Free Things to Do in the Bay Area: Bookmark These Sites and Newsletters

Was “getting out more” one of your resolutions for 2025? Thinking about how to keep this resolution? Good news: in the Bay Area, you’ll never run out of things to do when San Francisco, Oakland, San José and everywhere in between offer concerts, art shows, family activities and more virtually every day.

But how do you know exactly when all these things are happening? And how do you find what’s low-cost or free? (Especially when scrolling through social media may now only be showing you content that you’re already familiar with rather than giving you new ideas for local goings-on?)

Luckily, Bay Area residents have been using the Internet to circulate information about free local events way before social media was even invented — after all, independent media collective IndyBay got its start in the year 2000. And 25 years later, this tradition of online event listings is going strong.

Jump straight to:

• The Bay Area’s classic listings sites
• Live music in the Bay Area
• Events for families in the Bay Area
• Arts and culture events in the Bay Area

Keep reading for our collection of Bay Area social calendars for you to browse and consult for your next day (or night) out — with a focus on those with newsletters so you can keep up with all the happenings in your inbox.

The Bay Area’s classic event listing sites

You know the scene: It’s your day off, you head over to the park to chill, and as soon as you get there, a huge event is taking place … that you had no idea about. If you’ve been left thinking, ‘How did all these people know this was happening and not me?’ you’re not alone. Folks organize very quickly in the Bay Area, but there are several places online that always have details about the biggest free events in the region:

FunCheapSF

Now in its 22nd year, FunCheapSF is one of the most reliable places to find free museum days, cheap concert tickets and event-free ticket giveaways. Despite the name, FunCheapSF has info about events all over the Bay.

Newsletter: Find the FunCheapSF newsletter sign-up link on the right side of the page.

IndyBay

A place with deep connections to the region’s organizing spaces, IndyBay also has a very detailed calendar of free workshops, teach-ins and family-friendly activities with a social focus.

Newsletter: Yes, although an additional sign-up to riseup.net is required.

Broke-Ass Stuart

What began in the 2000s as a zine from Stuart Schuffman, alias Broke-Ass Stuart, is now one of the best places online to find concerts and nightlife events in the Bay Area.

Newsletter: Sign up for the Broke-Ass Stuart newsletter on his site.

BARTable

A collection of both events and year-round activities that — you guessed it — are all reachable by BART. Everything included is either free or low-cost.

Newsletter: Sign up for the BARTable This Week newsletter.

Oaklandside and Richmondside

These two local news publications are always updating their events calendar, which includes both journalism-focused events but also fun activities for both families, seniors and young people.

Newsletter: You can sign up for Oaklandside’s newsletter or Richmond’s newsletter (or both.)

KQED Live

Of course, we have to highlight the work done by the KQED Live Events team. Free and low-cost events, many of them featuring KQED journalists, are held throughout the year at both KQED headquarters in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area.

Newsletter: Sign up for the KQED Live newsletter to receive advance notice of events.

More live music, please

The Bay Area does not lack a live music scene, and you may even find your new favorite band performing at a small bar somewhere in Solano County or a plaza in the middle of San José. Since everything is happening everywhere — all at once — keep yourself organized with these sites and listings.

SF Station

What began as a site to promote local artists in 1996 keeps going strong. These listings contain free concerts, details on how to enter contests for free tickets and other cool stuff too, like community service events, wine dinners and workshops.

The List

In almost 30 years, this website’s format has been updated only a handful of times. But don’t be fooled by its lo-fi look: The List is incredibly thorough, curated by Steve Koepke with details for punk and rock concerts for almost every venue and bar in the Bay Area and Santa Cruz area. It’s also helpful for keeping up with emerging local musicians. You can also subscribe to Koepke’s List via email. 

LatinBayArea

A site that mostly highlights concerts featuring both established and rising stars in Latin music and also includes a free events section.

DoTheBay

Mostly focused on nightlife and parties, DoTheBay also has a free events section, along with plenty of promotions for free or discounted tickets to big concerts.

KQED Arts: The To-Do List

The Arts team interviews Bay Area artists as they tour the region or release new music. Around-the-year concert and festival coverage complemented by great journalism.

Newsletter: Sign up for the KQED Arts & Culture newsletter.

Events for Bay Area families

Sometimes, the newsletter with details about the latest club or rave just isn’t going to work with the 7-year-old. But no worries: there are sites keeping track of events for infants, older kids and teens. And even KQED has its own monthly newsletter full of programming for families: Kid Friendly.

Bay Area Parent

Created, read and shared by parents across the nine-county Bay Area, BAP is a great resource for planning your family’s week — and comes with great family-focused reporting as well.

Newsletter: You can sign up for several subscriptions Bay Area Parent has, including newsletters for Editors’ top picks, promotions and special offers.

Bay Area Kid Fun

Storytime, soccer, family-friendly marches and more can be found on this listings site, which particularly boasts a lot of events for folks in the South Bay and on the Peninsula.

510families

Are you an Alameda or Contra Costa County family? Keep this website close. 510families’ listings are especially helpful for families with younger kids.

Arts and culture event listings in the Bay Area

Missed a free museum day? Want to learn more about photography but don’t know where to start?

Not only is the Bay full of creative talent, it’s also full of people working hard to make sure you check out their work — and below are just of few of these arts and culture listings in the Bay:

Bay Art Agenda

Bookmark this one just in time for San Francisco Art Week (which kicks off on Jan. 18). The Bay Area Art Agenda includes gallery openings, free showings and plenty of community activities.

Bay Area Art Happenings

KQED Arts’ very own Sarah Hotchkiss maintains an annual list of gallery openings and closings, with opportunities to meet artists and see in person what the Arts team reports on — which you can keep up with by bookmarking KQED Arts’ The Do List

SF/Arts Free Calendar

A must-have listing resource from SF/Arts magazine, full of film screenings, author talks and performances.

Newsletter: You can sign up at the bottom of the calendar page.

Acción Latina and El Tecolote

El Tecolote is one of the oldest bilingual newspapers in the country and its Calendario section has been keeping up with some of the biggest events targeted to the Latino community for decades, including rallies, teach-ins and family cultural events.

Newsletter: You can sign up for the newsletter from El Tecolote’s parent organization, Acción Latina.

SFGate’s Fogcutter column

SFGate began Fogcutter as a weekly column “tracking the coolest events in the Bay Area,” from concerts and restaurants to hikes, bars and comedy.

And don’t forget … your local library

While it may feel like many events are focused around big cities, remember that your local library is also home to often fantastic programming that highlights local writers and artists.

For example, check out all the free events planned for this month at Sonoma County Library, which has branches all over the county. You’ll also likely find events listed on posters on your library’s lobby pinboard.