ImLive Review

In the same mold as early cam pioneers, ImLive is a mainstream video chat site with an enormous "sexual stress relief" section. Whether those non-adult cams are simply there for show, it's patently clear that ImLive's main purpose is to provide amateur sex cams to the viewing public.

With over 20 million members and over 10,000 being added daily, ImLive is not just big, it's real big. The self-proclaimed world's largest webcam arena features not only an abundance of performers live at any time, but one of the deepest and most complete cam experiences available. Their numerous special features and unique concepts make them our highest ranked live cam site at the moment.

Performer Information

By far the biggest asset for ImLive is the number of performers they have online at any given time. On average, we found over 1,000, which is nearly double their closest competitor. These performers are broken down into various categories that include girl alone, fetish and BDSM, couples (both straight and lesbian), gay, shemales, and more. These can even be broken down farther based on their age, build, ethnicity, breast size, hair color, and even what room of the house they are performing in. The site is extremely diverse and the large performer base ensures that you will find exactly what you're looking for at just about any hour.

ImLive, like many other video chat sites, relies heavily on Eastern European and Asian performers. We'd estimate that about 2/3rds of the girls on ImLive have this geographic distinction. The rest are from other parts of the globe, and you will find plenty of American and Canadian performers thrown into the mix. There is a good split between studio performers and pure amateurs working from home. Due to this variety, it's tough to peg whether the girls working on ImLive are better than other sites. It's typically hit or miss and you'll have to rely on your own judgment and rankings given by other members. In our tests, we felt that the hotness of babes was second only to Webcams.com.

Cam quality and speed varies from performer to performer. We found some that were crisp and fast, while some performers are working off cheap webcams that make the video grainy and choppy. We recommend utilizing the first 20 seconds of the performance (which is free) to determine whether their setup is to your liking. While many are listed as "high quality" and "fast connection speeds", it currently looks like they don't offer high definition cam shows yet.

One of the unique aspects to ImLive is their "Celebrity Porn Star" section. This is where you can join a live show involving a famous porn star. Currently the site lists over 100 registered stars and typically has a handful on at any given time. Some of the famous faces gracing the site include Jessie James, Martina Warren, Sunrise Adams, and Joanna Angel. It's worth noting that these shows are typically more expensive and range from 2-3 times the cost of a regular show. Approximately once a month, ImLive offers a free one-hour celebrity porn show to their members.

Site Features

Chatting on ImLive is fairly straightforward. Some performers will offer a free video chat (non-nude) while others offer a free text chat (no video). Both options are simply a way to get to know the girl before putting down your hard earned money on a private show. After making the decision to see the nude show, you'll have 20 seconds of free chat to make sure this is what you were looking for (there is a time at the top counting down). These actual shows can have multiple people in them. However, from our experience, the vast majority of shows ended up being 1-on-1 with the performer. If you are only seeking for 1-on-1 action though, there is an option inside to choose a private show. These are little more expensive but may be the best solution to a crowded room. Upon completion of your session, you're given the ability to rate the girl on various skills that help others know whether she is worth the money.

While in a live show, there are many options for members including cam to cam, audio, and full screen view. ImLive is currently the only cam company that allows you to watch two performers at the same time on the same screen. This feature, known as "Better Together" is only available with about half the chat hosts and gives you a unique opportunity to have a virtual threesome.

Each performer has a public profile that has their free picture gallery, blog, and upcoming schedule where you can reserve a show in advance. You can watch videos of many girls' prior performances under the "recorded sessions" section or specialized videos that are not from shows. Both these video options are discounted to at about 30% of the cost of a live show. Some girls offer free promotional videos to entice you into video chatting with them as well. If you find yourself coming back to the same performer, you can join their discount club for a small fee. This gets you a 0.70 credit per minute discount as well as higher percent savings on 30 and 60 minute sessions. Discount club members also can view all the host's professional videos and receive a discount on recorded live shows.

With personalization becoming more important to web users, ImLive provides a unique feature known as "My Content". This essentially allows you to record or take snapshots of live cam shows. You're given 90 minutes of storage space to keep these videos that you create. You can keep them all to yourselves or share them with other members. This was one of our favorite features and a reason why ImLive currently tops our list. We loved the ability to make our own porn library from the babe's we handpicked and the shows we directed. No other cam company has anything remotely close to this feature at this time.

A popular promotion at ImLive is their Mad Video Competition. Once a month the site comes up with a theme and various cam babes create personal videos around them. Some examples of themes in the past are naughty nurses, back to school, and french maids. Members can view 6 videos a day for free, as well as rate them to determine the month's winners and losers. As a bonus, the videos can be downloaded directly to your iPod and iPhone for portable viewing.

Other features of interest at ImLive include a revamped mobile section. Members can get SMS text alerts when their favorite performers are on, or download images, videos, and ringtones. The "Keyhole" feature allows you to view 8 cam shows at once through a tiny keyhole to get a small glimpse of what's going on behind the scenes. There are free monthly celebrity porn star shows that feature some of the biggest names in the adult industry. Also a slew of contests and promotions where you can win free credits or cold-hard cash.

If it seems like ImLive offers a lot to their members, it's because they do. Their site is the deepest in the live cam industry. They offer a lot of free content to their members as well as features to keep you busy for hours. It is literally the most addictive cam site on the web and years ahead of some of their competitors.

Price Information

ImLive is one of the most competitively priced cam sites on the web. The site is run on credits, and you'll pay per minute from the various chat hosts. Membership is free and the standard price is $1.99 a minute, which includes many of the niche performers in the couples and fetish categories. Some of the more prominent hosts can charge up to $3.99 a minute, while porn stars come in at just under $10 a minute. If you plan on spending a long time with a host, you can buy 30-minute packages at a 20% discount or hour long sessions at a 30% discount (these are discounted even more for discount club members).

For bargain hunters, ImLive offers "Happy Hour" chats. There are on average 3-5 girls in these chats at any time. They are discounted to $1.49 a minute. ImLive frequently offers "Happy Hour credits" for various promotions that can be used in these shows.

Pricing for recorded sessions and professional videos vary by performer. Some offer large discounts while others leave it at the same price of their live shows. Promotional videos are free, as well as the photo galleries for each performer. There is also a monthly hour long show by a famous porn star that is free to all members. These are usually advertised well in advance in the members area.

We do have three gripes with ImLive pricing. The first is the fact that Europeans are charged the same as Americans. 1 Euro = 1 credit while 1 U.S. dollar = 1 credit. This is a newer change to their system and one that really burns our European friends. The other would be the lack of discounts for buying credits in bulk. There is simply no benefit to buying a lot of credits to the site at one time. We'd like to see a 10% or so discount for large credit buys in the future.

Ease Of Use

For the many features offered to their members, ImLive does a good job of keeping the functionality simple and easy to use. They advertise their promotions well throughout the site and give users easy to use methods for picking out the host of their choice. They are not pushy with buying credits and let you dabble around without major disruptions. There is a small learning curve however, and you should take a few minutes to get accustomed to the site.

From a technical standpoint, ImLive does require you to download some small software to run their cams properly. The site works well in all major browsers and is quite fast. We do notice some technical problems from time to time though. They tend to go down on occasion and sometimes have issues with their free text chat. These seem random and rare, but can be a bit of a nuisance from time to time.

Final Thoughts

If I was stuck on a desert island with only one cam site, it would be ImLive. Their massive performer list is tops in the industry and provides such a variety that I can be satisfied no matter how I'm feeling. The features are far ahead of their competitors and provide hours of fun. Pricing is above average (not as good for Europeans) with enough free content and promotions to keep me happy when I'm cash strapped. With membership being free, Sex Cams 101 recommends joining ImLive.com today and immersing yourself with the leader in the live sex cam industry.

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