8 Best Character AI Alternatives

Character AI, the conversational AI chatbot tool that allows you to chat with AI-powered personas, has been a hit since its debut. It has drawn in users who want the chance to have an immersive conversation with AI personas ranging from historical legends to pop culture characters.

Character AI also gives its users the chance to play around with conversational AI that is not as censored as leading AI chatbots like ChatGPT. It offers an experience that feels very engaging, offering a unique blend of entertainment and engagement that keeps people coming back for more.

However, even with all its charms, Character AI isn’t without its problems. A common issue that comes up is how it handles NSFW (Not Safe For Work) content. While filters are in place, they don’t always catch everything, which can be a bit of a headache for users who prefer a more controlled and safe environment.

So, we’ve done the research, and we’ve put together some of the best Character AI alternatives for anyone looking for a way to create a custom conversational AI experience with unique personas.

1. Chatbase

Chatbase is a versatile, all-in-one solution for creating custom AI chatbots. It lets you make your own AI chatbot for many different uses, making it a great alternative to Character AI for those who want more hands-on control over their AI interactions.

Setting up your own chatbot with Chatbase is quite straightforward. You can create an account and have your AI trained and ready to go in just minutes. This ease of use makes it accessible even for those who might not have extensive technical knowledge.

One of Chatbase's standout features is its flexibility in persona creation. You can design a chatbot that mimics your own personality, or craft one based on any pop culture icon or historical figure you fancy. The platform allows you to provide detailed instructions on how your AI should behave and respond, giving you fine-tuned control over what you make with it.

To enhance the accuracy and capabilities of your chatbot, Chatbase allows you to upload or train it with your own custom data. This feature can significantly improve the AI's performance in specific domains or topics.

Chatbase offers some advantages over Character AI in terms of integration. You can embed your chatbot directly into your website or app, making it easily accessible to others. There's also a white label option, allowing you to brand the chatbot as your own. For those looking to build apps or tools, Chatbase provides API access to your AI persona.

Whether you're aiming to create a friendly AI companion for personal use or a customer support chatbot for your business website, Chatbase offers the tools and flexibility to make it happen. Its combination of ease of use and advanced features makes it a compelling Character AI alternative for those who want to experiment with and customize their AI interactions.

One more cool thing about Chatbase is that it lets you use 10 powerful AI models. These include Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's GPT-4, and Google's Gemini. This means you have lots of options to make your chatbot work just the way you want.

Don’t take our word for it, try creating your own AI persona with Chatbase now.

2. Anima AI

Anima AI positions itself as your "virtual friend," offering a unique twist on the chatbot experience. The app allows you to craft your own personalized AI companion, tailoring its persona to your preferences.

You have the freedom to mold your AI friend's appearance and character traits - whether you want it to mirror your personality or complement it with contrasting qualities. Anima AI incorporates a gamified interface, featuring in-app activities and various roles you can explore with your digital buddy. For those seeking a more immersive experience, the platform enables audio messages and photo exchanges with your avatar.

While Anima AI boasts an extensive array of stories and responses, it's worth noting that many of its premium features are exclusive to paid versions. The free tier, while functional, offers a more limited set of capabilities.

3. Kajiwoto AI

Kajiwoto AI is among the most used Character AI alternatives. It shares some similarities with Character AI, offering a platform for users to interact with and create AI chatbots and characters. Each AI can be customized with unique features and personalities, catering to diverse user preferences.

One of Kajiwoto's strengths lies in its language model options. Users can choose between the Babbage GPT3 Model or the Kajiwoto Engine Model, providing flexibility in how the AI processes and generates responses.

While Kajiwoto offers a free plan, which is great for those wanting to test the waters, it does come with certain limitations. Most notably, there's a 200-character limit per message, which might feel restrictive for more in-depth conversations.

For those seeking more features, Kajiwoto offers premium plans. These unlock perks like unlimited AI voice usage, which can significantly enhance the interaction experience. However, it's worth noting that these paid options can be quite pricey. The Kajiwoto Pro plan, for instance, averages around $25 per month.

Regarding content guidelines, Kajiwoto maintains a family-friendly approach on its free plan, with strict restrictions on NSFW content. However, for users on premium plans, there's more leeway, with limited filtering allowing for more mature content.

4. Converse AI

Converse AI is a chatbot platform that uses artificial intelligence to change the way we interact with digital content.

While Character AI is more focused on replicating human-like conversation, Converse AI is more centered on interacting with information. It essentially uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand and answer users' questions about text-based content.

It's a simple process. With Converse AI, you can upload or link a document, ask the chatbot to process the document to extract key information and create a searchable database, and even ask it questions about the content in the language you understand. In response, the bot will give you any answers and summaries you need based on the document.

What makes it a good Character AI alternative is being able to provide custom data that you can customize as AI personas. Converse AI doesn't allow suggestive or explicit material.

5. Replika

Replika AI is a conversational AI chatbot made to replicate human expression and conversation patterns. The goal is to ensure that while you're on the app, you actually feel like you're talking to a real person, or as close to one as possible.

The pair originally made the app as a way to reconnect with a lost loved one, and while this is still a core aspect for some users, Replika has grown into so much more, and now offers companionship, emotional support and even role-playing. It basically learns from each conversation, adapts its responses to match your preferences, and allows you to shape your Replika character by giving feedback and doing activities together.

Some of its perks are that it allows Augmented Reality experiences, which allow you to interact with your AI friend in the real world, and also has a Video Call feature, which you can use to have face-to-face conversations with your chatbot. And in 2023, the platform decided to cut off access to NSFW content and strengthen its filter policy, making it a safer option for users.

Ultimately, even though both Replika and Character AI are AI chatbots, they serve different purposes. For example, Replika is primarily focused on building a personal connection between you and your AI, while Character AI is more about allowing interactions with a wide range of characters, from historical figures to fictional characters, and not so much on how well you get to know your bot.

Should you try it out? Definitely. Replika is one of the best Character AI alternatives you can get.

6. Kuki AI

Kuki AI isn’t exactly the best Character AI alternative, but if you are patient with it a bit, you’ll get to love the sometimes sassy AI chatbot. Originally known as Mitsuku, it has been around since 2005. It has since evolved into one of the more prominent conversational AI platforms thanks to advances in AI tech.

What sets Kuki apart is its flexibility. You can tailor your chatbot's appearance and personality to your liking, and interact with it using both text and voice communication. This dual approach allows for a more dynamic interaction, whether you're typing or sending voice messages through the interface.

Kuki's primary aim is to provide entertainment in various forms. However, it's worth noting that the platform leans heavily towards text-based content rather than graphics, so those seeking a more visual experience might find it somewhat limited in that regard.

The versatility of Kuki extends to its potential applications. You could employ it as a virtual assistant to guide customers, use it as an engagement tool for entertainment purposes, or even integrate it into your business as a customer service companion to add a more personable touch to your operations.

Regarding content guidelines, Kuki maintains a family-friendly approach in its free version, prohibiting NSFW (Not Safe For Work) content. However, the premium plan seems to be a bit more liberal, although with tight controls.

7. Cleverbot

Cleverbot, previously known as Jabberwocky, is among the popular websites like Character AI. This AI chatbot stands out for its ability to provide clever and intuitive responses based on your conversational style. It learns and adapts through repeated human interaction, essentially evolving its responses based on its conversations with you.

The platform offers some unique features that enhance the interaction experience. You can prompt Cleverbot to "Think about it" when posing a question, use the "Think for me" option to have it respond to its own answer, or ask for its "Thoughts so far" to get a glimpse into its reasoning process.

Like Character AI, Cleverbot boasts multilingual support, making it a useful tool for language learning. It's versatile enough to serve as a virtual assistant or simply as an entertaining companion when you're in need of friendly conversation.

One of Cleverbot's advantages is its more budget-friendly pricing compared to Character AI. This makes it an attractive option for users looking for an engaging AI experience without breaking the bank.

It's worth noting that Cleverbot maintains a stricter policy against NSFW content. This approach ensures a more family-friendly environment, which might be preferable for certain users or use cases.

Whether you're looking to practice a new language, need some virtual assistance, or just want an entertaining chat, Cleverbot offers a clever and adaptable Character AI alternative at an accessible price point.

8. Pygmalion AI

Pygmalion AI is an AI platform that allows users to engage in interactive conversations with AI characters. So it's like stepping into a world where you can create and interact with different personalities. It's something like a role-playing game, but with AI characters instead of human counterparts. But if you're looking to create specific kinds of AI personas or characters on the Pygmalion app, you might be a little disappointed, as the platform isn't exactly designed for that.

Pygmalion, like character AI, was made to feed off of user responses using Artificial intelligence and Natural Language Processing, but unlike Character AI, which is more focused on conversations and interactions with an in-app Avatar, it's more a tool for creating and doing activities with smart, interactive chatbots and characters.

It also has a stronger emphasis on community and user-generated content than Character AI, as users can create their own characters and share them with others. Character AI has a community aspect, but it primarily focuses on already existing characters. Some newer versions of Pygmalion allow more liberal content but still retain some level of censorship.

Which is the best Character AI alternative?

So, after checking out all these Character AI alternatives, it's pretty clear that there's no one-size-fits-all answer. It boils down to what you're after. If you want a highly customizable experience with access to powerful AI models, Chatbase stands out as a strong contender. It offers the flexibility to create your own AI personas and even integrate them into your website or app.

If you're more interested in a more personal, companion-like experience, Replika or Anima AI might be more up your alley, offering features like AR interactions and voice calls.

Now, if you're looking for something a bit different, there are other options too. Converse AI is pretty handy if you want to help understand documents, while Pygmalion AI is more about role-playing with AI characters. And let's not forget about Kuki AI and Cleverbot – they're good for a fun chat if you're in the mood for some AI banter. At the end of the day, picking the best one really depends on what you want to do with it. Whether it's customizing your own AI, making a new digital friend, or just having some fun conversations, there's probably an option out there that'll fit the bill.

Wondering which one to try? Give Chatbase a try.