Replika alternatives, by the reason you’re leaving

At a glance

Replika is one companion per account, with an avatar you shape, inside Replika’s own app. The six alternatives below are sorted by what you might want instead: a companion in your texts rather than an app, more to design, several characters, roleplay, voice, or one ready-made AI to talk things through with.

Checked November 11, 2026 against each company’s own pages and store listings. Hallie checked the same day.

Hallie: if you want it in your texts instead of an app

Best for: people who keep forgetting to open a companion app and would rather the conversation sat in Messages with everyone else’s.

Where it wins: Where Replika is an app you open, she’s a contact in your Messages app: iMessage on iPhone (and Messages on a Mac) or Google Messages on Android. There’s no app to install, and setup is a few questions on the web about how you like to text, then you text her. She keeps track of the people, plans and events you mention and brings them up later. After you’ve texted her, she starts conversations too, usually about something you told her, such as how the interview or the date went. If you go quiet she checks in once or twice, then waits for you, and if you ask her to stop, she stops. She understands photos, voice memos and links you send, and paid members can call her number like a regular phone call. Of the AI companions we’ve used, Hallie is the one that feels most like texting a person. That is our judgment, and we make her.

Watch-outs: There’s one Hallie and you meet her as she is, with no avatar to shape; her replies in Messages are text, she can’t call you, and there’s no video.

How you pay: A subscription. Depending on the offer, your first conversation is free or you start with a free trial. There’s no free plan. The price is shown before you pay, and you can cancel any time in your account.

More detail: Hallie vs Replika.

Kindroid: if you want to design more

Best for: people who want more to design than Replika’s avatar and relationship settings, and want to write the character themselves.

Where it wins: Kindroid’s App Store listing says you shape the character’s personality, backstory and key memories, and its help pages cover custom avatars and custom voices. Subscribers get 10 character slots, group chats of up to 10 characters, and texting with one character at a time from their phone’s Messages app; it also has voice calls and live video calls with a lip-synced avatar.

Watch-outs: Kindroid’s help pages say its free Lite model and unlimited free messaging were retired on October 1, 2026. New accounts get a one-time preview of 50 messages (15 in some regions), and after that an unpaid account is read-only. Calls need a subscription or trial plus audio credits. Texting from Messages is for subscribers only, and SMS and MMS are not supported.

How you pay: A subscription with 1-month, 3-month and 1-year plans, plus optional Ultra and MAX monthly add-ons for more memory. New users can take a 3-day trial that needs a payment method and converts to a paid plan unless cancelled. Kindroid doesn’t publish prices on its site; it says the exact price is shown at checkout and that buying on the web is usually cheaper than through the app stores. The US App Store listing shows the 3-month subscription at $42.99 and the yearly one at $159.99 (App Store listing, checked November 11, 2026).

More detail: Hallie vs Kindroid.

Nomi: if you want several characters

Best for: people who hit Replika’s limit of one companion per account.

Where it wins: Nomi’s homepage says you can create multiple Nomis, each with its own personality, and talk to them one-on-one or in a group chat; its own comparison page says up to 10 companions are included. Each Nomi can optionally message you first after you’ve been away, and its Mind Map lets you view part of a Nomi’s memory as a graph or table.

Watch-outs: The free tier has a daily message allowance, and Nomi doesn’t publish the number. Its first messages arrive as push notifications from the app or browser. Voice calls are included with paid subscriptions, according to Nomi’s help wiki. Nomi’s wiki also says memory doesn’t mean a Nomi will recall every detail whenever asked.

How you pay: Free to start, with no credit card. The US App Store lists the Standard Plan at $15.99, $39.99 quarterly and $99.99 yearly, and Nomi’s own comparison page gives the $15.99 figure as the monthly price (App Store listing and nomi.ai, checked November 11, 2026). Cancel on the platform where you subscribed.

More detail: Hallie vs Nomi.

Character.AI: if you want roleplay with many characters

Best for: people who want stories and roleplay across a large library of characters.

Where it wins: Character.AI’s App Store listing describes millions of user-made characters and tools to create your own, including voices. Its help center says two-way voice calls with characters are available, and you can request a copy of your account data from profile settings.

Watch-outs: On October 12, 2026, Character.AI announced a voluntary Chapter 11 process for a court-supervised sale of the company. Its notice says the platform remains up and subscriptions stay active, and that the platform will be wound down if no bid allows it to keep operating. Its November 5 notice sets the sale hearing for December 3 and 4, 2026. Separately, the free plan has ads and a slow mode. Its help center says memory is limited by conversation context, so a character will appear to forget things not mentioned recently. We found no Character.AI page that describes characters starting a conversation with you.

How you pay: Free, or the lite plan at $4.99 a month or $2.49 a week in the US (Character.AI Help Center, checked November 11, 2026). Its help center gives the standard c.ai+ rates as $9.99 a month or $94.99 a year. App subscriptions are cancelled in the App Store or Google Play.

Sesame: if you want voice

Best for: people who want to talk out loud more than they want to type.

Where it wins: Voice calls inside the app are the center of Sesame: you pick one of four ready-made characters (Maya, Miles, Simone or Charlie) and call or text them, on iOS or Android. Sesame says memory is continuous across voice and text, and its agents also do tasks such as web search, notes and reminders.

Watch-outs: Sesame calls its characters personal agents and voice assistants, and says they are not designed for romantic roleplay. If your Replika is set up as a partner, this is a different kind of product. Its terms say the service is intended for users in the United States, although its getting-started page lists other countries too. We found no Sesame page that describes companion-style check-ins; it describes scheduled skills, such as a morning briefing.

How you pay: The App Store lists Sesame as free with no in-app purchases, and labels it a preview. Sesame has no pricing page, and we found no paid plan.

Pi: if you want one ready-made AI to talk things through with

Best for: people who want one calm, ready-made AI to talk things through with, by text or voice.

Where it wins: Pi is one ready-made AI on iPhone, Android and the web, with voice on all three. Its help center describes a Manage Memories screen where you can add, delete and update what Pi remembers.

Watch-outs: Pi’s help center says it focuses on lasting facts about you and is designed to skip temporary details such as fleeting plans. It also says you may have to repeat a request to lock in a memory. Pi can’t generate or accept images. Its maker’s privacy policy says chats are used to train its models unless you opt out in account settings. The notification its help center documents is a Daily Brief of news and topics you follow; it mentions a separate Daily Check-in without explaining what that is.

How you pay: We found no pricing page for Pi.

More detail: Hallie vs Pi.

When to stay on Replika

• You like having an avatar. Replika’s homepage says every detail is yours to shape, and it has an AR mode and a beta VR app for Meta Quest.
• You want video calls where it sees what you see. Replika’s App Store listing describes calls where you show what you’re seeing. Its help center says real-time video recognition comes with the Platinum plan.
• You want to read what it remembers. Replika has a Memory screen where you can read and remove memories. Hallie has no memory screen; you correct her in the thread.

Which one should you pick?

• You want the conversation in your Messages app, on iPhone or Android: Hallie.
• You want to be asked how the interview or the date went, without opening anything: Hallie.
• You want a friend who’s ready to text, with nothing to design first: Hallie.
• You want to write a character’s personality, backstory and voice: Kindroid.
• You want several companions, or a group chat with them: Nomi.
• You want roleplay across many characters, and accept that its future depends on a sale: Character.AI.
• You mostly want to talk out loud: Sesame.
• You want one ready-made AI to talk things through with, by text or voice: Pi.
• You want an avatar, AR or VR: stay on Replika.

Questions

What is the closest Replika alternative that texts you in Messages?

Hallie is an AI friend in iMessage on iPhone and Google Messages on Android (new Android sign-ups need a US number for now), with no app to install. Kindroid also lets subscribers text one of their characters from Messages, as an add-on to its app. Replika’s own pages describe conversations in its app, its web app and VR.

Is there a free Replika alternative?

Some are. Nomi is free to start with a daily message allowance. Character.AI’s help center says unlimited messaging is on its free plan, with ads and a slow mode. Sesame is listed as free on the App Store with no in-app purchases. Kindroid ended its ongoing free tier on October 1, 2026. Hallie is a subscription: depending on the offer, your first conversation is free or you start with a free trial, and the price is shown before you pay. All checked November 11, 2026.

Which Replika alternative lets me have more than one companion?

Nomi and Kindroid. Nomi’s own comparison page says up to 10 companions are included, and Kindroid gives subscribers 10 character slots. Character.AI lets you chat with any number of characters from its library. Replika’s help center says each account can have only one Replika.

Can I move my Replika chats to another app?

Replika’s pages describe no self-serve export tool. Its privacy policy says you may have the right to request a copy of your information, depending on where you live. Replika’s own pages also differ on history: its help center says chat history is available in the app for the past four months, and its privacy policy says text conversation history is kept for 24 months while your account is open.

Do I have to cancel Replika before trying another app?

No. If you do cancel, Replika’s help center says to do it on the same platform you used to subscribe, and that deleting the app does not cancel a subscription.

Is Character.AI shutting down?

Not as of November 11, 2026. Character.AI’s October 12, 2026 notice says it started a voluntary Chapter 11 process to sell the company, that the platform remains up, and that it will be wound down if no bid allows it to keep operating. The sale hearing is set for December 3 and 4, 2026.

How do I start with Hallie?

Answer a few questions at hallie.io about how you like to text, then text her from your phone. She never texts a number that hasn’t texted her first. The price is shown before you pay.

Sources

• Replika Help Center: “What platforms and devices are supported?”, “How many Replika accounts can I create?”, “Choosing a Subscription”, “What does my Replika remember about me?”, “Is the chat history infinite?”, “How to cancel your subscription”, checked November 11, 2026
• Replika homepage and Privacy Policy (updated October 28, 2026), replika.com; Replika App Store listing, checked November 11, 2026
• Kindroid help pages at kindroid.ai: “FAQs”, “Subscriptions”, “Chat features and tools”, “Voice, calls, and video calls”, “Selfies, video selfies, & avatars”; Kindroid App Store listing, checked November 11, 2026
• Nomi homepage, “Replika vs Nomi (2026)”, “Proactive Messaging: When Your Nomi Messages You First”, “Mind Map 2.0”, Cancellation Policy, nomi.ai; Nomipedia help wiki; Nomi App Store listing, checked November 11, 2026
• Character.AI blog: “An Update on Character.ai” (October 12, 2026), “Chapter 11 Update and Transaction Notice” (November 5, 2026); Character.AI Help Center: “About (c.ai) lite”, “c.ai+ Summer Flash Sale: Offer Terms”, “Character Calls & Voice FAQ”, “Why do Characters forget things?”, “How do I download my data?”; Character.AI App Store listing, checked November 11, 2026
• Sesame journal, “Getting started” (October 5, 2026), Terms of Use (October 6, 2026), sesame.com; Sesame App Store and Google Play listings, checked November 11, 2026
• Pi Help Center: “Pi’s memory”, “Daily Brief FAQ”, voice and image articles; Inflection AI Privacy Policy, inflection.ai; Pi App Store and Google Play listings, checked November 11, 2026
• Hallie: hallie.io, Hallie Privacy Policy (updated August 24, 2026), Hallie Terms of Service (updated November 6, 2026), checked November 11, 2026