Looking for a roommate in Vancouver?

Roomster

Roomster is all about finding a roommate. While part of the site also lets you find full apartments, roommates is the focus of the site. Vancouverites can create a profile for free indicating they are seeking a place to live, or that they have an apartment with a room for rent.

Roomster provides an extra level of security and legitimacy to roommate listings. How? Each profile has gone through mobile phone number verification, and most profiles have opted for other verifications as well such as email, address and ID checks. Long story short, roommate listings here can be trusted more than on a typical "room for rent" classified site

Filters include location, rental amount, age, gender, zodiac sign, and willingness to live with pets. For a decent idea on compatibility, the profiles include information such as age, smoking, wake up/bed time, cleanliness, food preferences, and willingness for guests/parties/students.

While creating a profile is free, you need a paid membership to communicate. We'll argue to pay a few bucks for much better quality than the likes of Craigslist or Kijiji is worth it. When comparing what you'll be paying for rent in Vancouver (not cheap!), a few dollars to help you with the task of finding a great roommate seems a no-brainer. They do auto renew membership plans (at longer time spans), so be sure to cancel if you no longer plan to use it.

Roomies.ca

Roomies.ca is similar to Roomster listed above (i.e. focused solely on finding a roommate) but is free of charge. That said, before you can perform a proper search you need to create a profile on the site. Once you've got a profile set up, searching and communicating is free. To help with reducing scams, the site requires mobile phone verification and also offers social media account verification. Social verifications are displayed on profiles, so it's one way you can feel better about who you're communicating with.

Profile criteria includes location, age, gender, whether you will have children in the home, smoking, pets, whether you're a student, and whether you're LGBT+ or cannabis friendly. You can also indicate whether you're willing to 'team up' with others in seeking a place to live.

Craigslist

Ahh, Craigslist. One of the longest running online classified sites - still in its low-end format, although they've slowly added a few features, including browsing in map view which is super helpful. Filters include price, square footage, pet-friendliness, furnished, laundry and parking. While you have to be careful of fake/scam ads, due to its popularity, Craigslist should likely be on your list of roommate sites to try. Posting and responding to ads is free.

PadMapper

PadMapper allows Vancouverites to search for a place to live with an easy to use map interface. Leave only 'Rooms' checked to find those who have a room for rent in their place. Additional search filters include rental amount, age of listing, keywords, pet-friendliness, and Walk Score. PadMapper combines its own roommate listings, with that of some other sites, including Airbnb. Responding to ads is free.

Kijiji

Kijiji is the old staple that allows you to search and buy for anything and everything in Vancouver. It's a bit of a mess and heavy on the advertising, but there are a plethora of roommate ads here. Worth a shot if you've exhausted the sites listed above. Filters include location, rental rate, furnished and pet-friendliness. Posting and responding to ads is free, but be warned that Kijiji (like Craigslist) is a hot bed for scams.

Roomlala

Roomlala is a bit different from your typical roommate or apartment site, but there are definitely shared accommodation rentals listed for Vancouver. Focus on the 'Spare Rooms' and 'Flatshares' sections, unless you're looking for a short term rental.

Roomlala operates on an interesting model in that, if the person posting the ad hasn't paid a membership fee then the person inquiring must in order for their message to be read (and vice versa: if the person posting the room for rent had paid a membership then the potential renters message can be read at no cost to the potential renter). Basically, one side of the conversation has to pay. That said, it's worth checking the listings as one could argue the quality of the listings should be higher than that of a Craigslist or Kijiji. Filtering is fairly limited, however: Rental rate, move in/out date, etc. You won't find as many listings compared to most of the other sites listed here, but it's worth a quick search.

Sublet.com

Sublet.com has a fairly old-school interface, but if you've exhausted most other roommate sites, it's worth checking out. Select 'Room for Rent' to filter for only roommate ads. Other search filters include gender, lease term, furnished/unfurnished, parking, laundry, and air conditioning. A map interface is available, to easily view listings by location. This roommate site is a bit annoying in that if the ad-poster hasn't paid for a membership then the ad responder must pay in order to send a message. If you want to use this for free, only respond to those ads that state 'Contact... Free'. Also, some ads are listed in US dollars.

Need more? Ask Freddie.