How Commute Compare works
Commute Compare is a commute calculator for house hunting. Add the homes you're considering and the places you go each week, and it compares the drive time from every home to every destination. It ranks the homes by how much time you'd spend driving each week, so you can see which house has the shortest commute.
Getting started
- Under Homes you're considering, click + Add home and enter an address.
- Under Destinations, add the places you go regularly, like work, school or the gym, and how many round trips a week you make to each.
- Click Calculate commutes.
You'll get a ranking of your homes by weekly driving time, a table of drive times from each address, and the routes on a map.
Homes you're considering
Each home has a label, like "Apt on Elm", and an address. As you type an address, a list of suggestions appears; pick one, or keep typing the full address.
To change a home, click it in the list or click ✎. To remove it, click ✕.
The free plan compares up to 2 homes. Plus compares up to 20.
Destinations
Destinations are the places you drive to regularly. For each one, set round trips per week, the number of times a week you drive there from home and back. The weekly total uses this number.
The free plan allows up to 3 destinations. Plus allows up to 20.
A different school (or other place) for each home
Moving can change more than your commute to work. Each house may be zoned for a different school, so the school run changes with the home. To compare the commute to each home's zoned school, edit the destination and fill in Different address for some homes?.
For example, make one destination called "School". Then give the Maple St house Lincoln Elementary and the Oak Ave house Washington Elementary. Homes left blank use the destination's main address. The drive-time table and every trip then use each home's own school.
Trips with several stops Plus
A trip chains stops in order, like dropping the kids at school on the way to work, and gives the drive time for the whole thing. It's a commute calculator with multiple stops: for example, Home → School (5-minute drop-off) → Work.
- Click + New trip, then set the name, the day and time you leave, how many times a week you make the trip, and the stops in order.
- Home stands for each home you're comparing, so one trip is worked out from every home.
- Set the minutes you spend at each stop. Each leg leaves when you arrive at the previous stop, plus that time, so every leg gets the traffic for when you'd actually be driving.
- Trip drive time counts time spent driving only. The results also show door-to-door time, including stops.
- If a destination is already part of a trip, set its round trips per week to 0 so it isn't counted twice.
Click a trip in the sidebar to edit it. You can collapse the list of trips with the arrow next to Trips.
Leave time and traffic
Drive times include traffic. They use Google's best prediction for the time you'd be driving, based on past and current traffic. That makes them a good stand-in for your average commute time.
- Without a leave time: the drive-time table shows the commute time at rush hour on a typical weekday, which is Tuesday at 8:00 AM in your time zone. Results don't depend on when you click Calculate.
- With a leave time Plus: tick Use predicted traffic for when I leave home and pick a day and time, such as Monday at 7:15 AM.
Trips always use their own leave time.
Calculating commutes
Click Calculate commutes after adding or changing homes and destinations. If you change something after calculating, a banner reminds you to calculate again.
- The free plan includes 2 calculations a day. Plus includes 20 per day and 1,000 per calendar month. The remaining calculation allowances appear under the Calculate button.
- Daily allowances reset at midnight UTC, and monthly allowances reset on the first of the month at midnight UTC, independently of your subscription renewal date. Each successful Calculate commutes request counts once, even when the drive times are cached.
- There's also a daily limit on route lookups: 300 on the free plan and 3,000 on Plus. A lookup is one drive time, one address or one route on the map. Only requests for new information use that allowance; remaining route lookup counts are not displayed under Calculate.
- On Plus, if every drive time you need has been worked out before, the results appear on their own, without clicking Calculate.
Reading the results
Ranking: your weekly commute time
The ranking orders your homes by total driving time per week. The winner is at the top, and each other home shows how much longer it is. The weekly total adds up:
- For each destination: the one-way drive time × 2 × round trips per week.
- For each trip: the trip's drive time × times per week.
Drive time to each destination
This table compares drive times from multiple addresses: one row per home, one column per destination, showing the one-way time and distance. The fastest home for each destination is highlighted. Click a time to see that route on the map.
Trips
One row per home and one column per trip, with the drive time and arrival time. Click a time to see each leg of the trip and its route on the map.
Working with the tables
- Sort by any column by clicking its heading. Click again to reverse the order.
- The Home column stays in place when you scroll a wide table sideways.
- Switch distances between miles and kilometres with mi / km.
Exporting to Excel
Export to Excel, next to the ranking, downloads a spreadsheet with a sheet for each table: the ranking, drive times, trips, each leg of each trip, and your homes and destinations. Times are in minutes and distances are in your chosen unit, so you can sort and add them up in Excel. Rows follow the order the tables are sorted in on the page.
Free and Plus
| Feature | Free | Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Homes | 2 | 20 |
| Destinations | 3 | 20 |
| Calculations per day | 2 | 20 |
| Calculations per calendar month | Limited by the daily allowance | 1,000 |
| Different address per home | Yes | Yes |
| Trips with several stops | No | Up to 10 trips of 8 stops |
| Choose your leave time | No (typical Tuesday, 8:00 AM) | Yes |
| Saves your work | No | Yes, to your account |
| Results without clicking Calculate | No | Yes, when already worked out |
| Export to Excel | Yes | Yes |
Upgrade from the Upgrade button at the top of the app. Choose monthly or annual billing when both are available; both include every Plus feature. Monthly subscriptions are charged once per month and annual subscriptions once per year, and renew on that schedule. Available pricing: shown in the upgrade dialog and Stripe Checkout.
Accounts and saving your work
After signing in, choose Account in the header to open your account page in a new tab. It shows your plan, subscription status, monthly or annual billing schedule, subscription price, renewal or scheduled cancellation date, and calculation allowances. Manage billing opens Stripe to manage payment methods, invoices and cancellation. Complimentary Plus accounts are labeled separately and do not require a subscription.
Plus work is stored in a PostgreSQL database, so your saved homes, destinations, trips and settings can load again when you sign in on another device.
- Free plan: nothing is saved. Your homes, destinations and results are gone when you leave or reload the page, so finish your comparison, or export it to Excel, before you go.
- Plus: your homes, destinations, per-home addresses, trips and settings are saved to your account as you work. They come back when you sign in, on any device.
- Sign in with Google, or with an email and password.
Where the data comes from
- Drive times and routes: Google's routing service, with traffic predictions.
- Address suggestions: Photon, a free search of OpenStreetMap. What you type in an address field is sent to Photon to find suggestions.
- Address lookups: an address you type without picking a suggestion is looked up with Google.
- Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Drive times are stored once they've been worked out, so asking for the same commute again is instant. They're refreshed when anything about the commute changes, or after a year.
Common questions
What happens during a site update?
During a restart, the server gives requests already in progress time to finish saving. Plus work remains in your account. Free work is not saved, so keep this tab open and retry if a request is interrupted.
Why don't the times match Google Maps right now?
Google Maps shows traffic at this moment. Commute Compare shows predicted traffic for a typical commute: Tuesday at 8:00 AM, or the leave time you chose. That's a better guide to everyday driving.
Why can't I add another home or destination?
You've reached your plan's limit. See Free and Plus.
Why do some cells say "No route"?
No driving route was found between those two places, for example because an address is on an island or was found in the wrong place. Check the address by editing it.
Why did the results appear without me clicking Calculate?
On Plus, when every drive time you need has already been worked out, the results are shown straight away.
How do I compare drive times from two addresses to the same school?
Add both homes and a destination for the school, then click Calculate commutes. If each home is zoned for a different school, see a different school for each home.