The new alternative to Couchsurfing™
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Like Couchsurfing™, but better
Couchers.org is a non-profit and free platform, built by volunteers and responsible to the couch surfing community, instead of investors. Formed after Couchsurfing™ put up its paywall in 2020, our goal is to reclaim couch surfing by creating a complete alternative, with all your favourite features.
Couchers.org is the fastest growing couch surfing platform. We have built the largest active volunteer base with over 40 skilled contributors. Our product teams are designing and developing the platform at blazing speed, releasing new features every two weeks; our community teams are planning out and executing user base growth and engagement strategies to reach a critical mass of quality couch surfers with active local communities and a vibrant global discussion.
Our plan: fix the problems with Couchsurfing™
We're sure that you, like all of us, have had great experiences that couldn't have happened without Couchsurfing™. But we all know it's got its issues. For the next generation in couch surfing apps, we need to fix those issues.
If there's any problems you've found with Couchsurfing™ or any other platforms, we'd love to hear about it so we can try to fix them.
The problems with Couchsurfing™
Issue:
Governance
Profit incentives
Couchsurfing™ is explicitly for-profit, prioritizing returns for investors over users and communities.
Neglected communities
The community has been ignored, too many users have been pushed onto the platform, trust between members has been eroded.
Issue:
Design
Safety
Detrimental users threaten users' safety, especially for women. Freeloaders abound.
Reference system
You can't trust people based on references.
Super-host effect
Local communities have been shrinking to just small groups of super-hosts.
Issue:
Technology
The bugs and app issues
There are far too many bugs and problems with the Couchsurfing™ platform. It wasn't good enough as a free service, and it's definitely not good enough now that it's paid.
Our plan for the next-generation couch surfing platform
Our plan:
Governance
Non-profit structure
This platform will be run as a non-profit, taking no outside investment. The priorities will be the users and community.
Community-first framework
We will build communities into the foundations of the product, and improve trust through a new verification method.
Our plan:
Design
Member accountability
Users will be accountable for how they treat other members, filtering out creeps and freeloaders.
Improved review system
Overhauled references to reflect more accurately on users.
Better host finding
Healthier communities by spreading out hosting opportunities and no message limits.
Our plan:
Technology
Build it right
Our platform is developer-led. We will build this right, make it scalable, and listen to the community to fix bugs. We want to make something to be proud of.
Read more about Couchers.org on our Blog.