What DiveScanner is
DiveScanner compares real liveaboard prices from every provider in one place, so you don't have to click through to each operator and check availability yourself. We do the clicking and checking for you. We are not a booking agent and we do not resell trips - when you find the right boat, you click through to the operator or travel partner to book. Final price, cabin availability, payment and terms are handled by them.
DiveScanner is free to use. We compare operators and link to booking partners, including Divebooker. We may earn a small commission if you book through a partner, and results always stay cheapest first.
Who builds it - run by dive instructors
DiveScanner is built and run by dive instructors. The routes, itineraries and dive-level guidance you see are shaped and supervised by qualified dive instructors - people who actually teach these dives - and checked by a PADI IDC Staff Instructor and SSI Instructor. PADI, SSI or another agency - whichever you trained with, it does not matter to us; the only thing that matters is your safety. That is why the engine can tell you which itinerary suits your certification and logged dives, when a route needs Advanced Open Water or a Deep or Wreck specialty, and which marine life is realistic in a given month. Diving advice from people who dive.
Real prices only
- Real prices, not estimates. No currency conversion, no rounding, no arithmetic. Each price is shown exactly as the operator lists it, in its own currency.
- Human-verified prices are protected. Where a price is confirmed by a person, it is never overwritten automatically.
How trips are ranked
Within your search, boats are ordered so the best-value, best-matched trips surface first - cheapest real price leads, and when you choose a marine species, results are ranked best-place-first for that animal and season. Each boat card lists every provider that carries it with its own price, cheapest first, so the comparison is transparent.
How your dive guide advice is built
Alongside prices, DiveScanner gives advice from curated knowledge bases - never invented:
- Marine life uses a seasonal knowledge base of where and when each species (sharks, hammerheads, tiger sharks, whale sharks, mantas, dolphins, lionfish) is realistically seen, so you get a realistic probability and the best destination and time.
- Wrecks are handled separately (wrecks have no season). We match the real wreck itinerary sailing that month and show the certification level that route needs - and always note that diving inside a wreck needs the Wreck Diver specialty.
- Dive level filters boats and routes to your certification and logged dives, so you're only shown trips suited to your experience.
For the full story, read how your dive guide marine life advice is built.