How to find free and cheap parking spots in Toronto

Free parking in Toronto is like a rare unicorn whose elusive capture involves getting a massive fine, or being towed away from the downtown core. That being said, time is money—if you don’t want to waste hours circling the streets to find the cheapest parking options, there’s a few apps and sites that’ll guide you to the best spots in town.

Here’s how to find free and cheap parking spots in Toronto.

HonkMobile

Definitely the most popular Toronto-based parking app in the city right now, Honk allows you to scan through all sorts of parking options with ease, and sometimes even lets you reserve spots. Type in your destination and enter your time window: it’ll show you the best prices and even offers a street view of what the area looks like.

Rover

Making use of under-utilized residential parking spots, this app describes itself as "the AirBnB of parking." You can connect with owners of listed parking spots through the app, and you also have the option of extending your session if needed.

Toronto Free Parking

According to this basic website, free parking does exist—but be careful, it can be risky. It's unclear how often the map is updated,  but it does appear to provide some up-to-date pins that let you know what kind of free parking is available, from one-hour limit spots to ones that don’t really have any official indication.