Free online chat: where to actually talk for free
Where to chat online for free without paying, what the free tiers really include, and how to pick a place to talk that is safe, busy and worth your time.
If you want to chat online for free, you have more good options than ever, and most of them never ask for a card. Discord is free and built around servers on every topic. Reddit's communities are free to read and post in. WhatsApp and Telegram are free for talking to people you already know or groups you join. For meeting new people in public rooms, there are chat room apps, including Hashti, the one I built, where rooms, private chats and calls cost nothing. The real question is not "is it free", because almost everything is. It is what the free version gives you, who pays for it, and whether the people there are worth talking to.
What "free" usually means
I am Connery. I live in Los Angeles, I am Armenian-Iranian, and I built Hashti because I wanted a place to talk with strangers that did not feel like a trap. Before I built it, I spent a lot of time in other chat apps. Here is what I learned about the word free.
There are three common ways a chat app pays its bills while charging you nothing:
1. Ads. You see them between messages or around the edges. This is fine if it stays out of the way. 2. A paid tier. The core is free and some extras cost money. Discord Nitro is the best-known example. This is honest when the free part is actually usable. 3. Your data. The app sells or shares what it learns about you. This is the one to watch, and the privacy policy is where you find it.
None of these is evil on its own. But it helps to know which one you are signing up for.
The free places worth knowing
Discord
Discord is free to use, and you can join public servers on almost any subject: games, music, coding, languages, fandoms. It has text channels, voice channels and video. The paid tier adds things like bigger uploads and custom emoji, and you do not need it to talk.
The catch, in my opinion, is that Discord works best once you have found a good server. Finding one can take a while, and each server has its own rules and its own moderators, so the quality swings a lot from one to the next.
Reddit is free and has a community for nearly everything. It is better for discussion than for live chat. If you want to ask a question and get thoughtful answers over a few hours, it is great. If you want to talk right now, it is slower.
WhatsApp and Telegram
Both are free. WhatsApp is mostly for people you already know, by phone number. Telegram has large public groups and channels you can find and join. Telegram groups can be lively, and they can also be full of spam, depending on who runs them.
Random video chat sites
Omegle shut down in 2023, and plenty of sites have tried to replace it. Many are free. My honest view is that most of them have the same problem Omegle had: nobody knows who anyone is, so the worst people have nothing to lose. I wrote more about this in my piece on free apps like Omegle.
Chat room apps
This is the category Hashti sits in. You open the app, you see public rooms with names and topics, and you walk into one. It is closer to the old chat rooms people remember than to a social feed.
What Hashti gives you for free
I want to be exact here, because a lot of apps say free and then hide the useful part behind a paywall.
On Hashti, these are free:
- Public rooms with names and topics. You can browse them and join. See how rooms work.
- Private chats with people you meet.
- Calls.
- A walkie-talkie for quick voice back and forth.
One thing costs money: live translation, which covers 29 languages. It is part of Hashti Plus, at $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. If you only chat in a language you already speak, you will never need it. If you want to talk with someone across a language gap, that is what you would pay for. You can read more about how translation works in Hashti.
Hashti is out now on the App Store. Android is still in a closed test, so if you are on Android, it is not open to you yet. The app's interface is in English today. A Farsi interface is being built.
Why I made people verify once
The thing that ruins free chat is not ads. It is people who can make a new account every time they get banned.
So Hashti checks identity once, against a government document. The photo is deleted after the check. What stays is a fingerprint of the document, which means the same document cannot open a second account. You cannot be banned and come back five minutes later with a new name.
Accounts that have not verified can still look around, but they cannot host rooms, speak in voice rooms, or message strangers. And if an account gets twelve verified reports, it is closed permanently.
Hashti is for adults only. You have to be 18 or older.
I will be honest about the downside. Some people do not want to show an ID to any app, and I understand that completely. If that is you, Hashti is not the right place, and something like Discord or Reddit, where you can stay anonymous, will suit you better. I made a trade: a bit less anonymity for a lot less abuse. You can read the whole approach on the Hashti safety page.
How to pick a free chat place
Here is the checklist I use myself.
Is anyone there right now?
A free app with empty rooms is worthless. Open it at the time of day you would actually use it and see whether people are talking. Small apps, mine included, are quieter at some hours than the giants. That is just true.
Who can message you?
If anyone can send you a private message the second you join, expect spam. Look for apps where you control who reaches you, or where strangers have to meet some bar first.
Can a banned person come back?
Ask yourself what happens to someone who behaves badly. If the answer is "they make a new account", the bad behavior never really leaves.
What do you give up?
Read the privacy policy, or at least the summary. If an app is free and does not show ads or sell anything, it is fair to ask how it pays for itself.
Does it fit how you like to talk?
Some people want text. Some want voice. Some want a big room with lots going on, others want a quiet one-on-one. Pick for that, not for whichever app is most famous.
When to use something else
I would rather you find the right place than the place I built. So:
- If you want a huge community around one game or hobby, Discord is probably the better pick. Its scale is hard to beat.
- If you want long, thoughtful threads, Reddit.
- If you want to stay fully anonymous, do not use Hashti, because it asks for verification.
- If you are on Android, Hashti is not open to you yet.
- If you are under 18, Hashti is not for you, full stop.
And if you want public rooms with a mix of people, private chats and calls, in a place where the people you meet have each been verified once, that is what Hashti's rooms are for.
A few habits that keep free chat fun
Whatever app you choose, these help:
- Do not share your phone number, address or workplace early. Keep it in the app until you actually trust someone.
- Leave a room that feels off. You owe nobody your time.
- Report, then block. Reporting helps the next person. Blocking helps you.
- Be suspicious of anyone who asks for money, a gift card, or a move to another app very quickly. That pattern is common to scams on every platform.
- Start with the topic. The easiest way into a conversation is the reason the room exists.
The short version
Free online chat is easy to find. Discord, Reddit, Telegram and chat room apps all cost nothing to start. The differences are in who is there, how bad behavior is handled, and what you trade for the price of zero. Pick the one that matches how you like to talk, keep your personal details close, and leave anywhere that does not feel right. If you want public rooms and private chats where everyone has verified once, you can try Hashti for free.
Hashti is free, and it is 18+. Hashti Plus — live translation, writing help and catch-ups — is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, and nothing else costs anything. How rooms work is on the rooms page, and how reports and the ID check work is on the safety page.