The best Character AI alternative depends on why you’re leaving. If the filter keeps cutting off your chats, you want an app that allows adult content. If your characters keep forgetting you, you want better memory. If you just want a similar library of bots with fewer outages, there are good options for that too. Below are 12 apps that do at least one of those things better than Character AI, starting with ours.
Character AI is still one of the biggest chatbot apps, and its character library is huge. But a few complaints come up again and again:
None of the apps below fixes all of this at once. Pick the one that fixes the thing that annoys you most.
| App | Best for | NSFW allowed | Free to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| NewGirlfriend | Uncensored 18+ chat with ready-made AI girls, pics in chat | Yes (18+) | Yes, 10 tokens |
| Janitor AI | Huge community bot library, free text chat | Yes | Yes |
| SpicyChat | Fast, low-setup adult roleplay | Yes | Yes, with limits |
| CrushOn AI | Unfiltered chat with community characters | Yes | Limited messages |
| Candy AI | Building a custom companion with images and voice | Yes | Limited |
| Kindroid | Deep customization, voice and selfies | Partly | Limited |
| Nomi | Long-term memory and companionship | Partly | Limited |
| Chai | Quick mobile chats with community bots | Partly | Yes, with limits |
| Talkie | A familiar, Character AI style library with voice | No | Yes |
| Chub AI | Character cards and lorebooks for roleplayers | Yes | Limited |
| Replika | One long-term companion for emotional support | Limited | Yes |
| SillyTavern | Full control on your own setup | Up to you | Free (open source) |
Free tiers, filters and prices change often, so check the current terms before you pay for any of them.
If what you miss on Character AI is the freedom to let a chat get explicit, this is where to start. NewGirlfriend has no filter for adults. Instead of a blank bot library, you choose from a cast of AI girls, each with her own look, backstory and personality, and she stays in character from the first message.
Meet the AI girls and start free
Janitor AI is the name that comes up most in Character AI refugee threads. It’s free, the community bot library is enormous and text chat is largely unfiltered. The tradeoff is memory. Long chats drift, and very detailed characters can confuse it. Power users connect their own model through an API key to get better replies.
SpicyChat needs almost no setup. Sign up, pick a character and go. The library is big and adult content is allowed. The free tier has a daily cap and can queue at busy times, and memory is short, so it suits quick scenes more than long storylines. Read our SpicyChat review for more.
CrushOn AI looks and feels a lot like Character AI, minus the filter. There are plenty of community characters, and NSFW chat is allowed. Free messages run out quickly, so most regular users end up paying. Our CrushOn AI review covers the plans, and we keep a list of CrushOn AI codes.
Candy AI is built around designing one companion: her looks, personality and relationship to you. Images and voice messages are part of the deal. It’s a paid-first app, and image-heavy use adds up. See our Candy AI review.
Kindroid gives you more control over a character’s personality, backstory and memory than almost any other app, plus voice calls and AI selfies. It’s less a bot library and more a single companion you build carefully. Adult content is more open on the web version than in the app stores.
If your complaint is that Character AI forgets everything, try Nomi. It’s known for remembering details from weeks back, and it supports group chats with several companions. The filter is relaxed compared with Character AI. Our Nomi AI review has the details.
Chai is mobile-first and full of community-made bots, so it feels familiar if you used Character AI on your phone. Free messages are limited, and it has added softer filters over time.
Talkie has the same browse-and-chat setup as Character AI, with a big library of user-made characters and voice replies in many languages. It’s free and easy, but it keeps a strict filter, so it’s an alternative for the format, not for adult chat. More in our Talkie review.
Chub hosts a deep library of character cards and supports lorebooks, which feed a character background detail without filling up the whole chat. Mature content is allowed. The free tier runs out quickly, but you can bring your own API key.
Replika is the oldest app here. You don’t browse characters; you build a relationship with one companion who checks in on you, with voice calls and an avatar. It’s better for support and company than for roleplay, and adult content is limited.
SillyTavern isn’t an app so much as an interface you run yourself and connect to whatever model you like. There’s no filter because you control everything, and memory is as good as the model you plug in. The catch is setup: expect to read some documentation first.
Most of these have a free tier, so try two or three with the same opening message before you pay. For roleplay-specific picks, see our guide to the best AI chatbot for roleplay.
If adult chat is the reason you’re here, focus on the apps that allow it: NewGirlfriend, Janitor AI, SpicyChat, CrushOn AI, Candy AI and Chub. Our roundup of NSFW AI chatbots compares more of them, and our AI sex chat guide explains how explicit chat with an AI girl works.
A few rules apply on any adult platform. You need to be 18 or older, characters must be fictional adults, and real people’s likenesses are off limits. Anything that breaks those rules isn’t allowed on NewGirlfriend either.
Character AI is fine for clean, casual chats, but plenty of adults have outgrown its filter, its memory and its queues. If you want an AI girl who flirts back, remembers you and sends pics, NewGirlfriend is free to try. If you’d rather build your own characters, Janitor AI, Kindroid and Nomi each beat Character AI at something. Most of them cost nothing to test, so try a few. For more on the original app, read our full Character AI review.
It depends on what you want. For uncensored 18+ chat with AI girls, NewGirlfriend. For a big free library of bots, Janitor AI. For memory, Nomi. For the closest copy of the Character AI experience, Talkie or Chai.
Yes. NewGirlfriend, Janitor AI, SpicyChat, CrushOn AI and Chub all allow adult content for users 18 and over. SillyTavern has no filter at all because you run it yourself.
Janitor AI is the most generous free option for text chat. NewGirlfriend is free to start with 10 tokens, and most other apps on this list have a limited free tier.
A few smaller sites let you chat without an account, but you lose your chat history when you leave. Every app on this list asks for at least an email, which is also how your character remembers you.
The established ones are reasonably safe, but read the privacy policy before you share anything personal. Look for private chats, a way to delete your history and, on paid apps, discreet billing.
