A vehicle routing solver that stays in your spreadsheet workflow

Excel in Excel out No account You already keep your stops in a spreadsheet. This solves the route without asking you to move that data anywhere else first.

The whole interaction is a file. Download the template, fill in your stops the way you already fill in a spreadsheet, upload it, get a routed version back.

Open the route optimizer Download the sample workbook

Why "spreadsheet in, spreadsheet out" matters

Most route planning already lives in a spreadsheet — a dispatcher's list of stops, a delivery manager's daily run sheet, an ops coordinator's copy-pasted address list. The friction isn't the routing math, it's every tool that makes you re-enter that data into a separate system, a map interface, or a form field one address at a time.

This tool skips that step. The input is a workbook. The output is a workbook — plus a map, if you want to look at it, but the map isn't the deliverable. The spreadsheet is.

What's in the workbook

Sheet	What goes in it
`locations`	Latitude, longitude, up to three independent demand columns (weight, volume, pallets — whichever you track), service time, and the time window each stop can be served. Row one is your depot.
`vehicles`	Up to three capacities, fixed cost, an optional per-vehicle route time limit, and speed/service efficiency factors — one row per vehicle in your fleet.
`parameters`	Solver settings — route time limit, how hard to penalize a dropped stop, how long to search. Sensible defaults are already filled in.
`solution`	Where your routed results land — route, stop order, arrival times. Leave it empty for a fresh solve.

If your own column names differ: the locations sheet is read by column name, so rename freely. The vehicles sheet is read by column position, so keep those columns in the template’s exact order even if you rename the headers.

What the solver adds that a spreadsheet formula can't

Real optimization, not a heuristic

Underneath the spreadsheet interface is Google OR-Tools' routing solver — a proper combinatorial search, not a nearest-neighbor macro pretending to be one.

Actual drive times

Routes are built from real road distances via OSRM, not a straight-line estimate a spreadsheet formula would default to.

Time windows enforced properly

A stop that can only be served 9-noon is a hard constraint the solver respects, not a manual check you do after the fact.

Multiple vehicles at once

Capacity and fixed cost per vehicle, solved together — not one route worked out at a time by hand.

Your data

The workbook you upload is read in memory and not saved on the server. Stop coordinates are sent to the public OSRM routing service to get real drive times, and addresses (if you use them instead of lat/lon) go to a geocoding service to resolve. If your stops are sensitive, geocode in-house first and upload coordinates only.

Why it is free

I'm an operations research analyst who spent twenty years building routing and scheduling models that lived inside spreadsheets for manufacturers and airlines. I'm converting them into free web tools one at a time and writing up how each conversion went. There's no paywall here and no plan to add one.

Questions, or a workbook format that doesn't fit? Email mario@kindoflost.com. I read them.

Other routing use cases

Same solver and engine, different worked example — each of these is written for its own setting. Start from whichever is closest to yours.

Food banks & food rescue — Home-delivery and donor-pickup routing for volunteer drivers.
Excel Solver alternative — For when Excel Solver or SolverStudio can’t handle the problem size anymore.
Open-source vehicle routing — What’s actually free — the Google OR-Tools engine behind this and most routing tools.
Last-mile delivery routing — Parcel and package delivery, per-van capacity and time windows.
Field service routing — Technician appointment windows, job duration, and per-tech capacity.
Delivery route planner — For small businesses running their own delivery routes.
Fleet route optimization — Multi-vehicle trucking and distribution fleets.
Sales rep route planner — Outside sales reps and merchandisers visiting client sites.
Courier routing software — Same-day and multi-stop courier services.
Waste & recycling collection routing — Truck capacity and collection time windows.

Route optimizer — the tool itself, with the full parameter reference.
VRP Excel solver alternative — for when Excel's own Solver or SolverStudio has hit its limit.
Open-source vehicle routing — what's actually open source here, and what isn't.
Kind-of-Lost — write-ups of each model, including how this one was built.