Apps like Chai AI: 8 apps similar to Chai, ranked and compared for 2026

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Chai figures were read from its US App Store listing (Chai Research Corp., app id 1544750895) and its Google Play listing (com.Beauchamp.Messenger.external) on September 2, 2026. In-app purchase names and prices come from the same App Store listing. Apple publishes item names and prices but not billing periods, so plan periods are shown as Chai names them.

1. 1

   Darlings

   Best for one steady friend who remembers you, with no ads · Free demo, plans from $9 a month

   The disclosure first: this is our app. It leads this particular list because the two most common reasons people leave Chai are the two things it is built around. Memory is included on every plan rather than sold at $29.99 like Chai's Ultra tier, and there are no ads at any price. It is one companion instead of a library, it checks in without being opened, and there is no romance or roleplay mode by design. Minimum age is 13. If what you liked about Chai was scrolling through thousands of user-made bots, this is the wrong pick and the next entry will suit you better.

2. 2

   PolyBuzz

   Best for the closest like-for-like swap · $9.90 to $29.90 a month

   If you want Chai but bigger and better rated, this is it. PolyBuzz holds 4.45 from 469,178 US App Store ratings against Chai's 4.33 from 274,560, and 4.1 on Google Play against Chai's 3.6, with 50 million plus installs to Chai's 10 million plus. Permanent memory sits on Ultimate at $29.90, which is a pound-for-pound match with Chai's Ultra rather than an improvement. Two honest caveats: it carries a Frequent Sexual Content or Nudity descriptor, stronger than Chai's, and it sells no annual plan at all, so there is no way to bring the monthly cost down.

3. 3

   Nomi

   Best for the cheapest real memory in the category · $9.99 a month on the Launch Plan

   The direct answer to apps like chai but with better memory. Nomi is designed around recall rather than treating it as a tier, and long running users report it holding detail across months. The detail most roundups miss is the Launch Plan, listed at $9.99 monthly or $59.99 yearly, well below the $15.99 Standard Plan that gets quoted everywhere. That makes remembering you cost a third of what Chai charges for the same thing. It is a small app by comparison, with 100,000 plus Play installs, and it is rated 17+ with a sexual content descriptor.

4. 4

   Kindroid

   Best for memory you can open and edit yourself · $15.99 a month, $159.99 yearly

   The pick if you want to manage the memory rather than hope it sticks. Kindroid uses layered memory you can read, edit and correct, and it has the best App Store rating of any app on this page at 4.79 from 8,210 ratings. It is also the most expensive way in. The yearly plan at $159.99 works out at $13.33 a month, which is the priciest annual rate in this category, and there is an Ultra tier at $28.99 and a MAX tier at $68.99 above the base plan. Rated 17+ on the App Store.

5. 5

   Character.AI

   Best for the largest character library, if you can live with the changes · Free with ads, Lite $2.49, Character.AI+ $9.99

   Still the biggest library in the category with more than 50 million Play installs, and the cheapest paid entry point anywhere at $2.49 for Lite. Go in knowing what happened to it. It removed open-ended chat for under-18 accounts in late 2025, added age assurance including selfie and in some cases ID checks, and added advertising, which it confirmed itself in a February 7, 2026 reply to a Play reviewer. The result is visible in the score: 2.1 on Google Play, with 1,569,608 of its 2,430,303 ratings at one star. It also sells no persistent memory at any tier, so it does not fix the Chai memory problem.

6. 6

   Replika

   Best for a single companion with the longest track record · $7.99 to $14.99 a month

   The oldest app here, on the App Store since March 2017, and one of only two on this page built around a single companion rather than a library. A sensible landing spot if what you actually want is one relationship rather than a menu. Two things to know: Italy fined its maker Luka 5,000,000 euros in May 2025, and in January 2025 advocacy groups filed an FTC complaint, which is a complaint rather than a ruling. It publishes no prices on its own website, so the App Store listing is the only public source. Rated 17+.

7. 7

   Talkie

   Best for character variety, on Android only · No published prices

   Genuinely excellent and genuinely large, at 4.6 from 837,426 Google Play ratings with more than 50 million installs, and the best voice work of anything on this page. The reason it sits this low has nothing to do with quality. Talkie has not been on the US App Store since December 17, 2024, reported as a decision by its owner MiniMax rather than a government ban, so if you are on an iPhone it is not an option at all. It also publishes no plan names and no prices anywhere, which means you find out what a tier costs when the charge lands.

8. 8

   Linky

   Best for Android users who want a big anime persona library · No published prices

   It shows up in every autocomplete beside the apps above and has 10 million plus Play installs, so it belongs on the list, but go in with two facts. It is not on the Apple App Store, and not only in the United States: the catalogue lookup comes back empty in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Germany. And its Play rating hides a split worth seeing, with 26,125 of its 136,251 ratings at one star, roughly one in five. Like Talkie it publishes no plan names or subscription prices at all.

Store presence, ratings and prices all read on September 2, 2026 from each app's own US App Store and Google Play listings. Check the current listing before you subscribe.

• Chai has a bot library Darlings will never match. Thousands of user-made characters and a community making more of them every day. If you enjoy browsing and trying new bots, nothing on this page replaces that, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
• Chai is free to use forever if you accept ads and the message clock, and its cheapest paid entry is $5.99 a week or $9.99 for Premium Membership. Darlings has a free demo but the ongoing plans are paid, so if budget is the binding constraint Chai wins outright.
• PolyBuzz beats us on library size, on both store ratings and on being a native mobile app. If you are replacing Chai like for like rather than changing what you want from the product, PolyBuzz is the more faithful swap.
• Nomi and Kindroid both expose memory in more detail than Darlings does, and Nomi's recall over long periods is the best in this category. If memory depth is the only thing you care about, look at those two before you look at us.
• Chai runs as a polished native app on both stores. Darlings runs in a browser, which some people simply do not want, and there is no way around that today.