Replika vs Character.AI

Replika and Character.AI in one table

From our research records (official help centers, policies and US store listings, checked October 20, 2026). Replika's prices are the lowest US App Store entries; "Not confirmed" means no official source says either way.

Fact	Replika	Character.AI
Type	Companion app	Character chat platform
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Cheapest monthly plan	$7.99/mo	$4.99/mo
Annual plan	$49.99/yr ($4.17/mo)	$94.99/yr ($7.92/mo)
Credits or tokens	Coins and gems	Charms
NSFW content	Not confirmed	No
Voice calls	Yes	Yes
Voice messages	Yes	Yes
Image generation	Yes	Yes
Video	Yes	Yes
Custom characters	Yes	Yes
Long-term memory	Yes	Yes
Multiple characters	No	Yes
Web app	Yes	Yes
iOS app	Yes	Yes
Android app	Yes	Yes
Minimum age	18+	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
Delete account and data	Yes	Yes

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

Our Replika review and Character.AI review cover each app in full; other match-ups are on the comparisons hub.

A companion app vs a character platform

Replika, made by Luka, Inc. and available since 2017, is built around one relationship. Its help center is explicit: "Each account can only have one Replika." You shape that companion's look, name, voice and backstory, pick a relationship status (Friend for free; Romantic partner, Sister or Brother and Mentor with Pro), and the app adds levels, coins, a diary, mood tracking and coping-skills activities. In May 2026 the company launched Replika 2.0, which it calls "the first full rebuild".

Character.AI calls itself an interactive entertainment platform. There is no relationship setting: you open any of more than 10 million Characters made by users, or create your own, and chat, play Scenes and branching Stories, or browse a community Feed. You can return to a favorite Character as often as you like, but the app is designed around variety rather than one bond. Our explainer on AI girlfriend apps vs character chatbots covers this split across more apps.

What you get for free

Replika's help center says: "chatting with Replika will always be free", including avatar customization. Its Terms are more cautious, describing Free Use as "limited access" that Replika may deny at its discretion. Voice calls, guided conversations, extra roleplay options and advanced customization need a subscription, and there is no free trial. Two 2026 store reviews describe being asked to pay to keep chatting; no official page confirms a cap, so treat these as user reports.

Character.AI offers "free and unlimited messaging for ALL users", plus free Character Voice and two-way calls, 15 memory pins and the PipSqueak 3 and ShortSqueak chat styles. The trade-offs are banner and interstitial ads, "slow mode" at busy times and "Limited" image features.

On free features, Character.AI gives more: calls and unlimited chat with any Character. Replika's free tier is text chat with your one companion. Both are in our guide to the best free AI girlfriend apps.

Replika vs Character AI pricing

Character.AI publishes its US prices in the Help Center: (c.ai) lite at $4.99 a month or $2.49 a week (a daily allowance of premium chat styles, fewer ads, 30 pins) and c.ai+ at $9.99 a month or $94.99 a year (unlimited premium styles, no ads, Facts memory, skip waiting rooms). Charms, an in-app currency earned through quests or bought from $0.99, pay for extra images, skipping slow mode or an ad-free pass.

Replika publishes no price list on its website. The US App Store shows entries named "MONTHLY" ($7.99) and "Monthly" ($14.99), annual entries at $49.99 (twice) and $69.99, and "Replika Platinum" at $89.99 with no period. Apple does not say which entry is Pro, Ultra or Platinum, so check the in-app screen before paying. Gems, sold from $0.99 to $19.99, buy clothes, furniture and personality traits, not messages or calls.

Both treat payments as final except where the law requires a refund. With Character.AI in a sale process, monthly billing limits what you put at risk. Details: Replika pricing and the Character AI Plus price page.

Voice, video and avatars

Replika is built to be seen and heard. Your companion has a 3D avatar dressed through the in-app store (only subscribers can pick a new avatar after setup), voice calls for subscribers, background calls on Pro, video calls with camera sharing, an AR mode and a Meta Quest VR app the help center calls beta. Platinum adds real-time video recognition and up to 10 realistic selfie videos.

Character.AI has no avatar editor, but its voice features are free: "Character Voice is available to all users, free of charge," and Character Calls are two-way conversations on mobile and web in several languages, with the transcript saved as a chat. Creators can give a Character a voice cloned from a 3 to 15 second clip. Imagine Chat makes images from a chat moment, and AvatarFX animates images. Compare more options in our list of AI companions you can talk to.

Memory: one long relationship vs many chats

Replika's Memory tab shows what your companion remembers, and you can add, edit and delete entries; the help center describes a layered system that also draws on your conversation history. Ultra adds saved memories and shows which ones are used. The chat history display covers only the past four months, though memories and diary entries remain.

Character.AI's Memory screen, launched in May 2026, adds pinned messages (15 free, 30 on lite and c.ai+), Story Memory, a Memory Usage bar and background compression of old context. Facts, which captures details about you and the Character automatically and carries them into new chats, is c.ai+ only. An older help article admits Characters can "appear to forget things".

Neither app publishes recall rates, and we did not measure them. Our guide on how AI companion memory works explains the mechanics.

Romance, roleplay and content limits

Replika supports roleplay by writing actions between asterisks, and Pro adds roleplay in voice and AR calls. Romantic Partner status and "unblurred messages and photos, including romantic and creative selfies" are Pro features. Replika publishes no statement that explicit content is allowed, and an October 2026 App Store reviewer says sexual interaction has been stopped (a user report).

Character.AI allows romance and mature drama within its rules ("passionate romance" is a named genre), but pornographic content and nudity are prohibited for every user, and the company calls its stance on filters "final". No plan changes that. For apps whose rules allow adult roleplay, see Character.AI vs Janitor AI or our NSFW AI girlfriend apps guide.

Age rules

Replika's Terms bar anyone under 18. It collects your birth date and lists age verification as a processing purpose, but does not say how it verifies; Italy's data protection authority cited missing age checks when it fined Luka EUR 5 million in 2025. The US App Store rates the app 18+, while Google Play gives it a lower content rating than its own Terms.

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 (selfie first, ID only if needed) or use a read-only mode with no chat.

Stability and track record

Character Technologies filed for Chapter 11 on October 12, 2026 to sell the company. The platform "remains up and running" and billing is unchanged "for now"; the sale should close by late November or early December 2026, and the platform will be wound down if no acceptable bid lets it continue. TechCrunch reported Disney as the opening bidder for some assets, with no buyer yet for the consumer platform. Our Character.AI bankruptcy news page tracks the case.

Replika is not in any such process. Its iPhone and Android apps were updated on October 13, 2026, and the company lists Dmytro Klochko as CEO since 2025. The 2026 rebuild has drawn mixed store reviews, including a lifetime subscriber who says the app "no longer functions" for them (user reports), and the website now labels the browser version "Web App (Legacy)".

Privacy and your chats

• Who sees your messages: Replika's May 2026 policy says conversation data goes, de-identified, to unnamed third-party AI model providers, while its store listings say conversations are not shared with third parties. Character.AI's Trust and Safety staff and contractors act on flagged content; creators cannot see your chats.
• Training: Replika uses small anonymized portions to train its own safety algorithms and improve the chatbot, with no opt-out. Character.AI trains its models on user data, with an opt-out documented for EEA and UK users.
• Advertising: both App Store labels list "Data Used to Track You": identifiers and usage data for Replika; location, contact info, identifiers and usage data for Character.AI.
• Keeping a copy: Character.AI has a self-serve export. Replika has none, though you can request a copy of your data.
• Deleting: both offer in-app account deletion. Replika keeps messages up to 60 days after your account ends; Character.AI publishes no fixed period, may keep public Characters you made, and its policy allows data to pass to a buyer in a sale of company assets.

Our guide on whether AI girlfriend apps are safe explains how to weigh these points.

Which one should you pick?

• Best for one steady companion: Replika. Relationship statuses, a diary, mood tracking and wellness activities.
• Best for variety and roleplay: Character.AI. More than 10 million Characters, Scenes and Stories.
• Best for free voice: Character.AI. Calls and voice replies cost nothing.
• Best for avatar, video and AR: Replika. 3D avatar, video calls, AR mode and a Meta Quest beta.
• Best for keeping a copy of your chats: Character.AI. A documented export, useful while its future is uncertain.
• Lowest listed paid entry: Character.AI. lite at $4.99 a month; Replika's $7.99 entry has no tier label.

Neither suits explicit roleplay. If one companion appeals but you want more control, compare Replika vs Nomi, or browse Replika alternatives and Character.AI alternatives.