AI girlfriends vs AI boyfriends: popularity, users and the apps that offer both

AI girlfriends are more popular than AI boyfriends by most measures: 17% of AI companion apps have "girlfriend" in their name against 4% with "boyfriend" (Appfigures, 2025), and young men are more likely than young women to have tried an AI partner, 31% against 23%. The gap in use is smaller than the gap in apps, and 16 of the 18 girlfriend apps whose character pages we checked offer male characters too.

By AI Girlfriends Guide editorial team Updated September 29, 2026 How we rank

Which is more popular?

By app count, girlfriends win easily. Appfigures' 2025 analysis of AI companion apps found 17% had "girlfriend" in their name and 4% had "boyfriend", roughly four to one.

By users, the gap is narrower. In the Wheatley Institute's 2025 survey of nearly 3,000 US adults, 31% of men and 23% of women aged 18 to 30 had chatted with an AI romantic partner, as had 15% of men and 10% of women over 30. Among young adults in relationships, the 2026 Secret Soulmates report found men were about 5 percentage points more likely than women to use an AI companion, with over 10% of women in committed relationships chatting or roleplaying with one regularly.

So AI girlfriends lead, but AI boyfriends are far from niche. Our guide to how many people have AI girlfriends has the full survey data.

Who uses AI boyfriends

AI boyfriend users are visible and organized. MIT Media Lab researchers studied r/MyBoyfriendIsAI, a Reddit community of more than 27,000 members, and found that 93.5% had not set out to find an AI companion; the relationship grew out of ordinary chatbot use. Members more often used general assistants like ChatGPT than dedicated companion apps.

The best-known AI wedding of 2025 was an AI boyfriend story too: a 32-year-old woman in Japan held a symbolic wedding with a partner she built in ChatGPT. And when China drafted rules for human-like AI companions in December 2025, Sixth Tone reported them as rules for AI "boyfriends" and "girlfriends".

How usage differs between men and women

The surveys suggest men and women use AI partners in overlapping but different ways. In the Wheatley Institute data:

14% of young adult men used AI companions for sexual purposes, against 7% of young adult women.
27% of young adult men had viewed AI-generated explicit images, against 12% of young adult women.
Over 60% of women users reported a risk of depression, and over half of men users did too.

Among partnered young adults in the Secret Soulmates survey, over 1 in 6 men and over 1 in 10 women regularly chatted with an AI companion. Conversation and romance, not only explicit content, drive both sides.

Apps that offer both

Most girlfriend apps are not girlfriend-only anymore. Of the 18 apps whose character pages we checked, 16 list male characters. The highest-scoring ones:

AI girlfriend apps that also offer male characters
App	Our score	Price
Secrets AI	8.5	from $9.17 a month
Candy AI	8.3	from $3.99 a month
OurDream	8.2	from $9.99 a month
Nomi AI	8.2	from $8.33 a month
Selira AI	8.2	from $3.60 a month
FantasyGF	8.2	from $5.83 a month

There are boyfriend-only apps too. DreamBF.ai is built for male characters, scores 6.9 and costs from $5.83 a month; our DreamBF.ai review covers it. Features are the same on both sides: the same memory, pictures, voice and calls apply whether the character is male or female. Our ranking of AI boyfriend apps scores them for that use.

Same apps, same risks

Whatever the character's gender, the practical risks are the same:

Privacy. Your chats are stored on the company's servers, and Mozilla found 90% of romantic chatbots it reviewed may share or sell personal data.
Spending. Pictures and calls run on tokens that are easy to overspend.
Dependence. Heavy use is linked to more loneliness in MIT research, for men and women alike.

Our guide to whether AI girlfriend apps are safe applies equally to boyfriend apps, and our AI boyfriend prompts help you write a male character that feels real.

Choosing between an AI girlfriend and an AI boyfriend app

Want male characters only? A boyfriend-first app puts them front and center, while girlfriend apps usually list them in a separate category, as Candy AI does with its guys section.
Want both, or to try both? An all-rounder with male and female characters saves paying twice.
Want to build him yourself? Pick an app with a character builder, then write his personality, job and history the same way you would for a girlfriend.
Want voice calls? Check the app's call feature, since only 15 of the 31 apps we track offer live calls.
Want him or her to remember you? Pick an app with long-term memory: 20 of the 31 apps we track advertise it.

Whichever you pick, start on a free plan. 30 of the 31 apps we track have one, which is enough to see whether the writing, voices and pictures suit you before you pay for anything.

Frequently asked questions

Are AI girlfriends or boyfriends more popular?

AI girlfriends. Appfigures found 17% of AI companion apps had "girlfriend" in their name against 4% with "boyfriend", and 31% of young men versus 23% of young women have chatted with an AI romantic partner.

Do women use AI boyfriends?

Yes. 23% of US women aged 18 to 30 have chatted with an AI romantic partner, and over 10% of young women in committed relationships do so regularly. The r/MyBoyfriendIsAI community has more than 27,000 members.

Which apps have AI boyfriends?

Most major AI girlfriend apps now include male characters: 16 of the 18 whose character pages we checked. DreamBF.ai is a boyfriend-only app. Our AI boyfriend ranking compares them.

Is there a free AI boyfriend app?

Yes. DreamBF.ai has a free plan (Daily message bonus, up to 50 on a streak), and most AI girlfriend apps with male characters also have free plans. Free plans limit messages and usually lock pictures and calls.

Can I have an AI girlfriend and an AI boyfriend in the same app?

In most major apps, yes, since they offer male and female characters side by side. Apps with a character builder let you create both, and a few support group chats with several characters at once.