Not free, and only U.S. and Canada right now, but I use the tomtom app on my iPhone.
It creates great bicycle routes. You can tell it to avoid (or not) gravel roads. It finds very direct routes on neighborhood/surface roads and such, being sensitive to the best roads for bicycle travel. You also don't have to plan your routes at a full computer beforehand. You plan the route with the tomtom app itself. This can make your trip more dynamic. If you find a place you want to go visit then do that. If that puts you off your route, no problem because it recalculates the best route from whereever you are. And it has its own street database built in so you don't need a network connection either. So a remote area with no cell coverage is not a problem. It calls out turn by turn directions so you don't need to be studying the map all the time. Miss a turn and you'll hear directions to turn around and turn left at da de da, or it might want you to just go up to the next turn and take that, whichever is shorter. You can lookup places a bunch of different ways and you can save "favorites" so you can easily plot a route to a saved location. Turns are real clear by giving you a "driver's view" (3d) of the "map" with a big red arrow so you can see at a glance a view that compares to what you see in front of you rather than mentally trying to quickly translate a 2d map at some scale to your immediate surroundings. You can see a regular 2d map too. You can also customize the route. If it starts with a real direct route but on some major roads just ask it to calculate an alternative and see how that looks. You can tell it to avoid certain roads, etc. Many more features.
Pricey for an iPhone app. I paid $50. But all these features make it worthwhile for me.