How to find hackathons in California right now
A practical map for SF, Berkeley, LA, San Diego, and online — what to check before you apply, and where our directory actually helps.
July 30, 2026
Start with a city, not a Discord
People search "hackathons in San Francisco" or "Berkeley hackathon" for a reason. City intent beats infinite scroll through random flyers.
Browse live events on the platform directory — filter by what is open to apply or submit, then open the event page:
California hubs that show up again and again: San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Palo Alto / Stanford, and online. If an event is on our platform, the event URL has dates, tracks, apply, and submit in one place.
Campus vs company challenges
Campus weekends are how you meet builders. Company challenges often have sharper briefs and bigger prizes — see sponsored challenges. Read eligibility before you get emotionally invested.
What to check on an event page
- Dates and timezone
- Location (or clearly online)
- Tracks + prizes
- Apply deadline
- Submit requirements (demo / repo / video)
If those five are not obvious, assume ops will be messy.
We are California-rooted on purpose
The Hackathon Company of California exists because this corridor — Berkeley, SF, Peninsula, LA — runs constant builds. We also list out-of-state and online events when they are on the platform. We are not claiming every flyer on earth; we are claiming a clean apply/submit/judge path when you host or join here.
See what we have actually run on Previously.