Poly.AI chatbot review: eight months, then a new name

Poly.AI, launched in 2023 by CLOUD WHALE INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGY LLC, was a character hub built for roleplay and companion chat, and it now goes by the name PolyBuzz. The old name is closed. If a search sent you here for "Poly AI" or the store listing "Poly.AI - Create AI Chat Bot", you are looking at an earlier chapter of PolyBuzz.

My quick take: it was a generous free home for fandom roleplay, with a content ceiling I kept bumping into. Here is what this page covers:

• My eight months in the free fandom library, and what it did well
• The suggestive-only level, and where it stopped my scenes
• Why I will not quote a price under the old name
• Cancelling, privacy and billing if you subscribed back then
• Where I would go today instead

If you are shopping for a character app anyway, my CrushOn AI review is worth opening in a second tab.

What I cannot give you is a number. The free tier was not researched separately under the Poly.AI name, so no message count, image allowance or sign-up rule is on file here, and I will not fill that gap from memory. Everything current now belongs to PolyBuzz.

The Poly.AI (former name of PolyBuzz) at a glance box shows how thin the old record is: web, iOS and Android, a soft content policy and a closed status.

My advice: treat any old free-tier claim you see under the Poly.AI name as history, not a promise. If you want a companion app whose free start is written down today, even a small one, Candy AI and its 5-message free start at least tells you the number: its help centre says a free user can send up to 5 messages. Small, but honest.

For a fan, that is the whole game: a character who knows the world as well as you do, and plays along without breaking it.

I like a character hub for another reason too. A big library means you are not handed one default partner and one set of assumptions about who you want to talk to. You browse, you pick a side character nobody else cares about, and the story is yours. As a queer reader, I value that kind of room above any list of features.

What I cannot give you is a clean feature table. Memory, voice calls, images, custom characters and group chat are all blank in the Poly.AI record, so I will not claim any of them. My own notes are about the library and the lore, not about how long the bot remembered things, so I am not going to invent a memory verdict either.

The honest summary: for fandom roleplay on a free account, Poly.AI was a good place to spend an evening, and for eight months it was one of my regular ones. The limits showed up elsewhere, in the content level and later in the rename, and I cover both below.

If you want to know why I stick to official pages for everything outside my own notes, my page on how I check the apps explains it. That's why this review carries more "not on file" lines than most, and I would rather you had those than a guessed number.

I have accepted that fandom brain and censor filters are natural enemies. It is a truce I signed reluctantly. If you write the kind of fan fiction where the slow burn eventually burns, a soft policy will frustrate you the same way it frustrated me.

To be fair, a soft level has real upsides. It keeps a shared screen safe, it keeps a big library broad and friendly, and for adventure, mystery or slice-of-life roleplay you may never touch the ceiling at all.

What I will not do is tell you about a setting that changes the level. No content toggle, mode or filter menu is named in the Poly.AI record. When a review promises that you can "just switch it off" on an app whose settings are not on file, be sceptical. Believing that is the fastest way to pay for a feature nobody built.

My advice: decide your content level first, then pick the app. If Suggestive suits you, the renamed app may still be your place. If it does not, go straight to an app whose policy allows adult content.

My full index of app reviews lists each app's content level in plain terms, so you can filter before you fall for a library.

For today, nothing is on file under the Poly.AI name: no plans, no token prices, no packs. That is not the same as a free app; it is a blank record, and the token rules simply point to PolyBuzz. Old app names linger in search results, store listings and bookmarks.

If you tap a link called "Poly AI" and land on a checkout, you are paying the current app's prices, not anything from my Poly.AI months.

For comparison, here is what the apps with real records charge on their cheapest monthly plan. Candy AI asks €13.99 for its 1-Month Plan, GirlfriendGPT Premium runs $15.00 a month, a month of Nomi AI Standard costs $15.99, and OurDream AI tops the group at $19.99 for Standard Monthly. Those are the numbers I would hold any renamed app against.

What I would tell a friend: start free, keep your card out of it for a few evenings, and pay only once the characters and the level suit you. And be honest with yourself about the ceiling. If the soft level is the problem for you, as it was for my romantic scenes, no plan will fix that.

If variety is what you are after, a big cast matters more than any single feature, and my roundup of AI chat character apps compares the character hubs on exactly that.

What I would keep in mind before paying anywhere:

• The Poly.AI record has no price, so any old price you see is not a guide
• The free allowance is not on file under this name
• The billing name on your statement is not recorded for Poly.AI
• The refund rule is not recorded either, so start monthly, never yearly

If group chat and a clearer content line appeal to you, OurDream AI, reviewed in full, has a plan that is fully on record: Standard Monthly at $19.99, with adult content allowed and chat at 1 Dreamcoin per message. Its free plan lists 55 Dreamcoins to start, though its help centre says it does not currently offer free dreamcoins, so that number may change.

My own rule for an app that has changed names: pay for one month, read the statement when it arrives, and consider anything longer only after that. Boring, yes. It also keeps a rebrand from turning into a surprise charge.

What I would do in your place: since the app ran on iOS and Android, check the subscription list of the store you paid through, under either name, Poly.AI or PolyBuzz. If you paid on the web, find your plan on the current app's account page. Above all, do not assume a closed name means a closed subscription. A renamed app can keep billing as normal.

Keep real names, addresses and photos of yourself out of any chat app. That costs nothing and protects you whatever a policy says. The statement name is not on file for Poly.AI either, so if a discreet bank line matters to you, pay through an app store you already use.

What bothers me is the paper trail: the company on file for the old name may differ from whoever bills you today, so read the current terms before paying. And if the soft level is what sent you looking, my uncensored AI shortlist covers apps with a very different ceiling.

• Nomi AI, if you want to be remembered: memory is listed, and the free tier allows 50 messages daily with a 400-character ceiling on each.
• GirlfriendGPT, if you like knowing your count: you get 30 coins and 20 non-expiring bonus messages when you join, plus 10 a day through Daily Login.
• OurDream AI, if the soft ceiling was your problem: adult content is allowed rather than paid-only, and group chat is listed.
• Candy AI, for readers who already plan to pay for voice calls, since its free start is tiny.

My lean, as a fandom reader who hit the ceiling: OurDream AI if content level is the reason you left, Nomi AI if you want a companion more than a cast.

For a character library to compare with what Poly.AI offered, my SpicyChat review is the next page I would read. Go in with the same three questions: free allowance, content level, billing name.

One money note before you choose. Candy AI refunds only within 24 hours of payment for users outside the EU and UK, while Nomi AI calls payments nonrefundable. OurDream AI offers a 14-day Quality Guarantee, decided case by case.

Start free wherever you land, keep your card in your pocket for a few evenings and pay monthly before you ever pay yearly. The FAQ below covers the rest: the rename, who made it, the content level, cost and cancelling an old plan.