Ranked

The best free AI companion apps — and why they're buried on every other list

The two genuinely free apps in this category pay affiliates nothing. That is the entire reason you'll find them ranked below paid apps everywhere else. Here they are first, because free was the question you asked.

The ranking

1. Janitor AI — genuinely, entirely free

No subscription, no card, no message cap from the platform itself. It ships its own model, JanitorLLM, and the site claims over 15 million users. 143.1 million monthly visits, growing 12.86% month over month — the fastest growth in the category — with an 18 minute 10 second average visit, which is extraordinary for any website.

It is also unfiltered, which is the other half of why people go there.

What you're accepting: Janitor publishes no company name, no registration, no jurisdiction. There is nobody to complain to. It cannot overcharge you — it never takes your card — but if your data is mishandled there is no addressee. Full assessment here.

2. Character.AI — the whole product, gated by patience

165.9 million monthly visits and 4.3 out of 5 from roughly 555,000 App Store ratings — the largest sample of user opinion in this category. Run by Character Technologies, Inc. of Menlo Park, a named US corporation.

The free tier is the entire product. You pay in queues and advertising rather than message limits, and the $9.99/month tier exists to remove exactly those.

It ranks second rather than first only because Janitor's free tier has no gate at all. For most people who aren't specifically looking for unfiltered content, Character.AI is the better free product — bigger character library, real company, no proxy setup.

3. PolyBuzz — free, and you'll feel it

Run by Cloud Whale Interactive Technology LLC (formerly Poly.AI). 4.4 out of 5 from roughly 466,000 ratings — a large, credible sample. Voice, character creation, and a community-built library.

The dominant complaint in its own reviews is ad spam every 10 to 50 messages on the free tier. That frequency is a conversion mechanism, and the plan it converts you to is the trap.

One genuine credit: PolyBuzz bills through Apple and Google, so if a renewal does catch you, you have a real refund process — which Candy.ai and DreamGF cannot offer.

4. Replika — a free tier with a heavy history

4.4 out of 5 from roughly 228,000 ratings. A feature-limited free tier exists; paid runs $7.99–$14.99/month.

It ranks fourth on record rather than product. Italy's data protection regulator fined operator Luka, Inc. €5,000,000 on 10 April 2025 — no lawful basis for processing, inadequate disclosures, no data protection by design, and no age verification. Mozilla's February 2024 audit found Replika accepting passwords as weak as 11111111.

Its own reviews are dominated by memory loss: "Every time you talk to your Replika it's like the first time all over again." Where to go instead.

5. Nomi.ai — free tier exists, limits unknown

Worth knowing if you end up paying: Nomi has the strongest safety position of the uncensored apps, largely because shipping through the app stores forced it to pass a review the web-only ones never faced.

Two apps that aren't on this list, and why

DreamGF lists no free tier at all on its pricing page. Cheapest entry is $12.99 — which renews at $25.99.

What free actually costs, in each case

Nothing here is free in the sense of costing nothing. It's free in the sense of not costing money:

• Janitor AI — you pay in setup time and in trusting an operator who won't name themselves.
• Character.AI — you pay in queue waits and a filter that will frustrate you.
• PolyBuzz — you pay in interruptions every 10 to 50 messages.
• Replika — you pay in feature limits, and in whatever you make of a €5M privacy fine.
• All of them — you pay in data. Your conversations are the product. Use a throwaway email, a unique password, and no identifying detail. When Muah.AI was breached, the leak included users' prompts and stated fetishes, and extortion followed within three days. The record is here.

If you're going to end up paying, the full ranking is here — and the cheapest serious paid option in the category is $47.88 a year, which is less than four dollars a month.