Candy.AI vs Chai: Which AI Chat App Fits You?

The short answer

Pick Chai if you mostly want to text with many different characters, from anime to horror to comfort bots, and you do not need pictures. Pick Candy.AI if you want one companion you shape yourself, and you want images, voice notes or video of that character. On price, Candy.AI’s yearly plan costs less per month than Chai’s yearly plan, and Chai’s weekly plan is the most expensive way to pay for either.

We have not run a hands-on test of either app. Everything below comes from the two companies’ own pages and terms, compared with the criteria of our methodology.

Candy.AI vs Chai at a glance

Sources: Candy.AI terms, Candy.AI help center, Chai FAQ, Chai terms, Chai on the App Store. Read on 8 October 2026.

What each one costs

Candy.AI

Candy.AI shows its prices on its plans page. Viewed from France on 8 October 2026, Premium cost:

• 12 months: €3.99 a month
• 3 months: €8.99 a month
• 1 month: €9.99 for the first month, then €13.99 a month

Every plan includes unlimited text messages and 100 tokens a month. Tokens pay for images, voice messages, voice calls, video and new custom characters. If you run out, you buy more tokens. A higher tier, Premium Plus, adds 330 tokens a month, user personas and 20 memory slots, according to the help center. Plans renew automatically for the same term and price. More detail is in our Candy.AI pricing guide.

Chai

Chai’s pricing page, read the same day, lists:

• Free trial: 24 hours of Pro, then $159.99 a year
• Annual plan: $159.99 a year, which Chai presents as $13.33 a month
• Weekly plan: $9.99 a week

Pro includes the full character library, Chai’s most advanced models, no ads and faster replies. Chai also sells CHAI MAX to Pro subscribers: either $90 a month to double the rate limit, or a pay-as-you-go option at $0.66 per 1,000 tokens generated. Note that another Chai page says Pro “starts from $9.83/month”, which does not match the pricing page; trust what checkout shows you.

The real difference: a library or a companion

Chai is built around volume. Its characters are written by its community, so you can jump from a fantasy roleplay to a comfort character in a few taps. Chai Research says it trains its own language models and runs them on its own cluster of more than 5,000 GPUs. The flip side of user-made characters is uneven quality: some are carefully written, others are a name and a line of text.

Candy.AI is built around one relationship. You can pick a ready-made character or build your own, choosing looks and personality, then ask for photos, voice notes or short videos of that same character. That is what the token allowance is for. Its help center also states that characters do not message you first: you always start the conversation.

So the question is less “which is better” than “what do you want to see”. If text is enough, Chai’s library is wider. If you want the character to have a face and a voice, Candy.AI is built for that, while the Chai pages we could read focus on text and do not detail any image feature.

Free versions compared

Candy.AI’s free tier is a preview: 5 messages in total across all characters, one custom character and one image. It is enough to see the interface, not to judge the chat.

Chai says it is free to start, and you can sign up with Google and chat right away. Its pages do not give a free message count; they say Pro is what unlocks “endless conversations”. Expect limits on the free plan, and use the 24-hour Pro trial only if you are ready to cancel it before it turns into a $159.99 yearly charge.

Privacy and billing

Candy.AI’s terms say conversations are generally private but checked by automated moderation, and that flagged content can be reviewed by people. Charges appear on card statements as “EverAI”. Chai says conversations stay on its own infrastructure, with moderation that combines automated filters and manual review.

On either service, do not share your real name, address or payment details in a chat. Our AI companion privacy guide explains what happens to your messages.

Cancelling and refunds

Candy.AI: cancel from My Profile, then Settings, then Unsubscribe. You keep access until the end of the paid period, and unused tokens expire with it. Refunds can be requested within 24 hours of payment, and are refused once more than 20 tokens have been used. Only card payments can be refunded. In the EU and the UK, you have 14 days to withdraw from the first purchase, minus the share of service already used. This does not apply to renewals.

Chai: cancel from your account settings; Pro stays active until the end of the billing period. If you start the 24-hour trial, cancel before it ends to avoid the annual charge.

Our cancellation guide covers the steps and what to keep as proof.

Which one should you pick?

• Pick Chai if you want variety, text-only roleplay and many characters to try, and you will pay yearly.
• Pick Candy.AI if you want one companion with a consistent face, and images or voice notes of that character.
• On a tight budget, Candy.AI’s yearly plan has the lowest monthly cost of the plans listed here; avoid Chai’s weekly plan unless you only need a few days.
• Either way, start short, set a reminder before renewal, and read the refund rules before you pay.

Still comparing? See our Candy.AI review, the Candy.AI alternatives and the full list of comparisons.