What is a spy show?

Spy mode is the cheap seat on a premium cam site: you pay a reduced per-minute rate to watch a private show that another member is already paying for. She performs for him; you watch from the sidelines. Every network we index has it under one name or another, and it is probably the most under-used button on these sites — mostly because people aren't sure what it includes.

What a spy show actually is

A spy show isn't a format of its own — it's a seat at someone else's private. A member takes a model into a standard private, and while it runs, other members can pay to view her stream. She is performing for the person who booked her, following his requests within her limits; you see exactly what she's doing, and nothing you do reaches her. She is not told who is spying and cannot see you, and neither can the member who booked her. Where this sits on the ladder of show types: free chat vs private shows.

What each site calls it

The naming is the part that trips people up, because the same thing has three labels.

• LiveJasmin — "Spy on private". You watch an ongoing private with no chat, and the model does not see the spy. Not available on Exclusive privates.
• Streamate — "Voyeur". Same idea, different word.
• Flirt4Free — also "Voyeur".
• ImLive — a "Spy" style feature.

Whatever the label, the button only appears while the model is actually in a standard private. If she's in free chat, in a group show, or in an exclusive, there is nothing to spy on.

What you get, and what you don't

You get her live video at a lower per-minute rate than the private itself. That's the whole product. Everything else is subtraction:

• No control — you can't direct the show or make requests. She's doing what he asked for.
• No chat, and no cam2cam — she can't see you and you can't type to her.
• Audio may be off, depending on the site and the model's settings.
• No access to exclusive or blocked privates — that lockout is exactly what the other member's higher exclusive rate bought him.

Think of it as watching, not participating. If you want to steer the show, spy is the wrong purchase. If you want to see how she performs when she's actually being paid, it's the right one.

What it costs

Spy is billed per minute like a private, at a lower rate — usually roughly half to two-thirds of the model's private rate. The site shows the spy rate before you enter, and the meter runs from the moment you're in until you leave or the private ends. That last part matters: you're riding someone else's clock, so a spy session can end after two minutes because he left. On prepaid sites it draws down your credits; on Streamate it bills to your card like anything else (the difference between the two: credits, tokens and gold). For where private rates actually land, see how much cam shows cost.

When spy beats going private

Spy is the cheapest way to see a model's real private-show quality before paying for your own. Free chat tells you her energy and how she runs a room, but on premium sites the explicit content is saved for paid formats, so free chat can't tell you what her private is like. A few minutes in spy can — and if she's flat when someone else is paying, she'll be flat for you too. It is also the honest cheap option when you simply want to watch and have nothing to ask for.

It stops making sense when you want to be seen, want to steer, or she's in an exclusive. Then it's a standard private, or a gold show if you'd rather split the bill with a room.

Finding a private to spy on

You can only spy on a model who's in a standard private right now, so timing is the whole game. We poll the networks' live rosters every few minutes and a model's profile here shows her current state — free chat, private, group show, or offline — so you can see who is in a private before you open the site. The most privates run at the same hours the most models are online: the best time to watch live cams. Browse who's on now from the homepage, or start with a model in an open room on the free chat listing and wait for someone to take her private.