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Character.AI vs CraveU AI

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors. Character.AI starts at $9.99, CraveU AI at $4.99. Only Character.AI has a free tier.

Character.AIRoleplay chat with user-made characters, now adults onlyCraveU AIUncensored AI roleplay chat with community-made characters, priced per token package or monthly plan.

Side by side

FactCharacter.AICraveU AI
CategoryAI Companions & CharactersRoleplay & Character Chat
Pricing modelFreemiumPaid
Starts at$9.99 month$4.99 month
Public APINoNo
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS
CompanyCharacter Technologies, Inc.COZYAI LLC
Launched2021—
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 1, 2026

What our research says

Character.AI

Still the deepest character library anywhere and the reason the whole companion category exists, but it has been rebuilt around safety and identity checks, and the audience it was famous for is now locked out.

Pros

  • Character library is far larger than any competitor's, with voice calls and group scenes included
  • Free tier is genuinely usable, with the subscription mostly buying speed and memory
  • Safety changes are unusually explicit about what was removed and when

Cons

  • Age assurance defaults to face-based estimation, which is a hard stop for privacy-minded users
  • Charms are a second currency on top of c.ai+, so the $9.99 is a floor not a ceiling
  • No API, no export, and no self-hosting
  • The platform has been reshaped by wrongful-death litigation, and further restrictions are plausible

CraveU AI

CraveU is a character-roleplay chat app that leans into unfiltered, adult-oriented content as its differentiator from mainstream companion apps, with a community marketplace of user-created characters and a creator payout program. Token-metered pricing across three tiers is transparent, and the operator, COZYAI LLC, is identifiable, which is not true of every product in this category.

Pros

  • Legal operating entity and US location are identifiable, unlike many similar apps
  • Token pricing and plan contents are shown clearly and consistently across tiers
  • Creator cash-reward program adds a marketplace dynamic beyond simple consumption
  • iOS app exists alongside the web version

Cons

  • No meaningfully free tier -- every plan and even a la carte tokens cost money
  • Content moderation policy for community-submitted characters is not detailed on the pricing page
  • Token-based pricing makes total monthly cost hard to predict for a heavy user

Which one fits

Choose Character.AI if you need

  • Adults who want long-running roleplay with persistent personas
  • People building and sharing characters for an existing community
  • Casual conversational entertainment rather than task work

Choose CraveU AI if you need

  • Adult users specifically seeking unfiltered roleplay chat
  • People who want to browse a large library of community-made characters rather than build one from scratch
  • Character creators interested in the cash-reward program

More comparisons

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