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VR Social Platforms

A stacked comparison of the places people actually meet in VR. Each platform is scored 0–10 on six axes. The bar is the stack. The tallest stack is the most powerful place to be; the shortest is the least.

Read 17 October 2026. Scores are a field ranking, not a lab benchmark. Population is one slice of power. Creation, access, openness, persistence, and whether the doors are still open make up the rest.

VRChat wins the room. Resonite wins the workbench. Rec Room is closed. Reach is how many people are there. Create is what you can build. Access is Quest versus PC-only. Open is TOS, age, and whether you can host it yourself. Persist is whether the world stays when you log out. Ready is whether it is a shipping place today. Basis is a framework, listed because people ask for it next to the platforms.

Strongest stack

VRChat

The social VR room everyone else is measured against. User worlds, a huge avatar economy, Quest plus PC, and concurrent counts that still set records after Rec Room and Horizon Worlds left VR.

47 / 60 power

Least powerful

Rec Room

The all-ages social VR and rec-game hub. Maker Pen creation, Quest-native, huge for a while. Rec Room announced a full shutdown for 1 June 2026, citing profitability and the VR market. The stack sits at the bottom because the doors are closed.

11 / 60 power

Stack by

Reach · People in the room Create · Worlds, avatars, tools Access · How easy it is to join Open · TOS, age, self-host Persist · World stays put Ready · Shipping as a place

19 platforms, strongest first

1 VRChat live 47 2 Second Life live 43 3 Resonite live 38 4 Somnium Space live 37 5 Cluster live 35 6 VIVERSE live 34 7 Spatial live 33 8 ChilloutVR live 32 9 Overte live 32 10 Bigscreen live 31 11 ENGAGE XR live 30 12 Basis framework 29 13 Vircadia live 29 14 Hubs legacy 28 15 NexVR emerging 28 16 Sansar live 26 17 Neos VR legacy 25 18 Horizon Worlds closed 14 19 Rec Room closed 11

No platforms match that filter.

live 47 / 60 power

VRChat

VRChat Inc.

The social VR room everyone else is measured against. User worlds, a huge avatar economy, Quest plus PC, and concurrent counts that still set records after Rec Room and Horizon Worlds left VR.

Hardware: Quest, PCVR, desktop
Age: 13+, with 18+ worlds
Build: Unity SDK

Reach 10

Create 8

Access 9

Open 6

Persist 4

Ready 10

Pros

Largest live population in social VR, with New Year peaks near 160,000 concurrent in 2026.
Unity SDK for worlds and avatars, plus a working creator marketplace.
Quest, PCVR, and desktop in the same instances.

Cons

Worlds are instances. They reset when the last person leaves.
Trust rank, upload limits, and TOS shape what you can ship.
The 13+ mix puts kids in the same client as adult spaces.

Official site

live 43 / 60 power

Second Life

Linden Lab

The oldest still-running 3D social world that matters. Regions persist, the economy is real, and VR viewers exist. It is a virtual world with a VR mode, not a VR-native hangout.

Hardware: Desktop first; VR viewers exist
Age: Adult grid available
Build: Own viewer, persistent regions

Reach 6

Create 8

Access 4

Open 6

Persist 10

Ready 9

Pros

Persistence and user-owned land at a scale social VR still copies.
Creator economy that has run for more than two decades.
Adult and general grids are separate.

Cons

Headset support is a viewer feature, not the native client.
The interface and avatar pipeline are from a different era.
You are not in the same room as Quest-native social VR.

Official site

live 38 / 60 power

Resonite

Yellow Dog Man Studios

The workbench. You build avatars, tools, and games inside the headset with other people watching. Successor to Neos VR. Still Steam Early Access and still PC-only, which caps the room.

Hardware: PCVR and desktop
Age: Creator-led, PC audience
Build: FrooxEngine, ProtoFlux

Reach 4

Create 10

Access 3

Open 8

Persist 6

Ready 7

Pros

In-world creation is the deepest in the field. ProtoFlux, live co-editing, inventories that travel with you.
More creator freedom than VRChat’s upload pipeline.
Desktop mode exists if you need to work without a headset.

Cons

PC VR only. No Quest client, so the population stays small.
The learning curve is steep.
Still Early Access as of September 2026.

Official site

live 37 / 60 power

Somnium Space

Somnium Space LTD

Often typed Sonium. A persistent 18+ world with ownable land, a Unity 6 rebuild, and a 2026 return to Steam after Valve delisted it. Version 3.1.6 added friends and PIN instances on top of the always-on city.

Hardware: PCVR, Steam Deck planned; no Quest
Age: 18+
Build: Unity 6 URP

Reach 3

Create 7

Access 4

Open 6

Persist 10

Ready 7

Pros

The world stays put. Land, buildings, and venues persist.
18+ by design, Unity 6, SDK import, in-world monetization.
Instances now exist for private and ticketed rooms without giving up the city.

Cons

No Quest client on the roadmap.
Land sits on a blockchain layer, which is the product and also the baggage.
Population is small compared with instance-based social VR.

Official site

live 35 / 60 power

Cluster

Cluster, Inc.

Japan’s event-first social VR. Concerts, conventions, and school events can pack a Cluster world. Day-to-day hangout culture is smaller outside those peaks.

Hardware: Quest, PCVR, mobile, desktop
Age: Event and all-ages mix
Build: Unity worlds, events

Reach 5

Create 6

Access 8

Open 5

Persist 4

Ready 7

Pros

Quest, PC, and phones in one event.
Strong at scheduled shows and Japanese-language communities.
World tools are good enough for venues and booths.

Cons

Between events the room thins out.
Avatar and world depth sit below VRChat and Resonite.
English-language hangout culture is secondary.

Official site

live 34 / 60 power

VIVERSE

HTC

HTC’s “YouTube of 3D.” Browser worlds you can embed on any site. Claimed a million monthly users and 23,000 worlds by late 2025. A distribution layer more than a hangout city.

Hardware: Web, WebXR, HTC headsets
Age: General audience
Build: Web worlds, iframe embed

Reach 4

Create 5

Access 8

Open 6

Persist 5

Ready 6

Pros

No install. WebXR and iframe embeds.
Creator payouts by unique views, not ads.
Works on phones and headsets from the same world.

Cons

The social graph is thinner than a dedicated client.
World fidelity is web-bounded.
People arrive for a world, then leave.

Official site

live 33 / 60 power

Spatial

Professional and creator rooms in a browser, with headset entry. Strong for galleries, drops, and meetings. Weak as an all-night hangout.

Hardware: Web, Quest, Vision Pro
Age: Work and creator mix
Build: Web / Spatial Studio

Reach 4

Create 5

Access 8

Open 5

Persist 4

Ready 7

Pros

Web first, so a meeting link is enough.
Quest and Vision Pro clients exist.
Creator tools fit branded spaces and drops.

Cons

The culture is events and work, not nightly social VR.
Avatar and world depth sit below the Unity social clients.
Policy follows a professional product.

Official site

live 32 / 60 power

ChilloutVR

Alpha Blend Interactive

A Unity social VR client with a Community Creation Kit and a looser adult policy than VRChat. The product works. The room is tiny: Steam concurrent counts sit in the dozens most hours.

Hardware: PCVR, limited Quest path
Age: Adult-friendlier TOS
Build: Unity CCK

Reach 2

Create 7

Access 5

Open 8

Persist 4

Ready 6

Pros

Unity CCK is familiar to VRChat world authors.
Adult content policy is more permissive, which is why a lot of 18+ creators keep a CVR copy.
You can bring over a lot of existing Unity work.

Cons

Population is a rounding error next to VRChat.
Standalone headset support is thin.
Discovery and events are sparse because the room is sparse.

Official site

live 32 / 60 power

Overte

Overte e.V.

Open-source social VR from the original High Fidelity code. You run a domain server. Tiny population, full control.

Hardware: PCVR, desktop, self-host
Age: You host the domain
Build: Open-source, High Fidelity lineage

Reach 1

Create 7

Access 4

Open 10

Persist 6

Ready 4

Pros

Free software. You host the world.
In-world building and custom clients are possible.
No corporate TOS sitting on your venue.

Cons

You bring the people. The public grid is quiet.
Tooling and onboarding are volunteer-paced.
PC-first, with a smaller hardware matrix than Quest social apps.

Official site

live 31 / 60 power

Bigscreen

Bigscreen, Inc.

Watch together. Desktop mirroring, movies, and private theaters. The social layer is the room around the screen, not a user-built city.

Hardware: Quest and PCVR
Age: Theater rooms
Build: First-party theaters

Reach 5

Create 2

Access 8

Open 5

Persist 3

Ready 8

Pros

Best-in-class shared screens and theaters.
Quest and PC, easy to teach a new user.
Private rooms are the product, and they work.

Cons

You do not build worlds here.
Avatars and UGC are secondary.
Once the movie ends, people leave.

Official site

live 30 / 60 power

ENGAGE XR

ENGAGE XR Holdings

Classrooms, campuses, and enterprise events in VR. Useful when a school or company pays for the room. Not a street you wander at midnight.

Hardware: Quest, PCVR, desktop
Age: Education and enterprise
Build: First-party campuses

Reach 3

Create 4

Access 7

Open 4

Persist 5

Ready 7

Pros

Designed for teaching, training, and ticketed events.
Quest and PC clients that a non-gamer can launch.
Moderation and seating match an institution.

Cons

Creator depth is campus furniture, not a full UGC city.
The public social graph is thin.
Policy follows education and enterprise buyers.

Official site

framework 29 / 60 power

Basis

BasisVR (MIT)

A framework, not a social platform. MIT-licensed Unity and C# libraries for presence, voice, avatars, and networking, plus a demo. You host the server. There is no public Basis city to log into. That is the point, and it is why the stack scores low as a place.

Hardware: Whatever you build: OpenXR, SteamVR, Quest, Web
Age: You set the policy
Build: Unity / C# framework

Reach 1

Create 8

Access 4

Open 10

Persist 2

Ready 4

Pros

MIT license, open development, you own the binary and the server.
Networking, Opus voice, avatars, and world bundles are already there.
You can ship a game, an event, or your own social VR on top of it.

Cons

There is no shared public world. Friends cannot “just launch Basis.”
You take on hosting, moderation, and a Unity 6 toolchain.
Load-test Discord sessions are not a substitute for a populated platform.

Official site

live 29 / 60 power

Vircadia

The other High Fidelity fork still shipping. Same self-host idea as Overte, different project and interface. A toolkit for a world, not a crowded one.

Hardware: PCVR, desktop, self-host
Age: You host the domain
Build: Open-source, High Fidelity lineage

Reach 1

Create 6

Access 4

Open 9

Persist 5

Ready 4

Pros

Open source, self-hosted domains.
Web and native client experiments continue.
You can run a private grid.

Cons

Public occupancy is low.
Two High Fidelity forks split the remaining energy.
Creator docs assume you already know the stack.

Official site

legacy 28 / 60 power

Hubs

Hubs community / Hubs Foundation

Mozilla shut official Hubs on 31 May 2024. The community edition and Hubs Foundation keep the browser-room idea alive. Easy to spin a link, hard to find a standing crowd.

Hardware: WebXR in a browser
Age: You host the room
Build: A-Frame / Spoke

Reach 1

Create 5

Access 7

Open 9

Persist 3

Ready 3

Pros

A URL is the invite. WebXR, no store.
Spoke-style scene building is still in the lineage.
You can self-host.

Cons

Mozilla is gone. You are on community infrastructure.
Rooms are sessions. The city does not persist.
Fidelity and avatars sit below native Unity clients.

Official site

emerging 28 / 60 power

NexVR

An emerging 18+ age-verified social VR platform with a Unity 6 creator SDK for avatars and worlds. Adult-space operators are already pointing at it. The client and docs exist; the public room is still filling. Separate from NexVentures NEX-VR, NextVR, and NexeVR.

Hardware: Windows launcher and Steam
Age: 18+, age-verified
Build: Unity 6 SDK

Reach 1

Create 7

Access 5

Open 8

Persist 5

Ready 2

Pros

18+ with age verification is the whole pitch, which is what adult venues have been asking for.
Unity 6 SDK and public creator docs at docs.nexvr.net.
Steam client plus a Windows launcher, so the install path is real.

Cons

Too new to have a population worth stacking against VRChat.
Platform conventions (instances, moderation, persistence) are still being proven in public.
Standalone headset story is not the center of the product yet.

Official site

live 26 / 60 power

Sansar

Wookey (ex Linden Lab)

Linden Lab’s VR world, later sold and pointed at live events. The editor and venues still exist. The daily population does not.

Hardware: PCVR and desktop
Age: Live events
Build: Own editor, events

Reach 2

Create 5

Access 5

Open 5

Persist 5

Ready 4

Pros

Event-oriented worlds and a real editor.
PC VR and desktop.
Still shipping after the Linden sale.

Cons

Attention moved to events, and the street emptied.
Quest-native social VR passed it by.
Discovery is weak if you are not on a billed show.

Official site

legacy 25 / 60 power

Neos VR

Solirax / Yellow Dog Man lineage

The platform Resonite came from. In-world creation was already the point. The living project is Resonite; Neos remains as a legacy client and archive of that work.

Hardware: PCVR
Age: Legacy client
Build: FrooxEngine predecessor

Reach 1

Create 8

Access 3

Open 6

Persist 5

Ready 2

Pros

The in-world creation model Resonite still uses started here.
Inventories and sessions taught a generation of builders.
Useful if you still have Neos-only assets.

Cons

Development energy moved to Resonite.
PC VR only, same as the successor.
New users should start on Resonite.

Official site

closed 14 / 60 power

Horizon Worlds

Pros

Phone and web still exist if a community stayed.
Creator tools taught a lot of first-time world builders.
The migration pushed people toward VRChat and Resonite.

Cons

VR is no longer the product as of June 2026.
Walled garden, Meta account, thin UGC compared with VRChat.
New worlds are not a VR destination.

Official site

closed 11 / 60 power

Rec Room

Rec Room Inc.

Hardware: Shut down June 2026
Age: Was all-ages
Build: Maker Pen, was Quest + PSVR2 + PC

Reach 0

Create 6

Access 0

Open 4

Persist 0

Ready 1

Pros

Maker Pen was the easiest in-headset creation for a mass audience.
Quest, PSVR2, PC, and phones once shared the same rec center.
A generation learned social VR here.

Cons

Closed 1 June 2026.
All-ages policy defined the culture, including the kid problem.
Nothing on this list is less powerful as a place you can go today.

Official site

How the stack is scored

Each axis is 0–10. Power is the sum, out of 60. VRChat leads because reach, access, and a shipping product outweigh instance-based worlds. Resonite leads Create. Somnium Space (Sonium) leads Persist. Basis leads Open and is last among living toolkits as a place you can log into, because it is a framework. NexVR is on the board as an 18+ age-verified Unity 6 platform that is still filling the room. Rec Room sits at the bottom of the default stack because it shut down on 1 June 2026. Horizon Worlds left VR the same season. Change “Stack by” to re-rank on a single axis. Live / Emerging / Framework / Legacy / Closed filters the list. Related lab page: VR Hardware.