Best Surf App for Hawaii 2026: Cams, Buoys & Free
“On the North Shore the swell shows up on the outer buoys long before it shows up at the beach — 51101 and 51001 northwest of Kaua‘i are your early warning, and 51201 off Waimea is your confirmation.” — how Hawaii surfers actually read the buoys, paraphrased
Quick comparison
| App | Price | Data source | HI cam coverage | Personalized? | Offline? | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surfline | Free 3-day; Premium $15.99/mo | Proprietary model + buoys | Strongest — North Shore, Waikiki, Maui, Kaua‘i | No | Limited | iOS, Android, web |
| LazySurfer | Free $0; Pro $7.99/mo, $29.99/6-mo, $49.99/yr | NOAA NDBC buoys + NWS wind | None (your eyes + buoy data) | Yes — deep-learning model from your sessions | Yes — cached on device | iOS, Android |
| Surf News Network | Free | NDBC/PacIOOS buoys + local forecasters | None (links cams) | No | No | Web |
| Windy | Free; Premium ~$19/yr | ECMWF / GFS model output | None | No | Partial | iOS, Android, web |
| PacIOOS / NDBC | Free always | Raw buoy readings | None | No | No | Web |
| Magicseaweed (via Surfline) | Now redirects to Surfline | Surfline model | See Surfline | No | n/a | Redirected |
The buoys Hawaii surfers actually read
Hawaii forecasting starts with the Pacific buoy network — a mix of NOAA NDBC deep-water stations and nearshore PacIOOS Waverider buoys operated with Scripps. Because the islands are isolated targets in open ocean, these readings are unusually predictive. Learn which buoy feeds your spot and most of the forecast interprets itself:
- Station 51101 — Northwestern Hawaii Two, roughly 186 nm NW of Kaua‘i. The early-warning buoy for North Pacific groundswell heading at the North Shore.
- Station 51001 — Northwestern Hawaii One, just up-swell of 51101. Pairs with it to time NW swell arrival.
- Station 51201 — Waimea Bay, O‘ahu, ~4 mi off the North Shore. The confirmation buoy for Waimea, Pipeline, and Sunset.
- Station 51202 — Mokapu Point, O‘ahu (windward). Reads trade-wind swell hitting the east side.
- Station 51211 — Barbers Point / Pearl Harbor Entrance, O‘ahu. South and west shore indicator.
- Station 51208 — Hanalei, Kaua‘i, ~4 mi off Ha‘ena Point. The North Shore of Kaua‘i read.
- Station 51205 — Pauwela, Maui. The go-to buoy for Maui’s north shore (Ho‘okipa, Jaws/Pe‘ahi).
An app that shows you these raw readings is doing more for you than one that abstracts them into a single star rating. LazySurfer auto-matches the nearest relevant station to whichever spot you’ve picked; Surf News Network publishes them with local interpretation; and you can always read them straight from the source for free.
“LazySurfer predicts your own 1-to-5 star rating at 90% exact-match accuracy — 97.6% within one star — because it’s trained on the sessions you actually logged, not a generic crowd average.” — how LazySurfer’s model works
1Surfline
Credit where it’s due: Surfline’s Hawaii cam coverage is the best in the business and genuinely useful here. The North Shore is one of the most heavily cammed coastlines on the planet — Pipeline, Sunset, Waimea, Velzyland — plus Waikiki, Ala Moana Bowls, Maui’s Ho‘okipa, and Kaua‘i spots. On a day when a swell could be 6 ft or 12 ft, the ability to see the actual lineup before you drive Kamehameha Highway is worth real money. The 16-day forecast and pro forecaster reports are gated behind Surfline Premium ($15.99/mo since April 2025), and the free tier caps at three days. If you live within range of a North Shore cam, this is the tool to beat.
2LazySurfer
Built by Nick Peterson (NJP Consulting LLC, based in San Diego), LazySurfer pulls NOAA NDBC buoy data and NWS wind directly — including the Hawaii stations above — and predicts your rating with a custom deep-learning model (a PyTorch neural network with per-user embeddings), retrained weekly on real logged surf sessions from the LazySurfer community. It predicts your 1-to-5 star rating at 90% exact-match accuracy (97.6% within one star). The prediction runs as a cloud service and is cached on your device, so forecasts still work offline. Why it fits Hawaii:
- The same swell that’s 4 ft and fun for one surfer is 4 ft and frustrating for another — the per-user model learns your standard, not a crowd average.
- Hawaii spots are intensely tide- and trade-wind-sensitive. Matching today’s buoy, tide, and wind against your previously-rated sessions catches that better than a generic star.
- Offline caching matters at North Shore and outer-island spots where cell coverage is patchy.
- The free tier is genuinely free, and Pro is $7.99/mo (or $29.99/6-mo, $49.99/yr) — well under Surfline Premium.
3Surf News Network (SNN)
Surf News Network is the Hawaii institution — island forecasters, buoy spectral snapshots, and the kind of local read (which way a swell is wrapping, when the trades will back off) that a global model simply can’t produce. SNN publishes the PacIOOS/NDBC buoy layout and surf heights with human interpretation tuned to each island and shore. It’s free and web-based, with no personalization or offline mode, but for understanding why the buoys are doing what they’re doing, it’s the best local source there is.
4Windy
Windy (windy.com) isn’t surf-specific, but it’s the best free tool for watching North Pacific storms spin up and fire swell toward the islands days in advance. The ECMWF and GFS layers show you the fetch, the swell train, and — crucially for Hawaii — the trade-wind pattern that decides whether the south shore goes glassy in the morning or stays textured. Use Windy for the regional read, then a spot-level app (Surfline or LazySurfer) for the actual call.
5PacIOOS / NDBC (NOAA buoys, direct)
The Hawaii stations listed earlier (51101, 51001, 51201, 51202, 51211, 51208, 51205) publish in real time to ndbc.noaa.gov, with nearshore Waverider detail and forecasts at pacioos.hawaii.edu. Once you can read the wave-height + period + direction block, you can skip the app layer entirely on a familiar swell. Pair it with the official tide tool at tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov for a free, subscription-proof forecasting pipeline.
6Magicseaweed (via Surfline)
If you’re searching for Magicseaweed’s Hawaii forecasts, they no longer exist as a separate product. MSW shut down in 2023 when Surfline’s parent company acquired its forecast and spot database, and magicseaweed.com now redirects to Surfline. For Hawaii, that means position #1 above (Surfline) is the closest replacement — the MSW spot ratings effectively live there now.
Quick picker
- Want to see the North Shore lineup before you drive? → Surfline
- Log sessions and want personalized, offline, low-cost predictions? → LazySurfer
- Want Hawaii forecaster knowledge and buoy interpretation? → Surf News Network
- Tracking a North Pacific swell or the trades days out? → Windy
- Want the raw buoy reading straight from the source? → PacIOOS / NDBC
Why Hawaii forecasting is its own problem
Three things make Hawaii distinct from a mainland coast:
- Deep-water buoys give you a true head start. Because the islands sit in open Pacific, swell hits outer stations like 51101 and 51001 well before it reaches shore. That makes the buoy data the most valuable part of any Hawaii forecast — and apps that surface it directly win.
- Big-wave volatility. A North Shore swell can double in size in hours. Generic day-level ratings (“Saturday will be good”) miss the window where Waimea goes from closeout to firing. Buoy-driven, hour-aware forecasting matters more here than almost anywhere.
- Shore-by-shore and trade-wind splits. The same day can be giant on the north shore, glassy on the south, and victory-at-sea on the east. Knowing which buoy and which wind angle feeds your spot is everything. The difference between long-period North Pacific groundswell and short-period trade-wind swell decides whether it’s worth paddling out — see groundswell vs windswell.
Each of these pushes the right answer toward apps that surface buoy data, personalize, and respect the islands’ volatility — rather than apps that flatten everything into one number.
Related reading: How LazySurfer Works documents the buoy-matching approach. Hawaiian scale vs face height explains why a Hawaii forecast says “6 ft” for a head-high-plus day. Surf period explained walks through what those NDBC numbers mean. For other regions, see Best surf app for the West Coast 2026, Best surf app for the East Coast 2026, and the overall Best surf forecasting app 2026 roundup. New here? Start with the FAQ.
Frequently asked
What is the best surf forecast app for Hawaii?
For most Hawaii surfers, Surfline, because its North Shore cam network lets you eyeball Pipeline, Sunset and Waimea before driving. If you log sessions, LazySurfer gives a better daily call because it learns your home break from the same PacIOOS and NDBC buoys. Surf News Network is the local-knowledge layer. Many locals run two of the three.
Is there a free surf app for Hawaii?
Yes. LazySurfer's free tier reads the Waimea (51201), Pauwela (51205) and Hilo buoys and gives a personalized rating with no ads. Surfline's free tier shows ad-supported cams and a short forecast. NDBC and PacIOOS publish the raw buoy readings free, and Windy's free map shows incoming North Pacific swell days out.
Which buoys should Hawaii surfers watch?
51101 and 51001 northwest of Kauai give the earliest read on North Pacific swell. 51201 (Waimea Bay) is the North Shore ground truth, 51202 (Mokapu) covers the east side of Oahu, 51205 (Pauwela) covers Maui's north shore, and 51211 (Pearl Harbor entrance) covers South Shore summer swell. LazySurfer assigns the nearest one automatically.
Why is Hawaii surf forecasting more reliable than the mainland?
Hawaii sits in deep water with no continental shelf, so open-ocean swell arrives with little loss of energy and the offshore buoys see it hours before it hits. Forecast models and buoys agree more often here than on the East Coast, which makes both Surfline's model and LazySurfer's buoy-driven ratings unusually dependable.
Does Surfline have cams on every Hawaiian island?
No. Surfline's cams are densest on Oahu's North and South Shores with some on Maui; Kauai and the Big Island are thin. For those islands a buoy-driven app like LazySurfer and local reports from Surf News Network do more work than a cam check.
Check the buoy at your break
Every app on this page reads the same NOAA buoys. See the live reading, tide chart, and ideal conditions for a few flagship breaks — no app required:
State roundups: Best surf spots in Hawaii · Best surf spots in California.