What is Chaturbate? How Does Chaturbate Work?
If you’ve only just stumbled upon Chaturbate… firstly, what have you been doing all these years? It’s one of the most heavily trafficked adult websites in the world. You can barely hit a tube site without seeing an advert for it (or getting the popup!).
As the name would suggest, Chaturbate is a website that combines the art of chat with masturbation. It is an adult streaming platform where thousands of amateur performers broadcast directly from their bedrooms (or home studios) to an online audience.
At any given time, you will find hundreds of cam girls (and guys) putting on live sex shows for their fans, many of whom will ‘tip’ as a way of voting on what should happen next. But the good news is that most of the action is available to watch for free.
The free-to-watch model has driven Chaturbate to become one of the largest adult cam sites in the world, on par with rivals like Streamate, StripChat and CamSoda.
In our guide below, we will look at the key features of how Chaturbate works — for both viewers and broadcasters. For viewers: how to enjoy an unrivalled array of sexy live cams. And for broadcasters: how to make money on Chaturbate.
What Is Chaturbate?
Chaturbate [read our full review] is one of the world’s most famous adult cam websites. As of May 2022, it was the 5th most visited porn website in the world.
The site is home to thousands of amateur models broadcasting sexual and nudity based content via webcam. Some models perform alone, others perform as couples, and some will even stream shows as groups.
The goal is always the same: to provide a sexy live performance in front of the thousands of users (like you or I) who are tuned in and watching the action.
Famously, the name Chaturbate is a mash-up between Chat and Masturbate. Which are the two primary activities you will be enjoying on this site!
How Does Chaturbate Work?
Chaturbate has hundreds of chat rooms.
Each chat room is supplemented with a live amateur webcam stream.
In fact, you can watch the current most popular stream on Chaturbate by clicking here. Inside you will find a model doing her best to please a crowd of horny users by putting on a public show of sexiness.
How Chaturbate works is that users will combine together to ‘tip’ their favorite broadcasters in return for a show they want to see. In addition, some users don’t want to spend hours waiting for a free show to go down. They’d rather pay for an immediate private show that takes place one-to-one.
Needless to say, the site is addictive and sexy in equal measures.
The website was launched in February 2011 and has steadily become a very popular community with both its broadcasters and members alike. With 153,000 followers on Twitter it is the most followed cam site online and is ranked the 213th most popular website in the world.
The Layout
Once you enter a chat room, you will see that video takes centre stage on the screen with a side bar for users to chat directly with each other and to share messages with the ‘broadcasters’.
The rooms are subdivided into five main categories:
- Female cams
- Male cams
- Transgender cams
- Couple cams
- Featured
Couple cams are defined by Chaturbate as a man and a woman and are the most popular streams on the site with female, male and trans following in that order.
Each broadcaster can also identify the nature of their stream with additional tags making searching for your favourite type of show much easier. There are popular tags like bbw, teens and anal as well as more specialist feeds that cater for the more unusual tastes. Cams can also be navigated by geographical locations such as Euro Russian, Asian and Philippines.
There is a whole range of shows that are available including live sex, exhibitionism and masturbation.
Rival Sites Like Chaturbate
Of course, Chaturbate isn’t the only site serving up live sex and explicit webcams.
Adult webcams have been popular for 15+ years, and there are a number of high quality sites you might want to consider.
These include the famous Chaturbate rivals:
Bonga Cams — An addictive and popular alternative to Chaturbate with over 10,000 amateur cams, many of them no-holds-barred. [review]
Flirt4Free — One of the go-to cam sites for high quality streams of porn stars and professional models. [review]
IMLive — Known for super cheap tokens and a variety of models from a much wider international audience. [review]
MyFreeCams — One of the original cam site phenomenons. This site relies on tipping, similar to Chaturbate, so it can take a while to get to the fun stuff. [review]
For a full list of sites like Chaturbate, see our comparison guide.
How Does Chaturbate Work?
Sign up is completely free and will allow you access to most cams but there are premium shows for which additional payment is required. Private shows can be paid for using tokens which can be earned or purchased. This virtual system of payment is used across the site for various perks.
Each broadcaster will perform for their audience for token tips so if you want to see something special then you will need to pay for it. In this way the cam performers can make some decent money from their broadcasts, although Chaturbate does take a percentage of their earnings.
Tokens and Credits on Chaturbate
Tokens can also be used to buy pictures and videos from a broadcaster as well as tipping a model. Some members also contact broadcasters to purchase things like panties and photographs. This exchange is done in a private message and at the discretion of the broadcaster.
100 tokens can be purchased for $10.99 but would be worth $5 to the broadcaster.
The site also runs an ongoing competition for its broadcasters which total a monthly $11,000 in prize money. Every hour the top cam is awarded $10 with second place winning $5. There is no cap on the number of times any cam can win nor any limit to the amount of prizemoney that is able to be claimed.
How Much Are Chaturbate Tokens Worth?
Token systems can be confusing at first. One of the top questions we see about how Chaturbate works is simply: “How much is a token worth?”
Here are the current conversion rates for token buyers:
- 100 tokens = $10.99
- 200 tokens = $20.99
- 500 tokens = $44.99
- 750 tokens = $62.99
- 1000 tokens = $79.99
Member Types and Why It Is Worth Paying
Here’s one of the things you might not realise about using Chaturbate, but it can make a BIG difference to the overall experience…
Site members are classified using a colour coding system with each category referring to how many tokens they have, how regularly and frequently they spend them as well as more information on their site activities.
Why does this matter for you?
Well, this information enables broadcasters to quickly identify which members are likely to tip. They are far more likely to respond to a suggestion to perform from someone who tips regularly than to accept requests from someone with no tokens. Member categories are as follows:
| Colour | Description |
| Red | Chat room moderator – these are appointed by the broadcaster to monitor the chat that goes on next to a live feed. |
| Orange | Broadcaster in a room |
| Grey | Member who has no tokens |
| Green | Member who is a fan in that specific chat room |
| Dark Blue | Members who have spent at least 50 tokens within the current two week period. |
| Light Blue | Members who have spent at least one token but not more than 50 in the current two week period. |
| Light Purple | Members who have tipped at least 250 tokens within the last two week period. |
| Dark Purple | Members who have tipped at least 1000 tokens within the last two week period. |
While it is certainly possible to get away with freeloading on Chaturbate, you will find yourself infinitely more popular with a stack of credits to your name.
Models are not stupid. They pay more attention to their loyal customers – the ones tipping. And if you want to see a private show or have a private request fulfilled, the only way is to get involved with the action and tip her.
No tip… no hanky panky for Mr. Pink!
Joining the Chaturbate Community
The Chaturbate community is an active one with members becoming loyal fans of performers; in some instances showering their favorite cam girls (and boys) with gifts from Victoria’s Secrets, LoveHoney and Amazon’s Wish List.
Note: This is one of many reasons why the site has become a popular hub for broadcasters, who in turn have helped to grow the audience even further. It’s not just money you can make on Chaturbate, it’s presents and gifts too!
With a slogan of ‘The Act of Masturbating While Chatting Online’, Chaturbate is now the leading cam based amateur pornography online. It has gained a reputation for its high quality broadcasting, fair moderators and fun, friendly models.
Chaturbate For Broadcasters
Are you thinking of joining Chaturbate as a cam girl or cam guy?
A two way street, the models on Chaturbate are paid well (and on a regular basis) thus making it one of the go-to sites for making money as a broadcaster.
Performers are regularly nominated in sex industry awards and the site has some winners to its name. The site itself has recently won Freemium Cam Site of the Year and Most Innovative Cam Site at the AW Awards.
This all leads to the question: “Can I make money on Chaturbate?”
And the answer, for both experienced models and new broadcasters alike is: yes!
Yes, you can.
How to Make Money on Chaturbate
There are essentially three steps to making money on Chaturbate:
- Getting age verified
- Putting on a good show to score tips
- Taking advantage of the various Chaturbate apps and bots
For a detailed follow-along, you’ll want to see this How To Get Started Camming guide.
Getting Age Verified on Chaturbate
Before you can make money on Chaturbate, the site requires that you submit an official ID showing that you are at least 18 and the gender you claim to be.
This might seem like a chore, but it’s easy to see why the step is necessary from Chaturbate’s point of view. They can’t have under 18s broadcasting sex shows!
The entire age verification process should take no longer than a week, and hopefully just a few days at most.
You cannot start earning tokens from tips or private shows until you have been age verified – so, start the process ASAP after joining.
Putting on a Good Show
The top cam girls on Chaturbate can earn thousands of dollars per day by appearing on the homepage and drawing in hundreds of viewers at a time.
How do they achieve this?
There are many elements, but first and foremost comes putting on a good show.
When you get started on Chaturbate, you will need to give a lot to get a little. That means being willing to get naked, be a good sport, and increase the number of viewers — either through intrigue or sheer can’t-take-eyes-off-the-screen magnetism.
We’ll let you use your imagination there.
Some of the most successful models on Chaturbate are couples, which makes sense given that it dramatically increases the potential, err, plot lines of the action that may be about to unfold.
Don’t let that put you off if you’re going solo on cam.
There are countless examples of solo cam girls/guys who have made an absolute fortune by building a loyal audience on Chaturbate.
Of course, they have a few tricks up their sleeve too…
Chaturbate Apps and Bots
Chaturbate has its very own Apps and Bots page which allows broadcasters to kit out their chat room experience with a number of cool scripts.
Apps and bots sounds a little underhanded, doesn’t it?
The reality is that all of the top performers on Chaturbate are making use of additional chat room functionality that dramatically increases the amount of tokens they are tipped.
Some of the top apps include:
- Ohmibod — A way to customize/automate a famous sex toy that vibrates at the sound of tips.
- Sequence Tips — An app to force tips in a certain order for a goal to be reached (e.g. 1 token, 2 tokens, 3 tokens. Great for gamifying the process.)
- Goal Counter — Let viewers know exactly what the goals are before the fun can start.
- Keep It Going — If the tips keep coming, the show keeps going.
- Crazy Ticket — Broadcasters can sell tickets to hidden/private cam shows.
There are dozens and dozens of these apps available. The savviest of Chaturbate money makers make the most of them in engaging their audience to send more tips.
Ultimately, the best way to get more tips?
Put on a sexy show that your audience can’t resist. 😉
Tokens for Broadcasters
Without doubt, Chaturbate is an addictive site for cam girls and cam guys.
Not only can you make money on Chaturbate, but you can make a lot of it. And you can accumulate tokens very fast.
When you track the tokens in your account as a broadcaster, Chaturbate has already taken their share of the transaction. They take around 40% of the total value, leaving the broadcaster with roughly 60%.
For reference, here is what tokens are worth to broadcasters:
- 20 tokens = $1
- 100 tokens = $5
- 500 tokens = $25
- 1000 tokens = $50
- 10000 tokens = $500
You must be age verified before you can cash out your Chaturbate tokens.
Key Sign Up Links
Ready to make the jump and get yourself an account on the world’s largest live adult cams site?
Here are the links you will need:
Are you a fan of Chaturbate and its live performers?
Do you have experience broadcasting on the site, or simply blowing a lot of your cash there?
Let us know your thoughts and comments below!
Chaturbate is bogus. They have fake tippers to provoke real tippers. Each broadcaster if you look at there followers gets an allocated by admin nearly exact number of followers per broadcast. Some of the best peoples rooms sit with a constant 15 viewers like they are being put in line for the bigger money makers to make money first. Not displaying broadcasters in certain gallery listings or I.P. ranges. You can even see in some peoples rooms on there bio how many views certain broadcasters get like 750,000 or even a million views on flag counters and then the broadcaster opens there can and only 15 people or 18 people constant. One leaves few mins another replaces them to keep them on hold for bigger money makers. It’s a stupid liberal run site with a very scammy system. It’s completely obvious admin elects little kids to be there too dogs. And the vibrating tampon toy most of there people have is really stupid. They just try to convince the younger generation to give but naked from the start from all angles showed to sell there images to play them out openly and make more money off there image then the people get. They totally play people out the slowly half there daily accumulate followers and cut there pay by diverting there traffic to newer rooms. It’s just another poorly run business that fakes worth to intimidate a presence. Affiliate Marketing wide you can not be certain you ever really get fully imbursed. There is not clicks stats for links you may post. It’s a scam site that cloaks it self as ligit very well. They use to use a fortuitously names customer service rep names Surely. Now they have some habib over seas customer service center handle there people with automated response. The site owner has been sued before and pulled out of other sites in the past and left people with nothing. As he will eventually do with this site. It’s garbage. But the guy who runs this page is probably profiting well. Just don’t believe em. BecAuse he is just one of the paid stool pigeons. It’s garbage. Nothing but little kids that should be trying to get there first job not beating off. This is what liberals do with there time. They beat off. And dance around the streets and make kids for us all to pay for.
Thanks, Daman. Here’s a question–is there ever actual live chat going on, without paying for a private show? Do you really have to become a “broadcaster” to chat? No one wants to see me naked. I just don’t get it. How many actual shows are performed? One recorded one over and over..
My O My someone had a bad day. I’ve only started using CBate within the month. It’s a good experience and have connected with some fine people worldwide.
Like everything in life you need to evaluate. Some “rooms” just dont seem to be what they say. So you leave.
Dont think anyone is trying to convince “younger generation” of anything. YGs are very tuned in and can figure out what’s going on and what works for them.
I was surprised years ago by how many people (I don’t) like to have something done to their ass. Couple fit athletic straight buds craved attention of all kinds.
Nobody needs convincing about what they like sexual. It’s just obvious what your desires and fantasies are about sex.
Any business that takes advantage of peoples money does not last. Word gets out. Shade all over internet. If this is the sixth year, lots of people like it. Good safe way for many performers to make extra $$$ unless you want to go into politics.
i love the site to perv, but i have see some broadcasters showing what i believe is a recorded video of themselves, and this same video is simply repeated every time they go online, and thjey are just sitting at their computer responding to members comments in their chatroom.
Being on chatabate about a month now its a great site.Once i got use to how it worked its great now.Meet alot of sexy and classy girls and ladys.I am hook so far.
Can I ever go back and read all my chats that I had on CBate?