OpenCampsite, the service behind this guide

Disclosure: OpenCampsite publishes this site, so this page is a description by an interested party. Every fact comes from OpenCampsite's public pages as read on November 9, 2026, and the drawbacks are listed with the same care as the strengths. How the guide is written.

OpenCampsite is a campsite and permit alert service for the United States and Canada. You choose a campground and either exact dates or an arrival window. When a check finds a matching opening, it sends a text, an email or both. You then book on the official reservation site. It does not reserve or hold anything.

The seven checks, applied to OpenCampsite

The home page lists seven checks for any alert service. Here is how this one answers them.

Where it is strong

Text on the free plan. Text, email or both are included without paying, in both countries it covers.

A trip can span several campgrounds. One trip watches up to six campgrounds for the same dates, so three trips cover more ground than three single-campground alerts would.

Arrival windows. One alert can take a range of arrival dates with a minimum stay, which suits flexible plans and saves alert slots.

Permits with campgrounds. Its summary lists Recreation.gov wilderness and day-use permits, naming Half Dome and Mt. Whitney among them.

A specific Canadian list. It names the national system and individual provincial and territorial ones, so you can check yours by name.

No account password and no reservation login. You verify an email or phone number to create an alert. It never signs in to your reservation account.

Drawbacks

These are real reasons to choose something else.

• The stated check interval is long. About every 10 minutes on the plan you can use today. Other services state shorter intervals, some much shorter. At a campground where openings are rebooked in a few minutes, a 10-minute check can miss them entirely. The plans page says timing is adaptive and busy parks may be checked sooner, but it publishes no shorter figure.
• You cannot pay for faster checks yet. The plans with about 5-minute checks are announced, not for sale.
• It is a beta. No end date is published. The commitment on the plans page is narrower: alerts you have already created keep running until their trip dates pass, and nothing starts charging silently.
• Three trips at a time. If you need more running at once, the free plan will not hold them.
• United States and Canada only.
• It does not book for you. If you cannot respond to a message, it cannot act on your behalf.
• No native phone app is listed. Its summary describes an installable web app with browser notifications.

Who it suits

• Campers in Canada or crossing between the two countries who want text alerts without paying.
• Trips with a flexible arrival window at campgrounds where openings tend to last longer than a few minutes.
• Anyone who wants to try an alert without entering a card or sharing a reservation login.

Who should look elsewhere

• You want one of the hardest campgrounds in the country on a peak date. Look for a service that states a much shorter interval on a plan you can use now.
• You need more than three trips running.
• You want prices that are already fixed. OpenCampsite's are announced plans.
• You are camping outside the United States and Canada.

Running two alert services for the same trip costs little and covers more moments. If the trip matters, do that, whichever two you choose.