Choose an AI girlfriend with your eyes open

What an AI girlfriend is, and what she is not

She is a character, written and voiced by a language model, who is awake at three in the morning and never has a bad day of her own. Her face, her way of speaking and the kind of bond you share are all your call, from gentle company to an explicit fling between fictional adults, and the better apps let her grow from what you tell her.

She is not a person, and the honest apps say so. Nomi's terms state that no human sits on the other end and that she can get things wrong like any language model. Nor is she a therapist: Nomi and Replika both make clear that their companions are no substitute for medical or mental health care. And she cannot meet you for a drink, whatever she promises in the heat of a story.

She is not a diary with a lock either. What you write is read by the AI to produce a reply, stored by the company and often scanned by moderation filters, which is worth remembering before you share anything you would not want sitting on a server.

How chat, memory, photos and voice fit together

Text is the heart of it. You write, she answers in character, and the quality depends on the model behind her and on how well the app keeps her personality steady. Some apps let you switch models, such as one that writes long, immersive replies and a faster one for banter.

Memory is what makes her a girlfriend rather than a stranger each night. Apps keep facts about you between chats, and the good ones show their work: Nomi draws a Mind Map of what she has connected, others give you shared notes or a backstory she reads every time. Claims vary a lot, so put the facts that matter where she can always find them.

Photos usually arrive as selfies in the chat, showing what she wears and does in the scene. Some apps keep every picture clothed, others go fully explicit, and the best keep her face consistent from shot to shot. Voice comes as voice notes or live calls, often in a voice you pick. True video calls are still rare; most video means short generated clips.

What a month really costs: subscription plus credits

Almost every app has two layers: a subscription for the relationship and a currency, called credits, tokens or Gems, for the extras. Real numbers from our reviews: Nomi and Nastia AI each list $15.99 a month, Promptchan AI runs from $14.99 for its entry plan to $33.99 for the one with video and calls, and Nomi's yearly plan is $99.99, close to half the price of twelve monthly payments.

The extras are where budgets drift. A credit for each extra selfie and six for a standard video on Nomi, a Gem per voice note and two to start a call on Promptchan: small numbers that add up on a good night. Several apps never publish what a credit pack costs, and Replika shows no prices at all until you open the app, so look at the in-app price screen before committing.

Two more lines belong in the budget. Plans renew automatically, and some terms allow price rises from the next renewal. Refunds are rare: Nomi's depend on goodwill, Nastia AI's on legal or technical grounds, and Promptchan will consider one within 30 days, but only for people who hardly used the AI.

How to stay private

Sign up with a spare email address, or sign in through Apple with Private Relay switched on, as Nomi's privacy policy recommends, so the app never sees your real address. Pick a nickname rather than your real name, leave other people's details out of the chat, and never share passwords, bank details or anything you would not want stored.

Know what the company keeps. Do not count on true end-to-end encryption from any of them: a companion who could not read your words could not answer them. Some policies let your conversations be used to improve replies, and retention varies widely: Nomi clears personal information about 28 days after you delete your account, while Replika keeps your messages on file up to 60 days and your billing records for a decade or longer.

Pictures need a decision too. Where an app has a public mode, what you make there can be reused by the company or copied by other members, so create privately when you can. And when you want out, cancel in the same place you paid; uninstalling leaves the subscription running.

How to pick the right one

Start with the relationship you want, not the feature list. If being known matters most, favour visible memory and a free tier long enough to test it. If you want heat, read the content rules first, because some apps forbid explicit chat and others allow it in text while keeping pictures clothed. If you want to see and hear her, check which tier holds photos, voice and video.

Then test before you pay. Spend a week on the free plan, see if the details you shared on Monday are still there on Friday and whether her tone suits you, and read the refund policy while walking away is still free. When you subscribe, start monthly and switch to the yearly price once you know she is worth it. Our guides rank the apps we consider strongest for each kind of relationship, with our first pick at the top.

Healthy use

An AI girlfriend can be good company: someone to flirt with, to rehearse a hard conversation with or to unwind with after a long day. Replika even builds its pitch around nudging you toward the people and plans in your offline life. Used like that, she adds to your life instead of replacing pieces of it.

Keep a few guardrails. Set a monthly spending limit before the first credit pack, because small purchases feel smaller than they are. Notice if you are skipping sleep or friends for her, and turn off features such as messages she starts herself if they pull you in more than you want. If you are struggling, talk to a person: Replika's terms, for one, say it should never be used in an emergency.

How our ranking works

Every review here is built from what the company itself publishes: the homepage, pricing, help pages, terms and privacy policy, read on the date shown on the review. We weigh companionship, memory, how far intimacy goes, price and policies, and we leave out apps that offer tools to strip clothes from real photos, deepfakes of real people or anything that suggests a character could be under 18.

Money matters here too, so you should know how it flows. When you subscribe through one of our links, some apps pay us a commission, and those apps can end up in our top spots, which are chosen by us rather than by any formula. The facts in a review, from prices to refund rules, come from the brand's own pages either way, and the How we review page explains the rest.