What is Frontside?
Frontside is a free surf forecast that answers one question: of all the breaks near you, which one should you surf today? It scores every spot in an area from the same forecast, ranks them against each other on one map, and says so in a sentence - instead of making you open ten spots one at a time and hold the comparison in your head.
What Frontside does, in one table
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What does it cost? | Nothing. No login, no premium tier, no forecast behind a paywall. |
| What does it show? | Every break near you ranked for today and the week, with a one-line verdict, slot-by-slot scores, size, period, wind and tide. |
| Where does the forecast come from? | Open-Meteo marine and weather models, scored by Frontside's own model for each break's shape, exposure and tide window. |
| Where does it work? | Portugal, Southern California, Oahu, Bali, Sri Lanka, Israel and Ireland today - roughly 450 breaks - with more regions as the model is trained for them. |
| Who is it for? | Anyone deciding where to paddle out - at home on a Tuesday or on a trip with a hire car and one free morning. |
How does the ranking work?
Every break has a profile: which way it faces, which swell direction suits it, which winds blow offshore, how much size it holds, and which tide it wants. The forecast for each slot of the day is scored against that profile, so the same swell can be rated good at a sheltered reef and poor at the exposed beach next to it.
The day's score is the average of its slots, the way the app rates it, and the breaks in an area are ranked by that. The verdict sentence names the best one and its numbers, and says plainly when nothing is worth the drive - that version is the one people come back for.
Why compare instead of forecast?
Because a forecast for one spot answers the wrong question. Surfers do not want to know whether Carcavelos is good; they want to know whether Carcavelos is better than Guincho today, and both are forty minutes away in opposite directions. Every forecast app shows one spot at a time and leaves that comparison to you.
Frontside starts from the comparison. The map shows every break near you with its rating, the list ranks them, and each one opens to its own slot-by-slot day. The pages you can read without the app - surf in Ericeira today, the best breaks in Bali - are the same ranking written down.
How accurate is it?
We measure it rather than claim it. Frontside logs its forecast against what surfers report from the beach and against other services' readings for the same break and time, and publishes the comparison as it accumulates. Until those numbers are published for a region, the honest answer is that the model is trained and tested but unproven in public - and the page will say so.
Who makes it?
A small team of surfers who were tired of ten open tabs. Frontside is built in the open, the spot data is corrected from local knowledge as it comes in, and every page says when its forecast was generated and where the numbers came from.
Common questions
Is Frontside free?
Yes, entirely. No login, no premium forecast, no trial. The full forecast for every break is on the page.
Does Frontside have surf cams?
Where a public camera exists for a break, the app links to it. Frontside does not run its own camera network.
Which regions does Frontside cover?
Portugal, Southern California, Oahu, Bali, Sri Lanka, Israel and Ireland, about 450 breaks. More regions are added as the model is trained for them.
Where does the forecast data come from?
Open-Meteo's marine and weather models, scored by Frontside's own model for each break. Every page names its source and the time it was generated.
Can I use Frontside on a surf trip?
That is what it is for. Pick a region, see every break ranked for the week, and open the best day's map.
Last updated 2026-09-18.