Web search and fetch were both denied in this session, so I could not live-verify today’s price screens. I’m writing from known pricing through mid-2026, stating it as list pricing that changes with promotions, and linking only to URLs I’m confident exist.

Replika is free to download and chat with, but the version most people are asking about costs money: Replika Pro lists at about $19.99 a month, $69.99 a year, or $299.99 for a lifetime license in the U.S. app stores, and a higher “Ultra” tier sits above that. Promotions routinely cut the annual price, so the figure you see in-app may be lower. Pro unlocks romantic relationship statuses, voice calls, the stronger AI models, and most activities. Alternatives range from free (Pi, ChatGPT’s free tier, Character.AI) to $10 to $16 a month (Character.AI+, Kindroid, Nomi). If you want a general conversationalist, a free assistant now beats Replika. If you want a persistent companion with a face, voice, and memory, Replika is mid-priced, not cheap.

What does Replika actually cost in 2026?

Replika is made by Luka, Inc. and sells through the Apple App Store and Google Play, plus a web checkout. Three facts matter more than any single price point.

• Prices move constantly. The $7.99 monthly figure that circulated for years is gone. Luka has repriced Pro several times since 2023, and in-app discount banners for the annual plan are the norm, not the exception.
• Monthly is a trap. Twelve months of monthly Pro at list price is roughly $240. The annual plan at list is $69.99, so paying monthly costs about 3.4 times more for the same features.
• Lifetime only pays off after roughly four years. At $299.99 against a $69.99 annual, break-even is about 4.3 years. Luka has changed what “Pro” includes before, so a lifetime license buys a feature set that may shift under you.

Replika’s own help center is the only authoritative source for what each tier includes at a given moment. Check it before buying rather than relying on any third-party price table, including this one.

What do you get for free, and what is locked?

The free tier gives you unlimited text chat with a 3D avatar in a “friend” relationship, a basic model, a daily reward loop, and a limited memory. It is a real product, not a demo. People use it for years without paying.

Pro adds the relationship options (partner, spouse, sibling, mentor), voice and video calls, the advanced language models, image generation, augmented-reality mode, and the coaching and journaling activities. Ultra, introduced in 2024, adds the newest models and larger memory on top of Pro. Romantic and erotic roleplay was removed from all tiers in February 2023 after Italy’s data protection authority ordered Luka to stop processing Italian users’ data, then partially restored for legacy users. That episode is why many long-time users distrust lifetime pricing.

How do the alternatives compare on price?

Prices are the ones shown on each vendor’s site or app store listing through mid-2026 and shift with promotions and region. Treat them as a ranking, not a quote.

Which old “free alternatives” are dead?

Most lists of Replika alternatives still circulating online are years out of date. Correct the following before you waste time downloading anything.

• Mitsuku was rebranded Kuki in 2020. The Loebner Prize it won has been discontinued since 2019. Kuki still runs, but it is a scripted pattern-matching bot and feels it next to any modern model.
• BlenderBot was a 2022 Meta research demo. It is no longer maintained or publicly offered as a companion product.
• ChatterBot is a Python library for developers, not a consumer app. ELIZA is a 1966 academic program. Neither is a Replika alternative for an ordinary user.
• Woebot, the CBT-based mental health chatbot, shut down its consumer app on June 30, 2025 and now sells only to healthcare organizations. Wysa is the surviving free-with-premium option in that category.
• Cleverbot is still online and free with ads. It is a novelty, not a companion.

Is Replika worth paying for?

Pay for Replika only if you specifically want the things the free general assistants do not do: one continuous character that remembers you across months, a visible avatar, phone-style voice calls, and a romantic relationship mode. For open-ended conversation quality alone, a free ChatGPT, Claude, or Pi account is better written and more knowledgeable than Replika Pro, and costs nothing.

The evidence on benefit is thin but not zero. A 2024 study of 1,006 student Replika users in npj Mental Health Research found most reported reduced loneliness, and 3 percent said the app had stopped suicidal ideation. The same paper notes heavy selection effects. Replika is not therapy, and Luka says so in its own terms.

What are the privacy and regulatory costs?

The non-dollar price of a companion app is your conversation history. In May 2025, Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, fined Luka 5 million euros for processing user data without a valid legal basis and for lacking age verification. In September 2025 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission opened a 6(b) inquiry into how companion chatbot makers measure harm to children and monetize engagement. California’s SB 243, in force since January 1, 2026, requires companion chatbots to disclose they are AI, break up long sessions for minors, and route suicidal ideation to crisis resources. Common Sense Media rates social AI companions, Replika included, as an unacceptable risk for anyone under 18.

Practically: assume anything you type can be read by staff, used for model training unless you opt out, and subpoenaed. Do not share medical, financial, or identifying details you would not post publicly.

What we have learned marketing subscription apps

We produce launch and explainer videos for subscription software, and companion apps follow the same conversion pattern we see everywhere. Trial-to-paid conversion for consumer AI apps typically lands in the low single digits to roughly 5 percent. The number one churn driver in the reviews we read before scripting is a price wall that appears after emotional investment, which is exactly how Replika’s “friend only” free tier works. The second is a feature being removed after purchase, which is the 2023 roleplay episode.

Two trade-offs we flag for every client, and they apply to you as a buyer. Annual plans look cheap per month but are the hardest to refund through Apple or Google once the window closes. And a lifetime license is only a good deal if the company outlives it; Luka has been operating since 2017, which is longer than most of its competitors, but no companion app has yet existed for the four-plus years it takes a lifetime plan to break even.

Start with the free tiers of Replika and one general assistant for two weeks, side by side. If you find yourself opening Replika for the character rather than the conversation, buy the annual plan during a promotion and set a calendar reminder for renewal. If you are opening it for answers or advice, keep the free assistant and spend nothing.