Clubhouse alternative: a private voice chat, one stranger at a time
Clubhouse didn't die. In August 2026 it was still updating both apps, with 4.8 stars from 790,000 ratings in the App Store and 4.5 from 592,000 reviews on Google Play, where it has more than 10 million installs. Rooms are free, and so is speaking in them. The paid part is a subscription called Clubhouse Plus, and one of the things it sells is anonymous listening. Veilr's voice chat works the other way round. There's no room and no audience, just you and one stranger, and nobody pays to stay unnamed. The call window at the top of this page is Veilr's.
Clubhouse Plus costs $4.99 a month and up
Apple's US App Store lists "Clubhouse Plus Monthly" at $4.99 to $6.99 and "Clubhouse Plus Annual" at $49.99 to $59.99. The spread comes from the store's prices in different countries; which price applies where, we haven't checked. There's also an in-app currency, Coins, sold from $0.49 to $24.99. Clubhouse's official materials don't describe what Coins are for.
What the subscription changes, in both directions
Clubhouse's own help centre lists four Plus features:
- anonymous listening;
- the history of other people's profile pictures;
- "who viewed my profile";
- up to eight links on your profile.
So Plus is two things at once. It hides you while you listen, and it lets you see more about everyone else: who looked at you, and what their old avatars were. On a free account, your listening isn't private in that way, since hiding it is what Plus sells.
What the free account asks for
Clubhouse's privacy policy lists what it collects when you sign up: "username, name, phone number, email address, password, and date of birth." Your phone number is part of it in plain words.
It used to be harder still. Clubhouse was invite-only until 21 July 2021, and in early 2021 invites were resold on eBay for as much as $400. In April 2021 a database of 1.3 million user records, with names and social media handles, turned up on a hacker forum. The company denied a breach and said the data was publicly available anyway. That was the point: the profiles were public to begin with.
What Clubhouse does better than anyone
- Live group audio. Rooms with a moderator, raised hands and speaker roles were done here first and more carefully than in the copies. In 2021 Twitter Spaces, Facebook and Spotify all built their own versions.
- You can just listen, like a podcast. Nobody has to hear you, which makes it easier to join than any video chat.
- Rooms, speaking and moderating are all free.
- Creators could earn. Clubhouse Payments ran through Stripe from April 2021, and the Creator First programme paid 24 shows $5,000 a month.
- Recording a room without explicit permission is against the rules. That protects the people talking, though it also makes abuse harder to document.
Six bumpy years
Paul Davison and Rohan Seth launched Clubhouse on iPhone in March 2020, under their company Alpha Exploration Co., which still owns it. Android had to wait until May 2021; the worldwide release came on 21 May. Countries blocked it early: China in February 2021 after discussions about Hong Kong and Taiwan, the UAE and Oman in March 2021, Jordan at the end of that month. The peak brought moderation trouble too, including antisemitic and Islamophobic rooms and a public case in May 2021 when the actor LaKeith Stanfield turned out to be moderating a room where antisemitic things were said. In April 2023 the company said it was cutting its staff in half.
The product kept changing shape. In 2022 the app was split into "many clubhouses". In 2023 and 2024 it turned toward asynchronous voice messages, called Chats. Today the site and the stores are selling live audio rooms again. Someone who stayed through all of it used three different products under one name.
What Veilr's voice chat gives you for free
A conversation, not a stage. Choose voice and press ‘Start voice chat’. Veilr pairs you with one stranger. There's no moderator, no raised hand and nobody listening in. The camera stays off for the whole chat, and you can type if a word is easier to spell than to say.
No phone number. You sign in with an account you already have, for example Google, and there's no password to create. The first time, you give your gender, date of birth and native language. Adults only: an account recorded as under 18 is never matched.
Anonymous without a subscription. In an anonymous chat, your name and email address aren't shown to the stranger. They see things like your gender, age band and a flag when your country is known, a blurred version of your profile photo, a verified or Boost badge if you have one, and your native language unless you've hidden it. One honest limit: as in any direct call, the other person's device can learn your IP address. Text chats don't reveal it, and the interface never shows your IP to anyone.
Captions when you don't share a language. When your declared native languages differ, live captions in your language can start on their own during the call. Veilr has captions in 34 languages. A new account gets five minutes free; more comes with Boost, a top-up or a reward.
A say in who picks up. Once your own gender is set, you can choose the gender you'd like to talk to. It's free, and it's tried first when someone who fits is online; if nobody does, you're connected to someone else instead of waiting. The other side's wish is respected too. Boost turns your choice into a firm one and puts you at the front of the queue. A partner who has an active Boost can open your photo unblurred, for that one chat.
Keeping the person. Press ‘Add to contacts’ during the call, or for a short while on the panel after it ends. When you've both added each other, you become contacts, and each of you gets the other's display name and account email.
What costs money. Nothing, to find someone and talk. Boost and extra caption minutes are sold as one-off purchases; there's no subscription. A free account may see an ad between matches or while searching, never inside a call, and none with Boost.
Where you can use it. Android users can install the app from Google Play; on an iPhone or a computer you open Veilr in the browser. It isn't available in the United Kingdom.
Clubhouse and Veilr, side by side
| Clubhouse | Veilr | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you talk with | A room: moderators, speakers, listeners | One stranger |
| Just listening | Yes, like a podcast | No audience to sit in |
| Staying unnamed | Anonymous listening is a Plus feature | Name and email not shown to a stranger, free |
| Seeing who viewed you | Plus | No such feature |
| Sign-up data | Name, phone number, email, password, date of birth | An existing account; gender, date of birth, native language |
| Subscription | Plus, $4.99–$6.99 a month in the US store | None; Boost and caption minutes, one-off |
| Paying creators | Clubhouse Payments via Stripe, from 2021 | No |
| iPhone | App Store app | In the browser |
For a panel on something you care about, with the option to just listen, Clubhouse has no real rival here. Veilr is for the private version: two strangers talking, and nobody in the audience.
Starting a voice chat on Veilr
- 1. Sign in with an account you already have.
- 2. Answer the three profile questions the first time.
- 3. Choose voice, press ‘Start voice chat’ and allow the microphone.
Related
- All comparisons
- Y99 — group rooms with group video calls.
- Tinychat — topic rooms with cameras, closed in 2024.
- Azar — one-to-one video with live captions.
- Voice chat — the format on this page.
Questions about Clubhouse
Is Clubhouse free?
Rooms, speaking and moderating are. Clubhouse Plus costs $4.99–$6.99 a month or $49.99–$59.99 a year in the US App Store.
Can you listen anonymously on Clubhouse?
With Plus. Anonymous listening is one of the subscription's features.
Is Clubhouse still active?
Yes. Both apps were updated in August 2026. The crowds of 2021 haven't come back, but the app is looked after.
Does Clubhouse need your phone number?
Its privacy policy lists a phone number among the details collected when you create an account. Veilr doesn't ask for one.
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