Quick picks
Which one fits what you want:
- A random call with someone who shares your language or interests, free — Chitmet: text first or voice first, audio only, free country and language filters, no sign-up.
- Tap once and the line rings — TalkLive: pure random voice calls in the browser with streaks, a friends list and a gender filter, all free.
- A random call with a moderation team behind it and an Android app — HearMe Chat: voice or text, reports reviewed by people.
- Few decisions — AirTalk: random voice chat with preferred and excluded countries, no account.
- Choose who you call from profiles — Wakie: a voice app where you pick people from the community rather than getting a random match.
- Talk to a room, not one person — Y99: public voice rooms open to guests.
How we compared them
We read each service’s own website in late October and early November 2026 and recorded what it says about sign-up, randomness, recording and price. We make Chitmet, so read our row with that in mind; each other service also has a detailed side-by-side page where we could write one.
| Service | How a call starts | Sign-up | Recording | Filters and price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chitmet | Random match; start with voice, or turn a text chat into a call when both accept | None | Not recorded; a reported call sends its last minutes to moderators | Country, language, interests, topic, mood free; gender filter in Premium |
| TalkLive | Random match ("Tap to Talk") | None | "Nothing is recorded" (its site) | Gender filter and 2 preferred + 2 avoided countries free; unlimited countries in a Premium that is not on sale |
| HearMe Chat | Random match from a queue, interests first | None (free account adds friends) | Not recorded; 60-second clip of the other person when someone reports | Gender and country filters in Premium, $4.99–$9.99 a month |
| AirTalk | Random match | None | Not stated on its pages | Preferred and excluded countries; optional premium extras not listed |
| Wakie | You choose a person from profiles and send a "Let’s talk" request — "no random calls" (its site) | App on iOS or Android | Not stated on its homepage | Free with optional premium features |
| Y99 | Join a voice room with several people | None — guest | Not stated | Not listed |
The random ones: Chitmet, TalkLive, HearMe Chat, AirTalk
All four run in the browser over WebRTC — your phone or laptop carries the audio directly to the other person, no phone number is involved, and a call costs nothing beyond your normal data (TalkLive puts it at "roughly tens of megabytes per hour").
- Chitmet (chitmet.gg) — Press "Start a voice call" for a random audio-only call, or start by text and upgrade to a call when you both want to. What makes it different is who you get: the country filter (any country, preferred or only), the language filter (32 languages, from Hindi, Urdu and Bengali to Arabic, French and Swahili), interests, topic and mood are all free, and a Vibe Match score tells you what you share. Nobody can see that you are online; you meet one person at a time. 18+, Skip, Report and Block, human moderators. Best for: a call with someone who actually speaks your language.
- TalkLive (talklive.app) — The purest random call: one tap, "somewhere in the world, another adult’s line rings". Free plan: unlimited calls, a gender filter, two preferred and two avoided countries, unlimited friends, daily streaks, a daily question to open with. The home page shows an "Online Now" list of names and countries and lets you tap someone to look for a match in their country. Best for: people who like a streak and a visible crowd. Watch out for: the unlimited-country filter sits in a Premium plan that is "not on sale".
- HearMe Chat (hearme.chat) — Voice or text, one stranger at a time, matched from a queue with your interest tags first. Every report is read by a person; calls are mic-only and not recorded apart from a 60-second clip when someone reports. There is an Android app and in-chat games on the text side. Best for: a random call with a visible moderation policy. Watch out for: both the gender and the country filter are paid.
- AirTalk (airtalk.live) — A voice-first random chat site, running since 2022, with text added later and the option to add a friend. No camera, no sign-up; you can prefer or exclude countries, and a text chat can become a call mid-conversation. Best for: a quick random call with a country preference.
Not random: Wakie and voice rooms
Two different ideas that often get listed next to the random apps.
- Wakie (wakie.com) — A voice chat app for iPhone and Android where you browse people by profile, rating and "vibe" and send a "Let’s talk" request — its own site says "no random calls — you choose who to talk to". It also has topic-based Voice Clubs for group talk. Free with optional premium features; it says it is not a video app and not built for dating. Best for: choosing your conversation partner. Watch out for: it needs the app and a profile, so it is the least anonymous option here.
- Y99 (y99.in) — Public chat rooms open to guests, and the room list includes voice and video rooms, so you talk with a group rather than one person. Best for: a crowd. Watch out for: anyone in the room can hear you.
Three things to check before your first call
Recording. Read what the service says. Chitmet does not record calls (a reported call sends its last few minutes to moderators, deleted after seven days); TalkLive says nothing is recorded; HearMe Chat keeps a 60-second clip of the other person only when someone reports. If a site says nothing, assume you do not know.
What a stranger sees. On Chitmet your match sees a nickname, your gender and your country; on TalkLive people can see your name, gender and country in the Online Now list before you talk; on Wakie they see a profile. None of them show your face or your number, but the amount of "you" on display differs.
Data. A voice call is light — tens of megabytes an hour — but a call over a weak connection sounds robotic. Headphones stop echo, and switching to text costs almost nothing when the network drops. If you want openers and etiquette for the call itself, read our random voice chat tips.