How we test & score
Most “best AI girlfriend” lists are ranked by who pays the most. Ours aren't. Here's exactly how CompanionRater evaluates every app, what our scores mean, and how we keep the lights on.
Hands-on, not press releases
We go to each app directly and verify the things that matter — current pricing, plan structure, the billing descriptor, what the free tier actually includes, and which features are real — on the live site, not from a marketing page or a press release. Where a review reflects a first-hand pricing check, it carries a “verified” date. No app pays us for placement, and an affiliate relationship never changes a score.
Our five scores
Instead of one vague number, every app gets five sub-scores (0–5). The headline rating is our overall editorial judgment, weighted toward what matters most for that app's purpose.
- Conversation
- How natural, coherent, and in-character the chat feels across casual talk, emotional support, and roleplay — tested at different times and over multiple sessions.
- Images
- Quality, consistency, and control of generated images (where the app offers them), in both realistic and anime styles. Apps that don't generate images are scored low here by design, not as a fault.
- Memory
- Whether the companion remembers details across a session and across days. We mention something on day one and check if it resurfaces later.
- Value
- Real cost for real use — including credit/token traps — versus what you get. A cheap headline price with expensive add-ons scores lower than honest flat pricing.
- Privacy
- Data handling, encryption, billing discretion, breach history, and account-deletion options. Based on public information and policy review; see each review for specifics.
Privacy & safety get real weight
This is where most review sites stay quiet, because honest privacy coverage can scare people away from the apps they're selling. We cover it anyway. Companion apps have had serious data breaches — millions of intimate messages exposed — so every review states what we know about the app's encryption, billing discretion, data use, and breach history. One rule holds for all of them: none offer end-to-end encryption, so assume staff could read your chats. Never share your real name, face, or financial details.
How we make money
Some links on this site are affiliate links — if you subscribe through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That's how a free, independent site like this survives. It does not change our scores or our rankings. We rank apps in the order we'd recommend them to a friend, and an app with no affiliate program is ranked on exactly the same scale as one that pays well.
Disclosure: CompanionRater is reader-supported. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This never affects our rankings.
We keep it current
These apps change fast — pricing, features, and policies shift monthly. Every review shows a “last tested” date, and we re-check apps after major updates. If something looks out of date, it probably is in flux; always confirm current pricing on the official site before you pay.