1 Allow your camera
You are told what is about to be asked for and why, before your browser asks. Then you see yourself — nobody is connected yet.
Random video chat
One stranger at a time, chosen at random. Press next whenever you like. No account, no profile, and nothing kept afterwards.
Start chattingFree · no sign-up · works in this browser · 18+
What random video chat is
Random video chat pairs you with a stranger for a live one-to-one video conversation, chosen at random rather than from a list of people you already know. Either person can leave at any moment and be matched with somebody else.
That is the whole idea, and it has barely changed since Chatroulette started it in 2009. There is no profile to fill in, no friend request, no follower count and no algorithm deciding who you meet. You get whoever happens to be waiting, which is either the appeal or the problem depending on the evening.
How it works
Three steps, about ten seconds.
2 Meet a stranger
You are paired with whoever has been waiting longest. You are shown which country they are in, and nothing else about them.
3 Or press next
Leave whenever you want. You owe a stranger nothing, and they are not told why you went.
What to look for in a service
They are not interchangeable, and the differences that matter are not the ones on the front page. Four questions worth asking:
- Is what is on camera checked automatically? Reports only work after somebody has already seen the thing being reported. Automated checking is what catches it in between.
- Where does that check run? A server-side check judges video that has already been sent. A check running in the sender's own browser can cut it before it leaves.
- What is kept about you? Some services attach a screenshot of the reported person to every report — good for substantiating a complaint, and it means they hold an image of you. Others keep nothing and therefore cannot substantiate anything. Both are defensible; they are opposite bets.
- What does it want before you can start? Accounts buy filters, reputation and friend lists. They cost you a persistent record.
We have written up how each of the main services answers these, with sources, rather than asking you to take our word for it.
The main services, compared
Every claim here links to a page where it is sourced — including the ones that do not flatter us.
| Service | Account | Known for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spoqi | None | Checks in your browser before anything is sent; keeps nothing | Open |
| Omegle | — | Shut down in November 2023 | Read |
| Chatroulette | None | The original, running since 2009 | Read |
| OmeTV | None | Apps, and human moderators reviewing reports | Read |
| Emerald Chat | Yes | Karma scores and interest matching | Read |
| Joingy | None | Interest matching and a text-only mode | Read |
| Chitchat | For video | Live moderators, filters, a friends list | Read |
| Hay | — | Real-time translation and filters | Read |
| Thundr | None | Reports that include IP and screenshots | Read |
| Chatrandom | None | Gender and country filters | Read |
| Bazoocam | None | Games, and matching by location | Read |
| Monkey | None | Removed from the Apple App Store | Read |
The history is not reassuring, and that is the point
Omegle was the best-known random video chat site in the world. It shut down on 8 November 2023, after fourteen years, days after settling a lawsuit brought by a woman who had been matched with an adult man on it as an eleven-year-old. Its founder wrote that "there can be no honest accounting of Omegle without acknowledging that some people misused it, including to commit unspeakably heinous crimes."
Any service in this category that does not talk about that is asking you not to think about it. It is why the checks below exist, and why they run automatically rather than waiting for somebody to press report.
How Spoqi handles it
Checked before it is sent
A model runs in your own browser and cuts your camera within about a second if it sees nudity — on frames that have not been transmitted. Those frames never leave your device. A second check on our servers is the one that issues bans, because anything running on somebody's own machine can be switched off by them.
Watched more closely once there is a reason
One flagged frame is a warning, not a ban — a single frame is also a poster on a wall. But from that moment you are checked more often, which is what catches somebody who stops the instant they think nobody is looking.
Reporting that works afterwards
Most people move on first and decide it was worth reporting second. The button keeps working, and shows the last few strangers you spoke to with a picture of each so you can point at the right one. Those pictures stay in your browser and are never uploaded.
Nothing is recorded
No video, no screenshots, no transcript, and no column in the database one could go in. The cost is stated plainly: a report is judged on what you say and on that device's history, not on evidence we kept.
One thing no service can fix: the person you are talking to can film their own screen. That is true here and everywhere else, and worth knowing before you decide what to show a stranger.
Questions people ask
What is random video chat?
It pairs you with a stranger for a live one-to-one video conversation, chosen at random rather than from a list of people you know. Either person can leave at any moment and be matched with somebody else.
Is it free?
Most services are, including Spoqi. Some charge for filters such as matching by gender or country. Spoqi has no paid tier, no adverts and no account.
Is random video chat safe?
It carries real risks, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. What makes a service safer is whether it checks what is on camera automatically rather than waiting for people to report each other. Never share your full name, address, workplace or social accounts, and assume the other person can film their screen.
Do I need to sign up?
Not on Spoqi. Some services do, particularly those offering interest matching, reputation scores or filters — those features need a persistent record of you in order to work.
How old do I have to be?
Eighteen. Spoqi checks it while you are on camera rather than only asking at the door: apparent age is estimated alongside the check for nudity, and a confirmed reading under eighteen ends the chat and blocks the device.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, in a mobile browser with nothing to install. There are three video layouts and it remembers which you picked.
Can I put random video chat on my own website?
Yes — there is an embed, free, with no API key and no account. It is four lines of HTML.
Nobody is waiting for you to fill in a profile.
Start chatting