What are sex cam sites?
Sexcam sites are recreational websites of a sexual nature for entertainment purposes. They allow you to text chat online with men and women and watch them strip or perform sexually explicit acts on a video screen. Live audio streaming is also common, so you can hear the performer too. If you are under 18 years old or easily offended by material of a sexual nature then you should avoid this type of website. On each site you’ll tend to find a variety of chat rooms as well as other features. Whilst the chat rooms form the main features, you’ll usually find videos, photos and other content, also containing material of a sexual nature.
Different types of sexcam site
Whilst the more commercial sexcam sites feature paid performers working either from their homes or from a studio (e.g. Cams.com) you’ll also find social networking cams sites (e.g. iFriendsV2.com) in which you set up your own webcam and chat with other members, making for a more immersive experience. Rather than paying to use the chat rooms you instead pay a monthly membership charge.
Amongst the commercial sexcam sites you’ll find those that cater to a variety of tastes (e.g. Streamate.com, LiveJasmin.com). These typically offer a range of chat categories based upon the sex and gender of the performer(s), their ethnic status, age, physical appearance and fetishes. Meanwhile, other sites cater to niche interests including sites devoted to only male performers (e.g. Men4You.com), teenage girls (e.g. 18OnCam.com), transsexuals (e.g. GenderBenders.com) larger women (e.g. AllBBWCams.com) and Latina women (e.g. LiveLatina.com).
Site layout
Most sites feature clickable tabs to make it easy for you to access different aspects of the site, eg. chat rooms, video archives, photo galleries, etc. Most sites allow you to navigate to any of the features by clicking on tabs on the homepage. On arrival you’ll typically be presented with performer thumbnails linking to their chat rooms and other content. Quite often, clicking on a thumbnail will take you directly to the chat room. It’s a good idea to look out for the number of performers online, as this can increase or reduce your choices significantly. It’s also worth checking whether a site has search options to help make browsing more efficient. The better sexcam sites usually have advanced search engines where you can select a variety of criteria to find exactly what you want.
Joining and paying to use the site
Getting a membership is mostly quick and easy. With most sites membership is free and you just have to purchase credit to spend on the features you use (see below). Some charge a monthly membership fee, but be aware that this does not always entitle you to use all the site’s features. There may be an additional pay per minute fee. Such sites can sometimes work out to be a fair bit more expensive. However, there is the odd one or two where there are no chat room fees on top of the monthly membership fee (e.g. FlatFeeCams.com).
Some sexcam sites offer membership upgrades giving substantial discounts. However, you need to weigh up the amount of time you spend on a particular site against what you get. You can only really make big savings if you spend a lot of time and money on that site. If you’re an infrequent user then it’s probably not worth bothering. In general, membership upgrades give you things such as more freebies, e.g. greater percentage discounts on credit, free access to video and photo archives, special text color that gets more attention from performers and other exclusive content.
Once you’ve registered some basic details and paid your membership fee (if applicable - you’ll often need a valid email address and quite often a credit card number or other payment details even if membership is free) you are at liberty to browse the site. The payment plans are described in detail in each of our reviews, so reading our reviews is a great place to start. You'll need to purchase credit in order to access the premium features of most sex cam sites. This can be done easily in just a few clicks, once you’ve selected the amount of credit you want to purchase (usually ranging between $10.00 and $200.00). On the better sites you’ll have an account page or membership page in which you can access all your personal details, check your credit level, access downloaded content and check messages. If the site you are using converts your currency to credits, points or tokens, make sure you find out the exchange rate first. All of our reviews list prices in US dollars to avoid confusion and allow you to make meaningful comparisons between sites.
Chat rooms
In ‘free chat’ you can watch and interact with performers at no cost. Sites vary on this; some will allow you to see the free chat rooms without registering, whilst others will make you register and provide a credit card number first, even though it isn’t charged. The free chat rooms are useful to see what a performer is like and to ask any questions before proceeding to paid chat.
The most popular (and most expensive) kind of chat room is commonly referred to as ‘private’ chat. Here, you are ‘one-to-one’ with the performer. This gives you the performer’s complete attention and allows you to direct the performer. You should expect to pay on average between $3.99 and $4.99 per minute for this kind of chat room. If you look around you’ll find private chat for as little as $0.99 per minute and up to $9.99 per minute.
A slightly cheaper option is the ‘group’ chat room. Whilst the format is essentially the same as the private chat room, multiple members can participate, meaning that you’ll be getting less of the performer’s attention. Expect to pay something between $1.99 and $2.99 per minute for this kind of chat, although, as with private chat, costs will extend significantly beyond this range.
Voyeur chat rooms are one of the cheapest types of chat room you’ll find. You get to ‘spy’ on another member’s private one-to-one chat. Be aware that in this type of chat room you’ll only get to see the video stream. You don’t get to listen to the audio stream, nor do you get to interact with the performer via the text chat. Moreover, when the paying member decides to terminate the chat, you are immediately disconnected.
Feature shows are scheduled performances that are advertised on the site that last from half an hour to an hour. Usually, you purchase a ‘ticket’ any time before the show and log in at the appointed time. A ticket should cost no more than $9.99, which presents a substantial saving when compared to pay per minute chat. The only downsides are that the level of interaction is minimal and that you can only access feature shows at the scheduled times.
On most sites you’ll find something that’s often referred to as ‘cam2cam’. This is a feature that allows you to connect your own webcam to allow performers/other members to watch you as you are watching them. This is only possible in the private chat rooms where you get to go one-to-one. It’s usually free to connect your own webcam, however there are one or two sites that charge a little extra if you want to do this.
Video archives and photo galleries
Additional features such as video archives usually come a poor second to the chat rooms, whilst some sites have no video content at all. However, there are a few sites that put a little more into their video and photo content than their chat rooms (e.g. SweetApples.com). As a basic guide, a site might offer a small amount of extremely tame videos, whilst you have to pay to see the more sexually explicit content.
It’s best to check whether a site allows you to download video content to watch offline, or just to stream and watch online. Whilst it’s usually possible to watch videos on a per minute fee basis, this can work out rather expensive, but you should be able to purchase unlimited access for a day/week/month, which can work out cheaper. Video content typically comes in two forms: 'recorded live shows' and 'adult movie clips'. Recorded live shows feature short clips taken from performers’ chat room sessions. You’ll often find other video content uploaded by performers too. Other sites feature more general video content (e.g. see Cam4.com for a selection of free to stream adult movie clips). Photo content is typically the same as with the video content. You’ll usually find some tame free to view pictures but have to pay to view the main galleries.
Technical Issues
Most internet browsers will work perfectly well with the sites reviewed in this category. In order to watch the video stream you’ll usually have to download the Adobe Flash Player or the Java plugin. If you haven’t done so then don’t worry as this will be detected and you’ll simply be prompted to download the necessary software via the site. One or two sites (e.g. RealGirlsOnCam.com) use third-party software for chat rooms. As a lot of chat rooms now feature audio streaming you’ll also need to have a sound card to hear this. Otherwise, as long as your computer and broadband internet connection are reasonably up to date then you shouldn’t have any problems. For the community cam sites (e.g. iFriendsv2.com) you don’t have to have your own webcam but you won’t get the most out of the site without it. Full instructions on setting up your own cam will be readily available on the site.
Support
On many of the sexcam sites you’ll find an FAQ section or some kind of guide. This should be your first port of call when seeking assistance. If you don’t find it here you’ll need to contact the site directly, which typically involves sending an email or completing some kind of online contact form. Most promise to get back to you within 48 hours, but often you get a reply much quicker. Alternatively, some sites have telephone support, which is sometimes toll-free, meaning that you can potentially get a resolution much quicker. On some sites you’ll also find support chat rooms that you can visit and discuss any queries or problems online. This is often the easiest and fastest way to get your questions answered. You should also find on all sites a list of terms and conditions that refers to things such as refunds, chat room etiquette and grievance procedures.
The bottom line
If you’re looking for some fun and sexy entertainment then our guide to web's most popular sex cam sites will certainly help point you in the right direction. Our reviews aim to give you as much detail as possible about the sites, and our balanced summaries based upon sound experience of the entire field enable you to make informed decisions and get the most for your money.
