Chaturbate Review

Ask your friends: "What's the first cam site that comes to your mind?".

If they're being honest, at least half of them will say Chaturbate.

Chat and Masturbate. For free. This winning formula drove Chaturbate to become the most popular cam site of the last decade, a title that it only recently ceded to StripChat (for raw visitor numbers).

It's hard to believe that Chaturbate was only launched in 2011 when its reach goes so far beyond the competition that came before. The top rooms on this site attract thousands of viewers. It's big money for the performers and big value for the viewers.

Model Selection

10

Chaturbate averages 4000-6000 performers online, with a clear focus on amateur performers.

The platform is a free-for-all. The models aren't recruited via agencies -- anybody can sign up to broadcast after completing a simple age verification process. 

Female Performers

Over 80% of Chaturbate models are female. These are the shows you will see by default when you access the homepage (there's a separate Women tab, too).

The platform offers plenty of diversity.

We'd estimate:

• 60% - White Caucasian
• 20% - Hispanic
• 10% - Asian
• 10% - Black
• <3% - Arab

The majority of girls are happy to broadcast explicit shows in public. However, there's a lot of posturing and teasing to generate tips. This makes the shows rather slow-moving compared to some other free cam sites (like Cam4, for example).

Chaturbate's algorithm isn't best suited for promoting fetish cams. This is a platform that favors the best-looking 'audience draws' over the wildest kinksters.

When we last reviewed the site, just 40 of the 10751 live shows were tagged under Chaturbate's #fetish filter. That is not to say you won't find smaller bespoke tags attracting models and viewers, but most rooms have a distinctly vanilla taste.

The age distribution is excellent. Young and old - all models are welcome.

Chaturbate is a big draw for mature cams, with the majority of these shows easily found under the MILF and Mature tags.

One feature we particularly like is the inclusion of age meta-data on the live thumbnails. Around half of the mature models have their age displayed. The newly redesigned sidebar has an Age Range filter tag that allows users to search for a very specific subset.

If you want to ensure the models presented are truly mature, you can narrow down the search to '55-65'.

Chaturbate previously suffered an issue where younger models would spam their age as 99 to appear in the popular older-tagged rooms. We're pleased to see this issue has been resolved.

Male Performers

Chaturbate has a massive selection of 1000+ live male cams during peak hours. No other site comes close to these numbers.

While we can't assume that all of these men are gay, there is a separate 'straight' tag, which is only used by around 3% of the total male models. We've seen from various performer forums that it's common for straight men to broadcast to the huge gay audience that uses this site.

Chaturbate's strength-in-numbers gives it the luxury of providing sub-categories to divvy the male performers further. Popular options include muscle, bear, daddy, chubby, femboy, twink, master and hairy. You've also got action-specific tags like selfsuck and fuckmachine

Trans Performers

Like every other cam site, the trans section is dominated by performers from LATAM (notably Colombia) or Southeast Asia (Philippines).

The difference with Chaturbate is the sheer depth of the active roster, which means that you'll also find TS performers from other key regions. We narrowed down our search to Europe and found 60 live shows available. North America had 40.

The top-performing shows in this section routinely draw 400+ viewers, making Chaturbate a much more viable platform for TS performers. The network effects help elevate Chaturbate as one of the best TS cam platforms in the business.

Couples

Chaturbate has around 300-400 couples performing during peak hours. The typical demographic is younger college-age models.

It's funny to watch some of the awkward 'boyfriends' who have clearly been drafted in with less than 100% enthusiasm. You'll also find many LATAM couples occupying makeshift studios, tiny little bedroom booths provided by cam agencies that make a mint from this highly popular category.

We spotted a few orgies and group sex roleplays, but they seem to be less prevalent than on StripChat, which is a better choice if you are looking for wild public exhibitionism.

Live Shows

8

Given the large number of free shows available, you might expect Chaturbate to score a perfect 10 in this category.

We're detracting a couple of points for the one quality Chaturbate lacks that we know some of you crave: intimacy. 

It can feel like one giant virtual strip club at times.

Live Public Shows

Chaturbate is synonymous with free cams. No platform gives away as many uncensored shows for free.

We love the complete lack of limitations in accessing the free content. Other freemium sites will deliver free cams but blast you with ads, sign-up prompts, or limit your watching time before forcing a registration.

Chaturbate doesn't give a damn. "We've got this content, and we're just putting it out there, take it or leave it."

You can enjoy 95% of the site while lurking anon.

Most models are used to performing in free public chat since they expect to earn most of their income from tips. 

While you can lurk and fap to your heart's content, please keep in mind: no tips, no shows. Support the performers you love.

Private Shows

Private shows on Chaturbate use a flexible pricing system that goes up in multiples of six. 

A new filter allows you to search by the lowest-priced shows (6 tokens). We found 2006 of the 10751 live rooms matched this filter. That's just over 20% of the entire model database streaming at the lowest possible price. Cheap and cheerful, indeed... 

Overall, these options translate to a rough spread of $0.54 – $10.80 per minute. 

Most performers charge between 18 and 50 tokens, giving us an average private show cost of $1.62 – $4.50 per minute.

Chaturbate doesn't have a VIP / True Private mode so that other users can spy on the performance. Models can disable this feature, meaning you could negotiate a higher per-minute cost for exclusivity, but it doesn't seem to be the norm.

Some private shows are recordable. Before starting a private show, it is clear whether the model has the option enabled. If so, the video will appear in your account at the end of the session. 

It's unavailable for download through conventional means, but it's pretty easy to obtain through the source files. 

Cam2Cam is available - just tap Start Broadcasting, and the model will be able to see you. Not every model is keen on this arrangement, so ask her beforehand.

Chaturbate has also rolled out a new room-size filter:

It seems quite pointless, to be honest. 

Any stream that makes it to the homepage will inevitably become 'High Traffic'. Many of the 'Intimate' rooms are, in fact, dead rooms with glum-looking models. 

Spy On Private Shows / Voyeur Mode

While most of Chaturbate's action is available for free in the live public chats, the sheer number of models means you can 'spy on' a vast number of private shows, too. You won't be able to interact with the model, but you can watch and hear the feed.

There is no time-limited option to preview the action (a feature we love on StripChat), but you can dramatically lower the cost of watching private shows by up to 95%.

We found instances where private shows charged at 120 tokens per minute were available for just 6 tokens per minute in Spy mode. A 95% markdown represents excellent value.

Password / Ticket Shows

This is like a private group show. You pay a fixed fee to receive an access code by private message. These shows are only accessible to users with the code and can be very good value. 

In some cases, it's even cheaper than Spy On Shows -- with the added ability to interact with the model.

Stream Quality

8

Don't assume that "free cams = low quality".

Chaturbate's streaming game is one of the very best in the business.

Models can stream up to 1080p, and unsurprisingly, this is the format of most Featured shows (those that make the lucrative homepage). 

We measured bitrates at 4-5 Mb/s, putting Chaturbate right up there with LiveJasmin and Streamate for video quality.

If we had to guess, around 30% of models appear to be broadcasting in HD. 

Of course, the quality varies dramatically since amateur models are often just getting started on their camming journey. They might not have the necessary cam, lighting rig or local connection to compete with the top earning streamers.

Unfortunately there is no way to filter HD cams -- a curious omission from the tagging system.

Viewers with patchy connections can easily downgrade streams to 720p, 480p and 240p. 

Site Design

6

Chaturbate has recently rolled out a sidebar on the right pane (see below). 

It's a simple change -- but it helps to reduce the navbar clutter, which was a primary complaint in our last review. We use the tagging system much more in its new home that we ever did in the past.

Beyond simple tags, you can set age criteria for the models and the page will refresh with suitable matches. There's also an option for browsing by private show price.

We still think there's room for improvement. Chaturbate has a ton of data that could be used to improve discoverability for its models. For our money, LiveJasmin has the best example of a sidebar that enhances the UX for both models and viewers.

Chaturbate's show thumbnails contain a still-shot taken from the show in the last 60 seconds. It's not a live feed, but it's the next best thing.

One feature we'd like to see is the ability to customise the size of the homepage grid. 

Chaturbate tries to cram as many thumbnails as possible in to each row. Consequently, the thumbnails look small and pokey. Not as bad as MyFreeCams, but we would much prefer larger thumbnails by default - or at least the option to choose them.

The Live Chat Experience (Chaotic!)

The Chaturbate live chat experience is a victim of its own popularity.

Rooms are chaotic, messy and often overrun with spam. The chat window is fiendishly difficult to follow between tip alerts, model updates and copy-and-pasted menus.

While moderators are on-hand to boot the worst offenders, we'd really think twice about using Chaturbate as a platform to actually talk to a performer. 

The interface itself is dated and could certainly do with a lick of paint. Compare it to newer platforms like StripChat or CamSoda and we feel the "OG of free cams" is really starting to show its age.

Mobile UX

7

Chaturbate's mobile site is snappy and responsive, just like the desktop version. Streams load fast and we had no problem getting around the site.

On first impressions, the default mobile view for a live chat room is awful. Just one third of the screen is dedicated to the performer and the rest is a cascading mess of tip alerts and banal chat. 

Thankfully you can quickly dispose of this view by entering Full Screen mode, which removes the blocky interface and puts the model front and center. Much better. 

Rotating between horizontal and vertical view works fine.

Models broadcasting from their mobile will automatically display in vertical mode with the full screen view and a simple text overlay for chat notifications (which can be turned on or off).

Chaturbate's new desktop sidebar has yet to make the jump to its mobile site. The tags are still output as a scrollable horizontal menu in the navbar. 

Meanwhile, the actual mobile menu only lets you choose between Women, Men, Trans or Couples. StripChat does a better job with its expandable mobile menu (and overall UI) -- we hope Chaturbate follows suit.

Extra Features

8

Chaturbate has its own ecosystem of apps, bots, profile extensions and unique features.

Here are some of the additions that stand out.

Full Interactive Sex Toy Integration

Models can customize interactive sex toys in an insane number of ways, but it creates a chaotic user experience.

We give Chaturbate props for allowing their models to configure activation levels, fees and settings. This is an area of strength, and it's a feature that the models love.

The problem is that when every cam girl has a mountainous tip menu with different settings, the interface gets cluttered with a massive wall of text -- since Chaturbate doesn't have a native means of displaying the options outside of the chat window. And when every tip menu is different, it's a LOT of information to take onboard every time you enter a new room.

In short: the options are amazing. But we'd like Chaturbate to find a way to display the tip levels outside of the main chat window.

Fan Clubs

This is Chaturbate stepping on to OnlyFans turf.

If you really like a performer, you can subscribe to her Fan Club for a set monthly fee. This gives you a green username, which gets special attention in her chatroom (and preferential treatment). 

You'll also receive access to exclusive content.

It's not always clear how much exclusive content you'll receive. Some are more active than others. Models will generally tip you off with information in their bios when they have a lot of clips to share.

Chaturbate Apps and Bots

Models can choose from a number of custom coded apps and bots that are designed to extract more tips from regular viewers.

From Lovense integrations, to dice rolling prizes, to interactive tip menus - models have plenty of options for pimping out their rooms. 

Gaming Cams

Who needs Twitch for NSFW content?

Chaturbate has a dedicated selection of gaming cams (#gaming) where models will play their favorite video games live on stream. Any models looking to use this feature should keep in mind that the list of eligible games is tightly moderated. 

Action-to-Spend

10

When we talk about our Action to Spend ratio, we're referring to the amount of action you can see on the site without a) reaching for your wallet and/or b) breaking the bank once you've reached for it.

On the first point, this is a no-brainer. It's Chaturbate. A site made famous for offering a stupendous quantity of live sex cams that you can watch 100% free.

What about the paid options though?

If you pay for private shows on Chaturbate, they generally aren't as cheap as the leading freemium alternatives. Nor are they as expensive as a premium cam site. They fall somewhere in the middle. An average private show cost of $1.62 – $4.50 is good, but not great.

We were tempted to deduct 1 or 2 points where Chaturbate doesn't provide bargain-basement shows like leading rival StripChat.

It feels like quibbling though. Both of these sites offer such a vast amount of free content that we're giving both of them a perfect 10.

Payment Options

8

The Chaturbate token system is fairly easy to understand with minimal variation between payment methods.

Tokens are sold in the following packages:

• 50 tokens for $6.99 (0.139 per token)
• 100 tokens for $10.99 (0.109 per token)
• 200 tokens for $20.99 (0.104 per token)
• 400 tokens for $29.99 (0.099 per token)
• 550 tokens for $49.99 (0.09 per token)
• 750 tokens for $62.99 (0.083 per token)
• 1000 tokens for $79.99 (0.079 per token)

We appreciate the *rough* value per token hovering around $0.10. This gives us the quick mental shortcut of multiplying a token cost by ten to get the real price in cents.

We also appreciate the generous 37% bonus you can unlock with a payment of just $79.99.

By comparison, StripChat only offers a 30% bonus on its $199.99 package.

Chaturbate avoids payment method bias by replicating the cost structure across all of its payment methods:

• Credit and debit cards
• Paysafecard
• PayPal
• Wire Transfer
• Crypto

The PayPal charges vary slightly depending on which country you are processing the payment from.

Crypto users can specify the exact number of credits they wish to purchase and the amount due is calculated automatically. Cost per token for crypto is $0.08.

We tested the crypto payment system and were pleasantly surprised to see our tokens credited within 5 minutes. Very impressive.

Refund Policy

Chaturbate has a refund policy but it is ambiguous how and when the policy applies. The website states to submit a support ticket or contact billing on 1-877-338-7068.

We can't imagine spent tokens will be eligible for refunds, but you may be able to get unused tokens refunded. 

If you are trialing the service, we highly suggest you stick to credit cards or PayPal as your chosen payment method.

Billing Is Not Fully Discreet

All good so far. We were lining up to give Chaturbate a perfect 10 in the payments and billing department.

But we have to deduct a couple of points since there's a problem that we know will frustrate some users: billing is only partially discreet.

While the company/URL that appeared on our bank statement has no direct relation to a cam site, a simple search reveals that it is traceable back to Chaturbate (via the first page of the search engine listings).

If this is a problem, we suggest you pay by crypto instead.

CamsRank on Chaturbate

Chaturbate gives away so much of the pie for free that we have to balance any of our criticism with the caveat: "Yeah, but where else are you going to find 6000 amateurs streaming for your pleasure?"

There are only a couple of viable freemium alternatives (StripChat and BongaCams).

Chaturbate is wild, chaotic and a massive departure from the premium cam sites. 

If you're looking for a private one-to-one chat with a model, sure, you can find it here. Just don't be surprised if her eyes are darting towards the exits. 

There's a baying crowd to please, right? More tips to extract!

For straight up no-nonsense free cams? You really can't go wrong.