Streamate Review

Streamate has achieved enormous success in the adult webcam industry, despite flying under the radar of many ordinary cam site users.

Sure, if you've watched late night cable TV, there's a good chance you've seen an ad for Streamate.

But much of Streamate's success is down to a white label arrangement where other cam sites 'borrow' their models, marketing them under a different logo and branding.

A classic example is JerkMate: a site we've seen all over the porn web in the last five years. JerkMate might seem like its own entity, but just like hundreds of other clones... it's built from Streamate's backbones.

So why not just sign up for Streamate itself?

If Streamate's homepage gives you a sense of déjà vu, you're probably not alone. 

This site uses the same massive database of ICF models that can be found on any of its white-labelled properties.

Most recent estimates put the total database at around 140,000 active models, with between 900-1200 shows available depending on what time you visit. Based on our recent testing, this number is perhaps a little high. 

While the sidebar lists hundreds of shows per category, if you scroll through to the very end, you'll see that many of them are actually offline. 

Whatever the case, nobody is going to argue that Streamate is one of the largest premium cam sites in the world.

Female Performers

90% of Streamate models are in the Girls category. 

When you land on the homepage, you'll see teaser thumbnails for all the models in your region.

Depending on where you live, this could be a small or large number. We accessed from the UK and found around 50 women broadcasting from the UK (marked by a simple flag in there thumbnail). We tried the site with a few different combinations via a VPN.

India and Thailand served up zero local results and reverted to generic 'top models'. Colombia served up hundreds of matches -- a sign of the skewed demographics to come.

Around 10% of the women are black, a higher ratio than we're used to seeing.

Streamate has an impressive collection of mature performers.

The mature category is almost twice as active as the Teens category, with 440 mature models online vs 250 teens. The premium nature of the platform attracts a slightly more experienced demographic of models.

Streamate has a tagging system with some relevant tags to promote these models: housewives, granny and mature. You can also use the age filtering, which divides models in to five groups: Teens 18+, 20s, 30s, 40s, and Mature 50+.

Streamate has a prominent Fetish filtering tool that highlights some popular options, including: feet, femdom, lactation, leather, latex, smoking and whips.

In practice, it's rare to find models actively broadcasting shows related to their tagged fetishes. For example, we browsed through 88 live shows tagged 'Leather' but found less than 10 performers wearing any leather.

Sure, these shows could be available 'on request', but it's not a particularly effective way of grouping the models on the homepage.

Male Performers

Male cams make up around 10% of the active models on Streamate. This typically results in around 100-150 male cams live at any given time.

The majority of Streamate's male models are from LATAM, with Colombia providing by far the most options. The United States and Romania are also well represented.

While the most popular tag is 'bisexual', the content is clearly targeted at gay men. Streamate's male models are slightly more edgy than the ladies in the type of shows they'll put out for free.

Trans Performers

Trans performers are listed as 'Transgirl' within the Girls category. They represent around 6-7% of the total live show count.

We're not sure of the wisdom in mixing TS performers with the entire Girls category - most sites include a separate section dedicated to Trans performers.

The selection of models is decent, albeit keyed in to a single market of dominance. Streamate attracts a lot of TS performers from Colombia, most in their early 20s.

Couples

Most modern cam sites recognise the popularity of Couples shows and have established a dedicated area of the site for them. Thus, it's pretty standard to see Girls, Guys and Couples given equal exposure in the navigation.

That is not the case on Streamate.

Here, if you want to find the couples, you'll need to dig down in to separate Couples tags within the respective Girls or Guys sections.

Streamate's use of portfolio model shots instead of live thumbnails reveals little about what to expect inside (since the thumbnail will only showcase the primary performer).

Most of the couple shows we saw (there were only 21 online) featured models from LATAM. The content was fairly tame and in some cases the 'partner' wasn't even present. 

If you're going to offer a 'premium' camming experience, you really need to deliver in this department. Those live streams have got to be top notch to justify the higher price tags.

Streamate delivers.

Shows go up to 1080p. We couldn't obtain an accurate breakdown of the number of models who broadcast in 1080p, but from those sampled, we'd put the number at over 50%.

To the naked eye, Streamate has some of the best quality live streams in the business. 

This is backed up by some seriously impressive bitrates, averaging above 6 Mb/s, at the high end of any site we've tested to date.

Streamate tends to be risk-averse when rolling out new features. It has hundreds of cam sites relying on its technology, so why rock the boat if you don't have to?

A couple of features caught our eye:

Integrated Sex Toy Menus and Wheel Spins

Streamate has an integrated GOLD menu for sex toy activation. While some cam sites do a pretty bad job at displaying the tip menu, Streamate gets it right with a systemised approach that works consistently across the site -- but it comes at a price.

Activating a sex toy for 5 seconds will set you back 1 GOLD ($1). We've seen models offering 25 second activations for 25 GOLD. The only possible explanation for this is to provide a reward for tips that would have been given anyway.

We like the Wheel Spin feature, but again, models tend to be more aggressive in pricing here than on freemium sites.

VOD Content & Clip Store

Streamate has a VOD store where you can buy custom clips that models have uploaded to their profiles.

We can see how this would be tempting if you have a favorite performer and her videos are sitting there waiting for you.

However, if you access the 'Trending Videos' section, all of the thumbnails are blurred and censored. There's no way of previewing what you'd be purchasing. We're guessing this has a massive negative impact on how many users actually convert to paying customers.

Maybe we're wrong. 

Models, please let us know in the comments if you've made good money with this feature!

Porn Star Appearances

Streamate has partnered up with a select group of 300+ pornstars. You can find them under the 'Pornstar' tag on the homepage. There's normally around 2-5 active at any given time. At the time of writing, there are just two available - one is Amber Lynn though, so that's pretty cool!

These models broadcast semi-regularly and have profiles stacked with custom videos and clips that can be purchased separately.

Streamate has one of the simplest UIs of all the major cam sites. 

There are minimal distractions, just one layer of filtering, and a very basic approach to search: regions, age, ethnicity, fetish and language.

This minimalist approach makes sense given Streamate's market position as a whitelabel provider. 

The company is not interested in reinventing the wheel. It aims to keep the interface as simple as possible, while white-label offshoots (like JerkMate) can skin up their data in fancy new ways.

With that said, there are a few things that we really don't like.

The regional filtering is terrible:

Want to find a model in the UK? 

You can't without also including all other models from the US, Canada and Australia.

We're actually baffled by how bad this omission - JerkMate manages to sort models by country efficiently with access to the same database. 

Our second issue is with the sub-par show thumbnails. 

While our preference is for live action shots of the show in progress, we'll acknowledge that both of Streamate's closest rivals - LiveJasmin and Flirt4Free - also take the glamor shot approach. (LiveJasmin shows the live feed on hover, tbf.)

Regardless, the thumbnails on Streamate are grainy and blurry. Compare them to the crisp hi-res shots on LiveJasmin. It's night and day. 

Streamate has some excellent HD shows, but it showcases them really badly with blurry, grainy, portfolio shots.

Live Chat UX

If we enter a live chat, here's what we see:

It's not the sleekest UI in the cam space, but it gets the job done.

A lot of the screen real estate is dedicated to ancillary info. It's possible to scroll down to see additional info about the model, including custom clips, user reviews and tags. 

If we're being picky, we'd like to see Streamate learn from the XCams user interface and hack away everything that distracts from the main video feed. 

Many shows look great in 1080p, so show them in all their glory. The line graph of when a model is usually online is a neat touch, but does it really necessitate sacrificing 1/3rd of the screen?

Streamate uses an unusual hybrid billing system. 

Private shows are charged in local currency, while certain features (like GOLD shows and tipping) are paid for with GOLD.

To keep things simple, 1 GOLD is supposed to equal $1, but it doesn't always work out like that.

If you are in the EU, there is a really annoying VAT charge that Streamate stealthily subtracts from our total balance.

For situations like this, Streamate should probably reconsider introducing its own credit system. An instant 20% haircut on any deposit is a great way to p*** off your customers on Day 1. 

It would be less of a slap in the face if it wasn't... staring us in the face.

We put through multiple transactions as part of this review and can report that billing is fully discreet. 

There was no traceable mention of any cam site on our card statements.

Full payment options include:

• Credit or debit cards
• PayPal
• Instant Bank Transfer
• paysafecard
• Crypto

Refund Policy

Streamate does not offer any refunds, except for "in extraordinary circumstances" where you've experienced technical difficulties. 

You can't buy GOLD in advance, so there is no concept of 'unused tokens' like you might find on other cam sites.

The Streamate mobile experience is just like the desktop experience. 

Basic no-frills functionality that does the job without impressing us or presenting any new noteworthy innovations.

The homepage divides the models in to a two column grid. While most cam sites opt for an infinity scroll, Streamate forces you to tap 'Next' after every 50 models.

Once you enter a room, the screen splits in to a 50/50 view. The top half shows the video feed, the bottom half includes the live chat, basic bio information, and quick access to the GOLD menu (or 'Spin The Wheel').

It's easy enough to enter full screen mode. Chat messages are overlaid and you can pop out the chat window to talk to the performer. 

While you can flip your phone horizontally, this is not particularly intuitive and you lose access to the rest of the UI when doing so. Vertical mode is the best way to watch -- you can zoom in easily, or click and drag to re-center the model.

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.

For free sex shows, Streamate is not the cam site for you. 

The platform has a history of suspending models who show 'too much skin' in the free public shows, which is hardly a recipe for competing with the Chaturbates and StripChats of the world. Indeed, the platform has a rocky relationship with some models (it has faced a lawsuit from disgruntled performers in the last 12 months).

For paid shows, Streamate is significantly more expensive than most cam sites.

Private shows typically cost anywhere between $1 - $10 per minute, with most established models charging in the $3.99-$7.99 range. Going fully private (exclusive) comes with a 20-30% premium.

There are no 'spy modes' or 'voyeur modes' to lower the cost of accessing private feeds, but GOLD shows are an excellent alternative. 

These are fixed-price group ticket shows that typically cost between $5-$10 for the entire performance. 

Streamate faces the same problem as every other premium cam site - how to compete in a hotly contested market where freemium sites are giving away the whole pie for free?

It does so by powering hundreds of other cam sites and pooling their marketing resources. Strength in numbers.

For free content, Streamate cannot compete with Chaturbate, BongaCams or StripChat. 

The real battle is with their main premium rivals: Flirt4Free and LiveJasmin.

We rate the premium offerings on those sites slightly higher than Streamate. This is partly due to Streamate's split priorities as a white-label service provider. It focuses just as much on the B2B side of its business, as it does on the core flagship site.

Worked pretty damn well so far, so why stop?