Online AA Meetings: How to Find One Tonight (and Actually Get Something Out of It)
It's 9:40 on a Tuesday night. The house is quiet, the craving is loud, and the closest in-person meeting ended an hour ago.
You can be in an AA meeting in five minutes. Tonight. From the couch.
Online AA meetings run around the clock, they're free, and you can keep your camera off and just listen. This guide covers where to find them, what your first one will actually feel like, and the one thing research says separates people who get better from online meetings from people who just log in.
What Are Online AA Meetings?
Online AA meetings are Alcoholics Anonymous meetings held over video, phone, or chat instead of in a church basement. They follow the same format as in-person meetings: someone chairs, people share, and anyone with a desire to stop drinking is welcome. Many run on Zoom, and AA meetings are free.
They aren't new, either. According to the Online Intergroup of AA, the first online AA group, Lamp-lighters, started meeting by email back in 1990. The pandemic just pushed online meetings into the mainstream, and they never left.
Where Can You Find Online AA Meetings?
The fastest way to find an online AA meeting is the free Meeting Guide app from AA, the Online Intergroup of AA directory, or In The Rooms. All three are free and list meetings happening today. Here is what each one is good for.
AA's Meeting Guide app. Free from Alcoholics Anonymous World Services for iPhone and Android. It lists more than 100,000 weekly meetings, and the Online tab shows upcoming virtual meetings around the world in your own time zone. If you want an official AA meeting in the next hour, start here.
The Online Intergroup of AA. A worldwide directory of online AA meetings in video, phone, email, and chat formats, in many languages. Their volunteer 12th Step committee will also reply by email to anyone asking for help with a drinking problem. Browse it at aa-intergroup.org.
In The Rooms. A free online recovery community that hosts 150+ live meetings every week, including AA, NA, and non-12-step groups, with more than a million members. You can keep your camera off, message people between meetings, and mark your attendance if you need proof for a court or treatment program. In The Rooms is its own organization and isn't affiliated with AA, but many of its meetings follow the AA format. Sign up free at intherooms.com.
Your local AA intergroup. Search your city plus "AA intergroup." Many local groups run hybrid meetings, so you can join online tonight and meet the same faces in person later. That matters more than you'd think (more on that below).
SMART Recovery online meetings. Not AA, but worth knowing if the 12 steps aren't for you. SMART Recovery uses tools from cognitive behavioral therapy and runs free online meetings most days of the week at smartrecovery.org.
Online Sober Meetings Inside the Sober Motivation App
Full disclosure: this one is ours.
The Sober Motivation App hosts live online sober meetings every day, from early morning through the evening across US time zones. They aren't AA meetings and they don't follow the 12 steps. People come from AA, SMART Recovery, or no program at all, and every path is welcome.
What makes it different from a huge open Zoom is size. You see the same people. They learn your name. They notice when you've been quiet for a week. And because it's built by the team behind the Sober Motivation Podcast, you'll meet people whose stories you may have already heard on the show.
Free members can join free meetings. A subscription unlocks unlimited meetings, starting at $9 a month or $89 a year. Plenty of members still go to AA too. Nobody here will ask you to pick one.
What Happens at Your First Online AA Meeting?
You click a link, maybe wait a minute in a waiting room, and then you're looking at a grid of faces. Someone reads the AA preamble, there may be a short reading, and then people take turns sharing. You don't have to say a word.
A few things nobody tells you before your first one:
You can keep your camera off. Lots of newcomers do.
You can rename yourself to just your first name, or even "Newcomer."
If the chair asks whether anyone is new, you can unmute and say "I'm new, I just want to listen." That's a complete share.
"Open" meetings welcome anyone. "Closed" meetings are for people who want to stop drinking. If you're wondering whether you qualify, you do. AA's only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
People often post phone numbers in the chat at the end. Save them. You don't have to call. But some night at 11pm, you might.
Do Online AA Meetings Actually Work?
Yes, for a lot of people, but logging in isn't the same as being involved. A large 2025 study of 1,152 US adults in mutual-help groups, published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, found that people who went only to online meetings were about half as likely to report staying sober at six months as people who went in person. People who did both did just as well as the in-person group.
The researchers found part of the gap came down to involvement. Online-only attendees were less engaged in their groups. Fewer connections, less of the stuff that happens before and after the meeting.
Other research is more encouraging. A separate analysis reviewed by the Recovery Research Institute found no meaningful difference in outcomes between online, in-person, or both, and pointed to steady engagement as what mattered most. And in an evaluation of SMART Recovery Australia's online groups, 91% of people who had also been to face-to-face meetings rated the online version as just as good or better.
So the honest answer is this: the screen isn't the problem. Hiding behind it is.
What Most People Get Wrong About Online Meetings
Treating it like a podcast. Camera off, muted, folding laundry. That's fine on day one, and sometimes it's all you've got. But if month three looks exactly like day one, nothing is connecting.
Meeting-hopping forever. There are thousands of online meetings. That's the upside and the trap. If you go to a different meeting every night, nobody ever gets to know you.
Leaving the second it ends. The real stuff often happens after the meeting closes: the chat, the phone numbers, the "stay on if you want to talk" crowd.
Using a meeting as detox. If you drink heavily every day, stopping suddenly can be dangerous. Alcohol withdrawal can cause seizures. A meeting is support, not medical care. Talk to a doctor before you quit cold.
What Actually Works
Pick two home meetings and go every week. Same time, same faces. Familiar beats perfect.
Turn your camera on when you're ready. People connect with faces. You don't have to do it the first week.
Share once, even briefly. "I'm Sam, I'm on day four, and this is hard" counts.
Get two phone numbers and text one the next day. That's how strangers become sober friends.
Mix in something in person when you can. Even once a month. The research above points that way, and so do most people who've been sober a while.
Plan the hour after the meeting. The craving that sent you to the meeting might still be there when it ends. Have tea ready, go for a walk, text someone, or go to bed. If you're in your first week sober, that hour matters a lot.
Are Online AA Meetings Free?
Yes. AA has no dues or fees, online or in person. Some meetings share a virtual basket link so the group can cover costs like a Zoom account, but giving is always optional. The Meeting Guide app, the Online Intergroup directory, and In The Rooms are all free to use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I attend an online AA meeting without talking?
Yes. You can join, keep your microphone muted, and just listen for the whole meeting. Many people do this for their first few weeks, and nobody will single you out.
Do I have to turn my camera on?
No. Most online AA meetings let you keep your camera off. Some smaller groups ask newcomers to turn it on briefly, but it's a request, not a rule.
Can online AA meetings count for court-ordered attendance?
Sometimes. Rules vary by court and program, so check first. In The Rooms lets members mark their attendance for verification, and many AA groups will provide proof of attendance if you ask the chair or secretary.
Are there online AA meetings 24 hours a day?
Yes. Because meetings run in every time zone, you can usually find one starting soon at almost any hour. The Meeting Guide app's Online tab and the Online Intergroup directory both show upcoming meetings in your local time.
What's the difference between AA meetings and Sober Motivation meetings?
AA meetings follow the 12 steps and AA's traditions. Sober Motivation meetings, held inside the Sober Motivation App, are not 12-step and welcome people from any recovery path, or none. They're smaller, so you tend to see the same people each time. Many people use both.
The Meeting That Helps Is the One You Go To
Tonight, that might be a Zoom full of strangers on another continent. A few months from now, it might be the same six faces who know your name and ask how your week went.
You don't need the perfect meeting. You need the next one. Pick one, click the link, keep your camera off if you have to. Just go.
If you want to hear how other people did it, the Sober Motivation Podcast has 300+ real stories from people who were exactly where you are. And if you're still weighing your options, here are 9 ways to get support when you want to quit drinking.
You don't have to do this alone. The Sober Motivation App has live sober meetings every day, a day counter, and a community that gets it. Download free on iPhone or Android.
Want more stories like this? Listen to the Sober Motivation Podcast.
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