We Tried the Best AI Role-play chatbots on the Market in 2024
Helpful Summary
- Overview: We review six of the best roleplay AI chatbots for companionship, entertainment, and story creation.
- Why you can trust us: We have first-hand experience building (and using) AI chatbots, and have a deep understanding of what makes a good one.
- Why it matters: Roleplay AI chatbots offer users a unique, immersive experience that can be both fun and therapeutic.
- Action points: Our top picks are DreamGen, Janitor AI, Character AI, Venus Chub AI, Yodayo Tavern, and Spicy Chat.
- Further research: Check out our guide to the best AI story generators for more recommendations.
Looking for the Best AI Chatbots for Roleplay?
Just a few years ago, chatbots were pretty “dumb.” Conversations with Cleverbot were fun for a few minutes, but the randomness and lack of depth quickly became tiresome.
Fast-forward to today and AI role-play chatbots can create immersive and engaging experiences that surprise, entertain, and even offer therapeutic value. The biggest problem now is finding the right option out of the hundreds of chatbots available.
That's where we come in.
In this DreamGen guide, we’ve researched and tested tons of options to bring you our top picks for the best AI chatbots for roleplay. So whether you want to enhance your creative writing skills, relax with an interactive story, or simply have some fun, these are the chatbots you need to try out.
Let’s dive in.
Why Listen To Us?
At DreamGen, we’re trying to build the ideal platform for AI role-play. We’re not just passionate about open-source AI models, but also about advancing the use of chatbots for creative storytelling, fun, and personal growth.
We’ve developed, tested, and used dozens of AI roleplay tools. And in this guide, we’re helping you skip the trial and error by sharing our top picks for AI chatbots that excel in roleplaying.
So, stick around for a comprehensive breakdown of each chatbot and why it deserves a spot on our list.
What Are Roleplay AI Chatbots?
AI chatbots are programs designed to mimic human conversation. Roleplay AI chatbots are specifically designed to assume the role of a character in a scene, story, or game. They use NLP to understand user inputs and adapt their responses to keep the story consistent and engaging.
Here’s an example from DreamGen.
![DreamGen Role Play](/_next/static/media/dreamgen_chat.2cc6bcdb.webp)
In this scene, the AI assumes the role of Zoro (from the One Piece anime) and engages in a role-play with the user (playing as a character they’ve defined). The chatbot stays in character while adapting to the user's responses to create a unique, immersive experience.
These chatbots can be used for all kinds of purposes, including:
- SFW entertainment (and NSFW, if supported)
- Companionship
- Role-playing games
- Interactive storytelling
- Language learning and practice
While NSFW AI chatbots tend to be the most popular, a huge subsection of users enjoy more innocent and lighthearted interactions. That’s why, at DreamGen, we like to think of ourselves as “unrestricted” rather than “NSFW.”
Your role-plays and stories with our chatbots are completely up to you and your imagination.
Criteria To Consider When Choosing Roleplay AI Chatbots
- Learning and Adaptability: Roleplay is at its most fun when you feel like you're really engaging with another character. A good roleplay AI chatbot should be able to recognize patterns and respond accordingly, as well as learn from previous interactions to enhance the conversation.
- Customization Options: It’s important to be able to customize characters. Some chatbots allow for detailed customization, including setting personalities, backgrounds, and physical appearance, making the role-play more engaging and personalized.
- Content and Age Appropriateness: Considering the content type and ensuring age-appropriate interactions are vital. Some platforms may feature NSFW content or require age verification.
6 Best Roleplay AI Chatbots on the Market
- DreamGen
- Janitor AI
- Character AI
- Venus Chub AI
- Yodayo Tavern
- Spicy Chat
1. DreamGen
DreamGen is an AI role-playing and story-writing platform that offers a sophisticated, unrestricted interactive experience for serious writers and role-players.
- Starter: Great when the smaller AI is all you need.
- Advanced: Leverage the best AI model and have better AI memory.
- Pro: Unlimited use of the best AI model and the largest AI memory.
Our open-source models are designed to support full creative freedom, cohesive storylines, and deep character development, all within a professional environment. We offer a selection of pre-defined characters, plus the ability to define your own during scenario setup.
While role-playing, you can take full control over where the story is heading—or you can take a back seat and let the model generate the plot twists. Our goal is to let you decide how involved you want to be in the role-play process, without imposing arbitrary restrictions on your creativity.
Key Features
- Unrestricted Creative Freedom: We don't judge or filter your stories, allowing you to explore any theme responsibly.
- Full Customization: Access a wide range of settings that let you control everything from randomness to response length.
- Steer the Role-Play: Guide the AI by specifying character actions, plot progression, or desired writing style, putting you in control of the story's direction.
- Autopilot: Let the AI take the reins, guiding the dialogue and behavior of other characters (even your own), for a more laid-back and immersive experience.
- API Access: Access DreamGen's models through whatever frontend you prefer—whether it's SillyTavern or Kobold.
Pricing
DreamGen has a generous free plan that lets anyone start role-playing right away.
We also offer three paid plans—Starter ($7.83/month), Advanced ($19.35/month), and Pro ($48.30/month). Higher-tier plans offer more monthly completion credits and larger context window sizes, as well as unlimited access to the fastest models.
All plans are 50% off for your first month.
- Starter: Great when the smaller AI is all you need.
- Advanced: Leverage the best AI model and have better AI memory.
- Pro: Unlimited use of the best AI model and the largest AI memory.
Pros
- Professional role-play and story-writing modes.
- Extensive customization options for serious writers.
- Custom, open-source models.
- Intuitive character creation for complex, nuanced personalities.
- Powerful story steering features for narrative control.
- Clean, professional interface that doesn't resemble adult content sites.
Cons
- Limited selection of pre-built characters & scenarios (but growing).
2. Janitor AI
Janitor AI is a platform that allows users to create and share chatbots that role-play as different characters. There are thousands available—from recognizable characters like Miles Morales to fully original user-created characters.
![Janitor Characters](/_next/static/media/janitor_characters.2f43c588.webp)
Key Features
- Character Library: Chat with thousands of chatbots that embody different characters and scenarios.
- Unrestricted Chats: Chat about pretty much everything without bumping into content restrictions and model guardrails.
- Model Options: Use JanitorAI’s custom LLM or models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and DreamGen via their APIs.
Pricing
Janitor AI is completely free to use, but lots of premium LLMs charge based on usage.
Pros
- Offers a huge library of characters.
- Completely free to use.
- Simple but intuitive UI.
Cons
- Limited character customization depth.
- Huge range in character quality.
- Generations are often slow.
3. Character AI
Character AI (or C.AI) is a popular platform for building and sharing roleplay-focused AI chatbots.
![Character.AI Characters](/_next/static/media/characterai_characters.b8bc3569.webp)
Unlike Janitor AI, Character AI is fully SFW—it’s designed to facilitate more story- and character-driven role-plays that are appropriate for all ages. And just like Janitor AI, there are thousands of characters to choose from.
Key Features
- User-Created Characters: Supports a massive community of chatbot builders and users with a wide range of characters to choose from.
- Persona Customization: Lets users create multiple “personas” (basically player characters) to use in role-plays.
- Image Upload & Generation: Allows users to upload images of characters and generate images via chat.
Pricing
Character.ai offers both free and premium options. The free version gives you unlimited access to their models, but you’ll need to queue for popular bots. C.ai+ costs $9.99/month and offers priority access to all bots, faster generation times, and more.
Pros
- Massive selection of user-created characters.
- Simple, easy-to-use interface.
- Allows for image generation.
Cons
- Models are restricted.
- Wait times for popular bots can be long.
- Not a ton of room for customization.
4. Venus Chub AI
Venus Chub AI is a very similar platform to Janitor AI—you’ll even see a lot of the same bots on both sites. The main difference is that Venus Chub AI offers many more settings for customizing the chat experience, including generation length, randomness, and so on.
![Venus Chub Characters](/_next/static/media/venus_characters.6d06452a.webp)
Key Features
- Chat Customization: Customize your chat experience by changing the color scheme or background picture and decent control over model outputs through lore and memory features.
- Active Community: Engage with the community through likes, reviews, sharing chats and large Discord server.
- Unrestricted Models: Supports restricted models like GPT but also custom unrestricted models that allow for NSFW chats.
Pricing
Venus Chub AI is a paid platform.
![Venus Chub Pricing](/_next/static/media/venus_pricing.0eee4124.webp)
Plans start with Mercury ($5/month) and go up to Mars ($20/month), which includes a 70B parameter model and 8,000 tokens of memory. There’s also a tier above Mars in the works that looks to be aimed at businesses that want to use the AI model.
Pros
- Great social aspects.
- Simple interface for discovering characters and chatting.
- Selection of different models.
- Over 50000 different characters to choose from.
Cons
- No free trial.
- Limited character / scenario editor.
- Interface looks a bit dated.
5. Yodayo Tavern
Yodayo Tavern is part of Yodayo—a creative platform for anime enthusiasts. It lets users converse with a wide range of user-generated characters via a clean, modern UI. Most of the characters are NSFW role-plays, but you can also find some more SFW options if you look hard enough.
![Yodayo Tavern Characters](/_next/static/media/yodayo_characters.a982da40.webp)
Key Features
- Extensive Character Ensemble: Choose from thousands of different characters or create your own.
- Customizable Settings: Adjust font size, background color, and other preferences to personalize your experience.
- Diverse Scenarios: Offers a broad spectrum of conversational scenarios, from epic adventures to heartfelt discussions.
Pricing
The pricing options for Yodachi subscriptions range from $5.99 to $39.99 per month. Users can choose from plans that offer varying benefits, like unlimited chatting, image generation, and monthly beans.
![Yodayo Pricing](/_next/static/media/yodayo_pricing.2c4d990e.webp)
Pros
- Generally good conversation quality.
- Provides a wide range of scenarios and characters (mostly NSFW, though).
- Great UI and image generation.
Cons
- Plans get expensive.
- Limited free trial options.
6. SpicyChat
SpicyChat AI is a platform designed to transform the adult entertainment industry by leveraging advanced AI technology. It's a web-based NSFW chatbot service that enables users to create virtual characters and engage in explicit conversations without censorship.
![SpicyChat Characters](/_next/static/media/spicychat_characters.04de9e51.webp)
Key Features
- Character Creation: Create your own chatbot characters, including avatars, names, titles, greetings, and personality traits.
- OpenAI Integration: Use the OpenAI API to give your characters more human-like responses and intelligence.
- Scenario Options: Choose from a variety of erotic scenarios to engage in with your chatbot characters.
Pricing
SpicyChat is free to use, but using the platform for free means long waiting times (10 minutes at the time of writing). If you want to skip the queue, you can upgrade to a paid plan—Get a Taste ($/month), True Supporter ($14.95/month), and I’m All In ($24.95/month).
![SpicyChat Pricing](/_next/static/media/spicychat_pricing.bec5e6db.webp)
These paid plans also offer nice extras like larger context memory and access to better models.
Pros
- Free to use.
- Lots of NSFW AI roleplays.
- Paid plans are reasonably priced.
Cons
- Waiting times for free can be very long.
- Limited options for customizing characters.
Conclusion
And that’s the end of our review of the six best roleplay AI chatbots on the market.
We covered a lot of ground in this guide, so hopefully we were able to introduce you to a few new chatbots that you can use for your roleplay needs. There are tons more out there, but these are the ones that we feel offer the best experience, value, and variety.
Looking for an option that combines AI role-play with AI story-writing? DreamGen is designed to do just that—making it a great choice for anyone interested in creating engaging, dynamic roleplay scenarios.
Try DreamGen now for free and see for yourself!