Character.AI alternatives: 10 apps compared

What's going on with Character.AI

On 12 October 2026 Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware to sell the company under court supervision. The platform is still running, and it says subscriptions are active and billing is unchanged for now.

• Disney's $20 million bid is the opening offer. It buys a non-exclusive licence to Character.AI's technology and patents. The filing specifically leaves out user data, chats, the app and the brand. Disney has already hired most of the staff.
• The dates the court set (4 November order): objections to the sale by 18 November, bids by 24 November, an auction on 1 December and a sale hearing on 3–4 December 2026.
• If no workable bid comes in, the platform will be wound down, the company says.
• Who ends up with user data isn't settled. The US Trustee asked for a consumer privacy ombudsman. The judge encouraged one but didn't order it, and we couldn't confirm that one has been appointed.
• Since late 2025, users under 18 no longer get open-ended chat with characters.

You don't have to leave, but it's sensible to export your data now and to try a second app.

How to export your Character.AI chats

• On the web: Profile → Profile Settings → Account → Manage Account & Data → Export Data.
• In the app: Profile → Settings → Legal & Privacy → Export Data.

Character.AI emails you a download link, which works for 7 days. Exports can take 3–4 weeks to process, so a request made now arrives around the auction. The help centre doesn't say exactly what's included or in what format. Guides say it's JSON files in a ZIP.

The 10 alternatives at a glance

The "Best for" labels are our judgement, not a ranking. Prices change, so check before you pay.

DreamPress: best for stories with pictures and narration

Good at: turning roleplay into a story you can keep. DreamPress does two things. You can chat with one or several AI characters in a scenario you set up, playing as your own persona. Or you can co-write an interactive story chapter by chapter, picking one of three "what happens next" options or writing your own. Stories get AI cover art and scene pictures (anime style by default), and audio narration comes with every chapter at no extra cost. In chat, the narrator and each character speak in their own voices. For long stories, the recent chapters go to the model in full and everything earlier goes as a summary, so chapter forty still knows what chapter one did. Over 800,000 writers have signed up.

Not so good: it's built around stories, so for quick casual chats a chat-first app may feel lighter. There's no Android app; it runs on the web and iPhone. Free use runs on daily credits, and pictures cost 3 credits on every plan, Pro included.

Price: free. Verify your email and you get 15 credits a day, plus a one-off 50. A chat reply costs 1 credit on the standard model. Pro is $9.99 a month or $71.99 a year (web prices) and includes unlimited standard-model writing within fair use, plus 1,000 credits a month.

Platforms: any browser; iOS app on the App Store.

Talkie: closest to Character.AI

Good at: feeling familiar. Talkie is a community where people make, share and chat with AI characters ("Talkies"), with extended memory and tools for images, audio and music.

Not so good: the free version shows ads. On the US App Store the iPhone app is called "Talkie Lab – AI Playground", which can be confusing if you're looking for "Talkie".

Price: free with ads. The App Store lists subscriptions from $9.99 a month, and $24.99 a month for Talkie+ Pro.

Platforms: web, Android, iOS (Talkie Lab).

AI Dungeon: best for text adventures and multiplayer

Good at: open-ended text adventures: you type what you do, the AI writes what happens. Story Cards, a memory system and auto-summaries help it keep track of characters and plot. It has multiplayer with no set player limit, where only the host needs a subscription. It can also make pictures, which usually costs credits.

Not so good: the free plan's memory is small (4k tokens of context), and it plays more like a game than a chat.

Price: free plan. Paid plans are Journey $14.99, Legend $29.99, Mythic $49.99 and Ultimate $99.99 a month, each with more memory and credits.

Platforms: web, iOS, Android.

Perchance: best free option, no account needed

Good at: being free. Perchance's AI Character Chat needs no account and has no message limit. It supports custom characters, group chats, a lorebook and pictures in chat.

Not so good: your chats are stored in your browser, not on a server. Clear your browser data and they're gone, and there's no sync between devices. It's web only.

Price: free.

Platforms: web.

Kindroid: best for one companion with voice and video

Good at: one detailed companion. You shape its personality, backstory and key memories. It offers long-term memory, voice and video calls, AI selfies and group "Rooms" with several of your own characters.

Not so good: in practice it's a paid app. The free preview is 50 messages, after which the account becomes read-only. Some memory features are for subscribers only.

Price: the App Store lists $15.99 a month or $159.99 a year, with Ultra ($28.99) and MAX ($68.99) on top.

Platforms: web, iOS, Android.

Nomi: best for companions in group chats

Good at: companions with memory, and group chats. Nomi offers short, medium and long-term memory, editable backstories, group chats with several Nomis, voice messages and calls, and pictures.

Not so good: it's companion-first rather than story-first. Free messages are capped at 400 characters, against 800 on paid plans. The iOS app was last updated in March 2026, while Android is current.

Price: free to start. The App Store lists a Launch Plan at $9.99 a month and a Standard Plan at $15.99 a month or $99.99 a year.

Platforms: web, iOS, Android.

SillyTavern: best for running your own setup

Good at: control. SillyTavern is a free, open-source interface (AGPL-3.0) that you install yourself and connect to an AI model of your choice. It has lorebooks ("World Info"), plus text-to-speech and image generation through other tools.

Not so good: setup. You need Node.js or Docker plus an AI model (a paid API or one on your own computer), and quality depends on that model.

Price: free software; you pay for whatever model you connect.

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android (via Termux) and Docker.

Chai: best for quick chats on Android

Good at: fast, casual chats with community-made characters, which you can keep private or share.

Not so good: the iPhone app left the App Store around 22 October 2026 and was still missing in at least nine countries on 10 November. Chai now offers a web app at app.chai-ai.com and says your characters and chats carry over to it; we couldn't check that. In some regions it needs a paid subscription. We couldn't confirm current plan prices. More on what happened to Chai.

Price: free with ads; paid subscription available.

Platforms: Android, web (app.chai-ai.com).

Replika: best for a single friend-style companion

Good at: one supportive, friend-style companion by text, voice call and video. It remembers your people, plans and goals, and you can add memories and a backstory.

Not so good: you get one Replika per account and no group chats, so it isn't built for roleplay with a cast. Image generation, voice messages and relationship options beyond "friend" need Pro. Chat history is kept for the past four months.

Price: chatting is free. The App Store lists subscriptions from $7.99 a month; the app shows the exact plan prices.

Platforms: iOS, Android, web, and Meta Quest (beta).

Poe: best for building bots on many AI models

Good at: choice of models. Poe, from Quora, lets you make a character bot from plain-text instructions and run it on many different AI models. It has over a million custom bots to browse.

Not so good: it's a general AI app, not a roleplay app. Every message spends points, and Poe's memory feature doesn't apply to user-made bots.

Price: free daily points. Paid plans start at $4.99 a month; the App Store lists Plus at $19.99 a month.

Platforms: web, iOS, Android.

Apps like Character.AI: how to choose

• You want the same feel: lots of characters, quick chats. Try Talkie, or Chai on Android.
• Your chats turned into long storylines. Try DreamPress (stories with pictures and narration) or AI Dungeon (adventure-game style).
• You want one companion who remembers you. Kindroid, Nomi and Replika are built for that. Expect to pay.
• You want to pay nothing. Perchance is free with no account, and SillyTavern is free if you can bring a model.
• You want control over the model. SillyTavern or Poe.
• You're on iPhone. Character.AI, Talkie (as Talkie Lab), DreamPress, AI Dungeon, Kindroid, Nomi, Replika and Poe have iOS apps today. Chai currently doesn't (use its web app in Safari).