Webcam girls (or models, performers, or your other preferred term) have become incredibly popular in recent years, helped along by the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns. ‘Camming’ or ‘cam shows’ refer to a webcam performance by a model, usually streamed live on the internet via dedicated websites (also known as platforms).
The acts performed by the cam performer (most often ‘cam girls’, but you will also find male, trans and non-binary models on cam sites) may range from simple, seductive moves and dancing to very NSFW erotic and explicit acts. In return, the performer gets money through tips and tokens. Some other cam girls use shows primarily to attract attention (and followers) to their personal sites or social media handles.
Of course, for any one just starting out, or even just thinking about it, the whole idea can be very intimidating — not only because of the competition, but also due to the pressure of keeping your fans entertained. Regardless of the challenges in the industry, there’s still plenty of potential to make a successful and lucrative living broadcasting online.
What you need to be a cam performer
Camming is something that any determined model can do, in theory, but it takes more than just determination to earn decent wages (let alone a fortune) in this industry. For one, you need the confidence to please your audience with various stripping and erotic acts and the stamina to do so for hours at a time before ending your livestream.
There are also several essential tech resources that you should have in place. There’s more information on each of the items further down in this article, but in short you need:
- An account on one of the popular cam sites
- A reliable internet connection, with at least 3Mbps upload speeds
- A payment method to receive your funds
- A high-quality laptop and webcam that can capture and process at least 720p videos
- A good microphone and a tripod stand
- An interactive toy (more on this below)
These are pretty much the minimum recommended requirements for a seasoned performer or someone still learning what sort of cammer they want to be. Since modern smartphones have all the capabilities mentioned above, you can use them as an alternative device. Be sure, though, to check the quality of the video and sound because anything below 720p is a dealbreaker for most fans.
And fans are where your money comes from — a good quality camera pays for itself in tips in (literally) no time at all, for a high-performing model.
How to become a cam performer
Before you go live, there are many things that will take place behind the scenes. First, make sure you have all the items mentioned above to avoid any frustrations later in the show.
With everything on the table, you can follow these procedures and move a step closer to becoming the best cam girl.
Choose the right cam site
There are a lot of cam sites today, and each of them offers a set of benefits, but also come with their fair share of limitations. Therefore, it’s important that you research all the popular sites and see what advantages they have over the others. Some of the main factors you should consider include the available payment methods, streaming options, the number of users the site has, and the minimum payout thresholds that must be met to get your money.
This is a great time to decide on the type of show you want to provide — often a challenge for any newcomer. Of course, simply taking your clothes off can be tempting when you want to attract attention, but you’ll likely need to be a bit more creative with your style to attract loyal fans.
You need to ask yourself honestly what you are comfortable doing on camera, and then make sure you’re ready for whatever your show demands. If you’re still undecided, you can check out other models for more ideas on how you can define your style. Regardless of your decision, always try to be creative and friendly within your sessions. If you’re not convinced you want to provide live streams, perhaps considering other adult creator options available to you.
Payment systems and methods on cam sites
As mentioned, you should check all the available payment methods that each of the cam sites offer before making any decisions on where you want to spend your time working. Another thing that should be a priority in your research are the sites’ payment systems, specifically, how do they charge viewers?
While there’s a little variation, pretty much every site fits into the payment methods below:
- Per-minute
As the name suggests, viewers are charged for every minute of premium content they watch on a site. It’s a common option for any cam models looking to have cam-2-cam private sessions with clients, or (paid-for) private ‘group’ chats.
- Tokens
In 2021, tokens (or ‘credits’) are probably the most common way cam sites charge users, and it provides some advantages over the pay-per-minute options — most notably, it encourages users to spend money for exactly what they want to see, rather than a show that’s charged for on a per-minute basis.
Token payment is similar to tips, only that you can control what you want to earn for every act or session. For instance, you can come up with a price list for all sexual acts. Viewers will then have to pick an item from the list and pay for it before you perform the act.
Another option is to set a ‘goal’ that should be met before you start any show or act. Interested viewers will then start contributing tokens until the goal is reached. At the end of the show, you get all the money generated in the form of tokens from before and during the show, minus the site’s cut.
- Combo sites
As the name suggests, combo sites combine the features of the two categories mentioned above. Cam models, therefore, have the liberty to choose between live public chats and private erotic shows. That means you can hold a public live show and offer to go private with any of the willing viewers, for a pre-arranged (usually) per minute price. You can also still receive tips (tokens) while in private shows on most sites nowadays.
As you do your research on cam sex show sites, be sure to consider the payment systems, as well as how you will receive the money from the site — Check, Skrill, PayPal, etc.
Choose a site that meets your needs and also has a huge audience. This way, you’ll be able to gain fans and followers as quickly as possible, grow your brand faster and earn more money in the long run. We’ve got some great recommendations below.
Setting up your Cam Account
So, you’ve researched the cam sites we’ve listed below yourself, and found one that fits the bill — what next? Your next move will now be to create an account with that site. Most websites use the same portal for all sign-up processes but have different forms for models and viewers. Therefore, be sure to select ‘model’ before moving to the next steps.
Choose your style
As earlier mentioned, one criterion of choosing a site that fits your needs is by considering the type of show that you’d want to make. But even after making this choice, you’ll still need to decide on your style of performance.
For instance, will you be dancing during the show or mostly be staying seated? To help you make the right decision, here are a few factors you should keep in mind:
Know your body
As you get into the business of camming, it’s worth noting that your body, obviously, plays a huge role in pleasing the fans. Therefore, you must know your strengths and utilize them to mask your weaknesses and generate more revenue.
For example, the way you’ll conduct yourself as a BBW with curves is different from how a slim girl will show her assets. So, understand what the audience likes the most about your body and take advantage of that preference to the maximum.
Do you want to perform au naturel or are you going to do a full make-up routine before each show? Or perhaps you just want to do what you feel? That’s fine, but you’ll need to be prepared for other possibilities too, in case your first ideas don’t work out as you expect.
Consider kinks and fetishes
Are you ready to do more than the regular stripping and dancing? You can accelerate your performance to a more exotic experience like candle, feet, or any other niche fetishes. If you want to earn the most money, you’ll also normally need to be open to the idea of group shows when you’re comfortable in front of the camera.
What are the Best Sites to Work as a Cam Girl?
Chaturbate
Highest earning potential for the most cam performers
If you’re looking for the most popular sites in the industry, then Chaturbate passes the test. It’s considered one of the most used, with over 300 million users every month. Here, you have the option of going public or private with your performance. It’s worth noting that the cam site takes about 40 percent of your total earnings, which are paid out every week.
That said, Chaturbate is a ridiculously popular site, keeps up with new technologies that can earn you more money, and has been around for a long time, so is a trusted name.
A lot of the money spent on Chaturbate is in free group shows, through the form of tipping for specific requests, and group goal shows, so it’s a good option for anyone already comfortable doing explicit group shows.
In addition to the regular group and private shows, there’s also the option for models to set-up their own chargeable fan clubs for loyal viewers. There’s also ‘spy’ cam and ‘fully private’ options too, offering hosts more ways to earn.
Stripchat
Best overall cam girl site to work for
This is also a combo site offering both private and public performance platforms. It attracts around 200 million visitors every month, which makes it one of the most popular cam sites.
As far as percentage cuts are concerned, Stripchat takes about 40 percent of the cam girl’s earnings, which is the trade-off for getting access to a platform with such a large number of users.
For that 40 percent deduction, you’re on a cam site with great design, that’s easy to use and offers support for pretty much all the features and technologies you’d expect on a top site.
New models also get a traffic boost for their first two weeks on the site, which is always nice to see, and the platform supports everything from mobile broadcasting through to a full studio setup.
BongaCams
Best site-model revenue split
The only payment system used by BongaCams is tokens, which means you’ll have to come up with a strategy of earning through this option – focusing on using interactive toys is often a good way of maximizing income on these sort of sites. This makes it a good alternative to Chaturbate, where a lot of the action takes place in ‘free’ group chat rooms, via tips.
It’s also worth pointing out that the performer takes home 50–90% of their generated revenue, the largest percentage of any other site leading site we’ve found.
It’s also one of the newer sites we’ve included in this, and other, cam roundup articles, meaning it has provided an impressive service for viewers and models alike.
The top 3 earners on the site are shown on the model signup page, and regularly exceed $25,000 each per month.
LiveJasmin
Simultaneous live show option
If you’re looking to hold simultaneous live shows, then this combo site is your best bet.
Cam girls using this site typically receive 30–80% percent of their total earnings, based on a sliding scale — the higher ‘level’ you achieve as a performer on the site, the higher the percentage you take home. The level resets each period. The top three models on the site have earned over $2 million each.
You can rest assured that they’re working for one of the longest-running cam sites in the industry. You don’t get to achieve that without working out what works for your business and treating performers fairly.
If you’re interested in signing up as a performer, you should head to the LiveJasmin Model Center. You need an e-wallet to receive your money from Livejasmin (ePayService, Directa24, WebMoney or Paxum) or can choose a bank transfer or old-school regular paper check (only in the US though).
More ways for cam performers to make more money
Adult creator sites like OnlyFans
Best piecemeal content platform for cam girls
This isn’t a camming site but an adult content platform through which cam models can monetize their content.
You can share your videos and photos here and earn 80% of what your fans pay, and one of the bonuses is that there’s a huge number of ‘fans’ on the site, meaning good potential for making money.
However, the one thing to keep in mind with OnlyFans is that there has been some justifiable distrust among the adult community over its flip-flop around changing explicit content rules. We’re including it in this list, as it is still currently a platform that can help cam performers earn more money, but there are safer and better options available as an additional way to monetize your content. If you don’t have time to check out that article, FanCentro and LoyalFans are worth a look.
How Much Money do Cam Girls Make?
When considering how much money cam girls make, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s a huge range of different incomes possible – and can depend on things like how much time is spent in private shows and private chats versus public, how much monthly traffic the platforms you’re broadcasting on attract, whether you have good equipment (high quality camera, mics, interactive toys, etc.)
Ultimately, there is no simple answer to working out the average monthly model earnings for someone treating performing as a full-time job in the camming space. Some performers get lucky and attract big spenders (or ‘whales’) that are happy to spend serious money (up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in the rarest cases) on their sexual entertainment, while others do not, and there are no guarantees.
Top performers regularly earn tens of thousands of dollars per month, just from cams. Livejasmin is one of the networks that shares the figures for the top earners on the site, with each of the top 3 having accrued nearly $2.5 million each.
Prepare your Cam Station
The three steps mentioned above are the first main steps followed by anyone looking to join other cam girls in the industry. Once you have the account and the necessary equipment, you can start getting a lot more specific with your preparation. So, how do you go about planning your workstation? This is a business, after all.
Choose your camera appropriately
One of the most important things in any webcam performance is a quality camera — with 100Mbps broadband speeds commonplace, viewers demand a high-resolution show.
The exact camera you want to invest in will vary from person to person, but ensure you choose one that can broadcast live at 1080p 60fps for a smooth stream or 4K resolution, ideally. A 4K camera that can broadcast in 60fps is still pretty expensive, currently, but 1080P at 60fps is a good stand-in until prices come down.
At the very least, your webcam must be capable of 720p resolution at 60fps.
You might also want to give some thought to the width of the ‘field of view’, as this will dictate how much of your scene remains in shot. Some models also have AI-based features that help keep you in focus as you move around. For example, these models provide a good balance of performance and cost, depending on your own requirements (whether or not you have an external microphone, etc.)
- Razer Kiyo Pro (80-103 degree wide field of view, 1080p /60fps or 30fps HDR mode, built-in mic)
- Elgato Facecam (fixed 82 degree field of view, no built-in mic)
- Logitech Streamcam (1080p resolution/60 frames per second. 78-degree field of view, dual omnidirectional mics)
Microphone
Many people focus on the camera and forget about the microphone. Remember, without quality sound, your fans won’t be able to hear you, and most will get bored quickly.
You don’t need to blow the bank on a microphone, but invest in the best you can reasonably afford and you should be OK, or choose a more expensive camera that has a reliable microphone built into it.
Tripod
Whether you are using a stand-alone camera or your smartphone, you’ll need a tripod stand. It’s a small investment, but infinitely helps you set up different angles and enjoy even more flexibility in the actions / types of show you can provide for viewers. Either choose a camera that includes options for connecting a tripod (like some of those above), or if you’re using your smartphone as a camera and mic to get started, you can get loads of tripods that will fit your phone.
Your room or stage area
It’s important that you also set up your stage to look as attractive as possible. No matter how sexy you look or the type of camera you have, without a nice area, you’ll be losing a lot of potential followers. Therefore, prioritize it in your preparation as well.
So, what are the things to consider? Well, first, make sure you get rid of any distractions that might take away the concentration of the viewer from your body. Also, choose a room that provides you enough space to move around freely in your shows. If you’re stuck lying or sitting on a bed only, that will limit the possibilities of your shows.
Many performers with high-end cameras use a ‘bokeh’ blur effect on the background and place some twinkly fairy lights in the background to make everything look nice, while keeping themselves sharply in shot.
Interactive Toys (and other props)
In order to make the most money possible every time they go online, many livecam streamers use interactive toys, which viewers can either control directly for a per-minute cost (or specific token cost), or send vibrations through by tipping smaller amounts.
Generally, the smaller the tip, the smaller and shorter the vibration pattern, while massive tips provide longer and stronger vibrations. Some of the most popular toys for cam performers are made by companies such as Lovense (the Lush range in particular), We-Vibe and Kiiroo.
Additional tips for cam performers
(Or, How to Stay Healthy in Mind and Body While Camming)
Now, we’ve covered the steps that you need to follow to prepare and start camming. But that’s not all you need to know as someone looking to succeed in this industry.
Here are a few more pointers that should be in your list of considerations.
Set your hours
You’ll probably find that you need to schedule your performances for a specific time of the day. Choose a time that’s favorable for your audience to give you an opportunity of earning the most money. Of course, it all depends on your availability; some people outside the US might want to work US hours, but others simply won’t be able to make that schedule work for them.
Whenever absolutely possible, you should make sure you follow a specific schedule to the letter. Being consistent in your work hours is beneficial because the audience will always know when to log into their cam site accounts to watch your live video feed.
And, importantly, remember to take enough time off too — it’ll be tempting to think that the more you work, the more money you’re going to earn, and it might be true, but you’ll definitely end up burning yourself out.
Making money as a cam girl
The end goal of every cam girl is to generate income from their performances. As mentioned earlier, the first thing you should do is set up your payment channel, be it a bank account or any other mode.
With that in mind, how will the money move from the viewers to your account? Well, this is dependent on the site’s policies. Some use a system of tokens or credits, which act as in-house currencies.
The company will then deduct a percentage from your earnings before converting them to real money, which will be sent to your bank account. To avoid any frustrations, make sure you understand the whole payment process for each specific site before signing up to any of them.
Cam girl privacy
Given that performers expose their body online, many people think that privacy is a non-issue in a cam girl’s career, but that couldn’t be more wrong. It’s vital that you that you separate your private and professional life to stay safe and avoid any liabilities.
You should never use your real name or post your address publicly on these sites – no matter how friendly someone seems in a group/free/private chat, don’t be tempted to reveal real details about your identity. Your financial accounts should also remain private.
If you want to take that one step further and check out our privacy basics guide, that should have a few extra tips too.
Clean your toys
This one is just plain old common sense advice, but if you’re vibrators, strokers or other props as part of your intimate shows, then ensure to clean your sex toys thoroughly (and dry them, or allow them to air dry naturally) and regularly. Sex toys that aren’t cleaned can pass on sexually transmitted infections, and that’ll definitely put you off camera for a while.
Cam Girl 101: Key Takeaways
As a newcomer, getting into the field of camming can be intimidating. However, with the tips provided in our article, you can expect the process of getting started to be a whole lot smoother. Be sure to arm yourself with all the right equipment, find the best cam site to work for, and prioritize your privacy. With all these taken care of, you’ll be a step closer to success.
Read Next: From JenniCam to Chaturbate: A (brief) history of adult camming
