How we compare

The same questions for every app

• Cost: monthly and yearly prices as shown to US visitors on the official pricing or checkout page, with the date we looked. If pictures, calls or videos are paid with tokens or coins, we say so.
• Free use: the concrete limits of the free tier (messages, characters, credits), not just whether one exists.
• Feature set: pictures, voice, video, memory, anime characters and a character builder, only when the company itself advertises them.
• Rules: what the terms of service say about adult content and minimum age.
• Operator: the company named in the terms or legal notice, and where it is registered.

Apps we rank and apps we describe

We compare 17 alternatives in detail. Separately, we researched 7 platforms people usually leave or weigh against each other (Janitor AI, Chai, PolyBuzz, Chub AI, Talkie, CrushOn AI, Character.AI). These are not ranked and not partners: we publish only facts we could confirm on their official pages or US App Store listings, with the date we checked them. When we could not confirm something, such as CrushOn AI’s current prices, we say so instead of guessing.

How the order is decided

On each page the order reflects the reason people leave the app in question: a Janitor AI user who wants memory is not served by the same list as a Candy AI user tired of tokens. After that, we favor apps whose verified features match that reason, whose real monthly cost is clear, and whose operator is named. This is an editorial judgment. We do not publish stars or scores that would suggest lab tests we did not run.

Videos

Each guide includes one YouTube video from an independent creator, chosen for relevance and recency and checked to have a safe-for-work thumbnail. The key moments are written from the video’s actual transcript, with timestamps that open the video at that point. When a creator gives scores, prices or claims we have not verified, we label them as the creator’s, and when a channel promotes its own service we say so.

Partners and commissions

11 of the 17 alternatives pay us when someone subscribes through our link; your price is unaffected. Those partners can sit higher in a list than apps that do not pay us. Each one carries a “Partner” label on its card, and the arrangement is described in our affiliate disclosure. Paying us does not buy the removal of a downside. Partner links are tagged rel="sponsored".

Updates

Each card and table carries the date its facts were read. The whole site was reviewed on October 8, 2026.

Found a price or rule that has changed? Tell us at [email protected].