Chat quality
How natural, coherent and in-character the conversation feels: memory across a session, ability to hold a storyline, and how often the model breaks or repeats itself.
Editorial standards
How we rate AI companion apps
Every tool in our directory carries a 0–5 editorial score. This page explains exactly what that number means, the five things we judge, the outside signals we weigh, and—just as important—what our scores do not claim.
The five criteria
What each score is built from
Each tool gets a sub-score for five dimensions. The headline rating is a weighted blend of these, adjusted for the external reputation signals described below.
Media features
Image generation, video-style media, voice calls and selfies—both whether they exist and how convincing and consistent the output is.
Customization
How much control you have over a companion's appearance, personality, backstory and behaviour, from preset characters to full build-your-own creation.
Privacy posture
What the product says it collects, how it handles intimate chat, voice and photo data, and whether its terms and data practices are clear. Few companion apps are independently audited, so this is judged conservatively.
Price & value
Total realistic cost—not just the headline subscription, but credits, tokens and media upgrades that drive up spend for active users—measured against what you actually get.
External signals
How we sanity-check our scores
Editorial judgement is calibrated against public reputation signals so a score is not just one team's opinion. We weigh these signals by how much data backs them.
Trustpilot
We read the TrustScore and, more importantly, the volume and substance of reviews. A 2.0 from 400+ reviews carries real weight; a 4.5 from 4 reviews barely moves our score. We also note when a company's profile has been removed for breaching platform guidelines.
App Store & Google Play
For apps with a large mobile install base, store ratings (often tens or hundreds of thousands of reviews) are the most reliable signal and can outweigh a small or skewed Trustpilot page—especially for mainstream apps where review-bombing over a policy change distorts one platform but not another.
Sample size matters
A handful of reviews is noise, not signal. When the only external data is a tiny sample, we lean on product research and positioning instead and keep the score conservative rather than over-reacting to a few loud voices.
Cross-checking the product
We confirm each tool's real positioning, pricing model and content posture (SFW vs. uncensored) against its own live site before scoring, and re-verify when a brand changes domain or direction.
Honesty about limits
What our scores are—and are not
They are editorial estimates
Scores are informed editorial assessments built from public product information and the reputation signals above. They are not the result of long-term hands-on lab testing of every feature, and they are not a statistical average of verified user reviews.
They change
Pricing, features, content policies and ownership in this space move fast. A score reflects our latest review date. Always verify current pricing, plan limits and cancellation terms on the tool's own site before paying.
Affiliate links don't buy a score
Some outbound links may earn us a commission, and some listings are featured. Neither removes a tool's cons, 18+ labels or pricing cautions, and neither inflates its rating. See our affiliate disclosure.
Tell us if we're wrong
If you've used a tool and our score doesn't match your experience, that feedback is valuable—real usage is exactly what calibrates these estimates over time.