Omegle is gone.
The good part does not have to be.
Omegle shut down on 8 November 2023, after fourteen years, when its founder settled a lawsuit and wrote that the fight against its misuse had become unsustainable. What people miss about it is real: you could meet somebody you had no other way of meeting, in about four seconds, for free. What went wrong is also real, and every clone that took its place inherited it rather than fixing it.
What actually broke
Omegle put two strangers on camera with nothing in between. No name, no history, nothing that survived the call. That is what made it fast, and it is the same thing that made it ungovernable: with nothing to lose, the worst behaviour costs nothing, and the people on the receiving end have no way to tell it is coming.
Anonymity was not the flaw on its own. The flaw was anonymity plus instant video — the camera opening before anybody had decided anything. By the time you know who you are talking to, you are already talking to them.
What the clones did instead
Most of the sites that absorbed Omegle’s traffic copied the model exactly and added advertising. A few added a paywall. The ones that added "moderation" mostly mean an automated nudity filter, which addresses one category of harm and none of the others.
None of them changed the shape of the thing: camera first, decide later.
The change we made
You see the other person before the video opens: their profile, the languages they speak, and a rating from people who have actually talked to them. You can send a message first. Video starts when you both say yes, and not before.
That single reordering does most of the work. Somebody deciding whether to behave knows they are visible, rateable and blockable, and somebody deciding whether to accept knows what they are accepting. It costs a few seconds against Omegle’s four.
It is still strangers, still free, still no download, and you can still leave in one click.
And a subject, if you want one
The other thing Omegle never had was intent. Its interest tags were a text box that mostly did nothing. Here you pick what the conversation is about first — a language you are practising, signing, code, music, whatever is on — and matching starts from that. If nobody is on your subject the search widens by itself, and if it stays quiet you can put a time up and share the link.
Questions
Why did Omegle shut down?
Its founder, Leif K-Brooks, closed it on 8 November 2023 while settling a lawsuit over abuse that took place on the site, writing that operating it and fighting its misuse had become unsustainable both financially and psychologically.
Is this free?
Yes. There is no paid tier, no advertising, and no payment of any kind. You need an account, which exists so that ratings and blocks can attach to somebody.
Do I have to show my face straight away?
No. You see their profile first, and you can message before either camera comes on. Video only opens when both people have agreed to it.
Is it anonymous like Omegle was?
Not in the same way, and deliberately. You choose a display name and how much of a profile to fill in, but there is a persistent account behind it, because a rating that vanishes when somebody reloads protects nobody.
Do you record conversations?
No. Video and audio go directly between the two browsers and are never recorded, stored or transcribed by us.
Pick something to talk about
Try it
Free, no download. You see who it is before the camera opens.
ChatFederation opened in September 2026. If it is quiet, schedule one and share the link.
Other comparisons
- Chatroulette alternative: talk, without the next button
- Random video chat with real people, free
- OmeTV alternative: know who it is first
- Chatrandom alternative: a reason to be in the room
- Emerald Chat alternative: a rating you cannot buy
How the ratings work is on the trust page, and what happens when something goes wrong is on safety.