Any Budget Stays in Munich during the Octoberfest.

It will be difficult to find budget lodging, even in advance. How about using points from your hotel reward programs?

I was in Munich right before Oktoberfest and compared my hotel prices with what it would one week later, and was astounded at the rise in price. You are not going to find a budget-friendly hotel in Munich during Oktoberfest. Your cheapest option is to stay in an outlying town and take public transport into town, although the transit costs eat up some of that savings - plus there is the time factor. You could also try staying in one of the outlying neighborhoods in Munich that connects to Oktoberfest by U-Bahn.

Or just bite the bullet and expect to pay a lot but have the convenience of staying near the festivities. One thing you should do is book as far ahead as possible. Hotels during Oktoberfest sell out many months ahead of time. I would maybe go to a site like www.booking.com and plug in the dates, info and needs for your party, then see what comes up.

By staying outside Munich you can probably avoid the high room prices and have a quieter place to stay away from the visiting hordes.

Diessen might be a pleasant place for you. It's on the Ammersee, a lake outside of town, and is accessible to central Munich either by train (via Weilheim, less than 1 hr. altogether) or by train + paddlewheel boat (via Herrsching.) Andechs Monastery (see Rick Steves' advice) is an easy outing from Diessen too.

If you go by train, the Bayern Ticket day pass will get all 3 of you into Munich, around Munich on public transport if you like, and back to Diessen for €14 each:

http://munich-touristinfo.de/Bavaria-Ticket.htm

You can read a previous post of mine and a previous post of Jeff's at the links below.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/itinerary-help-for-trip-to-germany

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/best-day-trips-from-munich

You could also try staying in one of the outlying neighborhoods in Munich that connects to Oktoberfest by U-Bahn.

Unfortunately, staying near a subway endpoint will not reduce accomodation costs significantly. It's better to follow @Russ' advice and look around in the greater Munich area. You could, however, try to stay a little closer to the city to reduce travel times. Here are a few towns in the S-Bahn area whith hotels near the station: Fürstenfeldbruck, Ebersberg, Erding, Markt Schwaben, Herrsching, Freising (might be too close for significant savings). Just google and let google show you the location of the hotels.

But even from Augsburg you can be in Munich in less than an hour by train using the cheap Bayernticket.

Try Augsburg, a short train ride west of Munich.

I often use Motel One when looking for an inexpensive stay. I looked at their rates, and they are twice normal during Oktoberfest. A couple of their locations are pretty much sold out at this point. Some of the others are still available for something like 170-200 euro per night.

We’ve booked a room at one of the Motel ones east of the river. 4 nights was basically $1000 CAD.. airbnbs and whatnot were crazy as well and were the same price or more for further and further away from the Oktoberfest grounds.

The Motel One we are staying at is about a 45 minute walk to the grounds or a 10-15 minute Uber. That’s about as best we could do.

I’ll likely cancel it and book an Airbnb if Oktoberfest doesn’t happen

Motel One has been my go to hotel for Oktoberfest since 2009 but they fill up fast. An alternative is staying outside the city as others suggest. I've personally stayed in the beautiful Tegernsee area (Bad Wiessee) on multiple occasions and took the BOB train into the city (just under an hour journey).

DJ

They used to offer dorm style tents, where you could claim a bed...but that is about it for budget accommodations. Even reserved long ahead, the prices will be double at least.

We stayed in Tegernsee, using the BOB train to get in and out, but then we were not staying late in the tents or beer halls. Tegernsee was a plus in that it offered a good brewery, great hiking, and a very nice bath/spa.

Augsburg would also be good, frequent train connections and a large enough city to offer lots of rooms.