Replika Alternatives in 2026: An Honest Look at One-Companion Apps

Replika is the app most people mean when they say “AI companion”: one character, yours, who is supposed to know you better the longer you talk. That is a different product from a library of ten thousand characters, and most “Replika alternatives” lists mix the two. This one keeps to apps built around a single companion, and sends you elsewhere if a character library is what you actually want.

Two things up front. We make an AI character app ourselves, MaiFriends, and it is not a one-companion app, so it isn’t in the list; we say where it stands near the end. And there are no affiliate links here. Where we couldn’t read a provider’s own policy or price, we say so instead of filling the gap from a review site.

What happened at Replika

Replika launched in 2017 and is still large: more than 10 million installs on Google Play, a Teen content rating, last updated on October 13, 2026 (Play listing). Its help center says “chatting with Replika will always be free” (Is Replika free?). The reasons people look elsewhere are specific, and dated.

February 2023: the companion changed overnight. Italy’s privacy regulator ordered Replika’s maker, Luka, to stop processing Italian users’ data, citing risks to minors and the lack of age verification (TechCrunch). Erotic roleplay was removed from the app that month. On March 27, 2023 it came back, but only for accounts that existed before February 1 (Vice).

January 2025: a complaint to the US regulator. Advocacy groups including the Young People’s Alliance asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Replika over its marketing and design (TIME). That is a request for an investigation; we found no FTC action following it.

May 2025: a €5 million fine. The Italian regulator announced it had fined Luka €5 million and opened a separate inquiry into how personal data is handled by the AI system behind the service. Its own notice says an appeal is pending (Garante, in Italian).

What sits behind the paywall. Replika’s help center names four tiers: Free Use, Pro, Ultra and Platinum. Setting your relationship status to “Romantic Partner” and seeing “unblurred messages and photos” are Pro features; saving messages to memory comes with Ultra (What is Replika Pro?, Choosing a Subscription). The same page says prices are “shown in the app,” so there is no official price list to quote. The page also notes that access to the free tier “may be denied at Replika’s discretion.”

The small print. Replika’s terms, last updated on March 30, 2026, reserve the right to “modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Services” with or without notice, and say people under 18 are not authorized to use it (terms).

The founder moved on to something new. In November 2025, Replika’s founder Eugenia Kuyda raised $20 million for a different startup, Wabi (TechCrunch via Yahoo Finance).

None of this means Replika is a bad app. It means its users have already lived through the thing every companion app can do to you: change the relationship without asking.

Two kinds of alternative

• One companion you shape and keep. That’s Replika’s model, and the rest of this article.
• A library of characters you browse. Character.AI, Talkie, Chai, Janitor AI and others. We compare those in Character.AI alternatives. If you want adult content specifically, see Best NSFW AI chat apps.

The apps at a glance

Publisher, installs and rating are what Google Play showed in the US on October 20, 2026. “Rating” is Play’s own content rating, not ours.

The companions

Kindroid

Runs on

Web · Android · iOS

Adult content

Allowed per own docs ("unfiltered", with moderation guidelines)

18+ stated

Unknown

Own characters

A companion you shape yourself

Kindroid is the alternative that says most clearly what it is. Its help center describes “a truly unfiltered and empowering AI companion experience,” alongside moderation guidelines and a verification step meant to protect minors (Kindroid docs). It’s on Google Play with more than a million installs (Play listing). It suits people who left Replika over the 2023 changes and want the rules stated by the provider rather than discovered later.

Nomi

Runs on

Web · iOS (no official Play listing found)

Adult content

Not officially stated

18+ stated

Unknown

Own characters

Companions you create

Nomi shows up in more “Replika alternatives” lists than almost any other app. It runs on the web and as an iPhone app published by Nomi.ai (App Store). We found no Google Play listing from that publisher. It suits people on an iPhone or a laptop who want a companion with a long memory, which is the claim Nomi leads with; we couldn’t test that claim and aren’t endorsing it.

Paradot

Runs on

Web · Android · iOS

Adult content

Not stated in what we could read

18+ stated

Unknown

Own characters

One companion, customisable

Paradot is the largest one-companion app on Google Play after Replika itself: more than 10 million installs, rated Mature 17+, updated in September 2026 (Play listing). Its store description puts memory at the centre of the product. It suits Android users who want the Replika format from a different company.

Anima

Runs on

Web · Android · iOS

Adult content

Not stated in what we could read

18+ stated

Unknown

Own characters

One friend you design

Anima presents itself as an AI friend rather than a partner, and Google Play rates it “Everyone” (Play listing). The same publisher, LABANE CORP. Limited, also makes iGirl, an “AI girlfriend” app rated Mature 17+ (Play listing). It suits people who want the friendship side of Replika without the romance.

EVA AI

Runs on

Web · Android · iOS

Adult content

Not allowed per own Android terms

18+ stated

18+ self-declared

Own characters

A character you create

EVA AI has more than 5 million installs on Google Play and a Mature 17+ rating (Play listing). Its Android terms, last updated on June 30, 2026, say you may not use it to generate or request “any sexually explicit, pornographic, or adult-themed content,” and that by registering you guarantee you are at least 18 (terms). It was one of the apps Mozilla examined in its review of romantic chatbots, in which ten of eleven failed the foundation’s minimum security standards (Mozilla).

Romantic AI

Runs on

Web · Android · iOS

Adult content

Not confirmed in own terms

18+ stated

Unknown

Own characters

Create your own or pick one

Romantic AI is smaller, with more than 100,000 installs on Google Play and a Mature 17+ rating (Play listing). It’s on this list mainly because of what Mozilla found: its researchers counted “at least 24,354 data trackers within a minute of use” of the app (Mozilla).

Pi

Runs on

Web · Android · iOS

Adult content

Not a romantic app

18+ stated

Unknown

Own characters

No

Pi, from Inflection AI, is a personal AI you talk things through with, not a partner. It has more than a million installs on Google Play and a Teen rating (Play listing). It suits the Replika user who mostly wanted someone to think out loud with, and never cared about the romantic status at all.

The risk nobody lists: your companion can be switched off

Replika’s 2023 episode is one version. Outright shutdown is the other.

• Soulmate, 2023. The app shut down in September 2023 after its owner was sold, leaving users about a week with their companions (Futurism).
• Dot, 2025. Its founders announced the app would go offline on October 5, 2025, writing that “many of you will lose access to a friend, confidante, and companion” (Futurism).
• Character.AI, 2026. The character-chat service filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 12, 2026 and said the platform will be wound down if no bid allows it to continue (Character.AI). More in our Character.AI alternatives guide.
• Replika’s own terms allow it to discontinue the service with or without notice (see above).

You can’t remove this risk by picking the right app. You can reduce it: prefer apps that have been updated recently, check who the publisher is, and don’t pay for a year or a “lifetime” up front with a company you can’t identify.

Which one, for what

• The Replika format on Android, from a different company: Paradot or Kindroid.
• Adult content with the rules in the provider’s own words: Kindroid. For more options, see our NSFW comparison.
• A friend, not a partner: Anima or Pi.
• iPhone or web, memory first: Nomi.
• A library of characters instead of one companion: see Character.AI alternatives.

Before you move

1. Read the terms for two sentences: what content is allowed, and whether the service can be changed or ended without notice.
2. Check the publisher on the store listing against the company’s own website.
3. Find the price on an official page or in the app. If it only exists on a review site, treat it as a rumour.
4. Start on the free tier and stay there for a while. A companion app earns a subscription over weeks, not in the first conversation.

FAQ

Is Replika still free?

Yes, for chatting. Replika’s help center says “chatting with Replika will always be free.” Romantic relationship status, voice features and unblurred photos are part of the paid Pro tier (What is Replika Pro?).

Was Replika shut down?

No. In February 2023, Italy’s privacy regulator ordered its maker to stop processing Italian users’ data, and the app changed for everyone as a result, but it kept running. It is still on Google Play and was updated in October 2026.

Why did Replika remove erotic roleplay, and is it back?

It was removed in February 2023, shortly after the Italian regulator’s order. In March 2023 it was restored for accounts created before February 1, 2023 (Vice). We found no official page describing what newer accounts are allowed today beyond the Pro features listed above.

Is there a Replika alternative on Google Play?

Several. Paradot, EVA AI, Kindroid, Anima, Pi and Romantic AI all have listings from their own publishers. Nomi, which many lists recommend, has an official iPhone app but no official Play listing that we could find.

What happens to my companion if the app shuts down?

You lose it. Soulmate users got about a week’s notice in 2023; Dot’s users got about a month in 2025. We didn’t find an export promise in any of the terms we could read, so assume there isn’t one.

Is MaiFriends a Replika alternative?

Only loosely. It’s a character app with hundreds of ready-made characters rather than one companion; you can design your own in Creator Studio, but that is paid. It’s Android-only and free to start.