Analysis · 2026-10-12 · AI Chat Rank Editorial

How to Choose an AI Companion App: A 7-Point Scoring Framework

There are now dozens of AI companion and character chat apps, and most of their homepages make the same promises: realistic, uncensored, remembers you, cheap. Those words cost nothing to write. The differences that matter are in the plan tables, the terms of service and the reports of people who paid for a month. This guide is the checklist we use to build the AI Chat Rank leaderboard. You can run the same seven checks on any app in about twenty minutes before you enter a card number.

1. Decide what the app is for before you compare anything

Companion apps cluster around four jobs, and an app that is excellent at one is often mediocre at another:

• Ongoing relationship. You talk to one character most days and want it to know you next month. Memory is everything here. Nomi AI is the reference point.
• Roleplay and stories. You run scenes, switch characters and care about writing quality and long context. Community libraries like SpicyChat AI and CrushOn AI, or builders like Nectar AI and Erogen AI, fit best.
• Visual companion. Images and short video matter as much as text. Candy AI, OurDream AI and SoulGen lead on generation, but they meter it.
• Voice. You want to hear and speak to a character. Kupid AI's voice messages and the call features on OurDream AI, Nomi AI and Erogen AI are the ones to test.

Write your job down in one line. Every later check is weighted by it. If you only want to try adult AI chat once to see what it is like, the best choice is whatever lets you start with the least commitment. One option is our featured partner, Desire AI, which needs no account during its beta (it shares an owner with this site and is not ranked).

2. Test memory, not memory marketing

Almost every app says its characters remember you. What they mean varies enormously. Look for three concrete things on the plan page or in the docs:

1. Context window size. This is the amount of recent conversation the model can see, measured in tokens. SpicyChat publishes 4,096 tokens on free and entry plans, 8,192 on True Supporter and up to 32,768 on its top tier. Erogen lists 4K, 8K and 16K. As a rough rule, 4K tokens is about twenty average messages.
2. Long-term memory features. These are pinned facts, memory slots or summaries that survive after a message drops out of the window. Examples include Erogen's core memory slots (8 on Silver, 24 on Platinum), Nectar's starred memories, SpicyChat's Semantic Memory 2.0 on paid tiers, and Candy AI's memory slots on Premium Plus.
3. Which tier unlocks it. A recurring pattern is that real memory sits one or two tiers above the plan in the headline price. GirlfriendGPT's own interface asks users to upgrade to Deluxe or Elite "to prevent your character from losing memory".

Then run a simple test. On day one, mention two harmless facts, such as a pet's name and an appointment. Do not mention them again. A week later, ask about them in the same chat and then in a fresh chat with the same character. Independent testers who ran this test in 2026 found that many apps recall details inside the running thread but forget them in a new one. That matters if you like to restart scenes. Our memory explainer goes deeper into why.

3. Work out a realistic monthly cost

The number in large type is usually the annual plan divided by twelve, and it is often charged upfront. Candy AI's $3.99 a month is a single $47.88 charge. OurDream AI's $9.99 a month is $119.88 at once. Neither is hidden, but it isn't the number to budget with. Build your real figure from three parts:

• The plan you will actually pick. Monthly, quarterly or yearly, and the price it renews at. DreamGF is the warning case: $69.99 for the first year, then $311.88 at renewal, according to independent price checks.
• The allowance gap. Most plans include a fixed bundle of tokens, coins, credits or Stars. Candy AI includes 100 tokens a month. OurDream AI includes 1,000 DreamCoins. GoLove AI includes 50 Stars on Pro. Find out what one image, one minute of voice and one video clip cost in that currency, then multiply by your expected use.
• Top-ups. If your use exceeds the allowance, price the smallest pack. Independent reviewers estimate engaged Candy AI users spend $25 to $60 a month once media is included, against a much lower headline price.

Text-only users can ignore most of this. Media-heavy users should assume their real cost is two to four times the plan price unless the plan includes unlimited media.

4. Use the free tier as a test, not a plan

Free tiers range from genuinely usable to a short demo. On our board, SpicyChat AI has no daily cap (with ads and peak-time queues), and Erogen AI allows about 600 messages a day. At the other end, Candy AI gives about five messages in total, GirlfriendGPT's terms describe 10 to 20 messages in total, and Kupid AI gives 15. A small free tier is not automatically bad. It just means you can test only the opening of a conversation. Use whatever you get to answer one question: do you like how this app writes? If the free tier is too short to answer that, a single paid month is the cheapest honest test. Don't buy a year first.

5. Check how media is charged

Images, voice and video are where pricing models diverge most:

• Included allowances, as with Nomi AI's image requests per day or Kupid AI's weekly photo, video and voice-minute counts, are easy to plan around.
• Shared currencies, as with Honeybot AI's single token pool or Infatuated AI's tokens that also pay for messages, mean heavy use in one area drains everything else.
• Pay-per-view, as with Joi AI's terms charging Neurons to view photos and videos, is unusual. It's worth understanding before you start tapping.
• Expiry rules. Erogen says its credits never expire and stay after a subscription ends. GoLove AI's Stars are reported to expire when the subscription ends. Candy AI's unused allowance is reported to reset at renewal.

6. Read the privacy policy for four sentences

You don't need to read the whole policy. Search it for answers to four questions. Are conversations used to train or improve models? Which third parties receive message content, such as AI model providers and image-analysis services? Can you delete your account and data, and how? Does a chargeback or dispute allow the company to share your chats as evidence? Joi AI's terms, for example, say conversations may be shared to contest a dispute. Then decide what you're comfortable typing. Whatever the policy says, a separate email address and no real names or workplaces in chat are sensible defaults.

7. Make sure you can leave

The last check is the exit. Before paying, find the cancellation path, the refund policy and the renewal terms. FantasyGF stands out in independent testing for offering refunds if you cancel before the next billing period. Most others, including GirlfriendGPT, Infatuated AI and CrushOn AI, state that fees are non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. Apps sold through card processors rather than app stores won't appear in your phone's subscription settings, so put the renewal date in your calendar.

Putting the score together

We weight the checks as memory 25%, pricing transparency 20%, free tier 15%, media 15%, privacy and billing 15%, and complaints 10%. You should re-weight them for your own use. A voice-first user might double the media weight, and someone who only wants a few evenings of roleplay might care mostly about the free tier. The point of a framework is not that our numbers are right for you. It's that you compare apps on the same terms instead of on whichever homepage was most persuasive.

For the scores we arrive at with this method, see the leaderboard and the reviews.