Anonymous chat sites that don't ask who you are

Best for: Text-only chat rooms and one-on-one chats without a camera, an account, or an app.

Nickname in, chat, leave - the purest anonymous option

TalkWithStranger is a text chat site: rooms by topic, one-on-one random text, and forum threads for slower conversation. Nothing asks for your camera. You pick a nickname and go. That makes it the easy choice for anonymous chat when you're bored but don't want to be seen. The rooms have moderators and the site has been around long enough to have a regular crowd, so it's rarely empty even at strange hours.

Best for: Matching by shared interests instead of pure luck, with text, video and group rooms in one place.

Anonymous text mode with interest matching

Emerald Chat tries to fix the thing that makes random chat tiring: talking to people you have nothing in common with. You add a few interests, and it leans matches toward people who picked the same ones. It has one-on-one text, one-on-one video and group chat rooms, plus a karma score that rewards people who don't get reported. You can use it without an account, but the account unlocks the matching and keeps your karma.

Best for: The original roulette experience in a browser tab - no app, no sign-up, next stranger in one click.

Video, but no account and no identity attached

Chatroulette is the site that started the whole genre, and it still works the same way: open the page, allow the camera, hit start, and you're face to face with a random person. Skip is instant. There's no app to install and nothing to fill in. Moderation got a lot stricter over the years, so nudity gets you banned quickly, which makes it calmer than it was in 2010 but also means matches are heavily skewed toward men looking for women.

Best for: Country and gender filters plus virtual masks, in a browser, with a busy crowd.

Text mode or masked video, no sign-up

Shagle is close to Chatspin in what it does - random video chat with masks and filters - but it lives in the browser only and the crowd feels a bit larger. You can pick a country for free, and gender filtering is part of the paid tier. Virtual masks hide your face if you want them to. There's a text-only mode too. The interface is plain and quick, which is a compliment on a site where the whole point is skipping fast.

Best for: Posting 'I'm bored, tell me something' and getting real replies from a friendly subreddit.

Anonymous by design, read without an account

r/CasualConversation is a subreddit built for exactly the moment this site is about: you've got nothing to do and you'd like a chat. Post something small - what you had for dinner, a thing that happened today, a question - and people reply. Reading is free without an account; posting needs one. It's slower than live chat, but the replies are usually kinder, and there's no camera and no pressure to keep a stranger entertained.

Best for: A free, trained listener when the reason you want to talk is that tonight is hard.

Anonymous support chat with a listener

7 Cups pairs you with a volunteer listener for an anonymous one-on-one text chat. Listeners aren't therapists - they're trained to listen, which is a different and sometimes more useful thing at 1am. It's free. There are also group support rooms and community forums. If the word for tonight is lonely rather than bored, put this above every random chat site: a random stranger might be kind, a listener is there to be.

Best for: Anonymous one-on-one chat by text or webcam, matched on interests, with no sign-up at all.

No account, and both sides show up as Stranger

Joingy is the plainest version of the Omegle idea that's still running: pick text or video, add a few interests if you like, and you're paired with someone who shows up only as "Stranger". No account, no profile, nothing to fill in. It works in the browser on a phone or a computer. The rules say 18 and over and no sexual conversations, and chats are logged for moderation - that's the trade-off for staying free and anonymous.

Best for: Old-style public chat rooms and private messages, entered with just a nickname, age and country.

Chat rooms with just a nickname, text only

Chatib is a classic chat room site. You choose a nickname, your gender, your age and your country, and you're in: public rooms, private messages, and a random button that pairs you with someone. No registration is needed, though you can register to keep your profile. It's text, not video. The site's own blog and copy lean towards meeting single men and women, so expect a flirty crowd more than a support group.