Rooftop tents have gone from novelty to normal in about five years. Look at the utes heading up Mona Vale Road on a Friday afternoon and every third one has a tent strapped up top. The appeal is easy to understand. You park, unfold, and you are sleeping off the ground on a real mattress instead of wrestling tent poles by torchlight.
The catch is that a rooftop tent is a roof load, a payload item and a wind sail all at once, and buying the wrong one for your setup gets expensive. This guide covers the two main types, what they cost in Australia, what your roof and racks need to handle, and whether a hard lid or canopy can actually carry one.
Soft shell vs hard shell
Every rooftop tent on the market falls into one of two camps, and the split matters more than the brand.
Soft shell tents fold out from a base platform, usually opening past the side or rear of the vehicle to roughly double the floor area. They are the cheaper way in, they give you the most sleeping space per dollar, and the overhanging section shades the car like a small awning. The trade-offs are real though. Packing up takes five to ten minutes of folding, tucking and zipping, the fabric moves around in wind, and the transit cover is usually the first thing to wear out.
Hard shell tents have a moulded ABS or aluminium lid on gas struts. Pop-up and wedge styles open in under a minute and close almost as fast, bedding stays inside, and the low closed profile is quieter and kinder on fuel at highway speed. You pay more for all of that, and the floor is limited to the footprint of the shell, so a family of three starts to feel it.
The honest way to split them: if you camp most weekends or tour with one-night stops, a hard shell earns its price by about the fourth trip. If you get away a few times a year, a good soft shell does the job for roughly half the money.
How to choose the right one
- Who is sleeping in it. Two adults fit most tents. Two adults and a kid need a fold-out with a floor around 1.8m wide or better, which usually means soft shell.
- How often you set up and pack down. Daily moves favour a hard shell. A week parked in one spot makes the soft shell packing time irrelevant.
- Your vehicle. A wagon roof is straightforward. A ute needs a canopy, a tub rack or a rated hard lid before a tent goes anywhere near it. More on that below.
- Noise and fuel. Expect somewhere between 0.5 and 1.5L/100km extra depending on the tent profile and your speed. Hard shells sit at the better end of that range.
The weight question nobody checks until later
Rooftop tents weigh between about 45kg and 90kg. Your roof system carries two ratings, and both matter. The dynamic rating is what the racks can carry while driving, and it includes the weight of the racks themselves. The static rating is what they hold parked, which is when you and the tent are both up there. Static ratings run three times the dynamic figure or more, so sleeping is rarely the problem. Driving is.
Run the numbers before you buy. A platform rack might weigh 20kg with a 75kg dynamic rating. Bolt a 60kg tent to it and you are 5kg over before you strap on an awning. A rack system rated for the load is not the place to save money, and neither is the payload maths: tent, racks, drawers, fridge, water and passengers all come out of the same figure on your compliance plate.
What do rooftop tents cost in Australia?
As a guide for 2026: soft shell tents run from about $1,200 to $3,000. Hard shells start around $2,500 and stretch past $6,000 for the premium wedge designs. If you need racks or a platform first, add $400 to $1,500 depending on the vehicle and the system.
Fitting a tent to racks that are already on the car costs around $150 to $400 at a workshop, mostly labour for aligning the mounting channels and torquing everything properly. You can do it yourself with two people, a tape measure and patience. The mistakes we see are tents mounted off-centre, channels left loose, and bolts done up onto paint instead of the rack rails.
Can you put a rooftop tent on a hard lid?
Only if the lid is genuinely load-rated, and most are not. A standard hard tonneau is built to keep weather and thieves out of the tub, not to carry a 70kg tent through corrugations. A small number of premium lids carry a published dynamic rating with integrated rails. If the manufacturer will not put a dynamic number in writing, the answer is no.
For utes, the stronger platforms are a canopy with load-rated racks or a tub rack that spans the tub and takes the weight on its own frame. Both leave the tub usable and both carry a tent without drama.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good rooftop tent?
One that matches your rack rating, your headcount and how often you pack up. Beyond that, look for an aluminium base, quality gas struts, a mattress of at least 60mm and hardware that feels overbuilt. Zips and struts are what fail first on cheap tents, and neither is fun to replace.
What is the most comfortable rooftop tent?
Generally a hard shell with a 70mm or thicker mattress on a flat rigid base. Comfort also depends on ventilation, because condensation is the thing that ruins rooftop sleep. An anti-condensation mat under the mattress is a cheap fix worth having in any tent.
How much is a rooftop tent?
Between $1,200 and $3,000 for a decent soft shell, and $2,500 to $6,000 or more for a hard shell. Racks, if you need them, add $400 to $1,500.
How much does it cost to install a rooftop tent?
Around $150 to $400 onto existing racks. If the vehicle needs a rack system first, budget the racks on top. A workshop fit takes about an hour and includes checking the dynamic rating stack-up, which is the part most DIY fits skip.
Can you put a rooftop tent on a hard lid?
Only on a lid with a published dynamic load rating. Most hard lids do not have one. A canopy with rated racks or a tub rack is the safer route for a ute.
The tent is the easy half of this purchase. The rack rating, the payload maths and the mounting are where setups go wrong, and that part we can take off your hands. We stock and fit rooftop tents, racks and canopies at our Brookvale workshop and will run the numbers on your vehicle before anything gets bolted on. Get in touch and bring the car in.
