The 4 Best Apps to Find Free Campsites

How to Find the Best Free Campsites

As a fellow van lifer I know how stressful it can be to not know where you are going to sleep that night. For most of us this is one of the main sources of anxiety when heading to a new location or if we are spending any amount of time in more populated areas.

While I’ve put together a list and map of my own favorite campsites, there are still many locations out there where we won’t know of a good place to spend the night.

That is where the magic of crowdsourcing comes in as there are quite a few van life apps and websites out there devoted specifically to free campsites and resources.  Thanks to my time on the road I’ve been able to go through some trial and error with each of the apps below to determine which works best for van lifers. The information below is what I wish I had when I started this nomad lifestyle.

The 4 Best Apps and Websites to Find

Free Campsites

There are 4 apps that I use in van life to find places to sleep at night. While there is a ton of crossover between the apps, each one of these has a different strength.

1. iOverlander
2. Campendium
3. AllStays
4. FreeCampsites.Net

iOverlander

iOverlander is by far the app I use most often when trying to find a free campsite.

Strengths

  • Free!
  • Combines BLM(Bureau of Land Management), Parking Lots(think Walmart) and stealth locations.
  • It excels in city or more populated locations where there aren’t designated free locations to park. In these locations van lifers often have to rely on more stealth sleeping recommendations and iOverlander has the most extensive recommendations and reviews in this area.
  • Works offline as you can quickly browse these sites around you without a connection. Pictures do require internet.
  • You can access the same information on the website as you do on the app.

Weaknesses

  • The filters are subpar. You aren’t able to filter by how many reviews there are, when the last review was or by ratings. Instead, you have to go pick and choose each location to see how many reviews there are and what the user says.
  • There is no way to quickly rate a location or campsite.
  • Many locations haven’t been updated in a while.  While there is a good community the locations aren’t updated or reviewed as often as other sites. This could be a result of not having a simple rating system installed.
  • The appearance isn’t exactly beautiful. You wouldn’t even know there were pictures on the mobile site without searching for them.

AllStays

AllStays is the app I’ll go to when I specifically want to find if a Walmart allows overnight camping or if there is a parking lot, Cabelas, or other business in the area that allows overnight parking.  It may be worth the one time $10 charge just for that use case scenario though I must admit I expected more when I made the purchase. I don’t actually need the app to find the campsite I want, but I do still use it for the ease of use when finding overnight stays.

Strengths

  • As mentioned, the one singular use case where I think AllStays is worth using is for finding Walmarts that allow overnight stays versus those that don’t. AllStays utilizes different icons to denote these two categories of Walmarts which makes it super easy when you are specifically looking to stay there.
  • The filter system in the app is great as you can filter by stores like Walmart, Cabelas, and Cracker Barrel for businesses while also having options for travel stops, Public lands, National Forests and Overnight Parking Lots. The options and logos here are some of the more well thought out of the apps.
  • Works offline as you can quickly browse these sites around you without a connection.
  • Convenient buttons for navigation, calling the business or location.  No copy and pasting locations into google maps on here.

Weaknesses

  • $9.99 one time charge.
  • The review system is virtually nonexistent. It is an upgrade from iOverlander in that you can leave a rating from 1 to 5 but you don’t often see these ratings. You also have to press another button to even see what reviews were left.
  • The location information is all strung together in one massive block of text with only commas and periods to separate.
  • There are advanced filters for seeing sites by reviews but they are hidden and not easily accessible when trying to find a place to sleep.
  • The appearance isn’t exactly beautiful. You wouldn’t even know there were pictures on the mobile site without searching for them.
  • While it excels in the specific case of finding businesses or parking lots, it struggles in finding stealth locations due to the lack of crowdsourcing.  It seems as though all places to sleep or inputted by the app makers and can’t be submitted by users. There is a button in one of the off the main page menus for this, but doesn’t seem to be used very often.
  • There is no option for using the same mobile interface on a desktop.

Campendium

AllStays for me fills the use case of finding Walmarts and other businesses. Campendium fills the opposite need of easily finding public lands and paid campgrounds around your destination. This is usually the first app I’ll check when I don’t know much about the location as it will point out the obvious locations to camp for free. Usually the search will end on Campendium if there aren’t any public lands available.

Strengths

  • Free!
  • The obvious place to start if you are looking for free campsites for van lifers. Most of the sites listed will also be RV friendly as well.
  • Campendium, in my opinion, has the best interface of all the apps and websites listed. It looks like it was created by professional web designers who took the user experience into account.
  • Both the website and app have similar interfaces making searching easy.
  • You can sort by distance, reviews and overall rating. This is huge when finding a safe and free campsite. It is so reassuring to pull the van into a campsite that has 20+ reviews and a 4 star rating.
  • The pictures are easily accessible on both the website and app so you can literally see where you are camping.
  • Rating and reviewing campsites is simple.

Weaknesses

  • There aren’t many options past public lands and paid established sites. If you are looking for any kind of stealth parking or turnouts you are out of luck. This is the reason why it isn’t the only app that’s recommended here.  If there were more stealthy locations available, this would be my main recommendation.

FreeCampsites.Net

There is no app for Free Campsites as it’s a basic website that is best accessed from a laptop or desktop. For the long time van lifers or nomads this was once a widely used resource. Over the years it has continued to take a backseat to more robust apps and websites like those above.

I’ve only included this site as a backup for the 3 listed above. It is a last resort and one I only used when I don’t find any other decent campsites in the apps above.

Strengths

  • Free!
  • The community contributed to website over the years which created quite a bit of data to use.
  • The advanced filters are robust. You can search by items like dirt, access and paved roads along with categories like RV parking, OHV and Tent Camping. There are even options to search for pet friendly locations and showers.
  • Free Campsites is also one of the go to resources for finding water sources and dump stations on the road.

Weaknesses

  • As mentioned, the user interface is pretty old and can use an update.
  • There is no mobile app to access from your phone or offline.

Ratings By Category

Each of these apps has their strengths and weaknesses to consider and a best use case for each. While I prefer the versatility of iOverlander your preference may differ based on need. Each van lifer, nomad, or rv has different needs and preferences. The reviews above and ratings below should give you an idea on where to start to find your perfect, or at least passable, free campsite.

iOverlander

  • Stealth Camping 100% 100%
  • Public Lands 80% 80%
  • Walmart/Businesses 80% 80%
  • Ease of Use 70% 70%
  • Water, Dumping, Amenities 70% 70%

AllStays

  • Stealth Camping 20% 20%
  • Public Lands 80% 80%
  • Walmart/Businesses 100% 100%
  • Ease of Use 80% 80%
  • Water, Dumping, Amenities 80% 80%

Campendium

  • Stealth Camping 0% 0%
  • Public Lands 90% 90%
  • Walmart/Businesses 0% 0%
  • Ease of Use 90% 90%
  • Water, Dumping, Amenities 90% 90%

FreeCampsites.Net

  • Stealth Camping 80% 80%
  • Public Lands 80% 80%
  • Walmart/Businesses 50% 50%
  • Ease of Use 55% 55%
  • Water, Dumping, Amenities 90% 90%

Other Useful Camping Contenders

The Dyrt

The Dyrt has a good interface and compares well with Campendium in most areas. It also comes with the same use case of mainly being used for established campgrounds.

I’ve heard people swear by this app over Campendium or others, but it never took hold for me.

Recreation.gov

This is the governments app and website where you can book camping trips at designated sites, permits, tickets and passes. If you plan to visit any National park, you will eventually need to download this app or visit the site.  As you would expect, from a well-funded source, the app and website are more polished than other van life or camping apps. On the other hand this is only for federal land and obviously won’t give you any stealth campsites or van life resources.

The Van Life App

An app specifically designed for van life! This is the app that I hope to one day use more than any other. Unfortunately, in its current form it doesn’t offer as much reliability for free campsites as the 4 websites mentioned above. The crowdsourcing isn’t there like it is in the other options above.

It does however offer quite a bit of potential with the social connection aspect of van life. Each user has a profile and can choose to share their location to connect with other van lifers or travelers. Combine this with an events calendar of upcoming meetups and there is plenty to like in this app going forward.

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