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Character.AI vs TheirSide

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. Both start at $9.99. Both have a free tier.

Character.AIRoleplay chat with user-made characters, now adults onlyTheirSidePrivate chats and up to four-way group rooms with customizable AI characters, plus scripted story scenes.

Side by side

FactCharacter.AITheirSide
CategoryAI Companions & CharactersRoleplay & Character Chat
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at$9.99 month$9.99 month
Public APINoNo
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb
CompanyCharacter Technologies, Inc.TheirSide
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

TheirSide

TheirSide covers a specific niche well: multi-character group roleplay, which most character-chat apps treat as an afterthought. The free tier is workable for casual use, but heavier users will hit conversation and group-room caps quickly and the product itself is still an early-stage, small-team effort.

Pros

  • Supports up to four AI characters in one group chat, not just 1:1
  • Lets you upload reference material to shape a custom character
  • Story-scene mode gives structured scenarios instead of open-ended chat only

Cons

  • Free plan caps conversation rounds and limits you to one group room a month
  • Company behind the product discloses no country or legal entity

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 TheirSide if you need

  • People wanting group chats with multiple AI characters at once
  • Fans of scripted story-scene roleplay
  • Users who want to build a custom character from reference material

More comparisons

Browse all AI Companions & Characters →