One of the real old gang of adult webcam chat sites is Flir4Free.com which has been running for around 15 years!  Together with iFriends, Camcontacts  Flirt4Free was one of the pioneers in this field and continues to be popular with its fans though it hasn't been able to keep pace with the growth at LiveJasmin or MyFreeCams.  Today you'll find around 100 girl cams online at a time, and the same in the discretely separated Guy section.

Although there is not the great activity in free chat that you will find at the tipping sites there are a few hosts who are trying to work their rooms and make them fun, but sadly most of the camgirls are waiting around for privates which by modern standards is a bit boring.  However it is easy to find the more interesting chatrooms by sorting them according to "power score" or by type, but more on that later as it does require at least a free account.

Visit the site and go straight into a free chat, then click "Next Model" a few times though and you will find someone who is a bit more active and perhaps worth hanging out with to watch.

Creating a free account needs only username, password and a working email address.   Regardless of whether you click the link in the email or not you are going to have to give your credit card details.   The banner everywhere saying "120 Credits for FREE" doesn't mention that you do have to give your credit card details for "verification", but there is no initial charge.

You get 120 credits and no charge on your card, but of course once you have done this they have your CC # so you can spend easily later!

Either way, via email or credit card, you are going to be given 120 free credits if you give them your CC details.

If however you don't give your details at this point you have got yourself a free chat account, but not a validated one, so just go back to the home of the site and you can now go into free chat with a real name instead of something like "California_1234" or "Spain_456789"

This kind of account is a "basic" account though and just like at other sites the models are not that interesting in chatting to you, and may indeed "mute" you so you can't type in chat.  It may take a while to hunt around for a camgirl who is willing to talk to guests, or at least tolerates them, but they are there. 

A free account even if basic does get you a lot of useful things, like you can now sort by number of people in the room.  It doesn't say how many there are, but it's easy to guess that the more popular rooms have the more interesting hosts working, so this sort is helpful.

Other nice controls are the ability to change your nick at any time in chat, though you can't use one that would conflict with the "reserved" nicks of VIPs.  Basic registered users can also have "full" video which is bigger though not huge.

Of course once registered a lot of buttons appear suggesting you buy credits and spend them!  A typical cost for a show is 60 credits per minute, so those "free credits" you got are worth only two minutes which is a bit disappointing.  Some hosts suggest that you use them instead to pledge towards a group chat; that way something like 50 credits can get you a 5 or 10 minute show, though shared with others of course in a group.

All over Flirt4Free there are also prominent links to "VOD" or "Video On Demand" which is recorded videos both of the host you are chatting with and lots of others as well.  A recorded video can be like 40 credits per minute, which is not a lot cheaper than live!  Previews for free are available if you are a confirmed (e.g. have give CC details) user.   The previews are 12 seconds from the middle of the recorded video, so you can see what sort of action is there in the recording.

For reasons I don't quite get hosts can, and do, set their VOD to only be viewable by the person who originally paid for the show, but if and only if the host is a top ranking one.  So medium or low ranking hosts have no choice but need to let their show recordings be available for people to watch.

VOD shows are available from as far back as 2007, including many vids of people who no longer seem to be doing shows.  I wonder if they get a payout when people view them?  Current hosts do get paid I know, though they say it is a very small fee.

Pretty much everywhere in the system tipping is possible but of course only if you are confirmed, verified, and of course have credits.  There are pre-set amounts from 5 to 1000 credits

As well as privates for around 60 credits a minute you can watch as a voyeur for about 20 credits a minute.  Which of course means the "privates" are not truly private.  Flirt4free doesn't seem to have a "super private" like that at freecamstars which is really just you and nobody else.

Down sides to being a free basic registered user?  Well the "Next model" button disappears which actually makes it harder to browse quickly through each room to see what is happening.  Not a big thing, but I would have like to see that button retained.

Back to the room sorting and another way is by "Type" of room and this gives another interesting view on the different ways you can use flirt4free.

Premier

Extra expensive shows - as much as 120 credits a minute.  Only the highest rated chathosts are able to do a premier chatroom as it is expected that they are the best possible performers.

Standard

Is well.. Standard private.  A normal private session where you are paying by the minute, typically 60 credits a minute privates though it can be as low as 30 for less established hosts. 

Voyeur

That's when you are peeking in on someone else's Standard or Premium, and all you get to see is the video.  No audio and no text chat, not even reading.  Costs 10 to 40 credits per minute

Multi-User

Like a private but not just for you, other people get to enter into the private as well.  This can have by far the largest variation in pricing, from 10 credits to 120 credits a minute!  Depending on how many models there are in the chatroom and their rankings it would seem.

Combo

A combination, hence the name, of multi-user and private.    Meaning you can get to join in on someone elses private and participate.

Semi-Private

So pay when enter, other people can join, but invisible for you.  So this isn't Voyeur, it sounds pretty confusing as of course the host will see everybody and will want to interact with them or take directions.  It's more like free-chat-plus I feel rather than anything private. 

Group Chat

These are rooms where the host has started to collect pledges of 50 tokens each, not tips, towards doing a show.  There is a little countdown timer and a running total of the credits pledged in a graphical jar.  Once her target is reached within the time then she'll do the show she has promised for those who have contributed to the group.  She has 30 seconds to start the show.  If the timer runs out though without hitting the target then nobody pays.  So this is quite a different idea to MFC or Chaturbate where people throw in tips, and sometimes get nothing if the host doesn't meet her target.

Much fairer for the viewer, but probably frustrating for the chathost.  Of course if she "fails" she can try again with a lower target based on how close she got to her goal last time.  During the build up to a group show the flit4free performers don't accept tips at all.

It's a bit like watching an auction, and honestly not that fascinating.  Even the girls who are chatting during that time are not really that fun as they are focused on hitting their target.  Some of them don't even do sound during this period which kills it entirely for me.  And boring also for others I guess as those without sound seemed to get a lot less pledged.  A few girls did manage to still stay interesting during their wait for pledges, and I think that helped them get all the asked for.

Is begging for pledges better or worse than begging for tips?  Begging is never glamorous and this seems even less to me.

Party Chat

Only for verified users this is an open free-for-all in which the hosts are encouraged and permitted to do shows for tips.  So you can think of this as the official Flirt4free clone of MFC.

Feature Shows

These are scheduled show which originally had named "Porn stars" in them, but these days it seems to just be major girls from the site.  The shows are free to VIP members and I've heard only some of them are very impressive, I guess that just depends on if you like the particular performer doing the show.

 

Flirt4Free is a good site where you can meet the beautiful girl´s