Pyramid tents - These were actually the first tent design. They use one straight pole in the middle of the tent to make a pyramid shaped tent. In actual practice they are often designed to use trekking poles, not having tent poles of their own. This design permits your trekking poles to serve as dual purpose items, cutting your total weight. If you do not hike with trekking poles, you can always construct your own poles from any material you choose. These tents often offer a lightweight advantage, but are relatively inefficient when it comes to usable space.

Avian tents - These are basically a tarp tent, using two or more vertical poles. They form a slightly more rectangular form than a pyramid tent. They also often make use of trekking poles, however both the avian and the pyramid tent set ups are generally only intended for light weather conditions, they have no floor and not much structure.

A-frame tents - Like those ancient army tents that grandpa used, they have two poles at each end of the tent forming an A shape, which are attached to the ground via stakes, making a long triangular shelter, these can be very tough structures, but they are often heavy because of their inefficient use of poles and the need for high tensile strength material, since it forms the top edge of the tent's shape.

Modified A frames - These tents have a third pole, sometimes a hoop to open up the center area more, sometimes a cross pole, connecting A frames, making the tent freestanding. These are significant improvements in strength, but still often heavier than many options.

Hoop or Waypoint tents - These often have two hoop shaped poles that hold the body of the tent up, and using stakes they keep the structure taught and suspended. The drawback of these tents is their non-freestanding nature makes them difficult to pitch occasionally. It also sacrifices some stability in behalf of weight savings

Wedge tents - Using two hoop shaped poles that connect at the top, they form a wedge shape, with a near point at the top. These tents are a good balance of strength and lightweight. They are free standing, making them easy to move and pitch. They will also function without stakes.

Dome tents - These tents work with crossing poles, or a hubed pole system to form a dome shape. They offer the best use of space and the strongest design. They are most often four season tents and can protect you from the harshest conditions, however they are also usually the heaviest, they use lots of poles and take loads of time to set up.

If you are wanting to choose a tent, it is important to decide just what you are going to use it for. Choosing between the trade offs of each design is the art of making decisions about your gear.