Reuben's Blog: 10 Parking Apps to Help You Get the Best Spot

parking apps

We’re a society that loves cars, even if we hate the things that come with them: buying gas, paying for insurance, and finding a somewhere to park.

But while gas prices and insurance rates might be out of your control, you can have some say in how much time and money you spend on where you park your car. Read on to learn about some of the top parking apps that can help you or your employees find a place to park.

Is there an App to Help You Find Parking?

There are a number of apps designed to help you find parking places, each with different features and bells and whistles, whether you’re looking to save money, find a garage, or search for a place to keep your car at the airport. Some of these parking apps let you reserve spots in advance, some tell you about the availability of on-street parking, and others let you pay for parking spots on your phone after you’ve parked.

Why You Should Download a Parking App

The search for a convenient space is one of the major headaches of city driving. Whether you’re heading to a concert or going to dinner or having a meeting at your office downtown, the last thing you need is to aimlessly roam the streets searching for a parking spot.

With parking apps, you can avoid this hassle while enjoying these benefits:

You’ll save time –When you have an idea of where your parking spot is and a quick and convenient way to pay for it, you save time that could be better spent on work/leisure activities. There’s no need to hunt for a spot or spend time dealing with a confusing kiosk.
You’ll save money — In addition to helping customers find parking spots, parking apps let their users access discounted rates. Parking apps can also help you avoid tickets. We’ve seen a number of startups who were inspired by their founders dealing with things like towing costs.
It’s better for the environment — Less time driving aimlessly searching for parking spots means less time you’ll spend burning fuel.
It’s more practical — When was the last time you had a big handful of coins in your car? When you use an app to pay for parking, you don’t need to worry about having the right change — or enough change for your meter. In many cases, you might have already paid for your spot in advance.
It’s safer — If you’re focused on finding a free parking space while you cruise through the streets of a new city, you might be less focused on what’s happening around you.
It’s less stressful — Whether you’re roaming the suburbs in search of new shopping centers or traveling into New York City, traveling can be stressful. Questions like “Where are we going to park?” “Where are we parked?” or “Am I in a street cleaning spot?” can add undue stress to your trip.
It’s more convenient — Instead of fishing out a credit card to pay for parking, you can reserve a spot and pay for it over the phone. And if something goes wrong with a meter, drivers fighting parking tickets will have proof that they paid.

Read on to see a list of some of the best parking apps of 2022.

Best Parking Apps of 2022

Our phones can do almost anything these days, so it’s not unreasonable to expect them to uncover parking spots for us. Below you’ll find a list of some of the top parking apps you can download to help you save time and money when you’re looking to park your car.

1. SpotHero

Once known as Parking Panda, Spot Hero is a parking reservation service that works with different facilities around the country to provide customers with parking in 28 major cities. Customers can find, reserve, and pay for a parking spot in a lot or garage — often at a discounted rate — and receive a parking pass either via email or through the app.

This service helps drivers find and reserve hourly, monthly and airport parking, as well as parking for events, through partnerships with sporting venues ranging from Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles to Yankee Stadium in New York.

Available on: Apple’s iOs and Android devices

2. Best Parking

Best Parking works by letting users search for parking in the moment or for future trips. Drivers can reserve spaces ahead of time, get a digital parking pass, and save as much as 50%. Best Parking links directly to the mobility platform Arrive. Best Parking was acquired in 2015 by Park Whiz, the next entry on our list.

Available on: Apple’s iOs and Android devices

3. ParkWhiz

Founded in 2006, ParkWhiz works with 4,000 parking operators in 35 states and 50 cities. Customers can use the service to find places to park on a daily or monthly basis, or for events, compare prices, and reserve parking spaces.

ParkWhiz also operates ParkWhiz Business, an online system that helps companies manage their employee and customer parking.

Available on: Apple’s iOs and Android devices

4. Parkopedia

Operating in 89 countries — and keeping tabs on more than 70 million parking spots, Parkopedia could become your favorite navigation app. Just tell Parkopeida where you’re headed in the city of your choice and it will find the closest spot for your car, how much it will cost, and how many spaces are available. The company bills itself as the “parking partner” of a number of carmakers, including GM, Ford, Mazda, and Volvo.

Available on: Apple’s iOs and Android devices

5. Way

Technically, Way is more than just an app for parking, as the company offers insurance and auto finance services. When it comes to helping people find parking spaces, Way lets users reserve hourly and monthly parking and helps locate parking spaces at the airport.

Way also offers a service called Parking Pass, which lets drivers save money, letting them hop from lot to lot for a one-time daily or monthly price. And if you’re not sure where you’re parked, Way will provide walking directions back to your lot.

6. SpotAngels

The founder of SpotAngels built their app after having their car towed and being forced to pay $569 to recover it. Available in almost every major U.S. city, the app helps people find street parking and avoid tickets, showing users parking options, and sending reminders to help drivers avoid tickets. The company website even has a map to help users find free parking.

Available on: Apple’s iOs and Android devices

7. ParkMobile

This free app offers three different ways to park, but for our purposes, we’ll focus on just one: the ability to reserve a parking space in advance. With ParkMobile, drivers who are heading into a city for the day and need to find a parking spot can search for parking garage facilities. Simply select the garages you want and reserve a spot and a time for their car.

Available on: Apple’s iOs and Android devices

8. The Parking Spot

The Parking Spot is in the conversation for the best airport parking apps, as it allows you to find places to park at a number of major airports around the U.S. The app lets users pay with touchless entry, and in some locations, offers complimentary car cleaning while travelers are away.

Available on: Apple’s iOs and Android devices

9. PayByPhone

Owned by Volkswagen Financial Services, this app lets users pay for street parking by entering their location on their phone, based on a designated number provided by the PayByPhone system on a nearby sign. Drivers can enter the amount of time they plan to stay and extend their stay without having to run back to their car to feed the meter.

Available on: Apple’s iOs and Android devices, and through Blackberry’s App World

10. Passport Parking

Much like PayByPhone, Passport Parking lets drivers find and reserve parking and pay for their spots by entering a location number on the app and paying from their phone. This app notifies users when their session is about to end, as well as when parking rates will change.

Available on: Apple’s iOs and Android devices

What is the best parking app?

It’s tough to say. Various online rankings seem to match up with the first three entries on our list, Spot Hero, BestParking, and ParkWhiz.

What is the best app to find garage parking facilities?

Much of our research points to BestParking, as it contains a massive directory of cities, all of them filled with garages and lots to keep your car.

What is the best app to find airport parking?

While there are many apps that help people find a place to park at the airport, it’s worth mentioning the Parking Space again. Much like an airline offers frequent flyer miles, this app has a program for frequent users: the more you book, the more points you accrue for free parking. It also lets you find shuttles headed to your location and to the airport.

What is the best app for finding a street parking spot?

Parknav predicts street parking availability in real-time, displaying a map of your chosen area with locations color-coded according to the likelihood of finding parking there.

What is the cheapest parking app?

The apps we’ve written about cost nothing to download. Parking apps make their money not through customers purchasing the, but by collecting commissions from the city or garages and lots where people have paid to park their cars.