Best Budget Camping Hammocks

The Wise Owl DoubleOwl is the best cheap camping hammock as it offers similar qualities to premium brands but with a cut-down price. There’s also a single version known as the SingleOwl which has the same features but a narrower width.

It’s made from 210T Parachute Nylon with a steel carabiner. Whilst, I’d have liked an aluminum carabiner, at this price you can’t be too picky. It’s rated for up to 500lbs and comes with straps included which fit nicely in the stuff sack when rolled up correctly.

However, it does fall short of ENO in a few places, for example, the material isn’t as silky and the lack of a compression strap means it’s larger when packed away. However, these shouldn’t be a problem for the average hammocker.

I have written a full review of the Wise Owl SingleOwl if you’d like to learn more, however, I’d recommend you opt for the double-width hammock if possible. The extra material is helpful when trying to get comfortable and provides more space for things like a top quilt if you’ll be using it in colder climates.

If you’re really looking to reign in the purse strings, I’d recommend you consider the Grand Trunk Ultralight Hammock. The Grand Trunk is the only hammock here to use polyester instead of nylon, this is known for being cheaper than nylon which helps them achieve an incredible price point, although polyester has a lower strength on a weight-for-weight basis.

Despite this, the hammock is one of the lightest camping hammocks I’ve reviewed to date at just 12oz. This has been achieved using a ripstop weave in the material to reinforce it, allowing the hammock to hold up to 300lbs.

Keep in mind that this is a single-size hammock and I didn’t see any double available. I would always recommend getting a double if you can.

Unlike the others shared here, this hammock doesn’t come with any accessories at all so you’ll need to ensure you have some straps handy. See my full guide to the best hammock straps.

If you’ll be using your hammock in the jungle, it’s a good idea to get a double-layer hammock as this prevents mosquitos from being able to bite you through the fabric.

Hennessey are renowned for their double layer hammocks, however, they will set you back an arm and a leg. Luckily, Overmont is a more budget-friendly hammock that offers two layers of 210T nylon making it a great cheap alternative to Hennessey.

Not only does the double layer help protect you from bites, but it also makes the hammock very strong with a maximum capacity of 880lbs. However, there’s also a downside as the hammock weighs much more than any others, coming in at 40oz for the hammock alone compared to the Wise Owl which was just 24oz, this is a compromise you’ll have to make.

Keep in mind that you cannot put a sleeping mad or air mattress between the two layers as you might be able to do with some other brands.

Rather than buying a dedicated bug net that wraps around the whole of your hammock, it’s much better to buy a hammock with a built-in bug net if you’re going to need one.

I can recommend Covacure as a great budget hammock with a bug net. I opted for the double hammock but found the specs on the product listings to be incorrect, it’s actualluy 8’9ft long and 55 inches wide which was even better than the specs. It was very spacious

As the hammock has a built-In bug net, the usual pocket on the outside would be inaccessible so they have included a handy pocket on the inside instead. If you don’t want to use the bug net, you can turn the hammock upside down and it works as a regular hammock.

My only criticism is that the elastic strings to hold the net up weren’t particularly long. Whilst attempting to hang it between trees that were a little too far apart, the strings ended up breaking so I had to tie it directly to the hammock. This is likely my fault for not finding the correct hanging distance. Apart from this incident, the hammock seemed very durable and I had no issues.

Unlike the other hammocks here, the Covacure has an iron carabiner, I found this to be bulky and unnecessarily heavy.

If you’re looking for something that you can easily store in your backpack without taking up too much room or weight, then a specialist ultralight hammock such as this one from Onewind is just what you need.

This 11ft long hammock is ideal for taking on trails as it weighs just 11oz when packed away which is less than half the weight of the Wise Owl. They have achieved this by using lightweight buckles instead of a carabiner and with less dense material. It uses 20D ripstop nylon, this is far thinner than the 70D nylon often found in premium camping hammocks.

As well as straps, this is the only hammock to come with an adjustable ridgeline so that your hammock can keep the correct amount of sag no matter where you’re hanging it.

The final cheap camping hammock I recommend comes with everything you need to get your camp spot set up, including the hammock, straps, bug net, and a tarp. This is a great kit for beginners as you can be sure it all works together well.

You won’t be surprised that this is the heaviest of all the hammocks at 60oz due to the inclusion of the tarp and poles. The carabiners that are included are decent quality, they are spring-loaded aluminum carabiners which are very similar to the ones found on my ENO hammock.

As the hammock has a bug net, there is an additional pocket on the inside as you won’t be able to reach the outer pocket. Unfortunately, the zippers aren’t YKK although they hold up well, however, there are reports of the bug net sometimes ripping.

When packed away, the entire kit weighs 3.8lbs or you can reduce this to 2.2lbs if you don’t include the rain fly. The hammock is a single size, suitable for holding up to 350lbs in weight.