Why we built DropPilot instead of just using Circuit

The problem with being 'good enough'

When we started MRVL Technologies, everyone assumed we'd just rebrand an existing tool or plug into someone else's platform. Route planning wasn't exactly a blue ocean. Circuit had been around since 2014. Google Maps existed. There were fifteen other options doing variations on the same theme.

But I kept hearing the same complaints in different accents. Drivers said their ETAs were always wrong. Dispatchers said bulk uploads took forever. Small couriers said they couldn't afford team features. One logistics manager told me Circuit felt like using software from 2015, even though it wasn't.

None of those problems are hard to solve individually. The question was whether anyone was solving them all at once, in one tool, without forcing you to choose between price and functionality.

We decided to build DropPilot because the answer was no.

Live routing that actually watches the road

Here's where DropPilot and Circuit diverge most visibly. We pull real-time traffic data from Google Directions every few minutes, not once at the start of the day. Your ETAs update continuously as you drive. If you hit a collision on the M6, the app knows. If a stop is taking longer than expected, the app recalculates.

Circuit plans your route at the beginning of your shift. It's optimised for that moment. Then the road changes, and the plan doesn't.

We built this because a food delivery driver in Liverpool told us she was arriving at customers thirty minutes later than the app promised, not because she was slow, but because the app had no idea about roadworks on Lime Street. Smart rerouting on deviation means DropPilot automatically suggests a better sequence if you're forced off your planned path. You don't have to manually reorder stops or ignore the app's suggestions.

It's the difference between a plan and a living map.

Proof of delivery that doesn't slow you down

Circuit lets you take a photo or get a signature. Useful. Necessary, even.

But we interviewed delivery drivers for months before launch, and they all said the same thing: taking proof of delivery shouldn't add five minutes to every drop. You're already stressed about your next three stops. The app shouldn't make the capture harder.

In DropPilot, signature capture, photos, and notes live in the same screen. You can add a note with one tap. Signatures are one swipe. Photos live in your gallery, attached to the address, with timestamps. Nothing requires you to hunt through menus.

More importantly, dispatchers can see proof in real time. If a customer disputes delivery, the team has the evidence immediately, not when you sync at the end of the day. We built this for courier services managing ten drivers at once, and for solo operators who can't afford to argue about dropped packages.

CSV imports that don't require a data manager

Circuit has address import. It's fine if you're uploading fifty stops. If you're managing a fleet and need to handle five hundred addresses a week, the process is clunky.

We made CSV bulk import because half our users are small dispatch teams, not enterprise logistics companies. A dispatchers should be able to paste a list from their spreadsheet, map the columns once, and have DropPilot optimise thirty rounds of stops without staring at an import wizard.

The feature sounds boring. But it saves real people three hours a week, and that time goes back to getting deliveries out faster, not wrestling with software.

The price question, honestly

Circuit's free tier gives you unlimited planning. Ours gives you five rounds a month at five stops each. That's not an accident; that's the tradeoff.

We could have made everything unlimited for free and charged you later. Instead, we priced it so solo drivers and small teams can use DropPilot for free, and scale up as they earn more. Five rounds is a working week for a solo operator. Thirty rounds at £4.99 a month covers a small team. Unlimited at £12.99 handles high-volume couriers. Team dispatch at £49 a month is where we serve fleets.

Circuit's freemium model pulls you toward their paid tier through feature gates. Ours is built so you only pay for what you actually use. If you're doing one round a day, the free tier never costs you a penny.

Neither approach is objectively right. It depends on how you work and what you value.

Why we're not trying to be everything

DropPilot does one job: get your multi-stop deliveries planned, optimised, tracked, and proved. We're not a marketplace. We're not handling payments between drivers and customers. We're not a parcel tracking app for consumers.

Circuit does more. It integrates with more platforms. It has more integrations, more customisation options, more years of enterprise clients.

We built DropPilot for drivers and small dispatch teams who want a tool that works out of the box, doesn't require a business analyst to set up, and doesn't ask you to pay for features you don't need.

That Manchester courier who messaged me at 11 PM three years ago? We'd fix his problem in a different way than Circuit would. We'd give him a simpler app, live traffic rerouting that worked without him thinking about it, and proof of delivery that didn't add time to his night.

Whether that's the right choice for you depends entirely on what you're trying to deliver, and how many stops you're trying to deliver.