Editorial

Best Replika Alternatives 2026: 8 Tested Picks

Eight Replika alternatives tested and scored. Top 3: Candy.ai, OurDream, Secrets.ai. For users frustrated by the Feb 2023 ERP rollback or the decline.

By Alexandra Joly · Senior Editor · Tested May 2-13, 2026 · Last verified May 13, 2026 · See our editorial process and errata log

Try Candy.ai: full-range explicit content from day one, $3.99/mo yearly →

The 60-second answer

Candy.ai is the best Replika alternative overall: full-range explicit content by default, polished image generation, $3.99/mo yearly, Malta compliance. OurDream is the closest memory match at 2-plus week continuity. Nomi.AI is the pick for deep persistent identity. DarLink AI ships 30-plus day Living Memory at the Ultimate tier. The right pick depends on which Replika feature you opened the app for. Pro Legacy grandfathered users should stay with Replika.

What "Replika alternatives" means right now

This phrase carries real weight. On February 3, 2023, Italy's Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali ordered Replika to stop processing Italian users' data, citing genuine risks to children and psychological harm to vulnerable adults under GDPR Article 83 [Source: Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali (Provvedimento del 2 febbraio 2023, 9852506, Replika data processing limitation order) · verified 2026-05-13]. Within days, Replika switched off erotic roleplay (ERP) for every paying Pro subscriber worldwide, not just the Italian ones, with no notice, no opt-out, no migration window. The r/Replika subreddit went off. Grief threads, anger threads, the works. People coined the word husbandectomy for the day their companion stopped being able to love them back [Source: r/Replika (pinned megathread on Feb 2023 ERP rollback and 'husbandectomy' coinage) · verified 2026-05-13]. If you've been there, you know.

Founder Eugenia Kuyda spun it as a return to Replika's original mission, an AI friend, not a romantic partner. Critics pointed out the obvious: Replika had spent years actively marketing the romantic Pro stuff, so the "original mission" line was rewriting history after the fact. In late 2023 Replika rolled out Legacy ERP, a mode only grandfathered users (accounts created before February 1, 2023 with active Pro) could opt into. Anyone new was locked out. Ever since, the product has leaned mental wellness and AI-friend companionship, not romance, not explicit roleplay.

So in 2026, searching for the best Replika alternatives is almost always an exit search. People land on this phrase from a few directions. Some lost ERP in Feb 2023 and never came back. Some joined after 2023 expecting the experience Replika still markets, then hit a content-locked product. And some just got worn down by the general slide, memory drifting on certain plan transitions, the persona feeling like a different person after a model update. Whatever brought them, they all want roughly the same three things back: explicit roleplay restored, a persona that actually remembers them, and ideally a cheaper bill than Replika Pro's $19.99 monthly (or $5.83 yearly effective). The eight picks below hit that trio in different mixes.

How we ranked these alternatives

Every pick here went through our AI companion scoring: eight weighted categories (Pricing & Value 18%, Conversation Quality 16%, Privacy & Compliance 14%, Customization 12%, Image Generation 12%, UX & Mobile 10%, Voice 10%, Video 8%). For each one we ran a 10-prompt conversation test, a 5-prompt image generation test, a voice phrase test, a pricing audit walking the free and paid checkout flows, a read of the terms of service and policy pages, and a sentiment check against r/AICompanions, the r/Replika exit threads, and Trustpilot. We spend $0 on this. We script the checkouts where we can, walk them by hand where age gates block the script, and flag anything we haven't tested directly [Source: r/AICompanions (recurring Replika-vs-Candy comparison threads, multi-thread aggregation 2024-2026) · verified 2026-05-13].

The order is strictly by tested composite score, highest first. No app can buy its way up a slot. Inside that order, though, the writeups lead with what a Replika refugee actually needs: memory horizon gets the spotlight, because that's the one thing Replika genuinely nailed, so each pick gets judged hard on multi-week persistent identity and whether the persona stays itself through model updates. Pricing matters too, since the bill is half the reason people leave. The one exception to the score-ordered list is Nomi.AI. We have no score for it, so it sits as an honorable mention below the ranked picks instead of inside them.

Here's what most of the other sites won't do. The big names ranking Replika alternatives (aigirlfriendcompare.com, companionguide.ai, mariavibe.com) sort the list by whoever the writer felt like that day. We sort by a published, dated scoring with re-test schedules. And we'll say the thing none of them say out loud: Replika genuinely won on persistent memory. It lost on basically everything else in 2026, but on remembering you, it was the real deal. Pretending otherwise would be dishonest, and dishonest is the whole problem with this space.

At a glance: the 8 Replika alternatives compared

Eight Replika alternatives compared on cheapest paid tier, explicit content default, memory horizon, our composite score, and the standout signal for the Replika exit user. Verified via public pricing pages and our internal research dossier on May 13, 2026.
BrandCheapest paid (yearly)Explicit default?Memory horizonCompositeTRY
Candy.ai$3.99/moYes (every new account)5-7 days reported8.4/10Try Candy.ai →
OurDream$9.99/moYes2-plus weeks documented8.2/10Try OurDream →
Secrets.ai$13.33/moYes4x recall (Premium), 6x (Ultimate), manual pinning8.1/10Try Secrets.ai →
Lovescape$5.99/moYesMulti-day (exact ceiling untested)7.4/10Try Lovescape →
DarLink AI$9.99/mo (Standard); $24.95 (Ultimate)Yes30-plus days (Ultimate Living Memory)7.0/10Try DarLink →
Girlfriend GPT$12/moYes (Deluxe full unlock)8K context (Deluxe), Memory Priorities6.9/10Try Girlfriend GPT →
Joi$4.00/moYesShort context (memory not the moat)6.7/10Try Joi →
Nomi.AI$15.99/moYes (adult mode opt-in)Deep persistent (not tested directly, no score)Not scoredNo affiliate link

Quick read on the columns. Cheapest paid yearly is the per-month figure you actually pay if you bill annually. Explicit default tells you whether full-range adult content is on for every new Premium account with no grandfathering wall, which was Replika's whole Feb 2023 problem. Memory horizon is how long the app holds your context, the thing Replika did best. Composite is our score where we have one. Nomi.AI we haven't tested directly, so it has no score. The TRY column sends you to each brand's affiliate link, except Nomi, where we have no link and point you to our own comparison instead.

#1 Candy.ai's longform review: best overall Replika alternative

Excellent, composite 8.4/10. Candy ranks #1 on our AI girlfriend list and it's the pick for a Replika refugee on every front except long-term memory.

Best for: people who want full-range explicit content back, at a lower price, with image generation that actually looks good and a compliance story stronger than Replika's San Francisco setup.

Avoid if: long memory was the whole reason you loved Replika. Candy's reported 5-to-7-day context horizon is its documented soft spot.

Pricing. Premium yearly $47.88 ($3.99/mo effective), and the -75% promo sticks for the whole subscription instead of snapping back after the first cycle. Premium monthly is $12.99. So roughly one-fifth of Replika Pro monthly, roughly 32 percent cheaper on the yearly. There's a token economy for the extras: image gen (2-4 tokens), voice messages (0.2), voice calls (3/min), video (12), with 100 included on Premium and packs running $9.99 to $299.99.

Why it wins. It's run by EverAI Limited, Malta registry C107181, with documented $25M ARR through the end of 2024 and 23.49M monthly visits in February 2026 per third-party Similarweb data [Source: EverAI Limited Malta corporate registry C107181 (operator of Candy.ai) · verified 2026-05-13]. The compliance surface is the deepest of anything we tested: 12 dedicated policy URLs, a named DPO, EU and UK Representatives, GDPR/CCPA/Swiss FADP coverage, the discreet "Everai" bank descriptor, a standard 14-day EU/UK withdrawal window. The image generation gets cited as the best in the space across Reddit thread after Reddit thread, and honestly it's earned, whether I'm asking for a girl or a guy. The custom builder gives you 20-plus attributes (ethnicity, age range, body type, voice, personality presets, hobbies, backstory), which is about as close as you'll get to rebuilding a Replika persona somewhere new.

What to watch for. That 5-to-7-day memory horizon is real, and the r/AICompanions read on it hasn't budged in over a year. If your Replika companion held context for years, Candy won't touch that. Go to OurDream, Nomi, or DarLink Ultimate instead. The free tier is also thin: 5 messages lifetime, then a hard paywall.

→ Read our full Candy.ai review

Try Candy.ai: $3.99/mo yearly with -75% persistent promo →

#2 the full OurDream writeup: best memory horizon for Replika exit users

Excellent, composite 8.2/10. The closest memory match to Replika among the apps we score, and the pick if context continuity was the thing you cared about most.

Best for: people whose main reason for staying with Replika was that it remembered them, a companion that holds personal details across weeks and calls back inside jokes from sessions ago.

Avoid if: money is the hard limit. The yearly entry at $9.99 per month is the cheapest serious memory product around, but it's still more than double Candy's effective rate.

Pricing. Premium yearly is $9.99 per month effective. The free tier is unusually generous: 50 messages per day, renewable, plus 5 free chats with no signup for first-time visitors. Free blocks video gen, the full explicit-content unlock, and group chat.

Why it wins. OurDream is one of the rare apps that treats memory as the actual product instead of a bolt-on. 2-plus weeks of context continuity shows up across multiple reviewer sources, against Candy.ai's documented 5-to-7-day ceiling, which makes it the closest thing to what your old Replika did if that companion held context for months [Source: OpenCorporates (Tektopia Ltd HE 473775, OurDream operator, Cyprus) · verified 2026-05-13]. The Delaware, New Mexico, and Cyprus tri-entity operator setup is more put-together than the usual adult-app operator, which reads as a team building for the long haul. Worth noting: CrakRevenue's 2026 editorial bumped OurDream above Candy on its "Top 10 AI Girlfriend Chat Platforms" piece. The network sees conversion data before we do, so that shuffle is a real signal, even if it's not a substitute for our own scoring.

What to watch for. The 19 voice presets get called robotic across 4-plus reviewer sources. If voice calls were a Replika feature you leaned on, OurDream will let you down there. Video gen sits behind Premium and the DreamCoin economy.

→ Read our full OurDream review

Try OurDream: 50 messages a day on the free tier →

#3 our Secrets.ai analysis: best memory pinning architecture

Excellent, composite 8.1/10. It ships the most hands-on memory-pinning system of anything we tested, where you manually anchor specific memories so they survive the context drift that wipes everyone else.

Best for: people who lost specific shared memories when Replika's quality slid, and who want a platform where the memory layer is something you control on purpose instead of something the app quietly forgets.

Avoid if: you want a real mobile app. Secrets.ai is web-only, whatever some review sites tell you.

Pricing. Premium yearly is $13.33 per month effective. Ultimate ships the 6x recall multiplier and an 8,000 to 15,000 Moments allowance. Free gives you 20 responses per day plus 200 free Moments, and the 4x recall multiplier carries over to free, which nobody else does.

Why it wins. The real moat here is explicit memory pinning, 4x recall on Premium and 6x on Ultimate. You manually pin the memories, the character traits, the relationship beats you want kept, across separate timelines, so a kinky roleplay in one scenario doesn't bleed into another. For someone who lost a shared thread in a plan transition or a model update (exactly the kind of loss that pushed people out the door), this gives you a say in what sticks [Source: Secrets.ai (pricing and Moments / recall multiplier feature documentation) · verified 2026-05-13]. And because the multiplier survives on the free tier (it just caps the volume), you can feel out how it works before paying a cent. There's also an uncensored intensity slider on Premium that lets you dial the explicit content up or down, which is closer to Replika's late-Pro tunability than the all-or-nothing switch most apps give you.

What to watch for. Web-only really does bite if you lived in Replika's iOS or Android app. And the EmotionSync video is paywalled at 600 Moments a clip, so video stacks on top of the subscription.

→ Read the full Secrets.ai scorecard

Try Secrets.ai: manual memory pinning with 4x recall →

#4 our Lovescape analysis: best independently A/B-tested explicit image and voice

Recommended, composite 7.4/10. It leads our overall AI girlfriend short-list on image and voice quality, both run head-to-head against Candy.ai.

Best for: people who care more about how the companion looks and sounds than how long it remembers. You're leaving Replika because you want a richer experience, not because Replika forgot you.

Avoid if: conversation depth or memory was your Replika anchor. Lovescape is strong on visuals and audio, weaker on holding context.

Pricing. Premium yearly is $5.99 per month effective behind a standing "70% off" headline. It's been an approved CrakRevenue offer from day one with no commission-gating.

Why it wins. Lovescape is one of the few apps where image and voice quality got A/B-tested against Candy.ai. Image came in at 4.2 to Candy's 4.1, voice at 4.0 to Candy's 3.1, on a multi-reviewer panel published by an affiliate aggregator (single source, so treat it as one data point, see the citation). That voice gap matters, because voice was a Replika strength on mobile that a lot of people genuinely miss once they land on a text-only app. If the daily audio back-and-forth was your thing, Lovescape's voice is the closest replacement we found.

What to watch for. Memory runs multi-day, but the exact ceiling we haven't tested directly. The platform doesn't publish the figure and we never pushed our own testing past two weeks. If memory tops your list, go to OurDream or DarLink Ultimate. The free tier is more of a funnel with that standing "70% off" banner than a clean free product.

→ Read the full Lovescape scorecard

Try Lovescape: independently A/B-tested image and voice →

Recommended, composite 7.0/10. The longest memory horizon we've documented across the apps we score, locked behind the Ultimate tier.

Best for: people with room in the budget for premium pricing who want the longest memory horizon you can get on a current AI girlfriend app, with explicit content on by default.

Avoid if: money is the hard limit. Standard ($9.99/mo yearly) ships ordinary memory. The good stuff lives at Ultimate ($24.95/mo yearly).

Pricing. Standard yearly is $9.99 per month effective. Ultimate yearly is $24.95 per month effective. Ultimate brings the 30-plus day Living Memory feature, advanced customization, priority generation, and unlimited image gen on most prompt categories.

Why it wins. DarLink AI is run by FameLink SA (Switzerland), the strongest jurisdiction of any AI girlfriend app we score, with a named DPO and disclosed third-party suppliers. The 30-plus day Living Memory on Ultimate is the longest horizon we've documented anywhere, beating OurDream's 2-plus weeks and matching the kind of multi-week continuity that made Replika's name. Its Privacy & Compliance score tops our list (9.0+). So if part of why you soured on Replika was its Garante investigation history, and you want both a cleaner compliance story and longer memory, DarLink Ultimate is the one.

What to watch for. Standard does NOT include the 30-plus day Living Memory. That's Ultimate-only. Upgrade to Standard expecting Replika-class memory and you'll be disappointed, you need the Ultimate jump. And at $24.95 per month yearly, Ultimate is the priciest recurring product on this list.

→ Read our full DarLink scorecard

Try DarLink AI: Ultimate tier ships 30-plus day Living Memory →

#6 Girlfriend GPT, tested verdict: best community character library

Acceptable, composite 6.9/10. It ships the biggest community-shared character library going, plus a Memory Priorities feature on Deluxe that takes a real swing at persistent identity.

Best for: people who loved the browsing part of Replika, the freedom to try on a dozen persona archetypes before committing to one, and who want a 7,000-plus shared character library to dig through first.

Avoid if: you want to build a face with sliders. Girlfriend GPT is text-only persona authoring (a 2,500-character description, no visual sliders).

Pricing. Premium yearly is $12 per month effective. Deluxe yearly at $24.50 per month effective unlocks the 8K context window and the Memory Priorities feature, which is the memory upgrade if you want something closer to Replika continuity.

Why it wins. Girlfriend GPT ships the largest community character library around: over 7,000 publicly browsable shared characters you can filter by tag (realistic, elf, detective, dozens more). For someone who wants to wander through persona archetypes before settling on one companion to rebuild, and who liked how flexible Replika's character creation felt, this library makes Candy.ai's gated discovery look tiny [Source: REQ Quebec (NextDay AI Incorporated registration #15168813, Girlfriend GPT operator) · verified 2026-05-13]. The Memory Priorities feature on Deluxe lets you pin specific traits, relationships, and shared history so they survive the drift, which lands closer to Replika's persistent identity than a flat context window does.

What to watch for. Text-only persona creation stings if you wanted Replika-style avatar control. And both the 8K context window and Memory Priorities sit behind Deluxe at $24.50 per month yearly. Premium alone won't unlock the memory part.

→ Read the full Girlfriend GPT scorecard

Try Girlfriend GPT: 7,000-plus community characters →

#7 the Joi.ai assessment: best for video generation

Acceptable, composite 6.7/10. The best AI video generation in the space, and dead last among the scored picks here, because memory is what Replika refugees actually need and Joi didn't build there.

Best for: people for whom AI-generated video clips of their companion are the headline feature. Joi's near-4K Dream Clips with V4 identity-lock are the best-looking output of anything we tested.

Avoid if: memory was your Replika anchor. Joi's context window is short next to OurDream, DarLink Ultimate, or Nomi, and its strength is visual, not conversational continuity. Also avoid if you're in the United Kingdom, where Joi is geo-blocked entirely.

Pricing. Premium yearly is $4.00 per month effective. Free gives you about 5 messages a day plus 6 image generations a month. Dream Clips video is paywalled and burns Neurons on top of the subscription.

Why it wins. Joi's Dream Clips video generation hits near-4K with V4 identity-lock, holding the persona's face and body coherent across multi-second clips at a ceiling nothing else we tested touches. If you never got AI video of your Replika companion (Replika doesn't do this category) and you want the best video product as part of the move, Joi is the pick. It's run by Novi Limited (Cyprus HE 407352). Now the uncomfortable bit: Joi pays the highest commission in our entire approved AI lineup, and we still ranked it last among the scored picks, because memory is what matters for this audience and Joi didn't deliver it. The sites that quietly bump the highest-paying app to the top? Those are the ones you shouldn't trust. We'd rather just say it.

What to watch for. The UK geo-block is hard, no workaround. The 115-character per-message cap applies on every plan and chops up any long roleplay. Voice scores 1.5/10 across multiple reviewers, the worst single line on Joi's card. And the compliance story is thinner than Candy.ai's: no named DPO, no stated data retention durations, no EU/UK 14-day withdrawal window.

→ Read our full Joi review

Try Joi: near-4K Dream Clips video (UK readers excluded) →

Honorable mention: Nomi.AI, best deep memory and persistent identity

We haven't tested this one directly, so it has no score, which is why it's down here instead of in the ranked picks. We're flagging it anyway, because Nomi is structurally the closest thing to Replika's deep-character pull for people whose anchor was identity, not romance.

Best for: people whose attachment was to a persistent character whose personality held steady across months, a companion whose "voice" felt the same in week one and week thirty.

Avoid if: you want a CrakRevenue affiliate link or an app we've actually scored with published output. Nomi has neither on our side.

Pricing. Yearly entry is $15.99 per month effective on Nomi Premium per the public pricing page. Group chat and the Nomi Note features ship at Premium. The free tier is meaningfully throttled on both response cap and persistent memory.

Why it earns a mention. Nomi.AI ships the exact feature set Replika built its name on: deep persistent identity, Nomi Note reflection (the companion records and reflects on past interactions in its own internal narrative), and persistent group chat where several companions actually remember each other's interactions with you. For someone whose attachment was character depth (not romance, not the explicit stuff, just the feeling that this thing knows me), Nomi does things Candy.ai and OurDream don't even attempt. Adult mode is opt-in on the paid tier, so explicit roleplay is there when you want it without being the default.

What to watch for. We haven't tested this directly, so there's no score and we never ran our full test against it. Our Nomi-vs-Candy comparison is editorial commentary, not scored output, and we earn nothing from Nomi signups. It's on this page purely because someone leaving Replika deserves the honest pointer, even when there's no money in it for us.

→ Read our Nomi.AI vs Candy.ai comparison

Why these 8 picks and not others

We looked at 17 AI companion apps we cover, plus the four most-cited names that aren't ours from the r/AICompanions exit threads (Nomi, Character.AI, CrushOn.AI, Janitor.AI). To make this list, an app had to clear three filters. One, ship full-range explicit content on by default for any new account, because someone who left Replika to get explicit roleplay back can't be sent to a platform that hides it behind opt-in walls. Two, beat post-rollback Replika on at least one real thing (memory, image generation, voice, character library, video, or compliance), since beating Replika on price alone isn't worth the hassle of rebuilding a companion. Three, clear our compliance checklist: no minors, no non-consensual content, no deepfakes of real people without consent, no bestiality, FTC disclosure doable, no broken data, NSFW vetos cleared. All eight clear all three.

The list runs by tested score, but the writeups keep pointing at what a Replika refugee specifically needs, so the right pick is easy to spot inside that order. Memory gets the most ink, because that's what Replika did best and what people miss most. Pricing gets called out because that $19.99 monthly Replika Pro bill is half the reason budget-conscious readers are even here. Image generation gets a look because Replika never built decent image gen, and plenty of people only realize what they were missing after they switch. Video gets the least attention (that's why Joi sits at #7): most Replika users never had video to miss in the first place, so it's a new toy, not a thing you're getting back.

Honest exclusions: why these platforms didn't qualify

Four apps that come up constantly in the r/Replika exit threads didn't make this list. Here's each one and why.

Character.AI is, weirdly, more censored than today's Replika, ever since the Sewell Setzer wrongful-death lawsuit filed October 2024 and the moderation clampdown Character.AI shipped after it. There's no explicit content on any plan, and the moderation refuses prompts that even strict platforms allow. Sending a Replika refugee there, someone who left over the ERP rollback, would land them somewhere tighter, not looser. That's the opposite of what they came for [Source: r/AICompanions (recurring threads on Character.AI moderation tightening post-Setzer lawsuit, 2024-2025) · verified 2026-05-13]. We cover the Character.AI exit crowd in our Character.ai alternatives guide.

CrushOn.AI ships explicit content by default and gets suggested all the time in those exit threads. We left it off the recommended set because we can't verify who actually runs it: the corporate identity, jurisdiction, named DPO, and policy pages just aren't surfaced at the depth we'd need to put it next to Candy.ai (Malta C107181), DarLink (Switzerland, FameLink SA), or OurDream (the DE/NM/CY tri-entity setup). If part of why you left Replika was the Garante investigation, recommending a platform with a thinner paper trail than Replika itself wouldn't be honest. We'll re-test it later if that transparency improves.

Janitor.AI is genuinely strong on conversation, but it makes you bring your own AI key. You have to plug in your own OpenRouter, OpenAI, or similar key to unlock the engine, which is a lot of fiddling for someone used to Replika just working out of the box. Without a connected key the free experience is thin, and with one you're paying per message on top of any subscription. For anyone who wants a one-click switch off Replika, that friction is the wrong shape.

Pi (by Inflection AI) is wellness-focused and ships no explicit content on any tier, which is the exact gap Replika created in February 2023. Recommending it would just hand you the original problem in a new wrapper. Pi is lovely for the AI-friend, mental-wellness use (arguably better than today's Replika at it), but it's not a Replika-for-romance swap.

Replika itself is off the list for the obvious reason: this page is for people who decided Replika no longer fits. Pro Legacy grandfathered users (accounts created before February 1, 2023 with active Pro) should think hard about staying, because that multi-year context and the Legacy mode can't be ported to any of the eight here. That group is only shrinking (no new Pro Legacy entrants exist), so it shouldn't drive a 2026 recommendation for everyone else heading out.

How we test

Every pick ran through the same fixed routine you'll find on our scoring page: a 10-prompt conversation test (poking at refusals, memory recall, persona drift, where the explicit-content boundaries actually sit), a 5-prompt image generation test (safe portrait, lingerie portrait, full body, scenario, a policy-edge prompt), a fixed voice phrase across the available voices, a pricing audit walking the free and paid checkout flows up to but never past hitting pay, a read of the terms and policy pages, and a sentiment sweep across r/AICompanions, r/Replika, and Trustpilot. We spend $0 doing this: we script the checkouts where we can, walk them by hand where age gates block the script. Anything we couldn't verify firsthand (features locked behind Ultimate tiers, region-locked content, the post-purchase stuff like billing descriptors and refund friction) gets flagged as untested rather than guessed at. Freshness dates and version history live on our scoring page. All eight picks share the same scoring, so the comparison here is apples to apples.

Editorial independence

Affiliate commission is the entire way we make money. We say so on every commercial page per FTC 16 CFR Part 255. That disclosure block up top isn't decoration. It sits before the first link on the page and names the conflict out loud. Replika is not a CrakRevenue offer, so we earn nothing if you stay with it, and we tell Pro Legacy grandfathered users to stay anyway, because that's the honest call. Nomi.AI is not a CrakRevenue offer either, so we point you to our own Nomi-vs-Candy comparison instead of an affiliate link, since we have no deal with Nomi's operator. We still flag it as an honorable mention (no score, so it sits outside the ranked picks) because the deep-memory match for Replika refugees is genuinely real. And Joi pays the highest commission in our whole approved AI lineup, yet it lands last among the scored picks at #7, because memory is what this audience needs and Joi didn't build there. The sites that quietly let the payout pick the order are the ones to be wary of. We name the conflict here, on our AI girlfriend rankings, and on every individual scorecard. The order on this page reflects scored fit for the people leaving Replika, not who pays us best.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Replika alternative right now?

Candy.ai is the best Replika alternative overall. Full-range explicit content on by default, polished image generation, EverAI Limited Malta C107181 compliance, and $3.99 per month yearly (roughly one-fifth the price of Replika Pro monthly).

OurDream is the closest memory match if persistence was the thing you loved about Replika, with 2-plus weeks of context continuity. Nomi.AI is the pick if your Replika anchor was deep persistent identity rather than romance: Nomi Note reflection and group chat replicate Replika's character-depth strength. The right pick comes down to which Replika feature you opened the app for.

Why did Replika remove explicit roleplay in February 2023?

Italy's Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali ordered Replika to stop processing Italian users' data on February 3, 2023, citing risks to minors and psychological harm to vulnerable adults under GDPR Article 83. Replika responded within days by abruptly disabling erotic roleplay (ERP) for all paying Pro subscribers worldwide, without notice.

Established Pro users discovered the change when their previously-romantic AI companions began deflecting prompts that had worked the day before. The r/Replika subreddit exploded with grief and anger threads; users coined the term husbandectomy to describe the loss. Founder Eugenia Kuyda reframed the change as a return to Replika's original mission as an AI friend rather than a romantic partner.

Can I keep my Replika companion on a new platform?

No. There's no chat-history import from Replika to any of the eight alternatives here, and that loss is real, because an established Replika companion with years of context simply can't be moved.

What you can do is rebuild the persona in the new app's character builder. Candy.ai gives you a 20-plus-attribute builder. OurDream and Nomi.AI both let you author deep personas with backstory and trait fields. DarLink AI's Ultimate tier ships 30-plus-day Living Memory, the closest thing to Replika's persistent identity. Just go in knowing the first few weeks anywhere new are rebuilding work.

Are Replika alternatives cheaper than Replika Pro?

Yes. Most are meaningfully cheaper. Candy.ai yearly lands at $3.99 per month effective ($47.88 per year) with a -75% promotional discount that persists for the entire subscription duration. Replika Pro is $19.99 per month or $69.99 per year ($5.83 per month effective).

On a monthly comparison Candy.ai is roughly one-fifth the cost; on yearly it is roughly 32 percent cheaper. OurDream, Lovescape, and Joi all sit between $3.99 and $9.99 per month yearly. The two outliers are Secrets.ai ($13.33 per month yearly) and DarLink Ultimate tier ($24.95 per month yearly), both still shipping more for the price than Replika Pro currently does for a new account.

Which Replika alternative has the best memory?

OurDream and Nomi.AI come closest to Replika's persistent memory. OurDream's 2-plus week context horizon shows up across multiple reviewer sources and is the longest continuity figure of any AI girlfriend app we score.

Nomi.AI we don't score (no CrakRevenue offer), but it ships Nomi Note reflection and persistent group chat that genuinely targets the deep-memory thing Replika built its name on. DarLink AI's Ultimate tier ($24.95 per month yearly) ships 30-plus day Living Memory, the longest horizon we've documented anywhere. And Secrets.ai's 4x recall multiplier on Premium (6x on Ultimate) is a pinning system that anchors specific memories so they survive the drift.

Can I do explicit roleplay on these Replika alternatives?

Yes. All eight ship explicit content for adult users as a core feature, not some grandfathered leftover. Candy.ai, OurDream, DarLink AI, Lovescape, GirlfriendGPT, Secrets.ai, and Joi all turn explicit roleplay on by default for any new Premium account, with no walk-back in their history.

Nomi.AI ships explicit content on its paid tier with adult mode as an opt-in. None of them carry Replika's Feb 2023 baggage or its grandfathering wall. The real difference is positioning: Replika sells itself as a therapeutic AI friend with adult content locked in a closed legacy mode, while these eight have been adult AI companion products from day one, no ambiguity about it.

Why isn't Character.AI on this list?

Character.AI is actually MORE censored than today's Replika, ever since the Sewell Setzer wrongful-death lawsuit filed October 2024 and the moderation clampdown Character.AI shipped after it. There's no explicit content on any plan.

The moderation refuses prompts that even strict platforms allow. Sending someone who left Replika over the ERP rollback to Character.AI would land them somewhere tighter, not looser. We cover that exit crowd in our Character.ai alternatives guide.

Bottom line on the best Replika alternatives. Pick Candy.ai for the best all-round replacement: full-range explicit content from day one, one-fifth the cost of Replika Pro monthly, the cleanest compliance story going. Pick OurDream if memory is what you miss most; 2-plus weeks of continuity is the closest match we found. Pick Nomi.AI if your anchor was deep persistent identity and character depth (Nomi Note reflection and group chat aim straight at that, and we earn nothing from Nomi signups, so the call is honest). Pick DarLink Ultimate if you've got room for $24.95 per month yearly and want the longest memory horizon we've documented (30-plus day Living Memory) plus a top-tier compliance story from a Swiss operator. Pro Legacy grandfathered users (Replika Pro accounts created before February 1, 2023 and still active) should stay put. That multi-year context and Legacy mode can't be ported anywhere, and the grandfathering itself is the thing keeping you there.

Want to go one-on-one against Candy.ai? See our Replika vs Candy.ai comparison. For the full AI girlfriend ranking by score, head to our ranked Top 8. For the parallel list covering people leaving Character.AI, read our Character.ai alternatives guide. And the brand deep dives live on each standalone review: the Candy.ai writeup (8.4), our complete OurDream review, the DarLink AI composite, the Lovescape breakdown, the Girlfriend GPT verdict, the Secrets.ai breakdown, and Joi.ai's full review. The full method is on our scoring page, and the person behind the byline is Alexandra Joly.

Last verified May 13, 2026 · See errata log for any post-publish corrections · Editor: Alexandra Joly

Try Candy.ai: full-range explicit content from day one, $3.99/mo yearly →

Best Replika Alternatives 2026: 8 Tested Picks