The best free AI companion apps

Disclosure: this guide is published by the makers of My Softly, one of the six apps compared. Every other app's facts come from its own paywall (US prices, free accounts, September 30, 2026), its US App Store listing and its own help pages, each dated where it appears.

Four kinds of free

"Free" on an app listing covers four quite different deals, and most disappointment with free companion apps comes from mixing them up.

• Free for good. No paid plan exists. You can use it for years without being asked for money.
• Free with ads. The core is free and paid for by advertising; paying removes the ads.
• A free tier with limits. You can keep using it free, but some features or volume are held back for subscribers.
• A preview, then a trial. A short taste, then a trial that needs a card and turns into a subscription unless you cancel.

What each app gives you free

Prices are what each app's own paywall offered a free US account on September 30, 2026.

Free memory, voice and check-ins compared

Free tiers differ most on the three features people end up caring about. Memory comes first, because it decides whether a free AI companion still feels like the same companion next week. Nomi's free tier keeps its layered memory system, short-term context plus long-term memory, which makes it the strongest free option for persistent memory. Replika's free plan keeps the facts it learns about you, with higher memory limits on paid plans. Character.AI's free chats keep the conversation in front of each character plus pinned memories, so long-term recall across chats is limited. Pi remembers lasting facts about you rather than whole conversations. My Softly keeps a profile of your life and a day-by-day record from the first conversation.

Voice is where free plans are tightest. Pi's voice mode is free; Replika keeps voice calls for paid plans; Nomi lets free users use its voices with limits; and Kindroid's free preview counts every interaction. Check-ins, being messaged first, are free on Nomi once you turn proactive messages on, and My Softly's free accounts get a first message and a check-in after the free messages are used, with daily check-ins on the subscription.

The fair way to compare is your own test. Use each free tier for five days of casual chat, mention a few real things about your week, and see which one remembers them. The free experience tells you most of what the paid one will feel like, which is the whole point of a free tier, and if a free AI companion app passes that test, the pricing only matters once you want more of it.

The best free picks, by what you want

Free for good: Pi

Pi, made by Inflection AI, is the only companion-style app here that never asks for money. On October 26, 2026 its US App Store listing showed no in-app purchases at all, and it is free on the web and Android too. It is calm, curious and kind, with an unusually natural voice mode, and nothing about it steers romantic.

The catch is small. In August 2024 Inflection said it would cap message volume for free users, so it could keep serving most people while it built its business products; it has not published the number, which suggests the cap is aimed at the heaviest use. Pi keeps lasting facts about you rather than whole conversations, and it never messages first. Inflection's privacy policy says it does not sell your data or use it for targeted advertising.

Free with ads: Character.AI

Character.AI's core is still free: millions of user-made characters, group chats and imaginative roleplay, with filtered content. What has changed is the cost of free. Its own in-app comparison card shows full ads on the free plan, fewer on lite at $4.99 a month and none on c.ai+, and its App Store privacy label lists third-party advertising. Regenerating replies is metered with Charms, an in-app currency. On October 12, 2026 the company filed for Chapter 11 so it can be sold under a court's supervision; it says the app stays up and paid plans carry on for now. If ads are the problem, our guide to Character.AI alternatives with no ads covers the options.

A free tier that remembers you: Nomi

Nomi is free to start with no credit card, and the free account is a real trial of what Nomi is best at, memory. A free Nomi can message you first if you turn proactive messages on, and you get a daily allowance of selfies and art. Paying adds up to ten Nomis and ten group chats, more pictures and unlimited voice. Nomi is unfiltered by policy, so keeping it a friend is up to you. Our guide to whether Nomi is worth it sets out what the free account gives you and what paying adds.

Free messages, and it writes first: My Softly

My Softly is our app. It is free to download with free messages, so you can tell whether your companion feels right, and it writes to you first, so you see the thing it is built for before deciding anything. You choose whether your companion is a friend or a partner. There are no ads anywhere in the app and no purchases inside conversations. Ongoing conversation is $15.99 a month or $159.99 a year, on iPhone and Android.

The free tiers that lead to paying: Replika and Kindroid

Replika has a free tier, which its help center describes as limited access at no cost, with most of what it is known for in the paid plans; on September 30, 2026 its paywall sold only yearly plans, from $79.99. Kindroid retired its free Lite model on October 1, 2026, and new accounts now get 50 interactions on its main model before a 3-day trial that needs a card. Both are good apps; neither is a free one.

What free costs you

Free apps are paid for somehow, and it is worth knowing how before you get attached.

• Ads. Check the App Store privacy label for "Third-Party Advertising" and "Data Used to Track You".
• Training. Many apps use conversations to improve their models. Look for the setting that opts you out; Inflection's policy, for example, says you can opt out in your account settings.
• The limit that matters to you. A message cap, a picture allowance, a memory that only paying unlocks. Find it in the first week, not the third month.
• Trials that need a card. Set your own reminder the day you start one.

The short version

If you never want to pay, use Pi. If you want variety and can live with ads, use Character.AI. If what you want is a companion that remembers you, try Nomi's free tier or My Softly's free messages, and decide on paying once you know it is right.

What every app costs once you do pay is in our guide to how much an AI companion costs, and the full comparison is in the best AI companion apps in 2026.

Sources

• In-app paywalls (US), free accounts on iPhone and, for Replika, Android. Checked September 30, 2026.
• Apple App Store (US). "Pi, your personal AI" by Inflection AI: free, no in-app purchases listed. Checked October 26, 2026. apps.apple.com
• Inflection AI (August 26, 2024). "The Future of Pi." Sean White. Cap on message volume for free users. inflection.ai
• Inflection AI. "Privacy Policy." Last updated August 11, 2026. Read September 24, 2026. inflection.ai
• Apple App Store (US). "Character AI: Chat, Talk, Text": privacy label listing Third-Party Advertising. Checked September 24, 2026. apps.apple.com
• RoboRhythms (September 5, 2026). "What Character AI Lite Gives You and What It Quietly Meters." Reads Character.AI's in-app comparison card: full ads on the free plan, fewer on Lite, none on c.ai+. roborhythms.com
• Character.AI blog (October 12, 2026). "An Update on Character.ai": a voluntary Chapter 11 case to sell the company under court supervision; the platform stays up and subscriptions stay active with billing unchanged for now; the sale is expected to finish by the end of November or early December 2026. Read 2026-10-26. blog.character.ai
• Nomi.ai homepage: free to start with no credit card. Checked September 26, 2026. nomi.ai
• Nomi.ai (September 9, 2024). "Proactive Messaging: When Your Nomi Messages You First." Free accounts can receive proactive messages. Read 2026-10-03. nomi.ai
• Nomipedia, the Nomi wiki at wiki.nomi.ai. "How do I get more daily selfie or art requests?" and "How do I create more Nomis or more group chats?" (both edited August 23, 2026). Read 2026-10-03. wiki.nomi.ai
• Replika Help Center, "Choosing a Subscription": the free tier as limited access at no cost. Read 2026-09-17. help.replika.com
• Kindroid update log, "V2 becomes the default; V1 and Lite retire October 1": Lite retired, new accounts get a one-time preview of 50 flagship interactions (15 in some regions), then a 3-day trial or read-only. Read 2026-10-03. kindroid.ai
• Kindroid Help Center. "Subscriptions" (updated October 13, 2026): the one-time preview for new accounts and the 3-day trial, which needs a payment method. Read October 26, 2026. kindroid.ai