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Character.AI vs MyShell

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, MyShell at $7.49. Both have a free tier.

Character.AIRoleplay chat with user-made characters, now adults onlyMyShellTurns selfies into styled portraits and short videos; the old MyShell bot app URL now redirects here.

Side by side

FactCharacter.AIMyShell
CategoryAI Companions & CharactersAI Avatars & Headshots
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at$9.99 month$7.49 month
Public APINoNo
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb
CompanyCharacter Technologies, Inc.MyShell
Launched20212023
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 6, 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

MyShell

If you want cheap styled portraits from a phone photo, the Basic tier is priced low and the style library is large. What you should not expect is the character-chat product the name is still known for, because the app URL now lands on an image generator instead. The credit-per-day model also means the cheap tier is about 15 images a day, not a free-for-all.

Pros

  • 200-plus prewritten portrait styles covering professional, fashion and cartoon looks
  • Bundles upscaling, background removal and image expansion alongside generation
  • Basic tier at $7.49/month billed yearly is cheap for a daily image allowance
  • Also generates short video, not only stills

Cons

  • The harvested app URL silently redirects to a different product than the directory listing suggests
  • Daily credits cap Basic at about 15 images a day
  • No company country, legal entity or support terms published on the site
  • PayPal payments were switched off during our visit

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 MyShell if you need

  • Cheap styled portrait and headshot generation from selfies
  • Casual image touch-up: upscaling, background removal, expanding a crop
  • People who want a large preset style library rather than prompt control

More comparisons

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