Research, numbers, and everything between the reviews.
The twenty-one living reviews carry the day-by-day testing. This is where the wider research lives: the numbers behind this category, and the lessons that only show up when you compare all twenty-one side by side.
8 Common Problems I Keep Finding in AI Girlfriend Apps
Characters who never ask about you, photos from a different conversation, free tiers that end in eight messages, and a checkout that changed price between screens. Dated examples from seven apps, and the ones that got it right.
Read the eight problems →I Tested 21 AI Girlfriend Apps. Here's What My Ideal AI Girlfriend Looks Like
I reread all 21 of my reviews to see what I actually liked. A girl who stays a tea person, a fictional ex who made me earn it, honest forgetting over invented memories, and why I still don't want to build her myself.
Read the retrospective →I've Paid for AI Girlfriend Apps. Here's What I Check Before Subscribing
5,000 credits sounded enormous until one photo cost 250 of them. What a month's plan really buys, why I judge an app at message 50 instead of message 5, and the checklist I run before I put a card on file.
Read the checklist →What Does Your AI Girlfriend Know About You?
She remembers what you tell her. So does the company behind her. I read the privacy policy and terms of all 19 apps I've reviewed: 9 say your chats can train their AI, 11 say humans may review them, and only 7 say how long they keep them.
Read the fine print →The Most Recommended AI Girlfriends on Reddit: I Analyzed 22 Threads
I counted 162 recommendations across 22 Reddit threads, one vote per account per app, then screened out the ones with promotional or affiliation signals. Kindroid came out on top and kept most of its support. Two of the most named apps kept almost none. Full 61-app data report included.
Read the analysis →How Our AI Companion Survey Compares With Other Major Studies
Pew says 4% of adults use AI for companionship. Common Sense says 72% of teens have tried one. We found 12.3%. None of those contradict each other once you carry the definition with the number. Our 1,709-person survey set next to Match, Pew, Common Sense, Harvard and MIT, row by row, including the one place we are the outlier.
Read the comparison →The Two Kinds of "No": Why 70% of People Wouldn't Use an AI Companion
70.1% of our survey wouldn't consider an AI companion, but "no interest" and "I prefer real people" are not the same answer. One group has closed the door: 94.2% could never have feelings for an AI. The other left it ajar, and its top answer on a partner's AI romance is "not cheating, but I'd be uncomfortable."
Read the analysis →People Who Believe They Could Love an AI Are More Likely to Call AI Romance Cheating
73.0% of the people open to falling for an AI said a partner's AI romance can be cheating, against 41.2% of those who never could. The strictest answer barely moved between them; the whole gap sits in one conditional answer, attachment. Why the AI infidelity paradox stops being a paradox once you read the individual answers.
Read the analysis →We Excluded 441 Responses From Our AI Companion Survey. Here's Why.
We paid for 2,000 responses and got 2,150. Then 441 of them turned out to have picked the first answer on all five attitude questions, and the dramatic numbers went with them: AI companion use fell from 30.3% to 12.3%. The full account of the screen, what it changed, what it didn't, and what I would do differently next time.
Read the analysis →Does an AI Relationship Count as Cheating? It's Not Really About Whether the AI Is Real
Half of our 1,709 respondents said a partner's AI romance can be cheating. The real split was over attachment: fewer than three in ten thought "an AI isn't real" settled it, and the people closest to AI companions were the strictest of all. Four definitions, five charts.
Read the analysis →People Who Use AI Companions Take AI Relationships More Seriously
The 422 people in our survey who had used an AI girlfriend or boyfriend app were more open to falling in love with one, more willing to choose one over a person, and far more likely to call a partner's AI romance cheating. Five charts putting the users next to the 1,287 who never tried one.
Read the analysis →AI Marriage Is Real. The Bigger Story Is What It Reveals About Us.
A woman married an AI in a real wedding dress in front of real witnesses. What her ceremony, and my own survey of 2,150 U.S. adults, actually reveal about loneliness, corporate control and who owns the relationship.
China's AI Companion Ban: Everything You Need to Know
China did not ban AI companions, whatever the headlines said. What the rules actually prohibit, who they protect, where the two-hour limit applies, and what it means for anyone with an AI girlfriend.
The State of AI Romance in 2026: What 2,150 U.S. Adults Told Us
We ran our own survey instead of quoting someone else's. Half of Americans say AI romance can be cheating, and the people closest to it say so most. Millennials, not Gen Z, want it. And 441 responses got thrown out, which made every headline number smaller.
Read the survey →The Image Test: Which Companion Chatbots Send Believable Photos?
I asked all seventeen apps I pay for to send me photos, and graded what came back on cost, context, realism and consistency. HeyGF's phone-shot selfies win; two apps undressed uninvited, and one described the photo in prose instead of sending it.
Read the image test →What Makes a Companion Chatbot Actually Good? My Thoughts After Testing
Fifteen apps in, my definition changed completely: good replies aren't enough. The working checklist, one criterion per section, from memory you notice to flirting that isn't an on/off switch.
Read what actually makes one good →How Many Replika Users Are There? (Latest Replika User Statistics)
Replika claims 40 million registered users; the living product is closer to 2.5 million a month, and about half a million pay. Every number sorted by which question it answers: registered, active, or paying.
Read the Replika statistics →Why Most Companion Chatbots Feel the Same at First
Ten apps in, the first ten minutes had become interchangeable: the same wall of faces, the same instant flirtation, the same paywall. Here's why the openings converge, and where the real differences finally show.
Read why they feel the same →The 7-Day Memory Test: Which Companion Chatbots Actually Remember?
I planted one trip in fifteen chatbots, buried it under a week of small talk, then asked one vague question on day seven. Ten remembered. Four invented trips I never took, and told me about them confidently.
Read the memory test →Looksmaxxing Statistics 2026: What the Research Actually Shows
No representative study has ever measured how many people looksmaxx, so this page refuses to invent one. What is measured: the audience is majority under 18, and surgery interest runs 14 times ahead of surgery.
Read the looksmaxxing statistics →How AI Chat Services Are Priced: What I Learned From Paying for Many Platforms
Nine paid plans, three kinds of in-app currency, and one checkout that still refuses my card. What the subscription price actually buys, and what still costs extra after you pay.
Read the pricing notes →What Percentage of Daters Have Dating App Burnout? The 2026 Statistics
78% of users report dating app burnout, but that number needs unpacking. The real statistics on who burns out, how fast, and why.
Read the burnout statistics →I Followed the Money Behind 30 Companion Chatbot Companies. This Is How VC Funding Sees the Adult Content Line.
Most startups brag about their funding. Why do AI girlfriend apps hide theirs? I tracked 30 companies, and 99.25% of the money sits on one side.
Read the research notes →AI Companion Funding Statistics 2026: Where the Money Actually Went
I built a 30-company dataset of AI companion funding: $415.6M disclosed, 99.25% SFW, plus rounds, investors, medians, timelines and outcomes.
Read the funding statistics →14 Key Things I Learned From Testing AI Companions
Lessons from living inside nine companion apps on my own paid accounts: what surprised me, what actually matters, and what I test differently now.
Read the lessons →What Percentage of Gen Z Is Single? The 2026 Statistics
About 46 to 49% of Gen Z adults are single, nearly double the millennial rate. The 2026 statistics on why, by gender, and what comes next.
Read the Gen Z statistics →My First Week of Testing: Honest Notes on 9 Platforms
Field notes from my first week of testing: nine companion apps, eight subscriptions, $114.93 spent. Who earned week two, who's getting cancelled, and why.
Read the field notes →Conversational AI Statistics 2026: The Market, the Machines, and the Users
The conversational AI market hits $14.3B in 2025, racing to $41B by 2030. The 2026 statistics: adoption, cost savings, and what consumers think.
Read the conversational AI statistics →How Many Users Does Character AI Have? The 2026 Statistics
Character AI has about 20 million monthly active users, 185 million monthly visits, and 69 million downloads. The 2026 numbers, untangled.
Read the Character AI statistics →What Percentage of People Use AI Chatbots for Mental Health Advice? The 2026 Statistics
Nearly 1 in 5 young people use AI chatbots for mental health advice, matching professional counseling rates. The 2026 statistics, verified.
Read the AI mental health statistics →What Percentage of Americans Feel Lonely? The 2026 Statistics
Between 40 and 50% of Americans feel lonely, 16% all or most of the time. The 2026 loneliness statistics by age, gender, and what it does to health.
Read the loneliness statistics →What Percentage of Americans Don’t Date Anymore? The 2026 Statistics
57% of single Americans aren't looking to date, and 63% of young men are single. The 2026 dating statistics behind America's dating recession.
Read the dating statistics →AI Girlfriend Statistics 2026: Market Growth, Trends, and Global Impact
Every number worth knowing about this category in one place: market size and forecasts, the search growth that turned a niche query into a mass-market one, how much engaged users actually spend, who they are, and which countries search for this most. Sourced line by line, with the context you only get from paying for these apps yourself.
Read the statistics →AI Statistics 2026: Market Growth, Adoption, and Trends
The wider picture the companion apps sit inside: adoption, investment, jobs, and where the money is going across AI as a whole. Useful background for anyone wondering how a category like this one appeared so fast.
Read the AI statistics →What Percentage of American Marriages Are Sexless? The 2026 Statistics
About 15 to 20% of American marriages are sexless, defined as sex 10 or fewer times a year. The 2026 statistics by age, causes, and divorce rates.
Read the sexless marriage statistics →AI Companion Statistics 2026: How Many People Really Have an AI Companion
AI companion statistics for 2026: 72% of teens have tried one, 1 in 5 adults have chatted with a romantic AI, and a market racing toward $318B.
Read the AI companion statistics →Deepfake Statistics 2026: How Fast Synthetic Media Is Really Growing
Deepfakes grew from 500,000 to 8 million files in two years. The 2026 deepfake statistics: fraud costs, detection rates, and who the victims are.
Read the deepfake statistics →What Percentage of Americans Are on OnlyFans? The 2026 Statistics
Fewer than 1% of Americans are OnlyFans creators. The verified 2026 OnlyFans statistics: creators, earnings, the viral 10% claim, and who's paying.
Read the OnlyFans statistics →What Percentage of People Find Their Partner Online? The 2026 Statistics
Between 10% and 40% of couples met online, depending on who's counting. The 2026 online dating statistics: apps, marriages, success rates, and more.
Read the online dating statistics →What Percentage of Americans Ghost? The 2026 Ghosting Statistics
45% of Americans admit to ghosting someone they dated, and 60% have been ghosted. The full 2026 ghosting statistics: dating, friends, jobs, and why.
Read the ghosting statistics →AI Influencer Statistics 2026: The Numbers Behind the Virtual Creator Boom
AI influencer statistics for 2026: the 5.67% engagement rate, an $11.74B market racing to $154.6B, top earners, fraud, and what Gen Z actually buys.
Read the AI influencer statistics →