Chub AI alternative picks: 13 apps side by side

Dream Companion is a character hub whose image generation reviews single out as a main strength, with a Premium plan that costs $5.84 a month billed yearly. Lovescape is worth a look for chip-free text chat on its Lite model plus video tools once you pay.

The ten apps below my top three share the basics you'd want from a replacement: a character hub, roleplay and a policy that allows adult content. SpicyChat has a huge community library as well, while Nomi AI and Candy AI are companion apps built around characters you make. If your characters lean toward a drawn style, my anime AI chat list is a good companion to this page.

Next comes what you can do with a character: make your own, generate images of it, add voice or video, and put several characters in one chat. Then the free start. Does the app publish what free users get, and can you use it before paying? Then the price of the plan worth buying, including coins, chips or credits. Last, the fine print: who runs the app, how you cancel and whether a refund is possible.

The order weighs these facts from each app's official pages, with outside reviews on memory and quality where the pages are silent. It is not based on hands-on testing, and I'd rather you knew that. If deep scenario play is your main use, my AI chat roleplay picks rank apps on that alone.

If free text chat matters most, Lovescape and Gening AI both let you start without paying, and Gening AI even allows chat without logging in. If you'd like to edit any character's persona and first messages, CrushChat. The other five, HammerAI, Privee AI, Backyard AI, ChatUp AI and CraveU AI, sit in the tables.

HammerAI's 600 messages a day make it one of the most generous free Chub AI alternatives here. For long-form stories, see my NSFW AI story generator picks.

Free comes with ads, possible queues, 4K memory and replies capped at 180 tokens. The paid ladder is cheaper than Chub AI's Mars at $20: Get a Taste costs $5.95 a month and adds a memory manager and no queues, True Supporter at $19.95 brings semantic memory 2.0, 8K context and in-chat images, and Im All In at $29.95 reaches 32K context. The image tool offers anime or semi-realistic styles with LoRA scaling, which tinkerers will like.

The catches: outside reviews found images of one character inconsistent, group chat is unconfirmed, and a 2/5 Trustpilot score reflects complaints about repeated replies. Refunds are for exceptional cases.

Skip it if image consistency matters most. For the full tier breakdown, see my SpicyChat review.

• Starting free: Free tier
• Lowest price: $5.00 monthly (Get a Taste)
• Allowed: mature chat permitted
• Runs on: web

For the technical crowd, there's a detail I didn't expect: Nomi has an official API that links your Nomi to apps and websites you build, including rooms with several Nomis. What it costs isn't stated on the pages checked. It runs on the web, iOS and Android, which Chub AI's web-only setup doesn't match.

The free plan never expires: 50 messages a day, up to 400 characters, no ads. Standard costs $15.99 a month or $99.99 a year ($8.33 monthly) and adds unlimited messages, voice calls and 40 image credits a day. Adult text chat is allowed, but images stay clothed on every tier, and refunds aren't given for dissatisfaction or unused time.

Skip it if browsing community characters is the heart of it. For memory and group chats in depth, see my Nomi AI review.

• Starting free: Free tier, 50 free messages daily
• Lowest price: $8.33 monthly (Standard Plan Yearly)
• Allowed: mature chat permitted
• Runs on: web, ios, android

On price it undercuts Mars. The 1-Month Plan is €13.99, the 3-Month Plan €26.97, and the 12-Month Plan €47.88, or €3.99 a month, all with the same perks and 100 tokens monthly. Images cost 2 or 4 tokens, voice about 3 tokens a minute and a short video clip 12, per outside sources. Adult content is paid-only.

The free start is like Chub AI's trial: a taste, not a plan, with up to 5 messages in total. Memory is the bigger catch for roleplayers, reported to hold for roughly 10 to 20 messages before details slip, and group chat isn't confirmed. Outside the EU and UK, refunds close 24 hours after payment.

Skip it if you run long, multi-character stories. The token costs are laid out in my Candy AI review.

• Starting free: Free tier
• Lowest price: €3.99 monthly (12-Month Plan)
• Allowed: mature chat, paid plans
• Runs on: web

Free use is the weak point. The official FAQ admits free accounts can only be offered in a limited way, and no free numbers are published. I'd plan on paying if you stay.

The official pricing page confirms one plan, Deluxe, at €49.90 a month, covering unlimited 70B-model chat plus unlimited images and voice, with video charged per use in Souls. Two cheaper plans, Just Chatting at €11.99 and Premium at €24.99, appear only in outside reviews. I wouldn't bank on them until the official page lists them.

Reviews are mixed on quality. They call the images fun, but say memory holds a scene within a session rather than across weeks, the voice sounds flat and monotone, and if you generate a lot of images, the credits drain quicker than the sticker price implies. The refund policy page couldn't be read, so I'd assume there's no refund.

Skip it if a low monthly price matters. If adult chat is the main reason you used Chub AI, my NSFW AI chat rankings are built around that.

• Starting free: Free tier
• Lowest price: €11.99 monthly (Just Chatting)
• Allowed: mature chat permitted
• Runs on: web

The free tier is thin: per the Terms, free users can create 1 character and send a limited number of messages, typically between 10 and 20 in total, before interaction is restricted. That's a test drive, not a plan.

Premium is the one I'd buy. It's $11.99 a month, or $69.99 a year (about $5.84 a month), and it includes 6,000 text messages, 100 Dream Coins a month, custom characters, in-chat images, video and voice messages. Ultimate at $44.99 a month adds unlimited messages, 800 Dream Coins and voice calls, but I'd only move up if 6,000 messages runs out.

The catch is memory, and the reports don't agree. One review says key details need repeating in longer chats, while another describes good long-term memory with unprompted recall across several days. I'd expect something in between. The voice holds up on a short line, loses its human feel on longer replies, and video is a short extra.

Refunds come only in limited cases, reviewed by support. Billing shows as Miracle AI, and you cancel from Settings. Skip it if you need voice calls on a budget. If you're after a steady partner rather than a hub, my AI girlfriend picks fit better.

• Starting free: Free tier
• Lowest price: $5.84 monthly (Premium)
• Allowed: mature chat permitted
• Runs on: web

Don't mistake that for a full free plan, though. The official pages publish no free limits, outside sources disagree on them, and reviews describe the free account as a preview, since media costs more chips than you start with.

Premium is $19.99 a month, $38.97 for 3 months or $95.88 a year, which is $7.99 a month. It brings 600 chips a month, character creation, image and video generation and voice messages. Memory and voice calls are paid features.

Creative Pro at $64.99 a month adds 3,000 chips and advanced chat memory, which I'd only consider if you make a lot of media. There's also a one-payment lifetime plan with 4,000 chips a month.

The catch is chips. Reviews say video is a short photo-to-animation that uses chips fast, and that characters look realistic but their likeness is inconsistent across images. Subscriptions renew automatically, and after you cancel, access runs until the paid term ends.

Skip it if you want predictable costs. For hubs ranked on how few limits they set, my uncensored AI list goes further.

• Starting free: Free tier
• Lowest price: $7.99 monthly (Premium (12 months))
• Allowed: mature chat permitted
• Runs on: web

The free start runs on credits. The price page says 20 free credits a day, while the login dialog promises 30 for logged-in users. At 2 credits per message, that's about 10-15 messages a day. Enough to meet a character, not to live with one.

Paid options are simple. 1 Month is $12.99 and brings 2,000 credits that expire after a month, and 12 Months costs $47.88 once, or $3.99 a month, for 24,000 credits that expire after a year. Both skip the queue and remove ads. I'd start with the month.

The catch is depth. Reviews say long roleplays start repeating themselves after around 30-50 messages, cross-session memory is weak, and voices sound robotic. Images come out better in anime style than realistic style, and moderation stops adult image prompts more often than adult text. No company name appears in the records, and fees are non-refundable once your login has been used.

Skip it if you roleplay for hours at a time. If a bigger free allowance is what you want, my free AI chat roundup has more.

• Starting free: Free tier
• Lowest price: $3.99 monthly (12 Months)
• Allowed: mature chat permitted
• Runs on: web, ios

The free plan is clear, which I like. You get access to all public characters, up to 34 messages a day and up to 2 characters of your own. The pricing page also mentions free Image Playground images, though elsewhere no images are listed for free, so treat that as uncertain.

Silver at $10 a month is the plan I'd pick first. It unlocks unlimited messages, images, audio and character creation, plus the character editing and image requests on messages. Gold at $20 adds voice calls, Story Mode, Talking Avatars (still in alpha), twice the memory capacity and cross-chat memory of user details. If you run long stories, Gold's memory upgrades are what I'd pay the extra $10 for.

Now the catch, and it's a real one. CrushChat is run by an individual developer, not a company: one private person is listed as both the App Store seller and the Google Play developer. Outside evaluators say it is hard to tell who is behind the platform, and a few App Store reviewers call the app untrustworthy.

Refunds are handled manually by the developer, who asks unhappy buyers to get in touch. That personal touch can work, but there is no company policy behind it.

My advice: start on the free plan, buy a single month when you do pay, and leave personal details out of your chats. It is a poor fit if you want a company with published terms behind your subscription. If you'd like to compare it with what you're leaving, my full Chub AI review sets out that app's plan and catches.

• Starting free: Free tier, 34 free messages daily
• Lowest price: $10.00 monthly (Silver)
• Allowed: mature chat permitted
• Runs on: web, ios, android

Lovescape runs on chips, Dream Companion on Dream Coins, Gening AI and HammerAI on credits, and CraveU AI on tokens. Then look at renewal. Gening AI's plans are one-time purchases that never renew, which is rare, and ChatUp AI calls its plans a one-time charge too.

Message-based plans. Dream Companion's Premium includes 6,000 text messages a month, and CraveU AI's Essential at $5.99 gives 3M tokens, which it puts at about 2,000 messages or 300 images. Backyard AI's Standard at $12 gives unlimited messages with every Standard model, and HammerAI's Starter at $9 has unlimited cloud messages plus lorebooks. If you mostly chat, these are easy to budget.

Chips and credits for media. Lovescape's Premium includes 600 chips a month, and reviews say video uses them fast. Soulkyn charges for video per use in Souls. Gening AI's credits expire after 1 month or 1 year, depending on the plan.

This is where costs creep, so if images or video are your thing, pick the plan by its allowance, not its price.

One-time and unusual billing. Gening AI never renews automatically, and ChatUp AI bills in roubles through Boosty as a one-time charge. I like the no-surprise side of that, but you have to remember to buy again.

Refunds are thin across the board. HammerAI says all purchases are final, CraveU AI refuses them once your login has been used, and Backyard AI states no refund policy at all. ChatUp AI is the exception, with refunds within 3 days of purchase as long as you've used very little.

The apps side by side, next, shows images, voice, video and group chat. For every other ranking on the site, start from my main rankings page.

My take: if budget matters, start with Dream Companion's monthly plan and see if 6,000 messages is enough. If you want everything in one place and can afford it, choose Soulkyn. And if you're also weighing a move away from a stricter hub, my Character AI alternatives cover that route.

• No company named. CrushChat is run by an individual developer, and the records name no company behind Gening AI or ChatUp AI. That doesn't make them bad, but it leaves you with less recourse if something goes wrong.
• Named companies. Soulkyn is Cube Digital Media Ltd., Dream Companion is Miracle AI UG, Lovescape is Warmtech Ltd, HammerAI is Sunspot LLC, Privee AI is Butter Games LLC, Backyard AI is Ahoy Labs, Inc. and CraveU AI is COZYAI LLC.
• Billing names. Dream Companion shows Miracle AI on your statement, which says nothing about companions.
• Login options. Gening AI and ChatUp AI let you chat without logging in, so you can try them without handing over an email.
• Leaving. Backyard AI lets you cancel through account settings or by email, with the cancellation taking effect once the paid term ends, and CraveU AI sends you to the payment platform from Settings.

My advice: use a separate email for character apps, keep real names and places out of your roleplay, and look through the privacy policy before anything personal goes into a chat. For how the facts on this page were gathered, see how I check the apps.