CloudBate

Watch the Magic Behind Live Cam Shows

If you're just dipping your toes into the world of live cams, sites like CloudBate are a great option. They let you see what's available on Chaturbate without having to pay anything at all. Sure, you're not there in real time, but that's usually the case with porn anyway. Plus, with over 20,000 videos available, you really can't ask for a better selection. This is even more true when you consider how many are over an hour in length.

Explore All Kinds of Cam Performances

The content on this recorded cams site is diverse. You'll find all kinds of performers, from 20-something white girls to solo guys to babes with sex toys. MILFs, scripted sex scenes, and BDSM are also common. In the end, if it's a porn niche, you're likely to find it available on CloudBate. Even if you don't, that's not really an issue because you can ask for more.

You Choose the Available Recordings

Some sites have tools that allow you to record content yourself. But CloudBate is different, as they'll proudly tell you on their home page. They do all the work of making the recordings and hosting them. You just have to click the Follow button and they'll notify you when the model goes live and the recording is ready.

So even if you somehow decide that there's nothing to watch, you can just look up your favorite performers and wait for them to upload streams. They don't even place limits on how many models you can follow. I did a few random searches of some performers and the tool seemed to work just fine, but it did make me realize something rather obvious.

I'm talking about the fact that you can't go back in time. So if you follow a performer and miss their stream, but they're not already being followed, you're out of luck. As a result, you'll want to make sure to check the status of your favorite performers sooner rather than later.

Work Around the Limited Usability

There are some downsides to this site, especially with how you interact with it. It's almost necessary to have your own Chaturbate account to find models you like because otherwise you'll be sifting through a near-endless list of videos.

And the diversity of the performers will wind up working against you too. They don't have any tags or filters for the categories. So there's no way to separate mature performers from guys or solo performances from partner scenes. It's all just one big hodge-podge of porn.

Even the sorting options are limited to just new recordings, active performers, and an alphabetical list. Keep in mind this means there's no way to know if the person on the screen speaks your language. But then again, on the other hand, that means you can view performances that are out of your timezone without much issue.

It's clear that the expectation is you'll use the search to 'follow' the performers you already like. Or go the only other route, which is building up your own preference list by going through page after page of thumbnails to find the stuff you like.

Accept That Ads Are Part of the Experience

Look, I get it. This is a pretty sweet deal and they're not really asking a lot of their users. But that doesn't mean I can avoid talking about the ads. They have banners at the top and bottom of the pages and a video window that pops up on every screen. When you click the video player to watch something, there's a redirect to, somewhat ironically, different cam sites.

It does feel like a lot, but at least it's not so bad that it slows down your browser or anything. Plus, if you have an adblocker extension, you probably won't even encounter these ads in the first place.

Customer Support Is Non-existent

Before I talk about customer support in more detail, I do want to mention what the signup process is like. It's super straightforward, requiring you to enter an email address, password, and username. They don't even ask you to verify the email and, of course, there are no payment screens or anything like that. Pretty sweet, right?

As a result, it's hard to complain that there's no way to contact whoever runs the site. But I'll do my darndest all the same. So, yeah, shame on them for not having an email address or contact form or whatever! Then again, did I mention that you don't even need an account to watch the videos? It's really just helpful for people who want to request certain performers.

Downloads Are Not Available

You can't keep any of the content, just so all you digital content hoarders are aware. They don't offer any way to download the videos, and I couldn't find any suitable workaround. Again, this may not be the end of the world for most users, especially those who like to browse on mobile devices.

Keep Your Head in the CloudBate

A huge selection of videos in their highest quality from some of Chaturbate's best creators? Totally free content with the option to request your favorites? It almost sounds too good to be true, but it actually exists! Sure, there are a few downsides, most notably that you can't search for specific categories, but that seems like a small price to pay in my humble opinion.