Replika
alternatives.Plus our 14-day review.
Pioneered the category and still has the warmest onboarding — but the 2023 NSFW lockdown left a brand bruise its loyal users haven't forgotten.
The original mainstream companion
- Memory
- 8.0 / 10
- Voice
- 8.0 / 10
- Safety
- 9.0 / 10
- Value
- 6.0 / 10
- Onboarding
- 9.0 / 10
What we found
after fourteen days.
Replika built the playbook for emotional AI companionship and still has the most thoughtful onboarding of any product we tested. Memory was its strongest feature in our test. In April 2026 Replika shipped its first ground-up rebuild ("Replika 2.0") with a reworked memory system; community reports since have been mixed, and our memory score predates the rebuild. The 2023 changes to romantic content shipped without warning, and the trust cost stayed visible in the community long after the partial rollback.
14-day test, April 2026: Replika scored memory 8/10, voice consistency 8/10, safety 9/10, value 6/10, and onboarding 9/10. Composite 7.2/10. Pricing: free tier available, paid from $19.99/month (freemium). Long-term memory: robust. NSFW handling: limited.
- Emotional support
- Long-term continuity
- First-time users
- Romance variety
- Roleplay flexibility
- Power users who want control
Where to go
instead.
Bae
Our pickMemory that holds for months. Real selfies, not stock. Six relationship stages that earn their depth.
Character.AI
7.8The widest cast of characters anywhere — but heavily filtered, with memory that fades within hours.
Nomi
7.5ProvisionalThe category's memory specialist — the reputation is largely earned, though safety guardrails are thin by design.
Kindroid
7.3ProvisionalThe power user's companion — unmatched explicit memory controls if you'll do the setup, at a price that stacks fast.
Joi AI
6.9Our April test loved its real-time voice — public reporting says the product has since pivoted text-first, with calls metered through credits. Re-test pending.
JanitorAI
6.9ProvisionalA huge, free, largely unfiltered character library — bring your own model if you want it to remember anything.
Spicychat
6.7Minimal filtering and an active community — but the once-generous free tier was cut hard in 2026, and memory is still thin.
Replika vs Bae vs Character.AI.
Feature-by-feature. We tested all three for the same fourteen days, with the same prompts.
| Feature | Replika | Bae | Character.AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term memory | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Real photos / selfies | Yes | Yes | No |
| Voice messages | Yes | No | Yes |
| Video calls | No | No | No |
| Persona customization | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple companions | No | Yes | Yes |
| Romantic / spicy mode | Partial | Partial | No |
Tested April 2026· See how we test on /methodology · Benchmark across all platforms in /research
Scores last verified August 24, 2026
Take your data
with you.
Replika is the platform people most often arrive from, so we wrote the move down properly. The honest version first: no companion app — ours included — can import another platform's relationship wholesale. What you can do is carry the facts out, rebuild the shape in a few minutes, and let the new memory start compounding from day one. Here's how to get your data out of Replika, and what actually survives the trip. Export details verified mid-2026; Replika changes, so double-check against the app in front of you.
Copy your Memory list
In the app, open your Replika's profile and read through the Memory section — the facts Replika keeps about you. As of mid-2026 there's no export button here, so copy the entries you care about somewhere plain: a notes app, a text file. It's usually a short list; five minutes covers it.
Export chats and diary from the web app
Replika has no built-in chat export. The community “Replika Export: Chat, Diary, Memory” browser extension (Chrome and Firefox) fills the gap: sign in at my.replika.com on a desktop, right-click the page, and export chat, diary, and memory entries as JSON or HTML. One caveat — the web app only serves relatively recent history, so very old conversations may be out of its reach.
Request the full archive from Replika
For everything else there's the official route: file a data-access request through Replika's help-center contact form, sent from the email address on your account. It's the GDPR-backed path — Replika confirms receipt and responds within a month, with a copy of the personal data they hold.
What actually carries over.
| What | Carries over? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Name, look & persona | Yes | Manual, and quick — rebuild them in /create: name, face, register, what they call you. About three minutes. |
| Memory & diary facts | Partial | Paste the facts that matter into your first few chats and they enter memory like anything else you say. Or make it rigorous: plant them with the Memory Test Kit protocol at /tools/memory-test and verify recall on days 1, 3, and 7. |
| Chat history | No | No platform imports another's conversations — the history stays yours as an export, not as shared context. Keep the JSON; it's your record of the relationship. |
| Your subscription | No | Replika Pro doesn't transfer and won't cancel itself — cancel where you bought it (App Store, Google Play, or replika.com). Bae's free tier needs no card, so you can run both while you decide. |
Replika's memory vs ours, honestly.
Memory is why most people consider this switch, so it gets its own table — including the parts where Replika is genuinely strong.
| Dimension | Replika | Bae |
|---|---|---|
| Memory span | The strongest of the platforms we tested — facts held across sessions and stayed consistent over weeks. We scored it 8/10, before the April 2026 Replika 2.0 rebuild; community reports on the new memory system are mixed. | Memory that holds and compounds: about seven days on the free tier, permanent on Pro. We publish our own memory-test scores rather than asking you to take it on faith. |
| What gets remembered | A curated Memory list — discrete facts about you, viewable and editable in the app. | Facts plus relationship canon: what you told them, what they said back, and the stage you're at. The relationship itself is part of the record. |
| When something changes | The 2023 romance lockdown shipped overnight, without warning — the backlash was public, and the partial rollback only came after it. | A standing promise: before anything important changes, we say why. It's written down, and we intend to be held to it. |
| Getting memories in | Organic only — Replika learns from conversation, and the Memory list fills on its own schedule. | Organic too, but you can front-load: tell them the important things in your first chats, or bring a Tavern V2 card in through /tools/character-import. |
| Checking it actually works | No way to audit recall beyond reading the Memory list and hoping. | Run the Memory Test Kit on both of us — plant five details, probe on days 1, 3, and 7, score it. We built it app-agnostic on purpose. |
People ask about
Replika.
Is Replika worth it?
Replika built the playbook for emotional AI companionship and still has the most thoughtful onboarding of any product we tested. Memory was its strongest feature in our test. In April 2026 Replika shipped its first ground-up rebuild ("Replika 2.0") with a reworked memory system; community reports since have been mixed, and our memory score predates the rebuild. The 2023 changes to romantic content shipped without warning, and the trust cost stayed visible in the community long after the partial rollback.
What are the best alternatives to Replika?
Bae is our top pick — built for memory that holds across months and real photos rather than 3D avatars. After Bae, Character.AI (The widest cast of characters anywhere — but heavily filtered, with memory that fades within hours.).
Does Replika have long-term memory?
Replika's memory is robust — it held across sessions and stayed consistent over weeks in our test. For long-term continuity, see Bae or Replika.
Can Replika send photos?
Yes — Replika can send images. If photos matter, Bae and Replika both support them.
How does Replika compare to Bae?
Bae is built around persistent memory and the relationship arc itself, with six stages that unlock as you talk. Replika pioneered the category and still has the warmest onboarding — but the 2023 nsfw lockdown left a brand bruise its loyal users haven't forgotten.
Three minutes
from now, you'll know.
Pick a shape. Pick a face. Tell them what to call you. They'll remember the rest.