State of AI Companions 2026
The data report on the AI companion market: pricing, discounts, features and demand — built from 30 tools, 14,500+ first-party click signals and the most-searched keyword set of the niche.
Data as of: August 13, 2026 · Free to cite · CC BY 4.0 · CSV downloads included
What does an AI companion cost? Median: $18.07 a month
Across 28 tools with monthly billing, the median entry price is $18.07 (average $18.46, range $3.23–$39.99). Only 2 of 30 tools still offer a real free tier — the free-to-play era is over.
Monthly entry price, 28 tools
Cheapest regularly billed monthly tier per tool, list price in USD
View as table
| Tool | Monthly price | Free tier | Max. discount | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pornworks | $3.23 * | — | −50% | |
| Nastia AI | $6.69 | — | −48% | |
| Secret Desires AI | $7.99 | — | −17% | |
| Porn AI | $9.95 | — | — | |
| Nomi AI | $9.99 | — | −50% | |
| Playbox AI | $9.99 | — | −50% | |
| Darlink AI | $12.99 | — | −34% | |
| Kupid AI | $12.99 | — | — | |
| Candy AI | $13.99 | — | −71% | |
| Kindroid | $13.99 | — | −17% | |
| Soulkyn | $14 | — | — | |
| CrushOn AI | $14.99 | yes | — | |
| Promptchan | $14.99 | — | — | |
| AI Mistress | $16.19 * | — | −44% | |
| Herahaven AI | $19.95 | — | — | |
| Joyland AI | $19.99 | — | −60% | |
| Lovescape AI | $19.99 | — | −60% | |
| Nectar AI | $19.99 | — | −75% | |
| Replika | $19.99 | — | — | |
| Romantic AI | $19.99 | yes | — | |
| Spicy Chat AI | $19.99 | — | — | |
| Dream Companion | $20 | — | −71% | |
| Shemale AI | $20 | — | −75% | |
| PornX AI | $24.99 | — | −60% | |
| Seduced.com | $30 | — | — | |
| GPTGirlfriend | $39.99 | — | — | |
| OurDream AI | $39.99 | — | −75% | |
| Secrets AI | $39.99 | — | −77% | |
| DeepMode | — | — | −50% | credit-based |
| DreamGF AI | — | — | −78% | annual billing only |
* converted from EUR at 1.08
The list price is fiction: 63% run permanent discounts
19 of 30 tools advertise a discounted tier — 56 discounted plans in total, averaging −46% off, peaking at −78%. 14 tools discount by half or more.
Tools by their deepest discount
Biggest advertised discount per tool, 19 discounting tools
What is table stakes in 2026 — and what is not
NSFW content, chat and customization are effectively universal. Video generation has crossed the halfway mark. The rarest capability remains the one users would expect first: a mobile app.
Feature adoption across the panel
Confirmed capabilities per tool, share of all 30 panel tools (lower bound)
View as table
| Capability | # | % |
|---|---|---|
| NSFW content | 27/30 | 90% |
| Chat | 25/30 | 83% |
| Customization | 24/30 | 80% |
| Roleplay | 24/30 | 80% |
| Image generation | 24/30 | 80% |
| Video generation | 17/30 | 57% |
| Voice chat | 14/30 | 47% |
| Mobile app | 6/30 | 20% |
| Video chat | 2/30 | 7% |
| Capability | Level | Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Memory System | Advanced | 11 |
| Memory System | Long-term | 6 |
| Memory System | Basic | 5 |
| Emotional Intelligence | Advanced | 11 |
| Emotional Intelligence | Expert | 5 |
| Emotional Intelligence | Basic | 2 |
| Language Support | Multi-language | 7 |
| Language Support | Automatic Translation | 2 |
| Language Support | English Only | 1 |
What users actually want: DACH seeks connection, EN seeks images
Based on 14,503 first-party outbound clicks (March – July 2026): in the German-speaking market, companion apps lead with 30.9% of demand; in the English-speaking market, image generators dominate at 28%.
Demand mix: English vs. German-language market
Share of outbound clicks per category, May – July 2026
View as table
| Category | EN market | DACH market |
|---|---|---|
| AI companions | 26.1% | 30.9% |
| NSFW chatbots | 26.1% | 25.9% |
| Roleplay | 19.8% | 21.2% |
| Image generators | 28% | 22% |
Demand shares over time (EN market)
Monthly share of outbound clicks per category
View as table
| Month | Clicks | AI companions | NSFW chatbots | Roleplay | Image generators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar | 401 | 33.2% | 20.4% | 21.2% | 25.2% |
| Apr | 1,996 | 26.7% | 26.3% | 23.5% | 23.4% |
| May | 3,906 | 29% | 28.8% | 21.7% | 20.4% |
| Jun | 3,921 | 24.3% | 24.3% | 18% | 33.3% |
| Jul | 4,403 | 25.2% | 25.3% | 19.6% | 29.9% |
The search landscape: PolyBuzz outsizes Character AI
The most-searched term of the niche reaches 4.1 million searches a month — and it is a roleplay chat platform, not “AI girlfriend”. Roleplay is the front door of this market.
Top search terms of the niche
Estimated global monthly search volume, brand variants merged
Methodology & data
Every number on this page comes from one frozen, versioned dataset. Charts, tables and CSV downloads share identical values — what you cite is what you download.
- Panel
- 30 published English-language tools in the Cyberliebe directory. Our own products are excluded (Dr. Lidia Verhoeven) — a benchmark that scores its own product is not a benchmark.
- Prices
- Monthly price = the cheapest regularly billed monthly paid tier at list price. Credit-based and annual-only models are listed but excluded from median/average. EUR prices converted at 1.08 USD (ECB reference, August 13, 2026).
- Demand
- First-party outbound clicks (14,503 in the window), published as shares only — absolute click growth would measure our reach, not the market. Tools can belong to multiple categories; the monthly trend uses the EN cohort only. We deliberately publish no revenue or commission data.
- Features
- Editorially maintained feature matrix. A missing value counts as “not confirmed”, so all shares are lower bounds.
- Search volume
- Tracked keyword set of the niche (1,200+ terms); brand variants merged to their head term, volumes are provider estimates (Ahrefs / DataForSEO Labs, globales monatliches Suchvolumen).
Daily price snapshots have been running since August 2026 — the next edition adds real time series: price changes, discount cycles, feature launches.
Downloads
All series as CSV, plus the full dataset as JSON. License: CC BY 4.0 — use freely, attribute with a link.
How to cite
Citation is expressly welcome — name the source and link it:
Cyberliebe Research — State of AI Companions 2026. Data as of August 13, 2026. https://cyberliebe.com/research/state-of-ai-companions-2026 (CC BY 4.0) · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21923327Explore the data behind the report
Every tool in the panel is reviewed in our directory, with live pricing and features in the comparison.
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