Soft-top if you are not sure you will stick with it or you surf crowded beaches; a hard longboard if you have the storage and the budget and want one board for several years.
| Board | Median in-stock price, US stores | Listings |
|---|---|---|
| Soft-top | $994 | 1,130 |
| Longboard | $1,390 | 2,288 |
| Midlength | $1,027 | 3,123 |
| Shortboard | $855 |
Medians across every US store in the catalog, refreshed nightly. The soft-top figure is for surf-shop foamies (Catch Surf, Softech and the like); the $200 to $300 big-box boards sold through Costco and Amazon are not in these feeds.
Foam deck and rails, slick bottom, usually 7 to 9 feet. It will not hurt you or anyone you hit, it needs no wax, and it shrugs off the dings a first board collects. The catch is the ride: thick rails and a flat rocker make it slow to turn, and most people feel the ceiling after a few months of regular surfing. Resale is poor.
A fiberglass or epoxy longboard at the same volume paddles faster, holds a line on the face and still works once you are turning. It dings, it needs wax, and a 9-foot board needs a roof rack and somewhere to live. Resale is good, which lowers the real cost of ownership: a used longboard in the catalog goes for a median of $550 against $1,390 new.
Surfing less than once a week, or mostly in summer whitewater: soft-top. Surfing weekly with somewhere to keep a long board: hard longboard, bought used if the budget is tight. Either way, size it by volume first; the size guide has the numbers.
Browse soft-tops → Longboards in the finder →
More guides: Beginner board size · How many liters is too many · Foamie to fiberglass · Used or new.