In the early days of the internet, chat rooms were the hot place to meet new people. Users could find rooms dedicated to various subjects and niche interests.

The internet has significantly evolved since those early days. Chat rooms aren’t standard, and Google is the top source for finding resources on the web.

Still, there are web apps similar to the old chat rooms of yore if you know where to look. Here is our list of the top apps and how to use them.

Do Chat Rooms Still Exist?

Although the ancient chat rooms we used in the late 1990s no longer exist as they once did, new ones frequently emerge. Unfortunately, it’s hard to sort through the noise to find legit chat rooms that aren’t just dating sites in disguise or places filled with inappropriate content.

There are a handful of websites almost exactly like the chat rooms of old. These sites allow users to chat online with random people. However, finding active ones is a challenge, and they aren’t always well moderated either.

Wire Club

Wire Club offers hundreds of chat rooms with a variety of different subjects. The look and feel of these rooms are reminiscent of early internet rooms. To access most of the rooms, you will need to join the service with a valid email address.

Wire Club heavily promotes the dating portion of its app, so you will likely find a lot of lonely folks looking for relationships or companionship on the service. The platform rates its rooms with the motion international dating service picture content rating system , and users should follow those guidelines (but that doesn’t always happen).

Chat Blink

Chat Blink reflects what most chat rooms have become in 2022. There are very few active rooms, and the most active is adult chat.

The most popular feature of chat blink is the “talk to strangers” feature, where users can choose one individual from a list to have a private conversation with. While testing this app, the only message I received in this private chat was one filled with suggestive emojis.

Chat Roulette

Chat roulette isn’t exactly a chat room. It’s a platform for video chatting with random strangers. When you join, you get paired with someone from anywhere in the world for the opportunity to talk.

As the famous South Park episode showcased, it became a haven for inappropriate behavior. There is a lot of unsolicited nudity on the platform. The original idea was fun, but it’s not worth the risk anymore.

Other similar websites, such as Omegle, have popped up with the same basic premise of random video chats with strangers. These platforms are difficult to moderate and ripe with abuse.

Paltalk

Paltalk is very similar to legacy chat rooms. It has thousands of users across the country (though it seems to be more popular outside of the United States).

Paltalk, available as a mobile app and on desktop, features a wide variety of rooms in different niches. The catch with Paltalk is that it isn’t all free. Many of the most active rooms are exclusive to premium members, who pay a $9.99 monthly fee to access the platform.

The app is unique in its attempts to gamify chat rooms. Users earn points by logging in every day, joining chats, turning their video on, and otherwise engaging with the platform. Users receive gifts like sticker packs when they collect enough points.

Users interested in free chat rooms will find limited options on Paltalk. Free rooms exist on the network, but it’s challenging to search through them, and most aren’t very active.