Is there a free alternative to Surfline?

Yes. Free Surf Forecast provides 7-day surf forecasts built on NOAA wave models (GFS-Wave, WaveWatch III), real-time NDBC and CDIP buoy observations, NOAA tide predictions, and live surf cameras for 145 US spots — with no account, no ads, and no paywall.

Is Free Surf Forecast really free?

Yes. Every feature — full 7-day forecasts, buoy data, tide charts, surf cameras, session planning, and skill-level filtering — is free with no account required. The project is open source and supported by optional donations.

What data does Free Surf Forecast use?

Forecasts come from NOAA's GFS-Wave model with Open-Meteo Marine as a fallback, gridded swell maps from WaveWatch III, tides from NOAA CO-OPS, and real-time observations from NDBC and CDIP buoys. All scoring logic is open source, so you can see exactly how every rating is calculated.

What happened to MagicSeaweed?

MagicSeaweed was shut down in 2023 after being acquired by Surfline, and its users were redirected to Surfline's paid platform. Free Surf Forecast offers a similar open, no-account experience: search a spot and get a full 7-day forecast immediately.

A Free Surfline Alternative

Full 7-day forecasts, buoys, tides, and cams. No account, no ads, no paywall.

If you landed here, you're probably looking for a surf forecast that doesn't cap your surf checks, lock cameras behind a subscription, or make you create an account to see tomorrow's swell. That's exactly why Free Surf Forecast exists: every feature is free, for every visitor, with no sign-up — the way MagicSeaweed used to work.

Side by Side

	Free Surf Forecast	Surfline
Price	Free, everything included	Free tier with limits; Premium subscription (roughly $120/year as of 2026) for full access
Account required	No	Yes, for most features
Ads	None	On the free tier
Forecast length	7 days, hourly	16+ days with Premium
Forecast source	NOAA GFS-Wave / WaveWatch III, Open-Meteo fallback — methodology fully open source	Proprietary LOTUS model plus human forecasters
Buoy data	NDBC + CDIP real-time observations and wave spectra	Included
Tides	NOAA CO-OPS, 7-day, on the wave chart	Included
Surf cameras	Free where public cams exist (Windy, SurfChex, and others)	Largest cam network, but Premium-only without ads and rewind
Spot coverage	145 US spots (East and West Coasts, Gulf, Great Lakes, Hawaii, Puerto Rico)	Thousands of spots worldwide
Session planning	Scored 3-hour windows by skill level, calendar export	Premium forecast tools
Open source	Yes, entire codebase on GitHub	No

What You Give Up

Honesty matters more than a sales pitch. Surfline has the largest surf camera network in the world, human forecasters writing regional analysis, a proprietary wave model tuned per spot, and global coverage. If you need cams at a specific break we don't cover, or 16-day outlooks for a surf trip abroad, Surfline Premium earns its price.

What You Get

The same government wave models professionals start from — NOAA GFS-Wave, WaveWatch III — presented raw, with transparent scoring on top
Real-time NDBC and CDIP buoy observations, including wave energy spectra
Swell-direction-aware spot scoring that accounts for each beach's facing direction
A session planner that scores every daylight 3-hour window for your skill level
Live swell maps: ocean-basin overview plus local wave height, period, and wind grids
Push alerts when conditions at your spot turn good — no email address required
An installable app (PWA) that works on your phone's home screen

No account. No limit on how many times you check it. If it saves you a skunked session, it did its job.

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Surfline is a trademark of Surfline\Wavetrak, Inc. Free Surf Forecast is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Surfline. Feature and pricing descriptions reflect publicly available information as of June 2026 and may change; check surfline.com for current details.