settings worth knowing:
- Optimize For — Time or Distance (fastest route or shortest mileage).
- Workload Distribution — how stops split across multiple drivers. Modes include Auto Workload Balancing, Equalize Workload (Equal Stops), Balance Workload (Equal Time), Maximize Efficiency, and Min Drivers.
- Service Time — the average time Upper budgets at each stop.
- Units — Kilometers or Miles.
- Pickup Settings — how pickups are ordered relative to deliveries (in between, before, or after).
Account-wide defaults for Optimize For, Workload Distribution, Service Time, and Units live in your User Settings; the Advanced Settings drawer lets you override them on an individual route.
Workload Distribution (multi-driver balancing) and capacity-aware optimization are available on the Optimize and Enterprise plans. On other plans these sections appear dimmed with a Pro badge and open an upgrade prompt.
Troubleshooting
Still stuck? Email support@upperinc.com.
Related
Optimization taking longer than expected
If route optimization in Upper is running slow, the usual causes are too many stops, tight time windows, or invalid addresses. Reduce constraints, split, or refresh.
Optimize for time vs distance
Upper optimizes routes in two modes — Time minimizes total completion time, Distance minimizes total miles. Pick by what matters more: windows or fuel.