Character AI vs Replika: who keeps your chats, age rules, and price

The Morse teamPublished November 6, 2026Facts checked November 6, 20269 min read

Character AI vs Replika is a choice between a library of user-made characters and one companion who remembers you, and as of November 6, 2026, both keep your chats on their own servers. Character.AI trains its models on your chats, shows ads on its free plan, lets only adults chat, and is up for sale in bankruptcy. Replika, run by Luka, Inc., trains only its own systems, not outside models, on small anonymized pieces of chats, is adults only, was fined €5 million in Italy, and on October 28, 2026 rewrote its privacy policy to keep text messages for 24 months.

We read Character.AI's privacy policy (effective July 1, 2026), its terms (last updated August 27, 2025), and its help center articles on age assurance, training, memory, plans, export, and deletion on November 6, 2026, and Replika's privacy policy and terms (both last updated October 28, 2026), its help center, and its App Store listing the same day, along with the Italian privacy regulator's announcement of its fine against Luka. Both companies earn credit. Character.AI keeps messaging free and unlimited on every plan, and Replika's new policy gives its retention periods in months, where most companion apps give no number.

Character AI vs Replika at a glance

As of November 6, 2026. Every Character.AI and Replika fact links to that company's own page, in the table or the sections below.

Is Character.AI or Replika better?

Character.AI is better for roleplay with many characters, and Replika for a single companion that builds up a picture of you. On Character.AI you pick from characters other users publish, or make your own, and the creator "can never see the conversations" you have with them (Character.AI). Its memory works chat by chat. You pin messages for the character to keep in mind, 15 per chat on the free plan and 30 on (c.ai) lite and c.ai+, which also show a detailed Memory Usage bar (Character.AI).

Replika remembers across your whole history. Its help center says its memory "draws on patterns from your overall conversation history," and that you can add, edit, or delete memories in the Memory tab (Replika). You can scroll back only four months, but your Replika "retains everything it has learned since the beginning" (Replika).

Which one keeps your chats longer?

Replika says 24 months for texts, and Character.AI publishes no number at all. Character.AI's policy keeps your information "for the time necessary for the purposes for which it is processed," and a character you made public can stay up "even if you otherwise delete your data and your account" (Character.AI).

Replika changed its answer on October 28, 2026. Until then its policy kept messages for up to 60 days after you left. Now it keeps your texts for 24 months while your account is open, though its memory help page still says the memory system works "without retaining a permanent record of your conversations" (Replika). The comparison pages we found for this search cover memory and price, not retention. Here is what changed, from an archived copy of the May 27, 2026 policy (archived) and the live one (Replika):

To clear Replika's copy early, you have to close the account, since there's "no way to delete your entire message history without deleting your account" (Replika). For Character.AI, our account deletion guide covers the export to request first and what stays behind.

Does Character.AI or Replika train on your chats?

Character.AI does, with an opt-out offered only in the EEA and UK, and Replika trains only its own systems on small anonymized portions of chats. We quote both policies in are Character.AI chats private and is Replika private. The October 28 policy adds one detail about the outside AI models that write Replika's replies: they get "the minimum necessary conversation data," de-identified first, and are contractually barred from "training their own AI models" on it (Replika).

Can staff read your chats on Character.AI or Replika?

On Replika, the answer changed on October 28. Its help center still says "your messages are never read or responded to by people on Replika's behalf" (Replika). Its terms of the same date say it uses "a combination of automated systems and human review to keep the Services safe" (Replika), and its policy limits that review to content "indicating a risk of serious harm," such as a message that suggests a crisis (Replika).

On Character.AI, its terms let it review any content, and its Trust & Safety team includes contracted moderators, which we cover in are Character.AI chats private.

Can teens use Character.AI or Replika?

Teens can read on Character.AI but can't chat, and they can't use Replika at all. Every Character.AI user takes an age check, and anyone verified as under 18 gets reading mode, where "chat with characters is not available" (Character.AI); are Character.AI chats private covers what its Persona check collects.

Replika asks for your date of birth at sign-up and does "not permit registration by anyone under 18." Its October 28 policy adds a selfie or ID check "where required by law or where we have reason to doubt a declared age." Where your device can, it analyzes the selfie locally and the selfie "never leaves your device"; otherwise Incode Technologies runs the check. Either way, Replika says it receives "only the result of the check (an age band and a timestamp)," and the biometric data is deleted "in all events within 24 hours" (Replika). As of November 6, 2026, Apple's App Store rates both apps 18+ (Character.AI, Replika). Our AI age verification guide compares what other apps collect for these checks.

Have regulators acted against Character.AI or Replika?

Yes. Italy fined Replika's maker, and the US Federal Trade Commission has questioned Character.AI's. The Garante's €5 million fine against Luka was announced May 19, 2025 (Garante), and we cover its findings in is Replika private. On September 11, 2025, the FTC ordered Character Technologies and six other companies, including Meta, OpenAI, and xAI, to explain how their companion chatbots "monetize user engagement" and what they do with what people tell them (FTC). Luka wasn't on the list. Both privacy policies also let user data pass to a buyer (Character.AI, Replika), and Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 on October 12, 2026 to sell the company (Character.AI); we cover what that means for your chats in can Character.AI sell your chats in its bankruptcy.

What do Character.AI and Replika cost?

Character.AI is free with unlimited messages and ads, and Replika's free tier gives "limited access." Character.AI's two paid plans, (c.ai) lite and c.ai+, are in the table above, and our Character AI vs Janitor AI comparison goes through what each removes.

Replika sells three tiers. Pro adds voice messages, background calls, and selfies; Ultra adds "the ability to save messages to memory"; Platinum adds real-time video recognition. Its help center doesn't print prices, saying the cost "is shown in the app on the subscription screens and in the relevant store" (Replika). On the US App Store on November 6, 2026, subscriptions ran from $7.99 to $14.99 a month (App Store).

How Morse keeps your companion chats on your device

Every answer above depends on a company holding your chats under a policy it can rewrite or sell. Replika rewrote its retention rules on October 28, and Character.AI's chats are part of a company up for sale. Morse is built so your character chats aren't kept on our servers at all.

• Your character chats live in your browser. Characters, Morse's roleplay and companion chats, stores your chats, the characters you make, and your personas on your device, encrypted. Opening them takes two keys: one that never leaves your device, and one our server gives you when you sign in. Our servers don't keep messages or log their content, so there's no 24-month record on our side.
• Nothing to opt out of. Morse doesn't train AI on your content, sell your data, or show ads, on the Free plan too, so there's no training switch reserved for one region.
• Adults only, with crisis lines. Every user confirms they're 18 or older, and when a message in a character chat reads like suicidal thinking, crisis lines appear, a check that runs on your device.
• Your Character.AI library comes along. The free importer brings your Character.AI characters, chats, and personas into Morse, with an exporter that runs only in your browser and talks only to Character.AI.

Outside Characters, each conversation in Chat runs in a privacy mode you pick:

• Private, the default, for long talks with no transcript left at the host. Morse has zero data retention agreements with its inference, search, and other providers, so they keep nothing.
• E2EE, for what no one should read. Your browser checks the enclave's proof that it's genuine, then seals each message so only that enclave can read it, and our servers relay ciphertext they can't read. The enclaves are run by third-party providers, and the protection rests on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed. End-to-end encrypted AI chat explains the checks.
• Anonymous, for GPT, Claude, or Gemini without the provider knowing it's you. Our proxy strips your account, email, and IP address, and the provider may keep the message for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy.

Because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give if the law asks. Your chats live only in your browser, so clearing your browser or deleting your account removes your chats for good, and we can't recover them; save any story you want to keep. Our AI companion app privacy guide compares 14 other apps' policies.

Choose Character.AI, Replika, or Morse

• Choose Character.AI if you want a huge library of user-made characters, free unlimited messages, and mobile apps, and you accept ads on the free plan, chats used for training, and a company in the middle of a sale.
• Choose Replika if you want one companion that remembers you across years, with voice messages, calls, and selfies on paid plans, and you're fine with Luka keeping 24 months of your texts.
• Choose Morse if you want character chats stored encrypted on your device, with no training, no ads, unlimited character messages on the free plan, and memory across chats on Pro, at $19 a month.

Start free, or send a message from the home page first, without an account.

Morse publishes this comparison. We've tried to keep it fair; if something's wrong or out of date, email hello@trymorse.ai.

Character.AI is a trademark of Character Technologies, Inc. Morse is not affiliated with or endorsed by Character Technologies, Inc.

Replika is a trademark of Luka, Inc. Morse is not affiliated with or endorsed by Luka, Inc.