Character.AI
Visit Character.AI →About Character.AI
Character.AI is a chat platform built around AI personas: you talk to thousands of user-made characters, from fictional figures to helpers and companions, or build your own. It has long been one of the most-used consumer chat apps outside the big general-purpose assistants.
The service runs on its in-house models: DeepSqueak, the flagship, and PipSqueak, a faster and more efficient option. A successor, DeepSqueak 2, has been in training as of April 2026, and the April 2026 update brought model and memory improvements plus DeepSqueak reliability fixes. For c.ai+ members it also added a Memory Visualization meter and a Lorebook feature for defining persistent world details.
Core capabilities include multi-turn roleplay and storytelling, custom character creation with personas and voices, voice calls, and tools for generating videos, stories and streams. The Lorebook and improved memory help characters stay consistent over longer conversations.
Pricing is freemium. The free tier costs nothing but now shows mid-chat ads by default, runs a slow mode, and uses a Charms virtual currency to gate swipe regenerations. c.ai+ (Plus) is $9.99/month or $94.99/year (about $7.92/mo, roughly 20% off the monthly rate) and removes ads and slow mode, unlocks the latest models, better memory and unlimited voice calls. There is no separate Pro tier on the official pricing page.
The biggest limitation is a policy shift effective November 25, 2025: users under 18 can no longer do open-ended chat or roleplay and are redirected to creating videos, stories and streams, with age verification handled in-house and via Persona (facial recognition or ID as a fallback). This followed lawsuits and regulatory pressure. The free tier has also been materially degraded by ads and the Charms system in 2026.
It suits adults who want character-driven chat and roleplay, creators building interactive personas and stories, and anyone happy to pay $9.99/month for an ad-free experience with the best models. Minors and users wanting an unrestricted free experience should look elsewhere.
- Huge library of user-made characters plus easy tools to create your own personas and voices
- Runs on purpose-built DeepSqueak and PipSqueak models tuned for conversation and roleplay
- c.ai+ adds a Lorebook, Memory Visualization and better long-term memory for consistent characters
- Affordable paid tier at $9.99/month (or $94.99/year) with ads and slow mode removed
- Supports voice calls and creating videos, stories and streams, not just text chat
- Free tier is materially worse in 2026: mid-chat ads, slow mode, and Charms currency gating swipe regenerations
- Under-18 users are banned from open-ended chat and roleplay since November 25, 2025
- Age verification can require facial recognition or ID upload via Persona
- Best models and no-ads experience are locked behind the c.ai+ subscription
- DeepSqueak 2 is still only in training, so the top model is not yet available
Choose Character.AI if…
- You want to chat with or build AI characters for roleplay and storytelling
- You are an adult and fine with age verification
- You will pay $9.99/month for ad-free access to the best models and better memory
- You want persistent world-building via the Lorebook feature
- You value a large existing library of community-made characters
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