Chaturbate is the world’s largest cam platform and arguably the most recognisable brand of all the major adult cam sites. Chat + Masturbation = What’s not to love?!

A glimpse of the homepage reveals why. You’ll find row after row of amateur models performing for your pleasure, from all over the world – some in the middle of sexual acts, some stripping, others looking bored and forlorn. It’s a wild mix.

With a staggering 350,000+ registered models, and 5000+ models performing live at any given time, you won’t find better variety, or choice of channels, on any other site. The secret sauce behind Chaturbate’s industry dominance is its freemium business model. You can watch fully-explicit live sex shows without even registering on the site.

Chaturbate has leveraged the power of network effects to build a huge platform where viewers have unlimited choice, and models have sky-high earning potential.

But with that massive growth, Chaturbate has painted a target on its back.

The site is now well over a decade old. There are plenty of new cam sites on the block that have taken Chaturbate’s successful ideas and run with them to create similar offerings. And some of them have done very well indeed.

In this Chaturbate review, we look at how the OG of free cam sites stacks up to the competition. Is it still the go-to site for both viewers and models?

Let’s dig a little deeper and find out!

What is Chaturbate?

Chaturbate is a 100% amateur only, live sex cam site offering free shows to view at your leisure.

Cam sites are a big market and there are hundreds and thousands of sites all trying to get in on the act, some better than others. Launched in February 2011, Chaturbate has grown into a large community of amateurs who either broadcast themselves or are regular viewers.

The term Chaturbate is, of course, a take on exactly what cam sites are about, “…the act of masturbating whilst chatting online”.

How It Became The World’s Biggest Cam Site

There were many cam sites before Chaturbate.

So how did Chaturbate become the biggest of them all?

With a few exceptions (notably MyFreeCams), the major cam platforms in the early 2000s focused on selling private shows on a one-to-one basis.

Buying a private show was a case of choosing from a ‘menu’ of models who would broadcast some flirty chat for free, but would always save the best content for paying customers.

The cam scene was similar to a late-night adult TV station.

And then things changed…

Chaturbate brought mass audience tipping-based cam shows to the mainstream.

This concept allowed thousands of users to watch the same channel, at the same time, whilst increasing the amount of money that the broadcaster could earn.

And unlike the late night TV stations, you could watch the whole show. Fully explicit, hardcore sex, full nudity… without having to pay.

If you’re wondering why models would agree to switch to a freemium model like Chaturbate’s, the reason lies in the small percentage of users who do still pay.

Would you rather have an audience of 50,000 viewers where 1% of the users are happy to tip tokens towards a group target, or 1 viewer who is willing to pay a fixed rate per minute?

The money is in the crowd.

Thus, Chaturbate became the world’s largest cam site by effectively crowdsourcing the way that their models earn money. And as the audience grew, so did the number of models and paying customers using the service.

These days, the Chaturbate tipping formula is commonplace on most adult cam sites.

If you can’t beat them, join them.

Variety of Performers on Chaturbate

A cam platform is nothing without its performers, and there isn’t a platform in the world that can boast as many as Chaturbate’s 350,000 registered models.

See here: the 20 top Chaturbate models in the world today

You are spoiled for choice here.

The famous Chaturbate homepage features 100 of the hottest shows happening now and the variety of models is plain to see.

You’ll find cam girls (and guys) from all over the world with a healthy mix of North America, European and Asian models.

There are entire studios in Central America and Eastern Europe that specialise in Chaturbate productions, and they’re generally pretty easy to spot.

If your model of choice is stripping in front of jarring fairy-lights and too-convenient-to-be-true bedroom props, there’s a good chance she’s working in one of the many cam-factory-mills.

Shows are divided at the most basic level in to Female, Male, Couples and Trans.

The majority of performers are solo females, but we’d put it at around a 70:30 split.

70% solo females, 30%… everybody else.

Important to note is that the platform is almost exclusively amateur performers.

One of the ways that Chaturbate’s rivals have tried to claw back traffic is by hiring A-List porn stars and household names to feature in guest cam shows.

You won’t see that on Chaturbate.

It’s amateur hour, every hour.

What Sets Chaturbate Apart From Other Cam Sites?

Whether you are signing up to watch the shows, or to stream your own, there are clear reasons why you would choose Chaturbate over its rivals.

For Viewers

Quite simply, you are spoiled for choice.

Chaturbate boasts over 4.3 million visitors daily. This baying crowd attracts the best amateur models, along with a never-ending stream of aspiring models and couples looking to build a following on the site.

The reputation that Chaturbate has built over the years for being ‘Number One’ translates in to greater choice for the viewer: more models, more fetishes, different body types, different ethnicities, ages, and so on…

Chaturbate is the happy middle man in this arrangement – one that benefits from both sides. As a dominant player in the market, they have been able to invest heavily in their platform with high quality servers, a stable site, a raft of interactivity features and more filtering options for the discerning viewer.

Other cam sites may specialise in professional models (escorts, part time porn stars, etc) who put on high quality shows, but there is an addictive quality to the ‘homemade’ nature of the shows on Chaturbate.

It’s like being a fly on the wall of a thousand bedrooms.

The interaction feels more authentic, less ‘service-provider’ tinged.

For Broadcasters

Firstly, Chaturbate is all about amateurs and the site offers a really quick and easy way to start broadcasting yourself.

By setting up an account you agree to their terms and conditions (which should be read carefully to avoid any disputes!). Once you’ve submitted age verification, you are good to go. There is a detailed guide on how to get started with your broadcasting channel, which you can see below.

Once you start broadcasting you can earn tokens from your viewers.

In turn, these tokens can either be used on Chaturbate to access other broadcasters private shows or you can exchange them for cash. Which is the second thing that sets Chaturbate apart; plenty of people are using it to make some extra money.

Top performers with regular subscribers are earning a lot of money on Chaturbate with even occasional broadcasters making enough to keep them coming back for more.

But the site is free to use so, how can you make money?

Well, Chaturbate users have free access to browse all of the cam channels but if you want your performers to perform then you have to make it worth their while. As a result, you can end up spending a lot of tokens in the form of tips to see more, get in private chats or even just to get the performers attention.

Tokens can be spent in numerous ways across the site and there are other ways to earn them as well.

In terms of how much money you can make on Chaturbate, for every 100 tokens you receive in tips they are worth the equivalent of $5 in cash. Regular competitions are run with hourly prizes for the top cams being awarded $10 and $5.

With top broadcasters receiving, quite literally, millions of viewers the chances of making some good money are very high and is one of the big reasons that Chaturbate is so popular and successful for broadcasters.

How to Use Chaturbate

Given the amount of channels available to view on Chaturbate, you’d be forgiven for wondering how to find the best models.

Most of the site is available to browse for free, and you can drop in on any of the public channels without registering an account.

However, you will need to register an account if you want to communicate easily on the platform – by talking to the models, or tipping them, for example.

Sign up is also free and super fast.

Once you’re active on the site, you can sift through cams by either scrolling through the most active broadcasts (which will appear on the first page), or by using the handy tagging feature to browse channels by type.

If you’ve got a thing for big boobs, you can use the #bigboobs filter to load a thumbnail dump of all the active channels that meet this criteria.

Sounds like a useful system right?

Yes, but it has a couple of key flaws.

The tags are selected by the broadcasters, who have a natural incentive to include as many as possible in the hope that they’ll appear on more searches.

If you like big boobs, there’s no guarantee that your criteria for big boobs will match the B-cupped model who has tagged herself with them in a quest for additional viewers.

This is more of a problem in the specialist categories.

If you’re looking for something specific, there’s no guarantee that the tagging system will pull you towards the models that are providing that content.

In our view, if you want to find the best content on Chaturbate, your best bet is to stick to the homepage and see which shows are trending. The shows with the most viewers tend to be the ones with the most action going down.

Once you join a channel, it’s easy to get involved.

You can chat away for free.

Many models are happy to engage with their viewers, including those who are just taking a passive role in watching.

But if you want to get the most out of the service, you’ll want to have some tokens so that you can tip and/or enjoy a private show.

See more in our full walkthrough: How Does Chaturbate Work

Joining a Room

Rooms are divided into Female, Male, Couples and Trans as well as Spy Shows.

Performers tag their rooms with keywords so you can search for your favorite styles, acts and fetishes before choosing a room to join in with.

Most rooms are open to the public with no limits on how many people can join in; the more people who do so, the faster that targets are reached so the action takes place quicker.

There is obviously the usual cam site etiquette that is similar to chat rooms; no harassing the performers or other users, no spamming and no demanding that they do things if you aren’t tipping.

Equally, if you are tipping and your demands aren’t being met then it may be because the performer isn’t comfortable with your requests. Rooms are often moderated and the performers can request a moderator specifically in their room. You can immediately identify the users who are Chaturbate moderators as their name will be highlighted in red.

Spy shows are watch-only cams of private shows being performed live. You can’t interact with the broadcaster or comment but it is cheaper than paying for your own show.

Some performers restrict their shows to paying members but this is the exception rather than the rule.

Unique Options on Chaturbate

Chaturbate certainly isn’t revolutionary in terms of its offerings but it does offer a feature rich environment including apps and bots to customize your broadcast environment.

These handy automated tools can set tip goals for your viewers to aim for and include slot machines as well as Lovense interactive sex toy controllers and many more. Designed to help automate the collection of tokens you can choose from hundreds of apps and bots or even write your own.

You can save private broadcast shows as well as collect photos and videos from your favorite performers (if you tip for them).

Upgraded members can customize their channel including fonts and colors as well as being able to access multi-angle cams from some performers.

The settings area of the site is comprehensive and, if you are broadcasting, allows you to select from a range of ways your room is viewable; from blocking users in certain countries or regions to not appearing on network sites.

You can choose whether to broadcast your room to specific groups of people and even set a password for your room.

This last option makes Chaturbate a well-used site for couples wanting to share their exploits on a secure platform but without actually publicly broadcasting themselves.

What Does Chaturbate Cost?

Tokens are the currency of choice on Chaturbate.

It can be a little confusing to work out what a token is worth, as well as what it can get you.

So here is our handy chart of prices:

What Are Chaturbate Tokens Worth?

Chaturbate Tokens	Average Cost Per Token	Total Cost
100	0.11 USD per Credit	10.99 USD
200	0.10 USD per Credit	20.99 USD
500	0.09 USD per Credit	44.99 USD
750	0.08 USD per Credit	62.99 USD
1000	0.08 USD per Credit	79.99 USD

Once you have tokens, you will find that the models are suddenly much more attentive to your dubious messages and crap flirting.

You can use tokens to tip towards a group target (e.g. 2000 tokens for masturbation on cam), or to trigger whatever interactive sex toys the model may have integrated with her show.

You can also use tokens to go private with the models who choose to offer private shows.

An average private show on Chaturbate costs anywhere between $0.50-$7/minute, with the majority of models charging somewhere in the $2.50-$4/minute region.

This is about average for the industry and not too different from the rates on rival sites, such as CamSoda, MyFreeCams or StripChat. However, the $0.50 per minute shows stand out as the cheapest cam rates of all the major players in the space.

It’s important to remember that the models on Chaturbate are mostly amateurs.

You’re not going to receive the same smooth and professional experience that is available on other premium-end cam sites, like Flirt4Free or LiveJasmin.

See how Chaturbate compares to its closest rivals:

• Chaturbate vs CamSoda
• Chaturbate vs MyFreeCams
• And our pick of the best sites like Chaturbate

Payment Options

Tokens can be purchased at any time by:

• Credit card
• Debit card
• Wire transfer
• Bitcoin
• Money order
• Certified check 

We’re not sure who is buying cam site tokens with certified checks, but it’s an option if you need it!

Does paying for tokens mean that Chaturbate is going to appear on my bank statement?

No!

Any charges will be related to MultiMedia LLC, the parent company.

The ability to pay by Bitcoin is a nice addition for those who are hoarding cryptocurrency and need somewhere to spend it.

User Experience and Chaturbate Scam Reports

A word about scams and negative user reviews.

Firstly, the most frequently asked:

Is Chaturbate A Scam?

No, this is a legitimate service with a large member base of over 7 million users — most of whom are either perfectly satisfied with the site, or mildly indifferent. Depending on what they’ve just witnessed!

Whether it’s worth paying $X to interact with the shows is a matter of personal taste, but it’s clear: you don’t have to. You can watch 95% of the content on this site for free, without ever registering an account.

However there are several familiar complaints from paid users noting incidents such as having accounts banned shortly after paying tokens, or being kicked out of private shows from models (having tipped to watch them).

Some of the models may indeed be unscrupulous token grabbers with less than perfect morals – in a marketplace of this size, it’s inevitable – but the incentives are for models to take good care of the users who tip them.

Getting Banned On Chaturbate

The top three reasons why users end up banned from private shows, or banned from the site altogether are:

1. Rudeness. Insulting the performer, or spamming requests. (Please remember there’s a human being on the other side of the camera!)
2. Fraudulent Card Activity. The site attracts a lot of bad eggs who sign up using stolen credit cards, or fake payment details. Chaturbate uses a two-tier verification check to avoid false negatives. If you have a flagged card + you don’t verify, you’re likely to find your account suspended.
3. Multiple Banned Accounts. If you get banned from the platform and re-register, Chaturbate is capable of detecting the second attempt and will likely ban you again.

If you feel that you’ve been wronged by the platform, the best bet is to submit a support ticket and resolve the issue through email.

If you’ve been banned from a private room by a model, the first question to ask is obviously: was I rude or offensive? If your behaviour was reasonable, then take it up with the support team and you may be able to get any used tokens refunded.

These issues are not unique to Chaturbate. They are problems faced by just about every major cams website. It’s the nature of a marketplace where currency is exchanged for ‘services’.

Most of the time the fault lies with the expectations from one party: either the viewer or the model.

From our experience, Chaturbate is ambivalent. It’s in their interest to keep paying customers happy whilst ensuring the broadcasters have a safe and friendly work environment.

What Do Models Earn on Chaturbate?

As we’ve seen, Chaturbate offers a lot of free content for non-paying viewers.

Does that make it a bad platform for models and broadcasters?

No, there are still many ways to make money on Chaturbate.

Besides receiving tokens from users as tips, models can earn money through private shows, spy shows, by setting up a fan club, or by selling photos and videos on their profile pages.

Models take roughly a 50% cut in broadcast earnings, with the rest going to Chaturbate and affiliates.

The token system is different for models than it is for paying viewers.

What you need to remember is: 20 tokens is worth $1 for models.

Or, if it’s easier to remember: 100 tokens = $5.

• 20 tokens: $1
• 100 tokens: $5
• 500 tokens: $25
• 1000 tokens: $50

Once you’re familiar with the pricing, you can set up your own tipping menu.

Before you can run any show on Chaturbate, you will need to get age verified. This usually takes 24-48 hours, but it depends on your timezone and how many other applications are in the pile.

We have some useful resources for any model looking to get started on the platform:

• Sign Up On Chaturbate As A Model (Registration Process)
• How to Make Money on Chaturbate
• How to Become a Cam Model
• The Best Tip Controlled Vibrators
• A Guide to Adult Game Streaming on Chaturbate

Chaturbate Review: Still The OG of Cam Sites?

Chaturbate needs no introduction in the world of adult cams.

Since arriving on the scene in 2011, it has gone from strength to strength as a freemium cam site offering unrivalled choice of models, and a decent range of modern features.

If you’re looking for an intimate cam-to-cam session with a professional model who knows exactly how to get you off, then there are better alternatives.

This is more of an amateur playground.

Chaturbate appeals to a younger crowd that is happy to whittle away the hours in group chats, or bingeing through dozens of cams in a single session.

It isn’t the sleekest platform, and you’re not going to find porn-set production… but there’s still a lot of high quality cams, and some of the top channels do have exceptional video quality with the latest equipment.

It may take a while to find exactly what you’re looking for, but that’s part of Chaturbate’s charm.

You never know what you’re going to see on this site, but you can guarantee: it will be explicit, and not much will be held back.

Sign up on Chaturbate to see for yourself.

Featured images in our Chaturbate review are via their website.