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.

The short answer

Cheaper paid plan: Character.AI — $4.99/mo vs $7.49/mo for MyShell
Free plan: Both have one
Higher Trust score: Character.AI — 92 vs 87 for MyShell
Best fit: Character.AI: Adults who want long-running roleplay with persistent personas · MyShell: Cheap styled portrait and headshot generation from selfies
Platforms: Character.AI: Web, iOS, Android · MyShell: Web

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

Character.AIRoleplay chat with user-made characters, now adults only

MyShellTurns selfies into styled portraits and short videos; the old MyShell bot app URL now redirects here.

Side by side

Fact	Character.AI	MyShell
Category	AI Companions & Characters	AI Avatars & Headshots
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	$4.99/mo	$7.49/mo
Trust score	92 / 100	87 / 100
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web
Company	Character Technologies, Inc.	MyShell
Launched	2021	2023
Last verified	Oct 15, 2026	Oct 16, 2026

What our research says

Character.AI

Still the deepest character library and the most complete roleplay feature set in the category, but since 12 October 2026 the company is in Chapter 11 with a court-supervised sale due around late November, and it says the platform will be wound down if no bid arrives. Fine for adults who chat casually on the free or monthly plans; think twice before prepaying a year or building a community around characters that live only here.

Pros

Character library far larger than any competitor's, with voice calls, group chats and Lorebook world notes
Free tier keeps unlimited messaging and gained the PipSqueak 3 and ShortSqueak chat styles in late September 2026
A $4.99 lite plan now sits under c.ai+, cutting ads and slow mode without the full subscription
Account data can be exported from the app or the website

Cons

The Chapter 11 sale puts the service's future in a buyer's hands, with a wind-down if nobody bids
The CEO left for Disney in September 2026, with members of the technical team expected to follow
Adults pass a third-party age check and under-18 accounts lost open-ended chat
No public API found, and Charms are a second currency on top of the subscriptions

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
Casual conversational entertainment rather than task work
Users happy to stay on the free or month-to-month plans while the sale plays out

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