The best Candy AI alternative for memory, calls and price

Why look for a Candy AI alternative?

Candy AI ranks number 2 of 31 in our ranking with a score of 8.3, so most people who search for sites like Candy AI are not leaving a bad app. They are running into one of its limits:

• Memory. Candy AI remembers within a conversation rather than building a long-term history. If you want a companion that recalls last week, every app on this list does better.
• No live calls. Candy AI sends voice messages but has no live voice calls. Six of the ten picks do.
• No group chat. You cannot put two characters in one scene. Secrets AI, Nomi AI, Selira AI and TryNectar AI can.
• No personas. Candy AI does not list personas, the feature that tells a character who you are in a roleplay. Nine of the ten picks support them, Nomi AI being the exception.
• A small free plan. Free use stops after 5 messages in total. Secrets AI allows 20 a day, and Selira AI does not cap free text chat.
• The price structure. The low price needs a year paid up front, and pictures and video run on tokens on top of the plan.

Candy AI still does a lot well: a large curated roster, a character builder, pictures, video and 18+ chat, and it names the company behind it with a Malta registration number. If those are what you use, it may be worth keeping. Our full Candy AI review covers what it gets right and where it falls short.

Candy AI vs the top 3 alternatives

Here is Candy AI next to the three highest-ranked apps on this list, using each app's published pricing and feature pages as checked in September 2026.

Two things stand out. Selira AI costs less than Candy AI both ways ($3.60 against $3.99 a month on a yearly plan, $7.99 against $13.99 month to month) while adding group chat, personas and long-term memory. And a named company is no longer what sets Candy AI apart: every app we track now names its operator, although Candy AI still goes further than most by printing its Malta registration number, C107181. Our Secrets AI review covers its five plan tiers.

Candy AI pricing and tokens, and how others charge

Candy AI has two tiers, Free and Premium. Premium costs $3.99 a month when you pay for a year up front, which is $47.88 on day one, or $13.99 month to month. Pictures and video run on tokens, so heavy image use adds to the bill, and refunds are only possible within 24 hours of paying, with 20 tokens or fewer used.

The alternatives split into three pricing styles:

• A plan plus a second currency, like Candy AI. Infatuated AI and FantasyGF use tokens, Secrets AI calls its currency Moments, My Dream Companion uses Dream Coins, HeyGF uses coins and Nomi AI sells credits. FantasyGF includes 100 tokens a month, and Infatuated AI 175 a month on its 12-month plan.
• Lower entry prices. Selira AI's Lite plan is $3.60 a month on 12 months or $7.99 month to month, with 75 image or video credits. TryNectar AI Premium is $5 a month yearly or $9.99 month to month. See our Selira AI review for what the credits cover.
• Price after sign-up. DarLink AI does not publish prices before you create an account.

Watch for apps with no monthly plan at all. Outside the ten, Kupid AI bills weekly or yearly, and its cheapest option works out to $14.92 a month, far above Candy AI's $3.99. Use our AI girlfriend cost calculator to compare the real monthly total for the features you use.

Is DreamGF a Candy AI alternative?

Partly. DreamGF is often mistaken for a Candy AI sister app, but its terms name a different company, DreamAI SRL, registered in Bucharest, Romania, while Candy AI is run by EverAI Limited in Malta. The two overlap heavily: both have pictures, video, voice messages, a character builder and 18+ chat, both remember within a conversation rather than long term, and neither has group chat. The big difference now is calls: DreamGF takes live voice calls at 7 tokens a minute, and Candy AI does not.

The other differences are emphasis and billing. DreamGF leads with its character generator, while Candy AI leads with its curated roster. DreamGF has four tiers (Free, Bronze, Silver and Gold) and costs $5.83 a month in the first year of its 12-month plan, or $12.99 for the first month, but both are introductory prices: the monthly plan renews at roughly double, and the yearly plan at more than four times its first-year price. It also scores lower, 7.9 against 8.3.

If you like how Candy AI works and want live calls or a different way to build characters, DreamGF is worth a look, and our DreamGF review has the detail. Its free plan is also more generous: 10 messages a day, rising to 50 on a login streak, against 5 in total on Candy AI. If you are leaving because of memory or group chat, though, switching to DreamGF fixes neither, and its score keeps it out of our ten picks.

When Candy AI is still the better choice

An alternative is not always an upgrade. Candy AI remains a strong pick in four cases:

• You want a low yearly price from a named company. At $3.99 a month on a yearly plan, Candy AI costs less than every pick with a published price except Selira AI ($3.60), including Secrets AI ($9.17) and TryNectar AI ($5), and it prints its company and registration number.
• You mostly browse ready-made characters. Its large curated roster is the center of the app, where DreamGF and DarLink AI lead with a generator.
• Short sessions suit you. If you start fresh chats and do not need a companion to recall last week, memory that lasts one conversation costs you little.
• You do not need calls or group scenes. Candy AI already covers voice messages, pictures and video, so its missing features only matter if you would use them.

If two or more of those describe you, staying put is the sensible choice. If none do, start with Secrets AI or TryNectar AI from the list above and try each on the free plan before you move any money.

Which alternative fixes which Candy AI gap

Pick the gap that bothers you most, then start with the highest-scoring app that fills it.

Pictures and video are not on the list because Candy AI already has both, and so do all ten picks. Secrets AI keeps group chats and personas for its top tier, so if those are the reason you are switching, price that tier or start with Selira AI or TryNectar AI instead. If calls are the priority, our ranking of AI girlfriend apps with voice calls compares every app that phones you back. If memory is, our list of AI girlfriend apps with memory ranks them on that alone.

How we ranked these sites like Candy AI

We took every app in our database of 31 that allows 18+ chat and is free to start, removed Candy AI itself, and ranked the rest by our overall score. The top ten are listed here. Five apps tie on 8.0, so DarLink AI, Dondi.ai and HeyGF take the last three places on our unrounded score, ahead of Lovescape and My Lovely AI. OurDream (8.2) would rank second on score, but it has no free plan, so it is not a pick; it still covers group chat and live calls if you are happy to pay from day one. DreamGF (7.9) and Kupid AI (7.9) fall outside the ten.

Scores weigh conversation, memory, pictures and video, value, voice and trust. We build them from what each app publishes on its pricing, feature and terms pages, re-checked monthly. We earn a commission from some of these apps, but that does not change the order, and apps cannot pay to move up. Our methodology explains every weight.

Before you switch, use up any Candy AI tokens you have already paid for and note the renewal date of your plan. Then try two alternatives on their free plans for a few days each, and pay month to month for the first month so you can leave if it does not suit you.