what is a hackathon?

the short definition

A hackathon is a build event with a deadline. The organiser sets a theme, a time limit and the criteria entries will be judged on; participants form teams and spend that time turning an idea into something working; and when the clock stops every team shows what it made. Judges score the entries and prizes go to the strongest.

Four things separate a hackathon from a workshop, a conference or a pitch night: it is time-boxed, the work happens in teams, the output is built during the event rather than brought to it, and it is judged. Take away the clock and it is a course; take away the judging and it is a meetup.

what the word means

“Hackathon” is hack plus marathon. “Hack” is the older engineering sense of the word — solving a problem quickly and inventively — not breaking into systems. “Marathon” is the shape of the event: one continuous block of time rather than a series of separate sessions. The word describes the format precisely, which is why it survived.

how a hackathon runs

The running order barely changes from one event to the next:

• Kickoff — the organiser sets out the theme, the rules, the judging criteria and the deadline.
• Team formation — people arrive as a team or form one on the spot.
• Building — the bulk of the clock, usually with mentors circulating.
• Submission — work stops at a hard deadline and teams submit whatever state their project is in.
• Demos — each team presents, typically in a few minutes.
• Judging and prizes — judges score against the criteria set at kickoff, then winners are announced.

how long they last

There is no standard length; the organiser picks one and it is on the listing. Of the 37 hackathons listed here right now, 22 finish inside a single day and 15 run across two or more. The longest currently listed is RoadStar Hackathon at 9 days (5-13 Sep 2026).

A single-day event is normally built around one narrow brief you can finish between breakfast and dinner. A weekend leaves room for a bigger build and usually comes with food, mentor sessions and somewhere to sleep in the schedule. The longer formats are not more work per hour — they are more scope.

what it costs to enter

Less than people expect, and often nothing. 9 of the 37 hackathons listed here publish a free ticket, 3 publish a price between $10 and $25, and 25 have not announced one yet. Where an organiser has published a figure it is on the listing, so you can check before registering.

what you can win

Prizes are set per event and published on the listing, and they are not always cash. The four quoted below are what the organisers themselves wrote: a cash pool, a smaller cash pool, hardware with platform credits, and swag. Read the listing rather than assuming a number.

do you need a team

Almost always, and the organiser sets the size rather than leaving it open — it is one of the first things stated on a listing, because it decides how you show up. The limits vary more than people expect, from a pair to a room, so read the one on the event you are entering rather than assuming. If you arrive alone, most events run a team-forming session at kickoff.

who can enter

Hackathons are open to more than programmers. A team that wins is usually a mix: someone who can build it, someone who can make it legible, and someone who can explain it in three minutes at the end. Some events are open to anyone; others are restricted to students, and the listing says which.

3 of the hackathons listed here are tagged beginner-friendly by their own organisers, including Replit buildathon and LarpHacks. If it is your first one, scope small: a finished small idea demos far better than an ambitious half-built one, because judging happens on what actually runs.

in person or online

Worth checking before you plan around one. Of the 37 hackathons listed here, 35 are in-person and 2 are hybrid, which still means a session you attend in the host city. Nothing on the calendar right now is online-only. The listings sit in 9 cities, so the practical question is usually which one you can get to — the locations index splits every listing by city.

the types you'll see listed

Hackathons are named after their subject or their audience. These are the filters this directory keeps for Canada, with what is on each right now — a filter only gets a page here once enough genuinely matching events exist to fill it:

ai hackathons

A listing appears here when the organiser describes the event around AI or machine learning — the theme it is judged on, the tools teams build with, or the problem set it hands out. (7 listed)

student hackathons

A listing appears here when the organiser aims the event at students — a student or university hackathon by name, or an event whose stated audience is students. A hackathon that merely happens to book a campus room is not one. (9 listed)

game jams

A listing appears here when teams build a game inside a fixed time limit — video games or tabletop, solo or team, from a theme or a constraint handed out at the start. (3 listed)

A game jam is the one worth naming separately: same clock, same judging, but the thing you ship is a game — video or tabletop — usually from a secret theme announced at the start. Beyond subject, listings are also split by format and by city.

faq

find one to enter

This site lists every upcoming hackathon it can find in Canada, updated daily. Browse all 37 upcoming events, narrow to AI hackathons, student hackathons or game jams, or pick a city from the locations index.

Running one? Submit your hackathon — free to list.