Here Are Ten Social VR Platforms You Can Visit Right Now

Do you feel you've seen everything there is to see out there with social VR? Maybe not, as there are at least ten (non-crypto) social platforms now available to try. Yes, ten! Amazing number, right? And that number keeps on growing.

Here's a list of platforms we recommend trying out. Some are more developed than others, but all of them could use your love.

Since there are so many to talk about, we've listed these worlds in alphabetical order.

Banter

Banter is a social VR platform from Sidequest, which has been making smaller apps available to download for Quest headsets for years. What's different about Banter is its physics engine; pushing down on a flat surface will lift your avatar up, similar to Boneworks. It's also got a great system for traveling via slides, and a cool grappling feature. Even on a standalone mobile client, the framerate remains high (after initial map load) while whooshing around over an impressively long period of sliding. If PVP games are added to Banter, it would turn into something akin to Gmod for VR. Karaoke events are hosted regularly on Sundays; an in-game calendar will show events and when they occur.

Banter is currently giving away a Quest 3 headset to one random person per week for logging in to their platform.

Bigscreen

Bigscreen is unique in that it does one thing and does it very well: it's a movie theatre platform for VR. It emulates the feeling of hanging around a theatre and binging films all day. There are also special movie tickets for sale, should you find a showing you'd like to attend.

There isn't too much that's changed about Bigscreen over the years, except that they've added a really cool headset to their list of available products to buy.

ChilloutVR

Chillout is a social VR platform that focuses on the late teen to young adult crowd. It's still very early, but has a neat prop system and a slowly building audience. Chillout is a good choice for users who like less of a crowd and already know how to build their own worlds. Community events are held three days a week, including a club series.

Cluster

Cluster is an impressive social VR app for PC/Mac, standalone HMD, and mobile. Because it includes cross-play for a variety of users to be able to mingle, its graphics are a little limited. However, it has a lot of spirit and you can really feel the thoughtfulness behind its design.

Cluster includes a marketplace for props, furniture, and accessories, similar to Rec Room. It also includes an internal avatar creator, but leaves room to upload a custom avatar with a .VRM file extension.

Cluster's core function is to host events; there are many always happening, but they occur mostly in Japanese. There's a growing English community whose events can be found through the in-game calendar.

Helios

Helios is a more graphically heavy platform, but it sure is pretty. That's thanks to the Unreal engine it uses to flesh out its world. The client costs $5 on Steam, and is a little quiet in terms of an audience for now. Helios is best for fans of Unreal who want to create worlds the way they like them.

Horizon Worlds

Horizon Worlds is Meta's offering of a social VR platform. It's very different than other platforms where anime avatars are common. In place of custom avatar uploads is a locked-in system with various free and pay-for outfits. Admittedly, men's fashion in Horizon is one of the best of all the apps listed here.

Horizon mainly serves young to older adult users, although there's a considerable amount of kids running around.

RebornVR

Reborn is another new platform aimed at attracting teens and young adults. Similar to Paraspace, it contains a slickly-produced ad suite, presenting lots of popular avatars sold on Booth for public selection. Its initial load-in presents games to play, and there are quite a few worlds available to visit. VRChat users will see a lot of familiar content here. It could use framerate improvement, but otherwise needs time to prove it's got what it takes to capture an audience and stick around.

Rec Room

Rec Room is growing up. Its builders are creating more visually interesting maps, while its avatar store has grown to accompany various armor slots to buy things for: gloves, scarves, capes, purses, glasses, necklaces, and earrings.

Its primary audience is young--think under 13. It's a strange clash in simplistic avatar style for older users in the game, but Rec Room has plans to enable full body avatars that appear to have aged up. This means Rec Room is probably aspiring to be a little more like Roblox than it is already.

Resonite

Resonite is the spiritual successor to Neos VR, which lost a good chunk of its team after prolonged disputes over the original platform's direction.

Resonite's default home map feels like a preview of what the platform's founder, Frooxius, wishes to accomplish with the platform. Within the treehouse build, there is a vintage-style record player, as well as tools for realtime object creation and a space for watching videos. The environment is shaped like a real home--because that's what it actually is. With more effort towards hosting community events, Resonite can fill out its userbase with a larger dedicated audience.

VRChat

VRChat holds a large amount of teens and young adults as its main audience, but that's also mixed in with older enthusiasts and Altspace transfers. Its worlds are varied and show maturity in design, to the point where tribute maps can sometimes be found on alternative platforms.

It has its growing pains, though. VRChat is entering the mobile market, while defending its slice of the social VR pie from others who are eager to get a cut.

Have we missed your favorite platform in mention here? Let us know with the contact form, and we'll take a look.