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Character.AI

Name: Character.AI
Availability: InStock

by Character Technologies, Inc. · Menlo Park, USA

The original AI companion platform — chat with millions of user-made characters, not a single assistant.

Category Chat & Search

Founded 2021

Lowest plan Free

Top plan $9.99/mo

Visit Character.AI ↗ Updated July 23, 2026

§ Pricing

All plans, in full.

Free

~400 swipes/day shared across all characters
Mid-chat ads; Charms needed for extra swipes or image generation

c.ai+

$9.99 /mo

c.ai+ plan

Ad-free with priority access at peak hours
Unlimited swipes and voice calls, faster responses
Enhanced memory and early access to new features

The honest take

The original AI companion platform — chat with millions of user-made characters, not a single assistant.

Best for: Roleplay, fandom chat, and companion-style conversation with persistent characters

Where it falls short: Not a general knowledge assistant; under-18 accounts lost open-ended chat in Oct 2025 after teen-safety lawsuits, and free-tier swipes now cost Charms

What you actually get

Character roleplay
Voice calls
Charms
User-created characters

Pricing history

2021

Founded by ex-Google engineers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas

Aug 2024

Google licenses Character.AI's tech in a ~$2.7B deal; co-founders rejoin Google

Oct 2025 – Jan 2026

Open-ended chat removed for under-18s and Charms currency introduced; teen-safety lawsuits against Character.AI and Google settled

Should you pay for it?

The free tier of Character.AI is good enough for casual use. Pay $9.99 only when you start hitting daily caps or need access to the better models.