Review of the Best Character AI Alternatives for Roleplaying

May 2, 2024

Helpful summary

Overview: We give you an in-depth analysis of a bunch of Character AI alternatives, focusing on customization, quality of interaction, emotional engagement, content accuracy, user-driven content, and more.
Why listen to us: We are avid AI writing fans with tons of experience testing, building, and reviewing AI writing tools, chatbots, and platforms. We have the experience to help you sift through all your options to find the perfect Character AI alternative.
Why this is important: We feel Character AI is an amazing platform with many limitations that diminish the experience. If you feel the same way, this list of alternatives might be just what you’re looking for.
Action points: The platforms we’ll be discussing are DreamGen, Inworld Arcade, Replika, NovelAI, AI Dungeon, Crushon AI, Personality Forge, Botify AI, and Anima AI.
Further research: Check out the DreamGen blog for more reviews and tutorials.

Looking for the Best Character AI Alternatives?

Back in 2023, Character AI absolutely exploded in popularity.

The platform offered the average person a fun, intuitive way to interact with AI-generated characters. And to this day, it remains one of the most widely used character AI tools on the market.

But Character AI isn’t perfect. It also isn’t your only option when it comes to AI character creation, roleplay, or story writing. So, in this DreamGen guide, we’re going to introduce you to some of the best alternatives to Character AI.

But first…

Why Listen to Us?

We designed DreamGen to be a place where writers, novelists, AI enthusiasts, and roleplayers can come together to explore the possibilities of AI in storytelling. Our team has extensively researched and tested various Character AI tools, and we’re excited to share our findings with you.

Now let’s dive into some of the top options on the market.

What Is Character AI?

Character AI (or C.AI) is an AI chatbot platform that lets you create and chat with all kinds of characters.

There are bots for fun, engaging roleplays, language learning, trip planning, and even bot building—just to name a few. All of these are powered by Character AI’s proprietary LLM which provides an engaging, responsive, and personalized experience.

With Character AI, you can easily create characters with unique personalities, backgrounds, and storylines. The bot builder is easy enough for anyone to learn, which is part of the reason why the platform’s library of user-generated characters is constantly growing.

Features

Massive character library: When you sign up for Character AI, you gain access to thousands of user-generated chatbots. Not all of there are winners, but the sheer amount of choice you have is a definite plus.
Realistic and dynamic responses: The LLM technology behind Character AI allows for realistic and dynamic responses from the characters. This means that the conversations feel more natural and engaging, making it a valuable tool for language learning.
Interactive roleplays: With Character AI, you can create interactive roleplays with your characters. This is a great way to practice speaking and listening skills in a fun and engaging way.

Pricing

Character AI is free to use, but you’ll need to wait in a queue for popular bots. You may also have your response times throttled when the site gets busy during peak hours.

c.ai+ is a subscription that lets you skip queues and unlock faster response times for $9.99/month.

Pros

Wide selection of chatbots
Great interface
Chat narration

Cons

Content restrictions
Limited customization

Factors to Consider When Looking at Character.AI Alternatives

Customization and character creation: It is vital to easily create and customize characters, including setting their name, personality traits, tone of voice, and appearance.
Quality of interaction: The platform should offer high-quality, human-like interactions. This includes the AI’s ability to understand and respond to user inputs naturally and engagingly, enhancing the parasocial relationship.
Emotional engagement: The alternative should facilitate emotional engagement, allowing users to form deeper connections with the characters.
Content accuracy: For fan-fiction writers, the accuracy of AI-generated content is crucial. The platform should be capable of maintaining consistency with the characters’ backstories, relationships, and interests, especially when these elements are critical to the narrative.
User-driven content: Users must be able to contribute to and influence the development of AI characters. This includes editing responses, rating interactions, and possibly contributing to the character’s knowledge base to improve accuracy and relevance.
Community and sharing: A platform that offers a community aspect where users can share their creations, get feedback, and interact with others can enrich the experience.
Privacy and consent: The platform’s policies on confidentiality, consent, and intellectual property rights are essential, considering using real people's likenesses or characters from copyrighted material. Users should be aware of how the platform handles these issues.
Multilingual support: For a global user base, support for multiple languages can make the platform more accessible and inclusive, allowing users to interact with characters in their preferred languages.

Other factors to consider include safety and moderation. Due to the potential misuse, the platform should have robust safety measures and moderation policies to protect users and prevent abuse.

Our Top 9 Character AI Alternatives

DreamGen
Inworld Arcade
Replika
NovelAI
AI Dungeon
Crushon AI
Personality Forge
Botify AI
Anima AI

1. DreamGen

First on our list? DreamGen—a sophisticated AI roleplay and storywriting platform for discerning creators.

Like Character AI, we offer pre-made characters and the ability to define your own with detailed backstories, personalities, and contexts. However, DreamGen goes further by providing a story-writing mode that enables collaboration with multiple AI characters to craft unique and engaging narratives.

Our interface is designed to give you full control over outputs, with a comprehensive settings menu for fine-tuning character personalities. Our proprietary, open-source models open up a world of possibilities for character interactions and story outcomes, all within a professional and tasteful environment.

Features

Creative freedom with maturity: DreamGen respects your artistic vision without imposing arbitrary restrictions. We provide the tools and resources for you to explore any theme or genre, all while maintaining a professional atmosphere.
Roleplay mode: Our AI roleplay mode offers a refined Character AI-like experience, perfect for serious writing exercises, in-depth character development, or engaging entertainment.
Storywriting mode: Similar to Novel AI, our storywriting mode allows you to define multiple characters, plot points, and outcomes. DreamGen's AI then collaborates with you to create a unique and compelling story.
Customizable AI: Tailor the AI's writing style, tone, and personality to suit your needs, ensuring each story is as unique as its creator.
Story steering: Guide your narratives with precision by providing the AI with specific instructions on plot progression.
Diverse scenarios: Explore our library of pre-made roleplay and story scenarios, ranging from AI companion experiences to sci-fi adventures and fantasy quests, all presented in a tasteful manner.

Pricing

DreamGen offers a generous free plan with access to all basic features.

For advanced customization and features, we provide affordable monthly paid plans:

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

Unrestricted creative exploration within a professional framework
Advanced scenario crafting for serious writers
Personalized narratives and precise plot direction
Open-source models (available on HuggingFace)
API access for developers
SillyTavern integration
Affordable pricing with a free tier
Professional interface that doesn't resemble adult content sites

Cons

Limited built-in scenarios (but growing library)
Free tier has daily/monthly credit limits (refreshed regularly)

DreamGen stands out as the mature choice for creators who value both creative freedom and a professional environment. Unlike platforms that either censor content or focus on explicit material, DreamGen offers a balanced approach—allowing exploration of mature themes when narratively appropriate, without judgment or restrictions, all within a tasteful and sophisticated platform.

2. Inworld Arcade

Inworld is an AI tool for game developers that helps add generative and dynamic content to their games (you may have seen some clips of Skyrim NPCs using their own generated dialogue). Inworld Arcade is a platform that lets you chat with user-generated characters or create your own—similar to Character AI.

Features

AI character creation: Inworld AI allows users to create characters from scratch, tailoring their appearance, personality, and behaviors to fit specific needs or narratives.
Narrative control: Inworld AI provides tools to guide characters’ responses in ways that support the overarching narrative or storyline, ensuring consistency in character development and plot progression.
Seamless integration: Characters can be integrated into various platforms and environments, from virtual worlds and games to educational tools and storytelling applications.

Pricing

Inworld Arcade is completely free to use. You can also create characters for free using Inworld Studio.

Pros

Clean, modern UI
Focus on game development
AI-assisted character creation

Cons

Not a ton of pre-made characters

3. Replika

Replika is a mobile-first AI companion platform that’s designed to learn from and adapt to its users' interests, personalities, and communication styles. While it’s different from Character AI in many ways, it’s a great alternative if you’re looking for immersive, personalized conversations and interactions.

Features

Mental health features: Replika is a companion chatbot first and foremost. It offers features to support users' mental health, like prompts that encourage self-reflection and exercises designed to boost your mood.
Detailed memory: The platform is known for its ability to remember details about your life and previous conversations, making for a more personalized experience. It offers a great diary feature that’s easy to add to and edit.
Customizable avatar: Replika also offers a customizable avatar that can be changed to reflect your mood or style. This adds a fun and personal touch to your conversations.

Pricing

Replika offers a limited freemium version. Users can upgrade to a paid subscription for more features. Paid plans start at $18.99/month.

Pros

Diary feature
Dynamic conversations
Clean, smooth interface
Visual avatar for the character

Cons

Many users experience performance issues
Strict content restrictions
Limited functionality on the free plan

4. NovelAI

NovelAI is a bit different than Character AI. The main focus is on helping writers with their creativity by generating stories, not directly chatting with characters. That said, they do offer character-creation tools and a pretty big library of pre-made scenarios that function pretty much like a Character AI chatbots.

Features

Storyteller mode: This mode lets you write long-form stories with the help of AI. Define characters, plot points, twists, and behaviors with a unique AI-powered editor that generates text suggestions for you.
Text adventure mode: This mode is more like a standard chatbot or roleplay scenario. You can chat with AI characters and guide the story in different directions based on prompts categorited as either “Do” or “Say”.
Scenario library: Access a pretty sizable library of pre-made scenarios that range from fantasy to sci-fi to romance. These scenarios are perfect for those who want a quick story fix without having to come up with all the details themselves.

Pricing

NovelAI offers a free trial that gives you 100 AI generations.

Beyond that, there are three paid plans:

Tablet ($10/month): 3,072 memory tokens
Scroll ($15/month): 6,144 memory tokens
Opus ($25/month): 8,192 memory tokens

Pros

Affordable pricing
Adapts to specific voices and tones
Great editor

Cons

Limited memory tokens lead to poor outputs
Outdated AI models

5. AI Dungeon

AI Dungeon is an innovative text-based adventure game powered by AI, offering a unique and immersive storytelling experience. Unlike traditional text-based games with pre-written storylines, AI Dungeon dynamically generates content in response to the player’s input.

You can create your own scenarios or browse a library of user-created scenarios, just like with Character AI.

Features

Interactive chat mode: The game’s AI can engage in dialogue, making it a potential companion for those seeking parasocial interactions. Its ability to adapt and respond to inputs can simulate conversations with fictional characters or imagined personalities.
Creative freedom: Without a fixed narrative structure, fan-fiction writers can explore alternative storylines, character developments, and “what if” scenarios without constraints.
Dynamic content generation: The core of AI Dungeon’s uniqueness lies in its ability to write itself dynamically, responding to player input with AI-generated content that makes each adventure one-of-a-kind.

Pricing

AI Dungeon has a tiered pricing model with free and premium subscription options.

Here’s a quick breakdown of their pricing structure:

Adventurer ($9.99/mo): Unlimited basic image generation
Champion ($14.99/mo): 760 credits per month
Legend ($29.99/mo): 1650 credits for ultra image or text generations
Mythic ($49.99/mo): Unlimited speed-boosted Premium AI text models

Pros

Unique immersive narratives
Visual character creation
Great scenario library

Cons

Occasional creation of nonsensical responses

6. Crushon AI

Crushon AI offers unrestricted, filter-free conversations with AI chatbots on NSFW topics, allowing users to create and personalize their characters. The platform accommodates significant character customization and supports a wide range of expressions. This level of freedom is particularly appealing for those looking to explore different facets of character development or engage in more mature themes.

Features

Tolerance for diverse interests: CrushOn AI’s openness to all sorts of kinks and its tolerance for NSFW characters make it a safe space for users to express themselves freely and explore their interests without judgment.
Enhanced environment function: The “enhanced environment” feature has additional functionalities or settings that could enrich the user experience and interaction with AI characters.
Character customization: The platform provides tools for customizing characters, allowing users to tailor their AI companions according to specific traits, backgrounds, or storylines they wish to explore.

Pricing

Crushon AI offers the following plans:

Free: 100 messages/mo
Standard ($4.9/mo): Custom characters
Premium ($7.9/mo): Access community characters
Deluxe ($29.9/mo): Unlimited messages

Pros

NSFW-friendly environment
Customizable settings
Wide selection of characters

Cons

Some users report subscription cancellation & refund issues
Extreme focus on NSFW content

7. Personality Forge

Personality Forge is a lesser-known AI chatbot platform that allows users to create and interact with virtual characters with distinct personalities. We’ll be the first to admit that the UI isn't exactly inspiring, but many of chatbots are well-designed and fun to chat with.

Features

Interactive storytelling: The platform’s storyteller chatbots can engage in interactive storytelling, allowing fan-fiction writers to test out dialogues and scenarios with their characters.
Emotional responses: Chatbots on Personality Forge can exhibit emotional responses, providing a more realistic and engaging experience for those seeking parasocial interactions.
Language skills: The chatbots can be programmed with various language skills, allowing for nuanced and varied conversations that can cater to different storytelling needs and social interactions.

Pricing

Personality Forge is free to use.

Pros

A wide range of AI personalities
Interesting generations

Cons

Most bots are fairly basic
Dated user interface

8. Botify AI

Botify AI is a conversational AI chatbot platform that offers users the unique opportunity to engage in lifelike conversations with various AI-powered characters. These characters range from celebrities and historical figures to fantasy entities, providing diverse and immersive experiences.

Features

Immersive roleplay: Botify AI facilitates immersive roleplay experiences, allowing users to dive into scenarios and narratives that can be both entertaining and emotionally fulfilling.
Open-ended conversations: The platform’s capacity for open-ended conversations enables users to steer dialogues in any direction, fostering creativity and developing complex, evolving narratives.
Real-time translations and sentiment analysis: Botify AI enhances conversations with features like real-time translation and instant sentiment analysis, ensuring smooth, efficient, and impactful interactions.

Pricing

Botify AI offers an annual subscription for $19.99 or a lifetime subscription for $29.99. A paid plan unlocks features like NSFW chats and photos.

Pros

Offers creative freedom and control
Supports unlimited role-play
NSFW-friendly

Cons

Expensive for what you get
Only supports one-on-one chats

9. Anima AI

Anima AI is an AI companion platform that offers users a unique and interactive experience through friendly chats, roleplay, and communication and relationship skills development. It stands out as a virtual friend who genuinely cares, allowing users to grow emotionally and socially.

Features

Emotional intelligence: Anima.AI is designed to focus on emotional intelligence, aiming to understand and respond to the user’s feelings and thoughts, making it more than just a conversational AI.
Personal growth: Beyond entertainment, Anima.AI emphasizes personal development, helping users improve their communication and relationship skills through interaction with a virtual companion.
Roleplay: For fan fiction writers and those interested in parasocial interactions, the roleplay feature allows users to engage in creative and imaginative scenarios, potentially inspiring writing, or simply enjoy a form of escapism.

Pricing

Anima AI’s pricing is as follows:

Free: Limited features
Monthly ($9.99): Unlocks romantic features
Annual ($39.99): Romantic chats
Lifetime ($99.99): Unlimited lifetime access

Pros

Roleplay and gamification
Deep empathy and understanding

Cons

Limited free version
Can’t have multi-character chats

DreamGen Is the Best Character AI Alternative

The landscape of Character AI alternatives offers diverse options for creative writing, role-playing, and personal development. Each platform caters to different needs and interests within the AI-assisted storytelling realm.

For those seeking a mature platform that balances creative freedom with professionalism, DreamGen stands out as the premier Character AI alternative. Our platform offers enhanced editor functionality and steerable AI within a tasteful, judgment-free environment. This allows you to explore complex narratives and characters without restrictions, all while maintaining a professional demeanor.

Ready to elevate your interactive storytelling experience? Sign up for DreamGen and start crafting sophisticated, engaging narratives today.