A Free Alternative for Campnab in California
Campnab and CampsiteScan exist for the same reason: the campground you want is booked solid, somebody out there will cancel eventually, and you want to be the one who hears about it first. Both tools watch the reservation system on your behalf and fire off an alert the second a site opens up. What follows is a straight comparison of how the two differ, so you can decide which one fits your trip.
The short version
Camping in California? CampsiteScan does the same job with a free plan, or $9.99 a month for Pro. Camping anywhere else? Go with Campnab. They are an established, well reviewed operation covering more than 3,200 parks across the US and Canada. We cover a single state.
Side by side
| CampsiteScan | Campnab | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free: 1 campground, checked every 15 minutes. Pro: $9.99 a month | $10 to $30 per month, or $10 to $20 for a single pay per use scan |
| Coverage | California only: 600+ campgrounds and about 25,000 sites across ReserveCalifornia and recreation.gov | Over 3,200 parks across the US and Canada |
| How you scan | Search 25 miles around a pin and see every campground in it. Free watches 1; Pro watches up to 6 at once. One watch at a time | Per park scans; plans include 3 to 7 active scans depending on tier |
| Check speed | Every 15 minutes on Free, every 5 minutes on Pro | Faster checking on higher priced tiers |
| Alerts | Text or email (one per account), no limit on alerts, with a link straight to the booking page | Email or text |
| Booking | On the official reservation site | On the official reservation site |
| Extras | Live availability map and open site counts you can browse without an account | Long track record, big park directory, one on one support |
Where Campnab is the better choice
- Your camping happens outside California. Other states and Canada are not our territory. Campnab covers both, and covers them well.
- You want a service with a long track record behind it. Campnab has been doing this for years and has the reviews to show for it. We are the new arrival.
Where CampsiteScan makes more sense
- Price. The free plan watches one campground with real text or email alerts and no card. Pro is $9.99 a month for 6 campgrounds checked every 5 minutes, paid on Square’s checkout page, cancel any time.
- Area scanning. Rather than locking onto one park and crossing your fingers, you drop a pin, see every campground within 25 miles, and with Pro watch up to 6 of them at once. Planning a coastal weekend, that is the gap between watching Doheny alone and watching all of Orange County.
- Built for California. We check the state park system and the federal system together, and we publish measured sellout data for the campgrounds we track, so you know exactly how tough your target is before you build a plan around it.
Can you use both?
Absolutely, and for a stubborn California reservation there is nothing stopping you. Grabbing a cancellation is a race against every other camper hitting refresh, so extra coverage never hurts. Start with our free plan and see what it finds.
Campnab is an independent service and its name belongs to its owners. Prices and plan details above are from campnab.com as of August 2026 and may change; check their site for current pricing. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.