Free to browse, pay only for availability alerts
Most of Boondok is free and always will be. You shouldn't have to pay to discover Canada's parks. We try to charge what it costs to run the service responsibly and no more than that.
What you'll pay for and what you won't.
- Browsing is free. Map, search, favourites, and reviews are always free. No account required.
- Alerts are the paid bit. $4 to $12, one-time per alert, depending on how wide you want us to look.
- SMS is a small add-on. +$2 per alert if you want texts in addition to emails.
- No auto-renewals. No contracts, no setup fee, no auto-renew tricks.
- Pay-as-you-go. Set alerts only for the dates you care about.
- Canadian-priced. All prices in CAD, taxes included. No hidden currency conversions.
Site
A specific spot
When you know exactly which site you want at a specific campground.
- One specific site at one campground
- Email notifications included
- We watch until your dates pass
Property
A whole campground
When you know which campground and any open site will do.
- Any site at one campground
- Filter by amenities (tent, RV, hookups, accessible, etc.)
- Email notifications included
- We watch until your dates pass
Area
Within a region
When you don't mind exactly where, Sea-to-Sky, Banff, Vancouver Island, as long as you're out there.
- Every campground within ~50km
- Filter by amenities (tent, RV, hookups, accessible, etc.)
- Email notifications included
- We watch until your dates pass
SMS notifications
Add SMS to any alert and get the ping in seconds, not minutes. Best for the popular weekends and campgrounds where the difference matters. Needs a verified phone number.
How we compare
You have other ways to catch a cancellation, and some are free. Here's the honest picture of how they all stack up, so you can pick what actually fits your trip.
swipe to see the others
| Feature | Boondok | Park's own alerts | Campnab | Schnerp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay | $4 to $12, once per trip | Free | $10 to $30 every month | Free trial, then $15 to $29 every month |
| BC, Alberta, and Parks Canada together | Yes | Each park separately | BC and Parks Canada | Yes |
| Watch a whole area at once | Yes | No | No | No |
| Flexible dates | Yes | Exact dates only | One date, give or take 2 days | Yes |
| How often it checks | Every minute, on every alert | Not published | Every minute, but only on the $30/month plan | Every 1 to 5 minutes, on the $29/month plan |
| How long it watches | Until your trip, one payment, even across months | Until the booking window closes | Until your trip, while you keep paying monthly | Until your trip, while you keep paying monthly |
| Cost of one watch | $4, one time | Free | $10 a month, minimum | $15 a month, minimum |
| A place to plan, not just a cancellation scanner | Yes | No | No | No |
The parks run their own free alerts (BC Parks and Parks Canada "Notify Me", Alberta "Spot Watch"). If you only need one exact date and can watch your inbox, they may be all you need. They just don't say how often they check, and they cap how many you can run. Paid apps check faster but keep their quickest speed for their priciest monthly plan. We give every alert our fastest checks with no tiered pricing strategy. Everyone gets the same speed and the same shot, and paying more never buys you a head start over the next camper. Competitor details are from their public pages, August 2026. If we got something wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.
Frequently asked questions
Once your alert is live, we check that spot about every minute through the day, and every few minutes overnight. The moment a site opens, we send your email (or a text, if you added SMS). Bookings are first-come, so the sooner you tap the link, the better your odds.
No. We watch and tell you the second something opens, then you book on the park's own site. Auto-booking would break the parks' terms of use, and for good reason: it lets bots and scalpers grab sites the moment they appear and shut out real campers. By handing you the link instead, everyone books on equal footing, you stay in control, and you never pay us a booking fee.
The parks' free alerts are a fair option, and we're happy to point you to them. Boondok is built to be an open place for campers, where anyone can browse, search, favourite, and read reviews without paying a cent. Watching for cancellations cost significantly more money to run around the clock, so the alerts cover that infrastructure. Everything else we pay for out of our own pockets, because keeping the door open matters more to us than charging for it.
Every text message we send costs us. For a busy alert that fires multiple times, that adds up. We don't want to bake that cost into the base price for the majority of users who are fine with email but we want to offer it to those who need the faster notification.
We understand that plans can change. You can pause your alert anytime while you sort things out. And if your dates move, reach out to us and we'll work with you to update the alert so you aren't starting from scratch.
We handle this case by case. If something isn't right with your alert, reach out and we'll work with you to make it fair.
Booking happens on the provider's site (BC Parks, Parks Canada, etc.), we just point you there. There is always a chance that if you click the link in the alert we send you that someone else has already booked it. Canadian park bookings are first-come-first-served and unfortunately we can't guarantee a booked site with our notification service.
Credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), plus Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other methods where your device or bank supports them. Everything is processed securely by Stripe, so we never see or store your card number. All prices are in Canadian dollars.
Ready when you are
Browse for free anytime. You don't pay (or even sign in) until you want us to watch for availability.