Outdoorsy vs RVshare: What an RV Rental Actually Costs
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Search both sites for the same trip and you get two numbers that look comparable and are not.
Outdoorsy shows you the total with fees already in it. RVshare shows you the nightly rate before fees. Put them side by side and RVshare looks dramatically cheaper. It is not. We checked one listing against its own breakdown on each site to confirm which number is which, then pulled six full quotes to find out what the fees actually come to.
Here is the short version. On identical dates, in the same city, for the same class of vehicle:
| Median markup on the nightly rate | |
|---|---|
| Outdoorsy | 32.5% |
| RVshare | 50.6% |
How we tested
Six quotes, three per platform, pulled on 21 August 2026 for an identical trip.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Pickup | Denver, Colorado metro |
| Dates | 18–25 September 2026 |
| Nights | 7 |
| Vehicle class | Class C motorhome |
| Guests | 4 |
| Collection | Pickup, not delivery |
We took each quote to the price-breakdown screen — the one that itemises fees — and recorded every line. On all six, our line items add up to the platform’s own stated total. That reconciliation is the only reason we trust the numbers, and it is the step most comparisons skip.
We did not complete a booking. No prices below are estimates or averages from elsewhere; every figure came off a screen on the day.
The six quotes
Markup here means fees divided by the nightly subtotal — what the platform and owner add on top of the room rate, as it were.
Outdoorsy
| Listing | Nightly × 7 | Fees | Total | Markup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class C, Lakewood | $2,100.00 | $617.60 | $2,717.60 | 29.4% |
| 2021 Coachmen Cross Trail, Littleton | $1,596.00 | $519.20 | $2,115.20 | 32.5% |
| “Goldie”, Louisville | $1,330.00 | $575.10 | $1,905.10 | 43.2% |
RVshare
| Listing | Nightly × 7 | Fees | Total | Markup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Coachman Prism 2150 CB, Aurora | $1,512.00 | $828.00 | $2,340.00 | 54.8% |
| Class C, Centennial | $1,547.00 | $708.00 | $2,255.00 | 45.8% |
| Class C, Denver | $1,300.00 | $658.00 | $1,958.00 | 50.6% |
The ranges do not overlap. Outdoorsy’s worst quote (43.2%) is still lighter than RVshare’s best (45.8%). With three quotes each that is not proof, but it is a consistent gap rather than a coin flip.
Where the money goes
The two platforms charge for different things, and only one of them is charging the same way each time.
| Fee | Outdoorsy | RVshare |
|---|---|---|
| Service fee | Exactly 10.0% every time | 11.6%, 11.6%, 11.9% |
| Insurance / protection | $51.37–$58.23 per night | $54.71–$78.86 per night |
| Prep / owner fee | $75 on one of three | $100, $100, $120 — on all three |
| Optional deposit waiver | Not offered | $99 |
Here is the same information as a flow, one real quote from each platform — the median-markup listing of the three we pulled.
Three boxes on one, four on the other. That extra box is the difference.
Outdoorsy’s service fee is exactly ten percent, and it is worth knowing what it is ten percent of. On the Louisville rig it came to $140.50, which is 10.6% of the $1,330 nightly subtotal — until you add the $75 prep fee. Ten percent of $1,405 is $140.50 exactly. The same rule fits all three quotes.
RVshare’s lands between 11.6% and 11.9%. Slightly more, and not a round number, which means you cannot predict it from the listing price.
RVshare charges an owner fee on every quote; Outdoorsy charged one on one of three. On RVshare it appears as a single “Owner Fees” line, and opening the Rental Options tab shows what it is made of: on the Centennial rig, a $100 prep fee. On the Denver rig, $90 preparation plus a $30 dumping fee. It is the owner’s own costs, passed through under one label.
Why the cheapest RV had the worst markup
Look again at the Outdoorsy column. The cheapest of the three — Goldie at $1,330 — carried the highest markup of any Outdoorsy quote, 43.2%. That looks like the platform punishing you for going budget. It is not.
The protection package is a flat amount, not a percentage.
| Listing | Nightly × 7 | Protection | As a share of the rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lakewood | $2,100.00 | $407.60 | 19.4% |
| Littleton | $1,596.00 | $359.60 | 22.5% |
| Louisville | $1,330.00 | $359.60 | 27.0% |
Two of those protection charges are the identical figure. It is priced per night by what the vehicle is, not by what the owner is charging. So the cheaper the rig, the larger a bite the same flat charge takes.
This is the single most useful thing to understand before you book. The advertised nightly rate is the only part of the bill you can shop down. Everything else moves slowly or not at all, so the cheaper the rig you pick, the worse your percentage looks — even though your total is still lower. Goldie’s 43.2% markup is on a total of $1,905, the cheapest of all six quotes we pulled.
Do not shop for the lowest markup. Shop for the lowest total.
The cost that never appears in the total
Every quote we pulled included a mileage allowance, and the allowance and the overage rate are set per listing, not per platform. That means two rigs with an identical total can cost very different amounts once you actually drive.
| Listing | Miles included | Extra mile |
|---|---|---|
| Lakewood (Outdoorsy) | Unlimited | — |
| Littleton (Outdoorsy) | 800 | $0.40 |
| Louisville (Outdoorsy) | 800 | $0.35 |
| Centennial (RVshare) | 700 | $0.40 |
| Denver (RVshare) | 700 | $0.69 |
Our test trip assumed 700 miles, so none of these quotes showed a single dollar of mileage cost. Drive 900 instead and the same three rigs cost you $0, $40, and $138 in overage. The number that separates them was invisible on the page you compared.
There is a trap inside the trap. The Denver listing sells a “500 Miles package” for $350 as an optional upgrade. That is $0.70 per mile — more than the $0.69 you would pay for going over. Buying miles in advance costs more than not buying them.
Three things still not in the total
Tax. Every total on both platforms is labelled before tax. Colorado’s rental taxes land on top of the figures above.
The security deposit. RVshare showed a refundable deposit of $1,000 on one listing and $2,000 on another. It comes back, but you need it available. Both offered to waive it for $99 — on the Aurora quote that option was preselected, quietly turning a $2,340 total into $2,439. Check that toggle before you read the number.
Generator hours. Outdoorsy included 32 hours across the week on two listings and unlimited on the third. RVshare included 4 hours per night — 28 across the week — then charged $3 to $4 an hour. If you boondock without solar, this becomes a real line.
Which one to book
Book Outdoorsy if the two rigs you are choosing between are priced similarly. A lighter, predictable fee stack, a service fee you can calculate yourself, more included miles, and cheaper overage. On our six quotes it was the better structure every time.
Book RVshare when the rig you want is on RVshare. That is not a dodge. These are marketplaces of individually owned vehicles, and there is no overlap in inventory — the right RV in the right suburb on the right week beats a five-point difference in fee percentage. Just do the arithmetic on the total rather than the nightly rate, because RVshare’s headline number is the one that hides the most.
Whichever you use, compare totals from the breakdown screen, not the search results. That is the one habit that would have saved every hour we spent on this page.
What this test does not tell you
Three quotes per platform, one metro area, one week in September, one class of vehicle, pickup rather than delivery. That is enough to show a consistent gap in how the two platforms build a price. It is not enough to promise you will see 32.5% and 50.6% on your own dates.
We also did not rent anything. This compares published prices and fee structures, not what the handover was like, how clean the rig was, or how either company behaved when something went wrong. Those matter and they are not in these numbers.
Prices change. Everything here was read on 21 August 2026, and the fee structure — a flat protection charge, a percentage service fee, a per-listing mileage allowance — will outlast the specific figures. That structure is the part worth carrying to your own search.
