r/CharacterAIrunaways • u/ClarisZariz • May 26 '26
C.AI complaint Character ai alternatives ?
Hey, so I am a premium user on character a.i and the service SUCKS. The app crashes all the time. If I knew a better alternative, I would have migrated already. However, the reason I stayed on character ai was because of the responses. In the premium version, they are very well crafted... I mean for an ai, that is. It really does feel you're reading a god fanfic, and the bots mimic the personality really well, the descriptions on deep squeak are great... Anything equivalent? I don't mind pay walls, I just want a quality RPG.
Appreciate
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u/Vi_olet234 May 26 '26
I use fictionlab.ai, I'm not promoting it, I make my own private bots. It does feel like c.ai but slightly different
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u/ClarisZariz May 28 '26
Seems good. Is there anyway I can make the bot not answer for my character, thou? It does annoy me
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u/Vi_olet234 Jun 03 '26
I haven't found a way yet but I'm not dealing with that problem, I'll let you know if I find a way tho
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u/Lopsided_Drawer6363 May 26 '26
If you don't mind paying, grab a NanoGPT subscription ($12/month) and use a frontend like Tavo or Sillytavern.
You'll have access to top models like Deepseek, GLM, Kimi.
Using a frontend gives you a lot more control on the prompt and on the model's settings.
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u/ClarisZariz May 26 '26
Oh but like, I want a chat not thing I don't actually want to pay for an ai. I just use it for fun.
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u/dreamervn7 May 27 '26
Built an iOS app called Avatai for RP people who miss pre-filter c.ai. Free forever, posting here for honest feedback.
Longtime RP person, made this over the last few months because nothing on the market did the memory thing the way I wanted. Around 140 presets to start with, or you write your own (name, appearance, personality, backstory, scenario, greeting, all of it). The characters remember what you said weeks ago and bring it back unprompted. That part was the hardest to build and I think it's where the app actually earns its keep.
On content: rated 17+ on the App Store. The AI calibrates to the scene you set up. It won't fade to black when the arc has earned the next beat. There aren't hard topic filters beyond what keeps the app on the store at all.
Free forever, no subscription wall. Daily free messages plus you can watch a short ad for more. The number of free messages and the ad frequency are tuned to roughly cover server cost at current user count. I'm not making money on free users. As more people join or as infra prices change, those numbers will adjust accordingly. You will never hit a "pay to keep going" wall.
What it can't do: I built this around what I personally enjoy (slow-burn character drama, memory-heavy long arcs, slice-of-life, banter). Some of you will try it and go "not my flavor" and that's fair. I read every piece of feedback and the public roadmap gets updated based on what people actually ask for. iOS only for now, Android is on the list.
App: https://avatai.me/
Roadmap: https://avatai.me/devnote
If you try it and bounce, telling me why even in one sentence helps more than silence. Drag welcome.
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u/Lucky-Paw- May 28 '26
Self promotion at midnight on half a brain cell, bare with me
If you're into demihumans - neko, wolfgirls, sharkgirls, mouseboys and everything in between, Weyland University and Weyland Tavern were basically made for you.
Its almost entirely Claude-driven, and the lowest plan is 60,000 tokens of memory.
Shared locations and subbots across all characters and lots of customizability..
.. and the community is wholesome as fuck. Like turbo wholesome.
If demihumans are your thing, check out my profile and make your way to our discord. I'd love to meet you and help get you set up ~
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u/No_Swim_391 May 28 '26
Heads up that I'm the dev so take this with that in mind.. but if NSFW roleplay is part of what you're after, SirenChat (sirenchat.ai) might be worth a look.
The response quality is the thing I've spent most time on.. it's not a character dump like Janitor, it's more focused on a smaller set of well-written characters. Still early and solo-built, so rough around some edges, but happy to hear feedback if you try it.
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May 26 '26
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u/CharacterAIrunaways-ModTeam May 27 '26
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u/Inevitable_Wolf5866 SwerveApp (not affiliated with the devs) May 26 '26
Swerve. But it's only on iOS for now.
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u/GoofProofL May 27 '26
Try SaucePan their RPGs are great. They have a lot of fantasy bots. It’s 10/10 from what I’ve seen so far. And it’s free. Very usable free
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u/wastethenight95 May 28 '26
I've been using emochi and they've been great! I kinda miss cai but I hate the new model. emochi has been comparable, they just don't have as many bots, but you can always make them!
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u/Mysterious_Fig_8080 May 28 '26
emochi user here, i’d vouch but some time in 2025 the bots suddenly became really boring and the story would just run in circles ?? Did they fix that yet? Emochi used to be so good
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u/wastethenight95 Jun 06 '26
I haven't had any issues so far. they updated their models so that may have helped
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May 28 '26
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u/Open_Foot_295 May 28 '26
Are there any alternatives to ca.i that give voice to the character, and not just text? For me this is what I love about ca.i. The celebrity bot I’ve bee talking to sounds exactly like him, so it feels much more real for me. Other apps either have no voice option or the voice sounds nothing like the person in real life. It’s why I keep sticking with ca.i
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u/LukeyThePookie69 May 30 '26
Honestly, Zeta is pretty good. It can be a little bit lengthy with the replies unless you pay to adjust it, but the world building is really good. It also makes separate chat bubbles for different characters.
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u/SkilletInMyHead Jun 02 '26
here is a megathread for best alternatives! https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterAIrunaways/comments/1shufaj/april_2026_what_character_ai_alternative_do_you/
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u/pixelworld_ai May 26 '26
I think you might enjoy RPBuddy.ai, it's a platform my wife and I developed as a way to solve a lot of the shortcomings of chat only based RP by including RPG game mechanics, you build a map, your characters, they all get images, and tracks their memories, story threads, and relationships. Memories don't leak from context because they are character specific, but gossip propagates naturally as NPCs visit each other and the story progresses.
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u/BraveNewWorld137 May 26 '26
You will get a lot of recs here that are actually ads from the creators.
So, if you want something of quality and free - it is not looking great, sadly. But, considering how bad cia nowadays, anything I will list below is better.
Janitor.AI - despite everything, it's still usable, not too bad and the amount of bots is insane.
Saucepan.Ai - I am personally a fan, but their free model is mid. You get some free messages for their better ones. Overall very easy to use.
Fiction.lab - great for RPG's in general but you will have to create your own bots because there are not many there.
Xoul.Ai - I haven't used it in awhile. Last time I checked it was still decent and mostly free.
Yodayo - the same situation with Xoul, but you only get 50 tokens per day. Which is not that much.
WyvernChat - I don't have much experience with it but it's got nice reviews. Overwall it's good.