I run an audit of the major Replika alternatives every 60 days because pricing in this category goes stale fast. The May 2026 round finished last week. Nine apps tested, three days blocked off, an EU IP through a residential VPN, and a pile of credit card test data ready to load into checkout flows.
Here’s what changed since my February audit.
DreamBF migrated to DreamGF’s pricing template. Same intro-vs-recurring trap. Same 150-token monthly allowance. The boyfriend app is the girlfriend app with a different skin and the same operator in Bucharest.
Candy.AI is running an Easter Sale at €3.99/mo. The recurring rate after the first 30 days is €25.99/mo. A 6.5x price jump dressed as a discount.
OurDream and SecretDesires.AI both updated their token math but kept the same trap structure. SpicyChat is the only app I tested that didn’t adopt some version of the playbook.
Eight of nine apps now follow what I’d call the industry-standard pricing trap. Two years ago this was DreamGF’s specific gimmick. Now it’s the category default.
This essay is about how that happened and what it means for anyone trying to choose an app without getting hosed.
## One Operator, Four Brands
Start with the easiest to verify: DreamAI SRL operates four brands.
DreamGF.AI is the flagship. DreamBF is the male-companion variant. eHentai AI is the anime/hentai variant. JustPorn.ai is the budget sub-brand running the same template at a lower tier with a smaller token allowance.
All four route through the same payment processor. All four use the same checkout UI. The pricing on DreamGF, DreamBF, and eHentai AI is byte-identical. JustPorn.ai is the discount tier of the same product.
DreamGF discloses this openly. There’s a footer block on their site called “AI Network” listing the four brands. They aren’t hiding it.
What I find interesting is that I haven’t seen one major review site acknowledge this in any of the listings I’ve read. Aggregators rank DreamGF and DreamBF as separate competitors. “Best AI boyfriend apps” lists rank DreamBF without mentioning that it’s the same product as DreamGF with a UI swap.
I check these things because the operator entity matters for refund disputes, jurisdiction questions, and privacy expectations. DreamAI SRL is incorporated in Bucharest, Romania. That’s a single point of contact across all four brands. If you’re disputing a charge with DreamBF, you’re disputing with the same lawyers handling DreamGF disputes.
## The Intro-vs-Recurring Trap
The trap works like this.
You see an ad. Easter Sale, Spring Sale, Founder’s Deal, Welcome Offer. The promoted price is €3.99 or €4.99 or some attention-grabbing low number.
You click through to checkout. The price displayed is the intro price. There’s a smaller line of text that says something like “renews at €25.99/mo after 30 days” or “first month only.” Sometimes that line is below the fold. Sometimes it’s a footnote linked from a checkmark.
You enter your card. You get charged €3.99. You’re happy.
Thirty days later, the renewal hits your card at the recurring rate. €25.99 for Candy.AI. €19.99 for OurDream. €23.95 for SpicyChat’s middle tier (though SpicyChat doesn’t change the rate, more on that below). The recurring rate is typically 4-6x the intro across the industry.
If you cancel before day 30, you keep the intro rate you paid and avoid the rest. The vendors know this and design the cancellation flow accordingly. DreamGF requires you to contact support to cancel. Candy.AI lets you cancel from the dashboard but doesn’t email a reminder before the renewal. Most apps don’t email a reminder at all.
I’m not saying any of this is illegal. Most of it has small-print disclosure somewhere. I’m saying it’s an industry-wide pattern that’s converged in the last 12 months, and that aggregator review sites quoting the intro rate as “the price” without context are misinforming readers.
## The One Exception
SpicyChat is the only app in this round that hasn’t adopted the trap.
The three tiers are flat: €4.95, €13.95, €23.95. The rate you sign up for is the rate you pay every month. There’s no intro discount that flips. There’s no token system that artificially caps your output until you buy packs. There’s no “Easter Sale” countdown timer at checkout.
I’m not particularly fond of SpicyChat for other reasons (the moderation is inconsistent, the character quality varies wildly between user uploads), but credit where it’s due: their pricing is honest in a market that mostly isn’t.
## Why Aggregator Sites Don’t Catch This
The standard affiliate review site model is: write the review once, monetize it for years, refresh it when traffic drops.
This works for stable categories. It doesn’t work for AI companion apps because the category is volatile. Pricing changes monthly. Vendors rebrand or get acquired. Features get added or paywalled or removed. An aggregator review from late 2024 is quoting dead pricing on at least half its apps.
Most of these sites also lean heavily on vendor-provided press material. The Easter Sale rate gets quoted as “the price” because the vendor’s media kit listed it as the price. The recurring rate doesn’t make it into the writeup because the vendor doesn’t lead with it.
I do these 60-day audits because I think the affiliate review industry has a credibility problem in this niche. The data is wrong on most pages. The vendor relationships are undisclosed. The pricing reflects last year, not this month.
## What To Do If You’re Buying One Of These Apps
Three things.
One, set a calendar reminder for day 28 of your first billing cycle. Decide on that day whether to cancel. The intro rate is a free trial in everything but name.
Two, check the operator entity before paying. DreamAI SRL operates four brands. EverAI Limited operates Candy.AI. The operator tells you who you’re disputing charges with if it comes to that.
Three, ignore any review site that doesn’t show dated screenshots and methodology. Pricing claims without a verification date are vendor PR repackaged.
The full audit, with dated screenshots and per-app token math, is on AI Freands: https://aifreands.com/replika-alternatives-audit/
If you’ve personally checked any of these apps in the last 30 days and your data contradicts mine, reply to this post or email derek@aifreands.com. I’ll publish a correction and credit you in the next round
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