When it comes to freestyle snowboarding, there are a ton of different options out there for park boards. The truth is, there is no one-size-fits-all “best” freestyle board. Instead, the best board for you is largely dependent on the type of snowboarding you will be doing in the terrain park. So if you’re a rider that likes to jib rails and boxes, the best board for you will be totally different from the rider that likes boosting huge airs off the biggest park jump they can find.

With that said, I’ll be covering five of the most recommended snowboards for a variety of park riding, as well as highlighting what makes them so awesome for freestyle! Read on to get the scoop!

1. 2024 Capita Defenders of Awesome

Overview

The Capita Defenders of Awesome (or D.O.A.) is one of the most iconic and sought-after freestyle boards on the market right now! It’s a versatile ride that really brings the party to the whole mountain, and it’s a good option if you want to ride every trail like it’s your personal terrain park. Here’s the breakdown on this board:

Shape

The Capita D.O.A. has a true twin shape, meaning it’s totally symmetrical and can easily be ridden in either direction. Great for those switch laps or riding away switch after throwing a big 180 off a jump!

Flex

Capita rates the D.O.A. as a middle-of-the-road, medium-flexing board. This medium flex is what helps make it so versatile! It’s playful enough to do some butters and presses, but it’s also stiff and responsive enough to have stability when you’re riding a bit more aggressively and need the board to hold up to your expectations.

Profile

This board essentially runs a hybrid rocker profile with a rocker-camber-rocker setup. This entails camber underfoot and rocker in the nose and tail. It is worth noting that there’s a very small section of flat right under the bindings as well. The camber underfoot enhances the board's stability. It provides lots of pop, whereas the flat and rocker sections provide a predictable and forgiving feel so you can be confident to push your boundaries!

Verdict

The Capita D.O.A. is a solid choice for the snowboarder who wants to ride everything in the park but also wants to ride their snowboard outside the park on days they just aren’t feeling like throwing down tricks. At a current price of $499.95, it’s not the cheapest freestyle board on the market, but it’s certainly not the most expensive. With its versatile abilities and approachable construction, it’s hard to go wrong!

2. 2024 Salomon Sleepwalker

Overview

The Salomon Sleepwalker is a more entry-level park board. It's extremely playful and pretty forgiving, making it a sweet option for beginners just getting into park. It’ll also do phenomenal for butters and getting technical on rails and boxes!

Shape

The Salomon Sleepwalker has a true twin shape with a completely centered stance, like the Capita D.O.A. It is also an awesome option to ride switch.

Flex

The Salomon Sleepwalker is a borderline noodle! It’s rated as having a soft flex and is well-known for being easy to press and butter with. This softer flex will also aid your quest to conquer boxes and rails as it will literally wrap itself around boxes/rails when you’re sideways on them. It makes it much easier to stay locked in. Additionally, the soft flex makes it more forgiving and thus appealing to a more novice rider.

Profile

The Salomon Sleepwalker has an interesting profile. It’s essentially a rocker board with a touch of camber under the bindings and a flat section between them. The large amount of rocker makes it nice, forgiving, and playful, but the small addition of camber under the bindings provides some much-needed control when you want to ride more aggressively.

Verdict

This snowboard deck is classified as an all-mountain/freestyle option, and while it can ride the rest of the ski resort, it will do best in the park. Due to its soft flex and largely rocker profile, this board won’t stand up to hard and fast riding well, and if you try to push its limits, you’ll get a lot of chatter and instability. This also goes for pushing it too hard in the park. There are better options for those who want to ride at Mach 10 and hit huge jumps. With this said, it’s an incredible choice for the casual rider who wants to cruise groomers, hit lots of boxes and rails, smaller jumps, and do it all at an affordable price. After all, this is one of the most budget-friendly park boards on the market right now!

3. 2024 Ride Twinpig

Overview

The Ride Twinpig is a party animal! It’s a short and wide freestyle board that will show up all the other park boards while also being able to float through deep powder, rip down groomers, weaving through trees, and really let you own the whole resort.

Shape

This board is an asymmetrical twin, meaning it’s not quite a true twin because the sidecut on the heelside edge is slightly different to improve edge hold when heelside carving. That said, the insert packs—where you mount the bindings—are centered. So the only thing stopping it from being a true twin is the asymmetrical sidecut.

Where this board really gets interesting is its width. It’s a volume-shifted board, meaning it’s wider than your average board and, therefore, can be ridden shorter than your normal size. The idea is that you still have the same amount of surface area. It’s just shifted to the width instead of the length.

Riding this board shorter than usual provides several advantages:

1. It has great maneuverability and can turn on a dime.
2. It’s easier to throw around and do spins.
3. The extra width makes it easier to lock into and balance on boxes and rails unrelated to the park. This additional width also helps it float through deep snow on powder days!

Flex

The Ride Twinpig has a self-described “mellow” flex response and is a soft board. This makes it great for presses, especially with the wide nose and tail. If you’re into butters, this is a solid platform to step up your butter game!

Profile

This board has a mostly camber profile that extends through the bindings, with rocker in the nose and tail. This camber provides awesome edge hold and control when carving at high speeds and snap when getting this board into the air. The rocker provides the playfulness for butters and the float needed to take this thing off-piste into the deep stuff!

Verdict

As you may be able to tell from reading through the various features of this snowboard, it really doesn’t fit into one category. It's going to be amazing for riding park, but it’ll also tear up the rest of the mountain! Being a volume-shifted board, it’s a bit unorthodox, but it’s a top choice for the rider who only wants one board and is torn between riding park on bluebird days and riding steep and deeps on pow days.

4. 2024 Lib Tech Skate Banana

Overview

The Lib Tech Skate Banana is a classic freestyle/all-mountain board and has been around for quite some time! It’s got a slightly different profile than the other boards on this list as it features the iconic “banana rocker” technology. It also features “Magne-traction” which are serrations along the edge that help dig into firm or icy snow conditions. It’s an essential feature if you’re an East Coast rider!

Shape

Like many of the boards on this list, the Lib Tech Skate Banana is a true twin shape as is classic with most park boards.

Flex

This board has a soft/medium flex making it super playful and forgiving for when you want to push your limits. That said, it’s still stiff enough to ride harder when needed. It’s by no means the most stable board on the market, but it’ll be more than enough for most park riders!

Profile

As I mentioned, this board features a skate banana profile, a rocker section between the bindings with mild camber underfoot that extends outwards to the tips. This combination provides the best of both worlds and gives you maximum versatility for whatever riding style you might feel on any given day!

Verdict

The Lib Tech Skate Banana is not the best at anything. This may sound odd, considering it’s one of the most recommended freestyle boards, but hear me out. Highly specialized snowboards that are the best in one area often have large drawbacks in other riding areas. However, this board does not have drawbacks in any area of riding, so while it may not be the best at anything, it’s a solid choice for everything! This makes it an awesome deck for the rider who might be unsure of what they like the most or just wants to ride everything and needs a snowboard they can depend on.

5. 2024 Burton Custom X

Overview

While the Burton Custom X might be the most expensive board on this list, it’s also one of the most high-performance boards you can buy right now. You simply can’t put this thing in a box. It loves the park, the powder, and everything in between. It’s a deck that’s built for expert riders who demand nothing but the top performance from their board. Seriously, this is jam-packed with features.

Shape

Unlike most freestyle boards which are true twins, the Burton Custom X is a directional twin board, meaning the insert packs are set slightly further towards the tail. This gives the board extra float and allows it to charge through chunder or slush for those warm spring park laps or through powder on those extra snowy days!

Flex

This board features a stiff flex which is somewhat unusual for a park board. This will give it a ton of stability for riding fast and stomping huge airs! Additionally, you won’t ever have to worry about washing out on landings with this snowboard.

Profile

It has a full camber profile which will deliver an insane amount of pop. It takes more energy to load up a full camber snowboard, but if you know how to do it, you can boost this board over any slow sign, small skier, or any other obstacle in your path with ease! It also has a carbon laminate which provides even more pop.

Verdict

This is not a snowboard for the faint of heart. With its aggressive camber profile and stiff flex, it will not hold your hand on the mountain, and it will certainly not be forgiving. With that said, this is an incredible option if you’re an advanced rider who wants top-tier performance out of their board and spends most of their time catching air off jumps. The price tag is high, but the durability and features of this board are unrivaled!

Final Thoughts

As a closing thought, please keep in mind that your snowboard isn’t the only piece of equipment that’ll affect your freestyle performance; having the right boots, and bindings with the correct angles for freestyle, will make a huge difference! Luckily, you don’t have to go on this hunt for the best freestyle boots and bindings alone! That’s because on Curated, you can get a second opinion from a Snowboard Expert about the best options for you in just a few minutes!

Seriously, all you have to do is fill out a quick survey with some details about yourself, and you’ll be connected to one of our Snowboard Experts. From there, you can chat with them for a few minutes and then receive a curated list of products, all for free! It's the easiest way to get the correct snowboard gear the first time around! I have helped hundreds of customers find their perfect snowboard gear, and I look forward to helping you do the same, so come say “hi”, and let’s get you geared up for this winter!