Character.AI vs Janitor AI

Character AI vs Janitor AI: the facts side by side

From our research records, built on official pages, help centers and US store listings checked October 20, 2026. "Not confirmed" means no official source says either way.

Fact	Character.AI	Janitor AI
Type	Character chat platform	Roleplay platform
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Cheapest monthly plan	$4.99/mo	$12.99/mo
Annual plan	$94.99/yr ($7.92/mo)	$99.00/yr ($8.25/mo)
Credits or tokens	Charms	Router wallet (USD)
NSFW content	No	Yes
Voice calls	Yes	No (planned)
Voice messages	Yes	No (planned)
Image generation	Yes	No (planned)
Video	Yes	Not confirmed
Custom characters	Yes	Yes
Long-term memory	Yes	Yes
Multiple characters	Yes	Not confirmed
Web app	Yes	Yes
iOS app	Yes	Yes
Android app	Yes	Yes
Minimum age	18+ to chat. Account sign-up allowed from 13 (16 in EEA/UK); users verified under 18 get a read-only 'Under-18 experience' with no character chat	18+
Delete account and data	Yes	Yes

From official pages and US store listings, checked October 20, 2026.

For the details behind each row, see our Character.AI review and our review of Janitor AI. Other match-ups are listed on the comparisons hub.

Why this comparison comes up

Both are character platforms: you browse characters written by other users, or write your own, and roleplay with them. Character.AI promises "10M+ Characters"; Janitor AI says it has "millions of bots" and "15M+ users". Free, unlimited chat is the default on both.

What pushes people from one to the other is the rules. Character.AI calls its stance on NSFW filters "final", removed open-ended chat for users under 18 in late 2025, and is now in a court-supervised sale. Janitor AI permits adult content for users 18 and over and adds a choice of models. Among the platforms we cover, it is the closest match in format for adults who want fewer content limits; what it lacks is Character.AI's media features.

Content rules: a fixed filter vs written adult limits

Character.AI does not allow NSFW content for anyone, adults included. Its Help Center says pornographic content "will not be supported at any point in the future", the Community Guidelines prohibit pornographic content and nudity, and asking to remove the filter "will result in a ban". The Creator Guide adds that filtering happens at platform level: "This isn't a Definition dial you can turn." Romance and mature drama are allowed within those limits ("passionate romance" is a named genre), and no paid plan changes the rules.

Janitor AI's Community Guidelines (February 4, 2026) say it "permits adult content between consenting adult characters". Characters with sexual or romantic themes must be tagged "Limitless". Zero tolerance applies to sexual content involving minors or characters coded as minors, incest between blood relatives, age regression, necrophilia, bestiality and nude or pornographic images. The mobile apps start in Restricted Mode, and you can turn it off only in profile settings on the website. In July 2025 a test prompt aimed at banned topics also blocked ordinary adult chats and was rolled back.

More platforms and their written rules are in our guides to NSFW AI girlfriend apps and unfiltered AI chat.

Models: proprietary chat styles vs JLLM or your own

Character.AI runs its own proprietary models, offered as chat styles. PipSqueak 3 and ShortSqueak are free for everyone; DeepSqueak and LongSqueak are premium, with a daily allowance on lite and unlimited use on c.ai+. You cannot connect an outside model.

Janitor's default is JLLM, its free built-in model. In API settings you can add your own configuration (model name, proxy URL, API key, custom prompt), and the help center's quickstart uses OpenRouter with a DeepSeek model as its example. Subscribers can also use the janitor+ Router on the web, which bills third-party models per token from a wallet. Either way, an outside model costs extra and receives your messages under its own terms.

Free use compared

"We are proud to continue offering free and unlimited messaging for ALL users," says Character.AI's c.ai+ FAQ. Free accounts also get the free chat styles, Character Voice and two-way calls, 15 memory pins and a basic Lorebook. The costs are banner and interstitial ads, "slow mode" or a waiting room at busy times, and "Limited" image features. An April 2026 post acknowledged more ads for free users and usage limits on some features, and Google Play reviewers in 2026 complain about the ads (user reports).

Janitor's free tier offers "Unlimited chats with millions of bots", the standard models and about 9,000 tokens of context, with no published message cap. It tested ads on character pages for logged-out visitors in 2025. Google Play reviewers praise that it is "totally free" (user reports). Both appear in our list of free AI roleplay apps.

Paid plans and the Chapter 11 question

On October 12, 2026, Character Technologies filed a voluntary Chapter 11 case to sell the company. Its blog says the platform "remains up and running" and billing is unchanged "for now"; the sale should close by late November or early December 2026, and if no acceptable bid lets the platform continue, "the platform will be wound down". TechCrunch reported that Disney agreed to buy some assets for $20 million plus a technology license as the opening bid, with no buyer yet for the consumer platform. On October 14, New York's attorney general and 39 others asked the court to attach conditions to any sale, including limits on training AI with private chats without valid consent.

Refund terms matter here. Character.AI's payments are non-refundable except where the law requires. Janitor's subscriptions are "generally non-refundable", but its Terms provide a pro-rata refund if Janitor discontinues the paid service. If you stay on Character.AI, monthly billing limits what you put at risk. Our c.ai+ price breakdown has the annual math, and the Chapter 11 news page tracks the sale.

Character tools and memory

Character.AI gives creators a Definition of up to 32,000 characters, a greeting plus up to 5 extra greetings, a voice from its library or cloned from a 3 to 15 second clip, an optional intro video and a Lorebook (beta). Its Memory screen (May 2026) adds pinned messages (15 free, 30 on paid plans), Story Memory, a Memory Usage bar and, on c.ai+ only, Facts captured automatically and reusable in new chats.

Janitor's creation page asks for a bot image, a name, a personality (required, with example dialogue), a scenario, one or more initial messages and up to 10 tags, with scripts, lorebooks and custom CSS as advanced options. The help center suggests keeping a character's permanent text under about 2,500 tokens. Memory is the context window (about 8,000 to 9,000 tokens on JLLM, five times more on janitor+) plus a Chat Memory field you write yourself; no automatic long-term memory is documented. Our AI companion memory guide compares both approaches with other apps.

Voice and images

Here Character.AI is far ahead. "Character Voice is available to all users, free of charge," and Character Calls are two-way voice conversations on mobile and web in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin "and more". Imagine Chat creates images from a chat moment ("Limited" on free and lite, "Unlimited" on c.ai+), and AvatarFX animates images. Sexual or nude images are prohibited.

Janitor documents no voice, no image generation and no video. Its June 2026 janitor+ announcement lists "voice and image" as planned modalities, without a date.

Who can use each: ages and regions

Character.AI allows sign-up from 13 (16 in the EEA and UK), but chat requires 18. An in-house model estimates the age of every account; anyone flagged as under 18 can verify with Persona (a selfie first, a government ID only if needed, deleted within 7 days) or use the read-only Under-18 experience. A c.ai+ subscription does not bypass the check.

Janitor AI is "intended solely for users who are at least 18", and suspected minors are permanently banned. Age is self-declared except in Australia, Brazil and the UK, where a one-time k-ID check (facial age estimation, ID scan or AgeKey) is required to access the site. Janitor blocked the UK in July 2025, and a June 2026 help article now lists it among the age-check countries, so UK users may meet either a block page or a check. See Australia's age checks for AI companions for the legal background.

Apps on iPhone and Android

Character.AI's "Character AI: Chat, Talk, Text" is a mature app: rated 18+ on the US App Store, with 50M+ downloads on Google Play, where it contains ads. Janitor's "Janitor: Interactive Stories" apps have been in public beta since February 7, 2026; they start in Restricted Mode, and Janitor warned about fake apps before launch, so check that the developer is JanitorAI. Both run fully in a browser, and neither has a desktop app.

Privacy and your data

• Training: Character.AI's policy lists training its AI models as a use; an opt-out is documented for EEA and UK users. Janitor does not say whether chats train JLLM and describes no opt-out.
• Advertising: Character.AI shares data with advertising and analytics providers, and its App Store label lists "Data Used to Track You". Janitor says it never shares private conversations for advertising and does not sell personal data.
• A sale: Character.AI's policy allows data to pass to a buyer in a "sale of company assets".
• Export and deletion: Character.AI has a documented data export and account deletion (public Characters you made may stay active). Janitor offers in-app deletion after a grace period but no chat export.

Our AI companion privacy guide compares these policies with other apps.

Moving from Character.AI to Janitor AI

Export your chats and copy your Character Definitions first; our Character AI alternatives page lists the export steps. Then, on Janitor, a simple way to rebuild a character is:

1. Create an account on janitorai.com (email or Google sign-in).
2. Paste the core of your Definition into Personality, with a few lines of example dialogue, and your greeting into Initial Message.
3. Shorten as you go: a 32,000-character Definition will not fit Janitor's suggested 2,500-token budget, and long character text eats into the roughly 9,000-token free context.
4. Add a "Limited" or "Limitless" tag; one of the two is required.

Which one should you pick?

• Best for adult roleplay: Janitor AI. Written rules allow it for users 18 and over.
• Best for voice and images: Character.AI. Free calls and voice, plus Imagine and AvatarFX.
• Best for model choice: Janitor AI. JLLM, your own API or the Router.
• Best for built-in memory tools: Character.AI. Pins, Story Memory and, on c.ai+, Facts.
• Lowest paid entry: Character.AI. lite at $4.99 a month.
• Lower shutdown risk today: Janitor AI. Character.AI may be wound down if no buyer keeps it running.

Still undecided? Compare Janitor AI vs SpicyChat, read Replika vs Character.AI for a single-companion option, or browse other Janitor AI alternatives.