A family of planar superconducting magnetic gradiometers for use as magnetic monopole detectors has recently been proposed. We describe an alternative system which reduces the number of loop crossovers for a two‐dimensionalNth order gradiometer from approximately 22NtoN2. This system permits much higher order gradiometers to be used, for a given detector area and superconducting quantum interference device input inductance, resulting in improved signal to noise performance. The simplification of design should also minimize the practical difficulties of fabricating high order gradiometers.