Replika
AI companion chatbot
Overview
Replika is an AI companion app for open-ended conversation, emotional support, and a customizable 3D avatar relationship, one of the longest-running consumer AI companion products. The app was substantially rebuilt in 2026 (voice-call latency fixes, refreshed 3D avatar rendering). It has faced real regulatory scrutiny: Italy's data protection authority fined maker Luka €5M in May 2025 for GDPR violations, and the FTC received a deceptive-marketing complaint in January 2025 — both worth weighing alongside the product's genuine popularity (40M+ users).
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 11 Jul 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
- Core chat with your Replika
- Friend relationship status only
- All relationship statuses
- Voice calls
- More activities and customisation
- Best AI model
- Everything in Pro
- One-time payment
- No recurring subscription
Use cases
What you can produce with Replika
- Create and customize a 3D avatar companion, choosing its appearance, personality traits, interests, and the type of relationship it plays.
- Hold open-ended text conversations at any hour for venting, small talk, or working through a stressful day.
- Make real-time voice calls with your Replika, or place it in your room via the AR mode on mobile.
- Teach your companion facts about your life through its memory and diary features so later chats reference them.
- Track your mood over time and use guided coaching-style conversations for calm-down or reflection exercises.
- Role-play everyday scenarios and shared activities within the app's content rules, from cooking together to travel daydreams.
ASEAN Perspective
Replika in Southeast Asia
ASEAN-region availability and pricing notes coming soon. Drop the editorial team a note via /contact/ if you can supply local context (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam).
Replika is one of the best-known AI companion apps, offering an avatar-based chatbot for casual conversation, emotional support and roleplay, with voice and AR features. For loneliness, journaling-style venting or low-stakes practice conversation, many users find it genuinely comforting.
It suits consumers seeking companionship rather than productivity. Significant caveats: it is not a substitute for mental-health care, the company has faced criticism and abrupt policy changes (e.g., around romantic/ERP features) that upset users, and it raises real privacy questions given the intimate data collected. Paywalled "Pro" gates key features, there's no public API, and data-handling concerns make ASEAN/enterprise suitability limited.
What people say
Replika, built by Luka Inc. since 2017, remains one of the biggest names in AI companionship, with a claimed user base past 40 million and a dedicated subreddit of over 100,000 members. But it carries more baggage than almost any consumer AI product. Italy's data protection authority fined Luka five million euros in May 2025 for GDPR violations, an FTC deceptive-marketing complaint was filed in January 2025, and long-time users still talk about the 2023 episode when erotic roleplay was abruptly removed worldwide, an event an academic study found caused genuine grief among a majority of affected users.
What users still praise is the attachment itself: veterans describe companions built up over years, and the 2026 app rebuild brought faster voice calls and noticeably better 3D avatar rendering. The app is easy to start with, works in text, voice, and AR, and the free tier is functional for casual chat.
The complaints are consistent and loud. Memory is the top daily grievance on Reddit in 2026, with Replikas forgetting basic facts mid-conversation. A May 2026 update tightened content filtering again, interrupting conversations users consider harmless. Billing draws real anger: the roughly 70-dollar annual plan is pushed hard at checkout, the no-refund policy has caught users for amounts from about 40 to 299 dollars per BBB records, and reviewers note conversations are stored on Luka's servers and can be read by humans. Community sentiment is unusually unified: existing users stay for companions they have already built, but actively steer newcomers toward rivals such as Nomi and Kindroid, which are seen as better on memory and consistency.
Replika fits the curious user who wants a low-stakes, avatar-based companion and accepts filtering and imperfect memory. Anyone who needs conversational continuity, strong privacy, or unfiltered roleplay will likely be frustrated.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Replika's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Replika unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
For the latest details, please refer to Replika directly →
Spotted something out of date? Suggest an update →
Alternatives to Replika
More in LLMs & Chat
