We've all been there: you log into VRChat ready to hang out, and suddenly you're stuck in a 10 minute loading screen, dealing with sudden mod bans, or just tired of running into toxic behaviour in public worlds. If you're feeling ready to try something new, you're far from alone. This guide breaks down 10 Alternatives for Vrchat that work for casual hangouts, creative building, roleplay, and everything in between.

For nearly a decade VRChat dominated social VR, but the space has exploded with quality options over the last two years. Recent industry data from VR Intelligence shows 62% of regular social VR users have tried at least one alternative platform in 2024, most citing performance issues and inconsistent content moderation as their main reason for looking elsewhere. You don't have to abandon your VRChat friends entirely either - many of these platforms let you bring over custom avatars or even cross-connect friend groups.

We ranked each option based on real user reviews, performance, avatar customization freedom, community vibe, and accessibility. Whether you only have a phone, own a cheap standalone headset, or run a high-end PC VR setup, there's something here for you. Let's dive in, starting with the most popular picks first.

1. Neos VR

If you loved VRChat for its creative building tools, Neos VR will feel like coming home, but with way more power under the hood. This platform was built from the ground up for user creation, and it lets you build entire interactive worlds right inside VR with zero external software needed. Unlike VRChat, you don't need developer permissions to add logic or scripted objects - anyone can drag and drop interactive elements mid-session.

One of the biggest draws here is how persistent worlds work. In Neos, everything you build stays exactly as you left it, even when you log off. You can leave a half-painted mural, a working arcade cabinet, or even a running physics experiment and come back three weeks later to find it untouched. For friend groups that like building long-term spaces together, this is a complete game changer.

Neos VR has a smaller, tighter community than VRChat, which most users see as a good thing. Here's what sets it apart:

• Full body tracking that works natively with 3+ trackers without extra mods
• Free cloud storage for all your avatars and world builds
• Cross-play between PC VR, standalone headsets, and even desktop mode
• No arbitrary avatar polygon limits for high quality custom models

The only downside right now is a smaller library of pre-made public worlds. Most people build their own, or join private friend groups. If you don't mind a little bit of creativity to get started, this is easily one of the strongest options for power users.

2. Rec Room

Rec Room is the most mainstream alternative on this list, and for good reason. It works on literally every device you can name: Meta Quest, PC VR, Playstation VR, Xbox, iPhone, Android and even plain desktop browsers. You can join the same lobby with friends no matter what hardware they own, which is something almost no other social VR platform pulls off well.

Unlike VRChat, Rec Room comes pre-loaded with thousands of official and user made activities. You can drop in for a game of paintball, go laser tagging, build a treehouse, watch movies, or just hang out in a campfire lobby without ever leaving the app. There is almost zero setup required - you can create an account and join a friend in under 60 seconds.

If you're new to social VR, this is the best place to start. To get the most out of Rec Room:

1. Complete the 5 minute onboarding tutorial to unlock basic tools
2. Join the official beginner friend group to meet other new users
3. Turn off public lobbies in settings for a much calmer experience
4. Save your favourite worlds so you can jump back quickly

Custom avatar options are more limited than VRChat, which is the main tradeoff for the smooth performance. This is a great pick if you just want to hang out and play games with friends without dealing with constant technical issues.

3. Chillout VR

Chillout VR was created explicitly by ex-VRChat users after the 2022 mod ban, and it shows in every design choice. This platform is built first and foremost for people who just want to hang out, no drama, no grind, no unwanted attention. It currently has one of the best moderation teams in all of social VR, with zero tolerance for harassment or toxic behaviour.

Avatar compatibility is the biggest draw here. Chillout VR supports almost every single custom VRChat avatar file natively, with almost no conversion required. You can bring your entire avatar library over in one evening, and most popular avatar creators already release models for both platforms now.

Feature	Chillout VR	VRChat
Avatar Polygon Limit	200,000	70,000
Public Lobby Safety	94% positive user rating	58% positive user rating
Average Load Time	12 seconds	47 seconds

Right now Chillout VR is still growing, so public world selection is smaller than VRChat. Most users hang out in private friend lobbies, which is exactly what most people are looking for when they leave VRChat anyway. This is the closest direct replacement you will find, with almost all of the good parts and almost none of the bad.

4. AltspaceVR

Owned by Microsoft, AltspaceVR is the oldest social VR platform still running, and it has carved out a really nice niche for itself. This is the place you go for big community events: comedy shows, live concerts, church services, board game nights, and educational talks. Every single night there are hundreds of scheduled events open to everyone.

AltspaceVR runs extremely well even on old standalone headsets. It will never crash mid-event, it never drops connection, and avatars load almost instantly. The community skews a little older than VRChat, with most users between 25 and 55, so public lobbies are generally much calmer and more respectful.

You won't find extreme avatar customization here, and building tools are fairly basic. What you will find is consistent, reliable space to meet people and attend events that feel just like real life. Many people use AltspaceVR alongside VRChat, not as a full replacement.

This is the best pick on this list for anyone who got tired of VRChat's chaotic public spaces. If you want to meet new people without dealing with trolls, give AltspaceVR a try next weekend.

5. Resonite

Resonite is the new kid on the block, launched in 2023 by the original lead developer of Neos VR. It fixes almost every complaint people had about Neos, while keeping all the best parts of the creation system. Right now it is the fastest growing social VR platform on the market, adding over 100,000 new users in the first 6 months of launch.

The physics system in Resonite is genuinely mind blowing. You can pick up, move, break, and modify literally every object in every world. You can build working cars, robots, entire theme parks, all with simple drag and drop tools. There are already creators building things in Resonite that would be completely impossible in VRChat.

• Completely free for all core features, no paywalls
• Native support for 10+ point full body tracking
• Open source client so anyone can build improvements
• Zero advertising anywhere on the platform

It is still very new, so there are some rough edges and the user base is still small. But this is the platform that most long term VRChat power users are moving to right now. If you want to get in early on what will likely be the next big social VR platform, start here.

6. Roblox VR

Most people don't think of Roblox as a VRChat alternative, but it is easily one of the most popular options right now. There are literally millions of user made worlds, thousands of them built specifically for VR hangouts. You can find exact replicas of almost every popular VRChat world, plus thousands more that don't exist anywhere else.

Roblox runs on everything, and almost everyone already has an account. You can invite all your friends to hang out even if they don't own a VR headset at all. The avatar system is extremely flexible now, with full body tracking support added in 2024.

The biggest downside is moderation, which is very inconsistent. Stick to private servers with people you know, and avoid random public lobbies. If you do that, Roblox VR is an incredibly fun place to hang out with an almost unlimited amount of things to do.

1. Search for "VR Hangout" in the discover tab
2. Filter servers to show friend only lobbies first
3. Turn off voice chat for public servers
4. Save worlds you like to your favourites folder

7. Bigscreen Social

Bigscreen started as a virtual movie theater app, but it has quietly grown into one of the best low key hangout spaces in VR. The core idea is simple: you get a private room, you can pull up any website, video, game or file on the big screen, and invite friends to join you.

This is perfect for quiet hangouts. Most people use Bigscreen to watch movies, stream shows, play old emulator games, or just work together in a virtual office. There are no gimmicks, no weird minigames, just really good screen sharing and extremely clear voice chat.

Avatars are very simple, you don't customize them much. That is actually part of the appeal for a lot of people. No one cares what your avatar looks like, everyone is just there to hang out and do the thing you came to do.

Use Case	Bigscreen Rating	VRChat Rating
Movie Night	9.7/10	6.2/10
Voice Chat Quality	9.5/10	7.1/10
Stream Performance	9.2/10	5.8/10

8. Somnium Space

Somnium Space is for people who want a permanent, persistent virtual home. This is not a platform where you log into random lobbies - every world piece is owned and built by users, and it exists permanently 24/7. You can buy land, build a house, open a shop, or just walk around the entire connected world.

Full body tracking here is better than any other platform right now. It even supports natural walking without trackers, just using your headset and controllers. The community is very small and tight knit, almost everyone is friendly and welcoming to new users.

There is a small learning curve, and you will need a decent PC to run it well. But if you ever wished you could have a permanent place in VR that always feels like home, this is exactly what you are looking for.

• Persistent world that never resets
• Marketplace for user created items and avatars
• Zero predatory monetization systems
• Regular community events every weekend

9. Horizon Worlds

Horizon Worlds gets a lot of unfair hate online, but it is actually a really solid casual hangout platform. It runs perfectly on Meta Quest headsets, loads instantly, and has a huge library of user made games and worlds. Most of the bad reviews come from people who tried it at launch, it has improved dramatically in the last two years.

The building tools are extremely easy to use. You can build an entire custom world in an hour, even if you have zero experience. There are also regular official events, including live music shows and comedy nights that attract thousands of people.

Avatar customization is still limited, and it does not work on non-Meta hardware. But if you have a Quest headset and you just want something simple that works every single time, Horizon Worlds is a great option. Most people who give it a fair chance end up using it regularly.

1. Skip the default public lobbies
2. Use the world search filter for 4+ star rated worlds
3. Join creator groups to meet other builders
4. Turn on safety mode for all public sessions

10. VRChat Classic

Yes, this is technically still VRChat, but it is a completely different experience. Before the EAC update in 2022, a group of users archived the last good client of VRChat, and run private community servers for it. No EAC, no mod bans, no polygon limits, no broken updates.

This is not for everyone, and it is not officially supported. But if all you want is the old VRChat that you loved before all the bad changes, this exists. Almost all the popular old worlds are available, and you can use every mod that ever existed.

The community here is almost entirely long term VRChat users. There are almost no trolls, almost no new users, everyone is just there to hang out like they did back in 2020 and 2021. It is a time capsule of the best version of the platform.

You will have to do a little bit of setup to get in, and you can't connect to official VRChat servers. But for many people this is still the best option, and it will continue running for the foreseeable future.

At the end of the day, none of these platforms are perfect replacements for VRChat, and that's actually a good thing. Each one fills a different gap, whether you want better performance, more creative freedom, safer moderation, or just a quieter place to hang out with your friends. You don't have to pick just one either - most regular social VR users bounce between two or three platforms depending on what they feel like doing that night.

The best way to find your new favourite is to pick one that matches what you actually use VRChat for most, and give it a try for one week. Grab one or two friends to come along with you - half the fun of these spaces is exploring new worlds together. Save this list for the next time you get frustrated with infinite loading screens, and come back to tell us which platform worked best for you.