What you have to provide
A nickname of up to eight characters, and that is the whole list. There is no email field, no password field, no phone number, no date of birth and no profile to fill in afterwards. You are not asked to confirm anything from an inbox and there is no account sitting somewhere afterwards that you have to remember to delete.
Practically it goes like this. You open a room address, a small box asks for a nickname, you type one, and the message box is live. From cold link to first message is a few seconds, and the person you sent the link to goes through exactly the same few seconds. Nobody has to be talked through a setup.
The one thing that does stand in the way
Entering a room means passing a quick automated check that you are a person and not a script. It is usually a box that ticks itself while you are reading, and it happens once. It is there because a chat room with no signup is exactly the kind of place spam bots like, and without that check the rooms would be unusable within a week. It asks nothing of you and it is the only gate on the site.
What you give up
Three things, and they are worth knowing before you send the link to anybody.
Your nickname is not reserved. Nobody owns a name here, so the name you used yesterday can be somebody else today. Inside a single conversation that is rarely a problem, because everyone is present at the same time and can see who is talking. Across days it means you cannot be recognised by your name alone.
Nothing is saved for you. There is no history to scroll back through on your next visit, no starred messages, no list of the rooms you have been in. A room holds the last fifty messages and clears itself after a day with nobody in it. If a conversation contains something worth keeping, copy it out while it is still on the screen.
There is no way to reach you. Because there is no account, nobody can message you when you are not in the room, and you will not get a notification when somebody writes. The room is a place you are in or you are not.
Who this suits
It suits a conversation with a clear beginning and end, and people who should not have to join anything to take part in it. A client who needs to reach you for an afternoon. A group that formed for one evening. Somebody you met on a listing site and will probably never speak to again. A friend on a locked-down work laptop who cannot install software.
It does not suit a group that wants to keep talking for months, needs the conversation on record, or wants to be pinged when something happens. That is what an account exists for, and if you need those things you should use something that has one.
Is it free, and why
It is free, with no paid tier, no trial and no advertising on the chat. The site costs very little to run because the rooms clear themselves out, so there is nothing to store and nothing to pay for storing. There is no data being sold to make up the difference. What the site does collect and why is written out plainly in the privacy policy.
Questions people ask
Do I need an email address?
No. There is no email field anywhere on the site, no confirmation message and no newsletter. A nickname of up to eight characters is the only thing you type before you can start talking.
Is there really no password?
There is no password, because there is nothing to log in to. Your nickname holds for as long as you stay in the room. Close the tab and it is released, and you pick a nickname again next time.
Can somebody else use my nickname?
Yes. Nicknames are not reserved and nobody owns one. Two people cannot use the same nickname in the same room at the same time, but tomorrow anybody can be the name you used today.
Will I have to prove I am human?
Once, on the way into a room. It is a quick automated check, usually a box that ticks itself. It is the only thing between the link and the conversation, and it exists to keep spam bots out.
If there is no account, how do I get back into a room?
By opening the same link again. The address is the only thing you need, so keep the link rather than trying to remember an account. If nobody has used the room for a day it will have cleared itself and you will find it empty.
Is a chat room without signup safe to use with strangers?
It is as safe as what you type into it. Nobody can see your email or number because you never gave one, but anybody in the room reads what you write, and anybody holding the link can walk in. Treat it as a conversation in a room with an unlocked door.