The 7 Best Cheap Family Tents (Bought & Tested!)

I’ve tested over 30 family camping tents, and here are the 7 best cheap family tents I’ve ever tested:

1. Coleman Sundome 6

2. Coleman Sundome Dark Room 6

3. Core Equipment Instant Cabin 6

4. Coleman Evanston 6

5. Coleman Montana 8

6. Coleman Red Canyon 8

7. Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10

To keep with the ‘cheap-family-tents’ theme, here’s how I chose each of the tents above:

• It has to be in a family size of at least a stated 6-person capacity.

• And it has to have a price tag of around $100 to $150.

Best Cheap Family Tents – Quick Summary

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Here’s a quick summary of all the cheap family tents that I recommend:

Why You Can Trust Me

If you’re wondering, yes, I did buy all 7 of these family tents with my own savings, and they cost me a total of around $900.

(That’s an average price of around $130 per tent, pretty good, eh?)

And of course, I also usually spend a week in each tent that I test, so that’s almost 2 months of testing, right here.

Also, I’ve been camping in cheap, no-brand tents ever since I was a teenager, and I’ve upgraded my way through Coleman and Core tents in my 20s, all the way up The North Face and REI Co-Op tents now, when I’m in my 30s.

So, I think I know a thing or two about family camping tents, cheap or expensive.

And now, let’s get into the more detailed recommendations.

RELATED: Best Family Camping Tent

1. Coleman Sundome 6 (Best Overall Cheap Family Tent)

Key Info

• Peak height: 74.5 inches

• Base area: 92.6 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 11.5 minutes

• Weight: 16.0 pounds

• Price I paid: ~$100 (this may differ from the current price, which you can check out here on Amazon)

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Coleman Sundome 6 is my absolute favorite cheap family tent, because it is easily the least expensive decent quality family camping tent that I have.

I paid about $100 for mine, but I’ve since seen it at between $50 to $80 on Amazon. You can click on this link here to check out the latest price on Amazon. (Hopefully you’re lucky, and you can score an even better deal than I did.)

Also, I got mine a few years ago, I’ve used it on numerous camping trips now (more than 10 times), and it’s still going strong. Now, here’s all the other great points about the Sundome six-person tent.

You can technically fit like 6 family members in here, but to be a little bit comfier, I’d recommend no more than 4 family members in here, 2 on each queen bed. Alternatively, you can fit just 1 queen bed and 1 twin bed.

I also really liked the 6-foot peak height, with plenty of headroom left above me. I’m even able to stand upright, stretch my arms out, walk around the tent, stand up on my pads and mattresses, and even jump around.

On top of that, this Sundome 6 also has a decent amount of ventilation and rain protection. It could take up to 30 minutes of heavy rain without a single leak at all, which is better than all the other cheap family tents in this review.

As for cons, I couldn’t think of a single major one. For the price point that I paid for this Coleman Sundome 6, it’s a lovely, completely functional and livable family tent.

Check out the Coleman Sundome 6:

2. Coleman Sundome Dark Room 6 (Best Cheap Blackout Family Tent)

Key Info

• Peak height: 73.0 inches

• Base area: 95.1 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 11.5 minutes

• Weight: 16.4 pounds

• Price I paid: ~$120 (this may differ from the current price, which you can check out here on Amazon)

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Coleman Dark Room Sundome is almost exactly the same as the regular Sundome 6 above, but with the exception of Coleman’s Dark Room feature.

I’ve actually tested different blackout tents from Coleman, Ozark Trail, and Decathlon’s Fresh and Black series, and I found Coleman’s Dark Room to be the best of all of the blackout tents.

And since I usually camp in hot summer days (it’s only ever summer where I am), I actually much prefer the Dark Room Sundome 6 over the regular Sundome 6.

I found the Sundome Dark Room to block out quite a bit of sunlight, even in the middle of the day. This is what the regular Sundome looks like:

And this is what the Dark Room Sundome looks like:

On top of that, I also found the Dark Room Sundome to be slightly cooler than the regular Sundome. Not a whole lot of difference, just a few degrees different, but it makes for a slightly more pleasant experience in hot summers.

On top of that, the Dark Room Sundome packs down to about the same size, and weighs only about 0.4lbs. more. (Definitely not an issue for car camping!)

But of course, you’re going to have to pay just slightly more for the Dark Room Sundome, since it is an added feature, on top of all the pros that you get with the regular Sundome 6.

Check out the Sundome Dark Room 6:

3. Core Equipment Instant Cabin 6 (Best Cheap Instant Family Tent)

Key Info (for the 9P that I tested)

• Peak height: 75.5 inches

• Base area: 118.1 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 12 minutes

• Weight: 30.0 pounds

• Price I paid: ~$200 for the 9P (the 6P is less expensive, you can check out the current price here on Amazon)

Pros and Cons

Summary

If you’re looking for a great quality instant family camping tent on a budget, I’ve got just the perfect pick for you here – the Core Equipment Instant Cabin 6. A full disclaimer here though – I have only the 9P Core, not the 6P.

Why is it such a great pick though? Well, I’ve tested instant cabin tents from not just Core, but Coleman and Ozark Trail as well. And the gist is that Core is the best quality of all these budget instant tents.

Now, how much time can you save with this instant tent? Let’s compare my Core 9P against some of the other bigger 8 to 10-person family tents in this review:

Family Tent	Setup Timing	Pack Away Timing
Core Instant 9	12 mins	9 mins
Red Canyon 8	19.5 mins	14 mins
Montana 8	22 mins	14.5 mins
Ozark Trail 10	20 mins	14 mins

As you can see, the Core Equipment Instant Cabin saves you anywhere between 50% to 70% in time savings, when compared to a regular tent of the same size.

That’s because all the tent poles, the pole clips, and the guylines are all pre-attached, so I didn’t have to fuss over any of them at all.

One more great pro that I really liked is that my Core Instant Cabin came with full steel poles, unlike all the other cheap family tents in this review, which are made of fiberglass poles.

However, with a slightly higher quality comes a slightly bigger price tag, and I think this Core Instant Cabin is the most expensive tent in this review. Luckily, the 6P still sells for much less than $200, so I could include it in this review.

Another big con is that the packed size is huge, double the size of the regular tents in this review; check it out:

Pro-Tip: One big pro-tip I have for you here is to get the 9-person Core Instant Cabin, instead of the 6-person, if you have the extra budget to do so.

I think the 9P is way better, for a few reasons:

• It has much bigger doors (one is a huge T-door).

• It also has much more window mesh for hot day ventilation.

• And it has 3 top hubs instead of 1, which helps to hold the tent’s fabric up, giving you a little more livable space inside the tent.

Check out the Core Instant Cabin 6:

4. Coleman Evanston 6 (Best Cheap Family Tent with Screen Room)

Key Info

• Peak height: 68.5 inches

• Dome tent base area: 83.9 square feet

• Screen room area: 42.3 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 17.5 minutes

• Weight: 19.4 pounds

• Price I paid: ~$120 (this may differ from the current price, which you can check out here on Amazon)

Pros and Cons

Summary

If you need a screen room tent on a budget, don’t worry because I’ve got you covered as well, and my best recommendation is the Coleman Evanston 6.

Essentially, this is just the Coleman Sundome Tent 6 (with a few minor differences), plus a screen room at the front of the tent. So, you’d get all the pros that I listed in my recommendation #1 as well.

And here’s all the extra pros you get with the Evanston 6.

The screen room itself gave me an extra 42.3 square feet of space for bug-free lounging, and look how massive the Evanston 6 is compared to other Coleman tents of a similar size:

Coleman Tent	Tent Area	Screen Area	Total Area
WeatherMaster 10	143.6 sq. ft	0	143.6 sq. ft
Instant Cabin 10	135.7 sq. ft	0	135.7 sq. ft
Evanston 6	83.9 sq. ft	42.3 sq. ft	126.2 sq. ft
Montana 8	103.5 sq. ft	0	103.5 sq. ft

Surprisingly, the total area of the Evanston 6 is actually about 20 square feet bigger than Montana 8, which has a base area of only about 103 square feet.

However, the biggest con is that there’s very little rainfly protection for the screen room, so even in light rain, water gets into the screen room, not to mention in heavy rain.

If you want this to be protected, you’d need to set up an extra tarp over the tent.

Bear in mind that all budget screen room tents have this issue (from what I’ve seen and tested so far.) But I still think the Coleman Evanston 6 is a very solid budget screen room family tent, and I’d recommend it for sure.

Check out the Coleman Evanston 6:

5. Coleman Montana 8 (An Upgrade of the Sundome 6)

Key Info

• Peak height: 74.0 inches

• Base area: 103.5 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 22 minutes

• Weight: 23.4 pounds

• Price I paid: ~$120 (this may differ from the current price, which you can check out here)

Pros and Cons

Summary

Now, if you’re looking for a bigger version of the Coleman Sundome 6, there’s actually a slightly larger, upsized version of it, and that’s the Coleman Montana 8.

The Sundome is a simple ‘dome’ tent, while Coleman markets the Montana as an ‘extended dome’ tent.

Both these tents have almost the exact same peak height of about 74 inches, but the Montana can fit 8 regular pads, instead of just 6 pads like the Sundome.

Also, the Montana can fit 3 queen beds, instead of just 2 queens, like the Sundome.

There are also 2 cool features that the Montana has that the Sundome doesn’t.

First, the Montana has a little porch area at the front of the tent, and I really liked that it kept my flip flops cool instead of superheating it like the Sundome, which had almost no shade at all.

And for the second feature, the Montana is the only tent in this review to come with a hinged door.

To use this hinged door, all I had to do was to grab the handle on the door, pretty much like a regular door at home, pull it open, step into the tent, and then close the door behind me.

One small issue I noticed though, is that the Montana 8 takes twice the amount of time to set up as the Sundome 6, but that’s because of all the extra features you get with this tent.

Another bigger issue I noticed with the Montana 8, compared to the Sundome 6, is that there can be more mesh for hot day ventilation.

With the rainfly on, the windows are kind of small, and the entire back wall is one big block of fabric.

But nevertheless, I didn’t pay very much for the Coleman Montana 8, only about $20 more than the Sundome, and I thought that this was a fantastic price for a budget 8-person tent.

Check out the Coleman Montana 8:

6. Coleman Red Canyon 8 (Best Cheap & Large Dome Tent)

Key Info

• Peak height: 73.0 inches

• Base area: 140.6 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 19.5 minutes

• Weight: 20.2 pounds

• Price I paid: ~$120 (this may differ from the current price, which you can check out here on Amazon)

Pros and Cons

Summary

Like the Coleman Montana 8 above, the Coleman Red Canyon 8 also has an ‘extended dome shape’. But one big difference between the Red Canyon and the Montana is its square footage.

After I measured the base area of the Red Canyon, I was shocked to find out how huge it was. It’s so big that I could fit 8 sleeping pads, still with quite a bit of leftover space inside to store gear.

In fact, I calculated the base area to be 140.6 square feet, which is as big as some of the 10-person tents that I have. Check this table out:

Coleman Tent	Base Area
Coleman WeatherMaster 10	143.6 sq. ft
Coleman Red Canyon 8	140.6 sq. ft
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	135.7 sq. ft
Coleman Montana 8	103.5 sq. ft

I have literally never seen another 8-person tent with such a humongous base area.

The Red Canyon 8 is also really quite feature-rich, and it comes with 1 gear loft, 2 room dividers, and even a clothesline. But there’s 2 features it doesn’t have that the Montana does – an e-port and the hinged D-door.

I also liked that there’s a decent amount of ventilation on hot days, about 50% more than the Montana (yes, I actually calculated this!). And even in heavy rain, it has 3 vents for rainy day ventilation, while the Montana has none.

And of course, this wouldn’t be a ‘best cheap family tent’ review if we didn’t have cheap tents here. The Red Canyon comes in at about the same inexpensive price as the Montana, and you can check out the current price of it right here.

As for cons, the biggest one is how thin the rainfly fiberglass poles are. One of them broke on my very first use of the tent, and I had to get a tent pole repair splint here to fix that up. Luckily, the fix didn’t cost me more than a few bucks.

Overall, I really liked the Coleman Red Canyon 8, and I got a lot of tent, a lot of space, and a lot of features, for a very inexpensive price. If space is your priority, this is a really great pick for you.

Check out the Coleman Red Canyon 8:

7. Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10 (Best Cheap & Large Cabin Tent)

Key Info

• Peak height: 88 inches

• Base area: 136.4 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 20 minutes

• Weight: 30.0 pounds

• Price I paid: ~$120 (this may differ from the current price, which you can check out here on Walmart)

Pros and Cons

Summary

If you want to buy a cheap 10-person family car camping tent, the Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10 is probably your best bet.

Unfortunately, Coleman is not something I can recommend here for a 10-person tent, as my 10-person Coleman tents cost me anywhere between $250-$300.

What about this Ozark Trail tent though? Well, I paid just $120 for it over at Walmart. That is an amazing price for such a huge tent.

I was also really, really amazed at how tall the peak height was in this tent, towering over me at a massive 88 inches. This is easily the best family tent pick for tall folks on a budget.

On top of that, this tent has a nice cabin shape with near vertical walls, which offers a lot of livable space (unlike all the other dome tents in this review).

The lowest height in this tent still comes in at a whopping 65 inches, which is still taller than my height (I’m just 5’3). So, essentially, I could stand up everywhere inside this Ozark Trail Tent.

However, the biggest con with this tent is probably that the quality isn’t the best. Compared to my Coleman and Core tents above, I had more sticky tent fabric, loose threads, and snagging issues with this tent.

Ozark Trail’s waterproofing is also not comparable to Coleman and Core, and would leak even in just very light rain.

But ultimately, I think you get what you pay for. I didn’t pay much for this tent, and I don’t think there’s any other brand apart from Ozark Trail that you can buy a 10-person tent for this price.

If you’re camping only in fair weather, with no heavy rains and strong winds, this Ozark Trail 10-Person Family Camping Tent is honestly a totally functional, humongous, yet inexpensive tent.

Check out the Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10:

Otherwise, the rest of the family tents I’ve recommended in this review might be a better pick for you. Here’s a quick summary of all the best cheap family camping tents that I recommend:

1. Coleman Sundome 6 (Best Overall Cheap Family Tent)

2. Coleman Sundome Dark Room 6 (Best Cheap Blackout Family Tent)

3. Core Equipment Instant Cabin 6 (Best Cheap Instant Family Tent)

4. Coleman Evanston 6 (Best Cheap Family Tent with Screen Room)

5. Coleman Montana 8 (An Upgrade of the Sundome 6)

6. Coleman Red Canyon 8 (Best Cheap & Large Dome Tent)

7. Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10 (Best Cheap & Large Cabin Tent)

If you’re not satisfied with the recommendations here though, because they’re maybe a little on the “cheap” side, feel free to check out my recommendations on the best family tent out there (these include pricier tents, of course!)

What to Look for in a Cheap Family Tent

If you’re here looking for a cheap family camping tent, there are a number of things to take note of:

1. Budget (naturally!)

2. Tent brand

3. Tent capacity

4. Portability

5. Seasons Ratings

What is your Budget?

If you have a large budget, the world is your oyster; you can buy any family tent that you want to buy.

However, when you don’t have a large budget, lots of options are closed off. You’re no longer able to buy higher-end tent brands like The North Face, REI, Big Agnes, MSR, Marmot, etc.

And that’s why I wanted to write this post, to help you pick the absolute best budget camping tents you can for your budget, and I’ve included only tents between $100 to $150 (give or take) in this review.

What Tent Brands can you Afford?

Now, what are the budget-friendly tent brands that you can afford? There are these 3 main brands:

• Coleman

• Core Equipment

• Ozark Trail

Coleman is your tried-and-tested tent brand that every camper (even non-campers!) have heard of.

I love their Sundome, I’ve had one since forever, and it’s always been great bang for your buck. This is the tent I would always suggest when someone asks me to recommend one of the best camping tents on a budget.

Core Equipment is a little more like the new kid on the block. From what my YouTube viewers have told me, the guys who started Core used to work for Coleman (or something like that).

The quality between these two brands is very similar, though I found Core to be a little better when it comes to their instant tents.

And Ozark Trail is rather… infamous for the quality of their tents. I’d recommend them only if you’re camping in fair weather, it’s not even for light rain.

Overall, I think Coleman is the most reasonably priced for their quality, Core tends to be just very slightly more expensive, and Ozark is like bargain-bin shopping.

What Tent Capacity Do you Need?

Since you’re here looking for family camping tents, I’ve listed only 6-person capacity camping tents and above. Here’s the tent sizing you need to know:

• A 6-person camping tent fits a small family of 3-4

• An 8-person camping tent fits a medium-sized family of 5-6

• A 10-person camping tent fits a large family of 7-8

• A 12-person camping tent fits a super big family of 9-10

Bear in mind that the bigger your tent is, the more you’d have to pay.

For smaller 6 to 8-person tents, you can still get a nice car camping family tent from Coleman and Core for under $150.

However, once you size up to a 10 or 12-person tent, the only brand offering family tents in that size would usually be Ozark Trail.

Portability – Not Something you can Choose

Just a quick note here, there are no backpacking tents in a family-size that I can recommend here, for two main reasons.

• Backpacking tents tend to be much more expensive, due to their ultralight fabrics.

• They also tend to come from generally higher-end brands, like MSR and Big Agnes.

So, car camping tents are the way to go here, if you’re on a budget.

Seasons Ratings – Also Not Something you can Choose

All the family tents I listed in this review are strictly summer camping tents. If you need something for off-season or winter camping, you can’t get that on a budget as well.

4-seasons family tents, and even 3+ seasons tents are much more specialized, with higher durability and weather protection, and you have to fork out anywhere between $500 to $2,000 for these.

Conclusion – Best Cheap Family Camping Tents

If you’re looking for the best cheap family tents to go on camping trips in, here’s the best quick summary I’ve got for you:

• Coleman Sundome 6 (THE Best Budget Family Tent)

• Coleman Sundome Dark Room 6 (Best Cheap Blackout Family Tent)

• Core Equipment Instant Cabin 6 (Best Cheap Instant Family Tent)

• Coleman Evanston 6 (Best Cheap Family Tent with Screen Room)

• Coleman Montana 8 (An Upgrade of the Sundome 6)

• Coleman Red Canyon 8 (Best Cheap & Large Dome Tent)

• Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10 (Best Cheap & Large Cabin Tent)