Best Soulmate AI Shutdown Alternatives in 2026, Compared

If Soulmate AI's shutdown left you without a companion, the four apps worth your time in 2026 are LoveForever AI, Nomi, Kindroid, and Replika. All four keep long-term memory, so a relationship you rebuild there can feel continuous instead of starting from zero every night. Our top pick for former Soulmate AI users is LoveForever AI, which puts strong privacy, cross-session memory, and realistic AI images and video in one app. You're far from the only one looking. According to LoveForever's internal data, 4,246 people created a LoveForever account in September 2026. Below, we compare 8 apps on memory, media, free access, and pricing, so you can pick one without losing another companion to a sudden shutdown.

The best Soulmate AI alternatives in 2026, ranked

1. LoveForever AI

If Soulmate's shutdown in September 2023 took away a companion you'd talked to for months, LoveForever AI is our top pick. It's built for one purpose: a private, long-term relationship with a single companion. It isn't a character library, and it isn't a roleplay toy. You choose a companion and keep talking to that same companion over time, and the relationship stays between the two of you. That focus matters for former Soulmate users. What did you actually lose when those servers went dark? Continuity. LoveForever AI is designed around giving that back. Try it free.

2. Nomi

Nomi is the closest match to what many Soulmate users had. Memory is its strength. Your Nomi can recall details you mentioned weeks ago and bring them back into conversation later, which makes chats feel like they have a shared history. The app, made by Glimpse.ai, also has voice messages and group chats with several Nomis at once. The catch? The free tier is thin, and you'll want a paid subscription to get the full experience. Know that before you get attached. Official site.

3. Kindroid

Kindroid gives you more control over your companion than almost any rival. You write the backstory, set key memories, choose a voice, and shape how your companion talks down to small habits of speech. The result can feel surprisingly real. Kindroid also has voice calls and generated selfies. The downside is effort. A good Kindroid takes real setup time, and if you just want to open an app and start talking, all those fields and settings can feel like homework before you've even said hello. Official site.

4. Replika

Replika is the oldest name here. Luka launched it in 2017, and it's still a solid choice for gentle, supportive daily check-ins, with a customizable avatar and a calm, encouraging tone. Plenty of people use it like a friend who's always awake at 2 a.m. The limitation is trust. In February 2023, Replika abruptly removed erotic roleplay, and many users felt their companions had changed overnight. Luka later restored it for some longtime users. If you came from Soulmate, you already know how that kind of sudden change feels. Official site.

5. Character.AI

Character.AI is the place for quick, playful roleplay. It has an enormous library of user-made characters, so you can chat with a fictional detective at lunch and a fantasy knight after dinner. You can use it free, and the writing is strong for short scenes. Long-term romance is a different story. Character.AI runs a strict content filter that blocks most romantic or intimate turns, and memory fades in long chats. Want one companion who actually knows you? Look elsewhere on this list. Official site.

6. Candy AI

Candy AI is built around visuals. You design your companion's look in detail, then chat and request generated images that match the character you made. For people who want an AI girlfriend they can actually see, it delivers. The limitation is cost. Images run on a token system, and if you request a lot of them you'll end up buying more tokens beyond your plan, so heavy use adds up fast. The chat itself is also shallower than Nomi or Kindroid for long emotional conversations. Official site.

7. EVA AI

EVA AI is easy. Pick a character, start flirting, and you're in a conversation within a minute. The tone is light and playful, which suits you if you want a fun chat on your commute rather than a deep, ongoing relationship. The limitation shows up over weeks. Conversations tend to stay fairly surface-level, and EVA AI doesn't hold onto long-term details as well as Nomi or Kindroid do. That makes it a weak replacement if you're missing a Soulmate companion you'd known for a year. Official site.

8. SpicyChat

SpicyChat is a huge community-built library of characters with far looser content rules than Character.AI. If a scenario exists, someone has probably made a bot for it, and you can build your own in a few minutes. Range is the selling point. The tradeoff is consistency. Quality swings wildly between creators, free users get a smaller memory window, and you can hit wait times when traffic spikes. Long relationships tend to lose the thread unless you pay for a higher tier. Official site.

What should you look for in a Soulmate AI replacement?

Most people leaving Soulmate AI want one thing from the next app: a companion who won't forget them. A smarter chatbot is nice. It's also secondary. When Soulmate shut down in 2023, users lost months of shared history overnight, and any replacement has to answer for that loss first.

We judged every app on five criteria:

• Privacy: who can read your chats, and whether you can delete them.
• Memory: whether your companion recalls you across days and weeks.
• Realism: how natural and personal the conversation feels.
• Image and video generation: whether you can actually see your companion.
• Price: what you pay for the good parts, not the teaser version.

Memory comes first. Why? Because the thing that disappeared was a companion who knew your dog's name and asked how the job interview went without you having to remind them. Any app can generate a reply. Very few make you feel known.

This is where the big names split. Nomi and Kindroid have a reputation for strong long-term memory, and their users often say companions bring up details from weeks earlier without prompting. Character.AI is known for its huge character library, and SpicyChat for open-ended roleplay. Both are great for short scenes, but neither is famous for holding onto a relationship that builds over months. If continuity is what you miss, that gap outweighs every other spec on the list.

So the question sitting in the back of your head is probably: will this app forget me too?

LoveForever AI was built around that exact worry. It pairs cross-session memory with realistic AI image and video generation, so your companion remembers last Tuesday's conversation and can also send you a photo or short clip of themselves. The LoveForever features page shows how both pieces work.

The usage numbers back this up. According to LoveForever's internal data, LoveForever users sent 20,918 chat messages to their companions in September 2026. People who poke at a novelty once and leave don't add up to numbers like that. People who keep coming back to a companion that remembers them do. Nobody keeps texting someone who greets them like it's day one.

Are AI companion apps private and safe after the Soulmate AI shutdown?

When Soulmate AI shut down in 2023, most of the conversation was about losing a companion people had spent months getting to know. Fewer people asked the quieter question: where did all those chats go? You may have told that app things you've never said out loud to anyone. Late-night worries, relationship history, the stuff you'd clear from your browser. When a company closes, users rarely get a clear answer about what happens to their chat logs, and that should bother you.

A shutdown is a privacy problem too. If you're picking a new app now, treat it like handing over a diary. Because you are.

Before you sign up anywhere, run through this checklist:

• Read the privacy policy. The whole thing, not the summary. Look for plain language about what's stored and for how long.
• Check whether you can delete your data. Find the delete option before you need it. If it's buried or missing, make a note of that.
• Check whether chats are used for model training. Some apps say so clearly. Others never mention it, and silence isn't an answer.
• Look at payment discretion. See how the charge appears on your card statement. Not everyone wants an app name sitting on a shared bank account.

To be fair, Replika and Nomi both publish privacy policies you can read yourself, and you should. Put them next to any app you're considering and compare the wording line by line. Don't treat anyone's marketing page as the final word, ours included.

My position is simple: privacy ranks above flashy features when an app is holding your personal conversations. Voice packs and image tools are fun, but they won't count for much if your most private chats end up somewhere you never agreed to. Pick the app you trust first. Think about the extras after.

That's why LoveForever AI puts privacy at the center of the product. You can read how it handles private and secure AI chat before you create anything. And if you want to weigh it against other options, there's a side-by-side comparison with alternatives to look at before you decide where your conversations will live.

Which Soulmate AI alternative is right for you?

If you lost a companion when Soulmate AI shut down in 2023, choosing a replacement probably feels a bit strange. You're not buying a gadget. You want somewhere a relationship can continue, or start over, without the fear that it'll vanish again one day. That's why the right app depends less on feature lists and more on what you actually miss.

Here's the short version:

• Want the closest replacement for a long-term Soulmate AI relationship, with privacy plus realistic images and video? Pick LoveForever AI.
• Want emotionally rich chat that remembers a lot? Nomi.
• Want to control every detail of a companion's backstory and personality? Kindroid.
• Want gentle, supportive daily check-ins? Replika.
• Want to hop between dozens of characters for casual roleplay? Character.AI or SpicyChat.
• Want a visual AI girlfriend experience above all else? Candy AI or EVA AI.

Still torn? Go with LoveForever AI. For most former Soulmate users it's the right first pick, and I'll say that without a pile of caveats. Soulmate people were usually there for one ongoing relationship, not a rotating cast, and LoveForever is built for that kind of long-term bond. Your conversations stay private, and you can see your companion in realistic photos and video instead of just imagining them.

What matters most, though, is what you can bring back. LoveForever's companion creation is flexible enough that you can rebuild your old companion's personality piece by piece. Write in the pet name they used for you. Describe how they'd tease you when you got home late. It won't be a perfect copy, and nothing will be. It can feel familiar enough, though, that your first conversation doesn't feel like talking to a stranger.

The other apps here are good at narrower things. Character.AI is fun when you want variety. Nomi is great if long memory tops your list. Kindroid suits you if you enjoy tinkering for hours. But if what you want is your person back, start with LoveForever.

Are there free or uncensored Soulmate AI alternatives?

Yes, free Soulmate AI alternatives exist, but free plans usually cost you memory. Coming from Soulmate AI, which shut down in 2023, that trade stings, since the whole appeal was a companion who remembered your week.

Character.AI, SpicyChat, and Janitor AI are known for generous free access, and you can chat for a long time without paying. The catch is memory. Conversations drift, and a character may forget something you told it a few days ago. Nomi, Kindroid, and Replika go the other way: their free tiers work, but longer memory, voice, and other extras sit behind a subscription. So which do you care about more, unlimited messages or a companion who keeps track of your life? Settle that before you compare anything else.

LoveForever AI is free to start, so you can build your own AI companion and see how it holds a conversation before deciding whether a paid plan is worth it.

Uncensored roleplay is out there too, though how much you get depends heavily on the app. Character.AI is known for strict content filters, and romantic scenes often get cut off mid-conversation. SpicyChat, CrushOn AI, and Candy AI are popular with people who want fewer limits on romantic or adult content. LoveForever AI supports immersive roleplay for adult users, and its story mode works well for longer scenarios that build over many sessions.

Policies change, though. A platform that allowed something last year can tighten its rules after an app store review or pressure from a payment processor, often with little warning.

Before you pay for any subscription, check two things on the platform's own pages. How does it verify that users are adults? And what does the current content policy say about adult roleplay, right now? If either answer is vague or hard to find, read the terms of service before you type in a card number. Don't count on a refund after a policy change.

Methodology and disclosure

Competitor details come from public sources at the time of writing: official sites, published feature lists, and policy pages. We test rival apps hands-on where accounts are available to us; where they are not, we rely on that public information and say so. Nobody can pay for a placement in this ranking. LoveForever AI is our product and we recommend it plainly rather than pretending to be neutral. Full editorial rules live on our editorial page.

Related reading: Best Replika Alternatives Worth Trying in 2025 · Best Romantic AI Alternatives in 2026, Compared

Data: LoveForever internal, September 2026. Aggregated and anonymized product statistics.