There’s no doubt that reliable navigation is a must-have for overlanders. With over 8 million apps out there, finding the best camping app for overlanding can be quite a challenge.
Let’s compare two of the industry’s most-known camping apps, iOverlander and Park4Night. We’ll dive into the ins and outs of the apps and review their advantages and shortcomings.
Interested in what app is best suited for your overlanding needs? Start the engines and keep on reading!
ABOUT
Before we get started, let’s learn a bit more about both apps:
iOverlander is a tool, by and for overlanders, which enables its users to submit, amend, and find information and opinions, primarily about places that are essential for the act of overlanding, and secondarily non-essential places that are of interest to a significant group of overlanders. (iOverlander, 2023)
Park4night is a community application that allows users to share places to stay with motorhomes, vans, or other converted vehicles. It helps travelers find nice spots to spend the night and allows visitors to review or modify these places. (Park4Night, 2023)
DEVICES
Both iOverlander‘s and Park4Night‘s database is accessible through their website and application. They can be used on computers, tablets, and smartphones. iOverlander‘s and Park4Night‘s applications are compatible with Apple and Android devices.
LANGUAGE
| iOverlander | Park4Night |
|---|---|
| 🇺🇸EN | 🇺🇸EN 🇫🇷FR 🇳🇱NL 🇩🇪DE 🇪🇸ES 🇮🇹IT |
The main language of iOverlander is English. Users are encouraged to write in English when submitting new places and descriptions.
If they are incapable of doing so, the iOverlander team will try to translate their submissions into English for them.
Park4Night‘s website and application can be set to English, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, and Italian. Descriptions of places often have the option to be viewed in one of these languages.
The comments and reviews offer a ‘translate’ button that automatically translates the comment to the user’s set language.
COVERAGE
| iOverlander | Park4Night |
|---|---|
| 200,000 🏕 | 260,000 🏕 |
iOverlander has global coverage, with almost 200,000 spots spread over 179 countries. The United States accounts for almost a fourth of these, counting 48,659 places to date. In the second place, we have Canada with 17.498 places. In third place, there’s Mexico, with 15,266 places on the iOverlander database.
Park4Night has around 260,000 places in its database. While their service and users are worldwide, these places are mainly situated in Europe and the United States.
The four countries where the most Park4Night-locations have been added, are France, Spain, Germany, and Italy.
COST
| iOverlander | Park4Night |
|---|---|
| Free | Free Park4Night+ (€9.99/year) |
iOverlander is completely free.
Park4Night has a free version and a paying subscription, Park4Night+.
Users can choose to pay annually (€9.99/year) or monthly (€1.99/month). This allows you to access their services offline and add extra filters to your searches, contact campsites and private accommodations, switch between satellite and terrain view, and use their route optimization, which lets you watch services and locations alongside your route.
OFFLINE
| iOverlander | Park4Night |
|---|---|
| available offline | available offline (Park4Night+) |
iOverlander and Park4Night are both available offline. Both apps require you to download the GPX files of the countries you wish to visit in advance.
It is important to note that Park4Night’s offline mode can only be accessed when you have a Park4Night+ subscription.
CATEGORIES
Both apps allow you to filter places by categories. The differences between iOverlander and Park4Night are summarized in the table below.
Camping
| iOverlander | Park4Night |
|---|---|
| Established campground | Camping |
| Informal Campsite | Free Motorhome Area Paying Motorhome Area Private Car Park for Campers Motorhome Parking w/o Services Homestay Accommodation On the farm |
| Wild camping | Surrounded by nature Offroad (4X4) |
| X | Rest area next to highway |
| Hotel | X |
| Hostel | X |
Services
| iOverlander | Park4Night |
|---|---|
| X | Electricity* |
| Fuel Station | LPG Station* |
| Propane | Bottled Gas Station* |
| Mechanic and Parts | X |
| Water | Drinking Water* |
| Sanitation Dump Station | Blackwater* Wastewater* Waste Container* |
| X | Public Toilets* |
| Eco-Friendly Services | X |
| Restaurant | Bakery* |
| Shopping (goods related to overlanding, gear, supermarket) | X |
| Financial (ATM, currency exchange) | X |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi* |
| X | 3G/4G* |
| Medical | X |
| Laundromat | Laundry* |
| Showers | Showers* |
| Customs and Immigration | X |
| Checkpoint | X |
| Consulate/ Embassy | X |
| Vehicle Insurance | X |
| Vehicle Shipping | X |
| Warning (health, safety, impassable roads) | X |
Extra
| iOverlander | Park4Night |
|---|---|
| Pet Services | Pets Allowed* |
| X | Service Area w/o Parking |
| Short Term Parking | Parking Day Only Parking Lot Day/Night |
| X | Setting Height Limit |
| X | Setting Review Rating* |
| X | Winter-Caravanning* |
| X | Swimming Pool* |
| X | Carwash for Motorhomes* |
| Tourist attraction | Activities nearby: · Playground* · Point of view* · Swimming possible* · Climbing* · Canoe/Kayak* · Fishing points* · Beach fisheries* · Departure of hikes* · Monument* · MTB tracks* · Windsurf/Kitesurf* · Beautiful motorcycle sites* |
There’s a loophole to finding services on Park4Night without using Park4Night+. Apply the filter “service area without parking“. This doesn’t let you choose a specific service to search for, but it does allow you to browse the nearby service areas.
QUALITY
iOverlander has specific guidelines for the locations users can add to their database. The spots must be specific to the needs of overlanders; owners of spots must declare that they are posting their property; and no illegal activities can be promoted, for example, camping in prohibited areas.
After a place is submitted by a user, it must go through iOverlander’s moderation process before being accepted and added to their database.
In addition, users can leave a review after checking in to a place. The extra information and photos can help others make a more informed decision on where to go and what places to skip.
Park4Night allows users to review the locations they visit and add stars. This way users can easily review others’ experiences and compare the quality of different places. Park4Night+ users can even add a minimum rating to the search filter when looking for a place to spend the night.
There is no clear information on Park4Night’s quality process for users’ submissions to their database.
When adding a place, it does immediately show up on the map, with other users unable to see that this place still needs to be checked by the administrator.
They do share some guidelines on what photos might be approved for the listing, but no information about the content of it.
This means that newly added locations do get checked, but since they are immediately visible on the map, there’s a chance that you’ll find a low-quality listing in their databank due to the delay in the review of its quality.
GPS INTEGRATION
iOverlander has a partnership with Garmin. Their database is preloaded on the following devices: Garmin Overlander, Garmin RV 780/890/1090, Garmin Zumo XT, and Garmin Tread. The preloaded points get updated every two months.
It’s important to note that iOverlander does advise people who want to use one of these devices outside of the US, to check if their desired country has been integrated before purchasing.
We have used multiple Garmin devices while overlanding through Europe and have not yet experienced any problems with the preloaded iOverlander spots.
Other GPS devices can be used, but they’ll require you to manually load the iOverlander Points (“GPX files”) onto the device.
Park4Night is not preloaded onto any GPS devices but it does offer packages that allow you to integrate their spots with your GPS manually. These packages can be bought for Garmin, TomTom, and IGO/Mappy, and cost €22 each.
Overlanders should make sure they buy the ‘4×4’ version and not the regular ‘Motorhome/Van’ version, since the latter does not include any off-road spots.
TomTom users should know that the TomTom version isn’t compatible with TomTom GO camper (>2018), TomTom START, and TomTom GO.
A free test version of the integration is available so you can test the compatibility with your device before committing to the purchase.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
- Where iOverlander goes for the more universal approach choosing English as its only language, using Park4Night might be preferred for non-English speakers.
- For overland trips through South America, Asia, and Africa, using iOverlander is advised, since Park4Night‘s spots may be limited in these regions.
- No bigger buzz kill than getting stuck. Since Park4Night was originally designed for motorhomes, it allows you to set a height limit for your searches. This can come in handy for people traveling with bigger overland vehicles or rooftop tents.
- iOverlander explicitly excludes rest areas next to highways, whereas Park4Night does include these. We would only recommend spending the night here as a last resort, but if you’re in desperate need of a break, it might come in handy to check Park4Night for the closest rest area.
CONCLUSION
iOverlander is designed for and by overlanders, which results in a tailored service addressing the specific needs one might have when overlanding. Evidently, this makes it the most suitable app for overlanders, but it does miss some extra filters Park4Night does offer, like setting a height limit, only showing top-reviewed places, and searching for fun activities nearby.
However, to access these benefits, you’ll need a Park4Night+ subscription. This will set you back a few bucks, which in our opinion is totally worth it when you’re planning to drive through Europe.
The lack of places in Park4Night‘s databank for other continents, may make a subscription less worthwhile there.
Both apps can be of benefit to the overland community, but when comparing the free version, iOverlander is the better of the two.
If you can spare the extra storage on your phone, we recommend downloading both iOverlander and Park4Night, which will give you access to both their databanks, together containing over 450,000 places worldwide. This will make finding your next overnight stay an easy ride.
Which app are you going to try?
