also called dry camping · dispersed camping (related)
Camping without paid hookups for water, electricity, or sewer, often on public land where allowed.
Boondocking means camping with no paid hookups for water, power or sewer, often parked on public land where it is allowed. You trade the conveniences of a serviced campsite for freedom and no nightly fee. The price of that is being self-sufficient: you carry your own power, water and a way to deal with waste.
You park your van on open public land for a few free nights and love the quiet, until your battery runs low and your water tank is nearly empty. There is no hookup to plug into out here, so whether you can keep working depends entirely on the power and water you brought with you.
Cuts campsite fees and adds freedom, but requires self-sufficiency on power, water, and waste.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
These split by whether you have facilities and permission.
Boondocking and wild camping both mean staying without paid hookups, boondocking usually on public land and wild camping's legality varying by place.
Hookups are the campsite connections for power, water and sewer; a dump station is where you empty waste tanks; and an aire is a simple European motorhome stop with fewer facilities than a full campsite.
aire · dump station · hookups · wild camping
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