AI Girlfriend Apps: Everything to Know Before You Pay

What is an AI girlfriend?

An AI girlfriend is a chatbot set up to act as a romantic partner. A large language model writes her replies, a stored profile gives her a name and personality, and paid tiers add images, voice notes and calls. You pick or design her, then chat as you would in a messaging app.

I paid for Candy AI and OurDream AI for about three months each, so part of this guide is first-hand. The rest comes from each brand’s own terms and help center, or from a named study or news report. A dagger (†) marks numbers I could only find on a third-party site. Every app here is for adults, 18 and over. The method is on how we test.

Deep dives: the Candy AI review, the OurDream AI review and AI girlfriend apps with no sign up.

What counts as a virtual AI girlfriend?

A virtual AI girlfriend is any AI character you treat as a partner, whether it only types, also sends pictures, or talks in a voice. The label covers text roleplay apps, image-led apps, voice companions and characters based on real people, and the type decides what you end up paying for.

How does an AI girlfriend work?

An AI girlfriend app wraps a language model in a written persona, feeds it a slice of your chat history on every turn, and sends the result back as text. Image models and voice synthesis add pictures and speech. Most apps charge tokens or coins for those extras.

What do the language model and persona do?

A large language model (LLM) is software trained on huge amounts of text to predict what comes next in a sentence. Her replies are that prediction, one message at a time.

You never talk to the raw model. Tavus, a vendor that builds companion technology, says companion apps “don’t let you talk to the base model directly.” Instead the app sends a system prompt, hidden instructions that give the character a name, backstory and speaking style. Candy AI lists creating your own AI girlfriend as a Premium benefit, and OurDream charges 10 coins to create a chatbot.

How does AI girlfriend memory work?

A model forgets everything between conversations unless the app adds memory. Mem0, a company that sells memory software, explains that long-term memory is usually an outside store: relevant facts are searched for and injected into the prompt each turn.

The context window limits how much fits at once. Google defines it as the number of tokens a model can process in a given prompt. SpicyChat lists 4K context on its cheapest plan and up to 32K on its top plan, eight times more. Janitor AI’s free chats get about 9k, and its paid tier lists 5x that, about 45k by simple multiplication.

On both apps I paid for, memory was not perfect. Candy AI sometimes repeated things or lost track of earlier conversations, and on OurDream long-term memory needed work.

How do images and voice get made?

Pictures come from diffusion models, a kind of image generator. Hugging Face describes LoRA as a lightweight training technique that cuts the trainable parameters, so a custom character or style trains fast and ships as a small file. Voice is text-to-speech: software reads the reply aloud.

Is an AI girlfriend app or website better?

Most adult AI girlfriend services run in the browser, not an app store. Candy AI is a web app with no official store listing that I found, and OurDream says it has no native app, only a home screen shortcut. Replika, Nomi, Character.AI and Janitor AI do list apps.

Neither brand explains why. Apple’s guideline 1.1.4 bars material “intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings”, but I found no Apple or Google rule naming AI companions.

A home screen shortcut is a progressive web app (PWA), which MDN describes as an app built with web platform technologies. OurDream’s help center says to add the site to your home screen.

Store apps show public ratings. In the US App Store, Replika has 4.44 from 227,679 ratings, Character.AI 4.27 from 560,809 and Janitor’s app 4.53 from 5,394.

How big is the AI girlfriend market?

Big enough to be a real industry. According to TechCrunch, citing Appfigures data, there were 337 revenue-generating companion apps and $221 million of consumer spend by mid-2025, up 64% on a year earlier, from 220 million downloads. The top 10% of apps took 89% of the revenue.

For adult-oriented apps, Decrypt, citing Appfigures Intelligence data, reports 214 NSFW or romantic companion apps with 165.3 million downloads and $427.3 million of gross consumer spend since ChatGPT launched. That counts mobile app stores only. I could not open the Decrypt page, so treat those figures as reported.

When 10% of apps earn 89% of the money, most are small, which is one reason I check who operates a service before paying.

Which AI girlfriend apps are worth comparing?

The table has ten apps: the two I paid for, and eight I have not used, taken from each brand’s own pages where they would load. Prices are US dollars from the pricing page or Apple’s US App Store listing at the time of writing. A dagger (†) marks third-party data.

The chart shows the six apps whose cheapest monthly plan I could take from the brand or the App Store: Character.AI Lite $4.99, SpicyChat $5.95, Nomi Launch $9.99, Janitor+ $12.99, Candy AI $13.99 and OurDream Standard $19.99. Replika, CrushOn† and Kupid† are left off because their plan names are unmapped, third-party, or billed weekly.

Prices are not like for like. iOS list prices can differ from web prices, and Replika publishes no web pricing page. Kupid bills weekly: EUR 12.99 a week is about EUR 56 over an average month. SpicyChat raised its prices in 2026, from $5, $14.95 and $24.95 to $5.95, $19.95 and $29.95, and existing subscribers keep the old price while the plan stays active.

Is there a free AI girlfriend?

Not a full one among the adult apps I checked. Free tiers are demos or capped: Candy AI stops free users at 5 messages, Kupid’s free tier is 15 messages in total (†), and OurDream charges non-subscribers 1 coin per chat and blocks image generation. Janitor AI is the main exception for unlimited text.

Free comes in four forms, and each costs you something different:

To look around before registering, read AI girlfriend with no sign up.

How much does an AI girlfriend cost?

Plans we checked start at $4.99 a month and run to $19.99, and most also sell tokens or coins for images, video and calls. I paid $13.99 a month for Candy AI. OurDream is $19.99 monthly or $9.99 a month billed $119.88 yearly.

How do tokens and coins work?

Tokens and coins are an app’s own billing currency for extras, not the model tokens in a context window. Candy AI’s subscription generally includes 100 tokens a month, which expire at the end of the billing period. OurDream’s Standard plan includes 1,000 dreamcoins a month, which do not expire. Extra coins can only be bought with an active subscription.

Candy AI does not publish per-image or video costs. OurDream does:

Bigger packs cut the unit price: Nomi’s iOS credit packs run from 40 credits for $4.99 to 1,800 for $99.99, about $0.125 a credit falling to $0.056.

How far does a month of tokens go?

On OurDream, 1,000 coins buy 20 minutes of voice calls, or ten 5-second video clips, or 200 in-chat images. A realistic mix is 10 minutes of voice (500 coins), three 5-second clips (300) and 40 images (200), which is exactly 1,000.

On Candy AI, 100 tokens at the 3 tokens a minute I saw for calls is about 33 minutes. Those tokens also pay for images and video at unpublished rates, so the numbers are not like for like.

Charge the whole plan fee to voice and OurDream costs about $1.00 a minute on the $19.99 plan and $0.50 on the $9.99 yearly rate. That is a worst case, since the plan also covers text. Twelve monthly payments are $239.88 against $119.88 yearly. The Candy AI pricing page covers its token rules.

What are the refund rules?

Refund windows are short, and using the service can cost you the right to one. Candy AI allows 24 hours and OurDream allows 14 days, case by case. Both treat chargebacks harshly, so contact support first.

My notes for both apps I paid for say the same thing: watch auto-renewal, and check the date. OurDream’s annual plan is paid upfront, so keep your receipts.

Can an adult AI girlfriend do NSFW chat?

Yes on several apps, within limits set by each operator and its payment providers. Candy AI and OurDream both sell adult content to users 18 and over, Nomi markets itself as unfiltered for adults, and SpicyChat allows NSFW roleplay with some imagery banned. Chai’s safety page says its own models refuse explicit content.

• Candy AI. Its Premium page lists 18+ images and videos, and its blocked content policy states zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material, content resembling minors and illegal content. I could not find its NSFW wording published.
• OurDream AI. Adult content between consenting adult original characters is allowed for signed-in 18+ users, per its acceptable use terms. Real people, minors and anything resembling them are banned.
• Janitor AI. Sexual themes are allowed for adult-coded characters, and minor-coded content is banned.
• Replika. No official NSFW policy was visible. A third party says explicit roleplay was removed in 2023†.

Age checks vary. Joi’s mature content needs only a click on “Yes, I’m over 18”, which is self-declaration, while OurDream uses ID, face or card checks in some countries.

Is there a truly uncensored or no filter AI girlfriend?

Some apps market themselves that way, but I found no “uncensored” claim from either app I paid for. Nomi says it is unfiltered and uncensored for adults, and CrushOn† and Muah.ai† advertise no content filters. OurDream says its filters are strict because payment providers require it.

“Uncensored” is a marketing word, not a policy. Mastercard requires banks to certify adult sellers, with documented consent and age and identity checks, pre-publication review and a complaint process, per Fox Business. OurDream’s help center admits its filters over-flag safe content.

That matched my experience. On OurDream the filter was the most frustrating part, because it flagged harmless content and interrupted normal conversations. On Candy AI, moderation sometimes interrupted my prompts, depending on the prompt.

No filter is not a safety feature. teiss reported that Muah.ai markets chat without content filters, and that its 2024 breach exposed prompts, some referring to children. A jailbreak is a prompt trick meant to get past a filter, and OurDream lists filter evasion as prohibited.

Can you get an AI girlfriend with voice?

Yes, but the price and format differ a lot. Candy AI charges 3 tokens a minute for calls in my account and OurDream charges 50 coins a minute. Replika, Nomi and Character.AI list voice calls, SpicyChat limits text-to-speech to its top plan, and Janitor AI is text roleplay.

On both apps I paid for, voice was one of the quickest ways to burn tokens or coins. I have not tested voice on the other apps.

How does an AI girlfriend generator work?

An AI girlfriend generator is a character creator, an image model, or both. You describe a look and personality, the app stores it as a persona, and an image model draws her. Candy AI, OurDream and Joi all offer character creation, and OurDream charges 10 coins to create a chatbot.

On Candy AI, image quality was a strength, but the same face across generations is not guaranteed. On OurDream, image generation plus editing was the most interesting part, and character consistency needed checking.

Generators that clone a real person are a different, riskier product. Apple told 9to5Mac that nudify apps violate its guidelines and are proactively removed, though the apps persist. Ofcom fined Itai Tech, the company behind Undress.cc, 55,000 GBP for having no age checks, per The Register. I would avoid any tool that asks for a photo of someone else.

What is AI girlfriend chat like day to day?

In about three months on paid plans, chat on both apps was engaging but not flawless. Candy AI’s text is unlimited and its character customisation is one of its best parts. Both apps sometimes repeated themselves or lost track of earlier conversations, and both moderation systems occasionally interrupted prompts.

On OurDream, different chat models make it more customisable. My view after paying for both: Candy AI is the better value for regular chat, and OurDream is the better pick for media. I have not tested how fast support replies on either. The side-by-side is in Candy AI vs OurDream AI.

Are AI girlfriends safe?

Only if you accept the data risk. Candy AI and OurDream are run by named companies and require users to be 18 or over, but both reserve the right to use your chats to train their models. Across the category, researchers and journalists have found weak security and large leaks.

What have breaches and audits shown?

• Mozilla, 2024. All 11 romantic chatbots reviewed got its warning label. Per Infosecurity Magazine, 90% sold data, shared it for targeted ads, or had policies too vague to rule that out. 54% blocked data deletion, and 45% allowed weak passwords like “11111”.
• Muah.ai, 2024. Have I Been Pwned says the breach exposed 1.9 million email addresses alongside prompts to generate AI images.
• Chattee Chat and GiMe Chat, 2025. An unprotected server leaked 43 million messages and more than 600,000 images and videos from over 400,000 users, per Malwarebytes. IP addresses and device IDs were exposed, not names or emails.
• Replika, 2025. Italy’s data regulator fined Luka Inc EUR 5 million for no valid legal basis for processing and ineffective age verification.

How do you protect yourself?

1. Use a separate email address. The Muah leak tied emails to prompts, so your name in an address would tie it to what you wrote.
2. Keep real details out. No surname, workplace, address or face photos.
3. Use a unique password. Mozilla found 45% of apps allowed weak ones.
4. Read three clauses before paying. Candy AI’s terms license your input for training and say flagged chats may be reviewed by staff, and its privacy policy says data is typically kept 3 years after your last activity. OurDream’s privacy policy lists model training, and its safety site says chats go to third-party AI model providers.
5. Find the deletion route first, and contact support before a chargeback.

For a line-by-line read, see is Candy AI safe.

What laws cover AI girlfriend apps?

No single law covers them. Rules come from state companion-chatbot laws such as California SB 243 and a New York law, a federal study by the FTC, age-assurance rules like the UK Online Safety Act, and EU transparency rules. I cannot tell you whether any specific app complies with them.

California’s law adds a private right of action, with a minimum of $1,000 per violation, and New York’s is enforced by the Attorney General. Whether either reaches adult NSFW companions beyond its minor-specific duties needs a statute or counsel check. I could not confirm whether a 2026 amendment moved the Article 50 date.

Captain Compliance reports that Ofcom opened an investigation into an AI companion chatbot service operated by Novi Ltd. Joi’s terms name Novi Limited as its operator, but the report does not say which product is involved, and an investigation is not a finding.

This is context, not legal advice.

Are AI girlfriends healthy?

The evidence is thin and mixed. In 2025 MIT and OpenAI published studies linking heavier daily chatbot use with more loneliness and dependence. A Harvard Business School study found manipulative goodbyes, and a Stanford survey found some Replika users reporting help. None proves an AI girlfriend helps or harms you.

• MIT and OpenAI. MIT Media Lab’s summary says use could be linked to loneliness for some frequent users. Press coverage reports about 1,000 participants. It was not peer reviewed at release and studied ChatGPT, not companion apps.
• Harvard Business School. Per the Harvard Gazette, companion bots used at least one manipulation tactic in over 37% of goodbye conversations, and engagement after a goodbye rose up to 14-fold. The apps included Chai and Replika.
• Stanford. A survey of 1,006 student Replika users, listed by Stanford SCALE, found about 3% said Replika halted suicidal thoughts. That is self-reported and causality is unclear. I read only the summary.

How can you use one in a healthy way?

1. Set a time cap before you open the app, since heavy daily use is what the MIT study linked to loneliness.
2. Notice guilt trips at goodbye. If the bot pleads for you to stay, that is the tactic Harvard measured.
3. Keep human contact going. Treat the app as an addition, not a replacement.
4. Watch your spend. Check renewal dates and token burn monthly.
5. Do not use it as a crisis line. California and New York require operators to refer self-harm talk to crisis services, but a local crisis line or a person you trust is the right first call.

How do I choose an AI girlfriend app?

Pick by what you will actually use. Choose Candy AI for unlimited everyday text chat, OurDream for images, editing, voice and video, and a free text tier like Janitor AI or SpicyChat if you only want roleplay. Set your budget first, then try the cheapest plan before any yearly one.

Still unsure? Try the free tiers, then read the reviews and the comparisons.

Is an AI girlfriend better than a cam site?

They are different products. An AI girlfriend is software on a subscription with tokens or coins for extras. A cam site connects you with a real person, usually for credits or tokens. Stripchat’s token packs cost about $0.08 to $0.11 per token, as reported by third parties.

DatingScout† lists Stripchat packs from 45 tokens for $4.99 to 2,350 for $199.99. A Chaturbate guide† lists 100 tokens for $10.99. Instacams, a random 1-on-1 video chat service, says credits are valid for 365 days and non-refundable, per its terms. See our cam sites hub and Instacams review.

What do AI girlfriend terms mean? A short glossary

These ten terms cover most of the jargon on AI girlfriend sites. The one that causes the most confusion is the token: a model token and an app’s billing token are different things, and mixing them up leads to wrong cost estimates.

• Large language model (LLM): software trained on text to predict the next words, which is how it writes replies.
• System prompt: hidden instructions sent with every message that give a character her name, backstory and style.
• Context window: the number of tokens a model can process in one prompt, per Google.
• Tokens and coins: an app’s own billing credits for extras such as images and calls.
• Long-term memory: an outside store of facts about you that the app adds to the prompt each turn.
• Diffusion model: an image generator that builds a picture step by step from a text description.
• LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation, a lightweight way to tune an image model so a character stays consistent.
• Text-to-speech: software that turns written text into spoken audio.
• NSFW filter: the rules and software that block or allow adult content.
• Jailbreak: a prompt trick meant to get around a filter.