What is the difference between "route" and "ip route"?

Solution 1:

The iproute2 suite is set to replace the net-tools suite of network configuration tools. There are "synonym" commands that perform similar function in each.

While most documentation will refer you to the route command, you'll be ahead of the game to learn ip route since distributions should stop including net-tools at some point.

Deprecated Linux networking commands and their replacements

Solution 2:

route is a fairly simple tool, perfect for creating static routes. It's still present in many distributions for compatibility. ip route is much more powerful, it has much more functionality, and can create more specialized rules.

ip route isn't needed to create a static route, but as it's a much more useful tool, the effort expended in learning it and its syntax is definitely time well spent.