Anonymous video chat site Omegle was the first chat roulette in history. The site was launched on March 25, 2009 by eighteen-year-old American Leif K-Brooks, and just a month later, more than 150,000 people had visited it.
Today Omegle is one of the most famous anonymous chat roulettes in the world, and its greatest increase in popularity in recent years happened at the height of the world coronavirus pandemic. 30-35,000 users online at any one time has become the norm, where before that there were usually about 15 thousand people online.
Key features of Omegle:
- the platform is completely free and does not require registration
- users have access to text and video chat
- there are separate Adult and Unmoderated sections
- search by interests is available
- choose your language, and student chat
This is essentially as far as Omegle functionality goes. For many modern users that’s not enough, but luckily there are many alternatives, which we’ll cover in today’s article.
Best paid Omegle alternatives
1. Camsurf. This video chat service is partially paid. You can chat with strangers one-on-one without any payment, but full functionality only becomes available with a premium Camsurf-Plus subscription. You can pay for a week or for a month, and make use of additional search settings. Also, the Back to Chat function requires a separate payment to give you the ability to reconnect to a previous chat partner.
2. Omegle Alternative. In many aspects, this is an innovative social network for video dating, not just a chat roulette. The site helps men find fascinating girls for conversation, friendship and maybe even real future relationships. All girls go through verification, so there are no fakes and bots in OmegleAlternative.com. Most importantly, you can try all the functions of Omegle Alternative for free during the trial period. And only after that do you need to decide whether you are ready to pay for all the additional features.
3. ChatRandom. This site should perhaps be classified as free, as most of the features here don’t require payment. The chat roulette functionality and chat rooms do not require registration or payment. However, if you want to chat privately with girls, you’ll need premium access. As in Camsurf, there is a paid feature to let you connect to a previous chat partner.
4. Chatspin. This video chat is generally very similar to the previous ones. The classic roulette chat format is available for free, and you can set your gender immediately. However, you still have to pay for advanced search settings and additional features. Chatspin PLUS subscription is available for a week or a month, and as in the previously mentioned sites, there is a Back to Chat function.
Best free Omegle alternatives
1. ChatRoulette. This is perhaps the closest Omegle alternative. Chatroulette is a classic chat roulette that connects you with random users. There are no exact search settings here either. For a long time ChatRoulette had serious problems with moderation, which caused its audience to disperse to other sites. Positive growth only started to be observed again in 2020, when moderation was finally taken seriously, and the site was modernized. In addition, ChatRoulette for video conferencing appeared.
2. OmeTV. Completely free anonymous video chat with gender and geographic filters. You can set your country and gender and the system will try to select the most suitable chat partners for you. It offers interesting features such as automatic direct translation of text messages during conversations — very handy when dealing with foreign-language speakers. No registration is required to use OmeTV, and a branded app for iOS and Android is also available.
3. ChatAlternative. A worthwhile alternative to Omegle and an almost perfect copy of OmeTV. By and large, the only difference is in the design of the site. Functionality is identical: gender and geographic filters as well as auto-translation of messages. Registration is not required, and there are smartphone apps available.
4. Shagle. Another popular anonymous video chat service. Basic Shagle functionality is available for free — you can specify your gender to search for suitable chat partners and chat face-to-face without restrictions. Shagle, however, is not completely free. Some of its advanced features are available only after registration and payment for a premium account. For example, this is the only way to access an improved location filter, the ability to give virtual gifts and the opportunity to reconnect to a previous chat partner. Plus premium access removes all ads from the site.
Who should use free Omegle alternatives, and who should use the paid ones?
If your goal is simply to get to know the video chat format and chat with random strangers, free roulette chat is your best option. The feature set is more than enough for these activities. Additionally, registration is also almost never required — you just go to the site, make a couple of clicks and after a few seconds you’re talking with a random chat partner. Some chat roulettes even allow you to select which gender and country to search for completely free.
However, if you want more options and are hoping for more promising acquaintances, you should take a closer look at paid video chat sites. For example, if you are looking for new friends or dream of finding a soul mate, the premium features of the sites mentioned above will allow you to find the right people faster and more easily.
Another not immediately apparent advantage of paid chat roulette is excellent moderation. A premium subscription allows the site to maintain a staff of moderators. Accordingly, the risks of meeting problem users, exhibitionists, scammers, advertisements, bots and such are much lower here. If you have already used free chat roulettes, then you know that this can be a serious problem on those sites.
One more thing — it’s up to you whether you use paid features or not. But experience shows that if a person has enjoyed all the benefits of premium access, he’s usually in no hurry to return to the free version.