Joi is where I send people who mostly want to talk. Its anime catalog is huge, community characters cover every fantasy archetype I could think of, and text chat is free once your e-mail is confirmed. I went through the catalog, the builder and the plan page.
By calliebJoi is the best free option for chatting with anime characters. Confirm your e-mail and you can text any character in the catalog. Premium, $47.99 for a year, adds images, video and your own characters.
The largest and most varied anime catalog in the ranking with genuinely free text chat, ranked fourth because its builder and visuals sit a step behind the top three.
Joi is a companion platform with a very large catalog of characters made by its community, plus a smaller set of Joi Originals. The anime section is filterable by age band (21 to 26, 27 to 35 and higher), by creator and by tags such as Fantasy or Anime. Most of the fantasy characters on this site come from there.
For this review I used Joi's catalog and plan window as they appear to visitors, and builder screenshots reworked for this page. Prices are the US dollar prices Joi shows.
Joi has the most useful free tier in the ranking for people who want to chat. Create an account, confirm your e-mail and you receive 10 Neurons, Joi's currency, plus free text chat with the characters in the catalog. There is no daily message counter on text chat with catalog characters.
Premium unlocks the rest: designing your own characters, generating images and videos, and a bigger monthly Neuron allowance. There are three durations: 1 month for $13.99 with 1,000 Neurons a month, 3 months for $20.99 with 1,200 Neurons a month, and 12 months for $47.99 with 1,500 Neurons a month. Premium also gives characters a memory of 8,000 messages.
Joi states that no adult transaction appears on your bank statement. The yearly plan works out at about $4 a month, close to Candy AI's yearly price.
If you are happy with text, you may never need to pay. If you want pictures of your favorite character or want to build your own, take the yearly plan.
| Plan | Price | Neurons each month | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10 at sign-up | text chat with catalog characters |
| Premium 1 month | $13.99 | 1,000 | trying everything once |
| Premium 3 months | $20.99 | 1,200 | a season of use |
| Premium 12 months | $47.99 a year | 1,500 | regular users |
Joi works best for three kinds of users.
Two situations where another platform fits better:
Seven criteria scored out of 10.
Joi asks for an e-mail address and a confirmation click before the free text chat opens; the confirmation also drops 10 Neurons into the account. After that, the anime catalog is the place to start. I set the age filter to the 27 to 35 band, added the Fantasy tag and got a wall of elves, witches, warriors and engineers, each with a short description in her own voice.
I opened four chats in a row without paying anything: a moon witch who speaks in riddles, an elf archivist who corrects your pronunciation, a warrior queen planning a campaign and a cyborg officer on a long shift. All four answered within seconds and stayed in character over a dozen messages.
The difference with paid platforms shows when you ask for a picture or try to build your own character: those ask for Premium. For pure conversation, my free evening on Joi was the longest and most varied of the seven platforms.
One thing to know before you click around: many community descriptions are written for explicit roleplay. The characters on this site were picked for their setting and personality, and their chats can be kept slow and story driven if you lead them that way.
Joi's anime catalog is the largest I browsed. Filters by age band, creator (community or Joi Originals) and tags make it usable despite its size.
The fantasy side is especially rich: elf archivists, fairy tattoo artists, amazon queens, cyborg officers. About half of the characters on this site come from Joi for that reason. Some source descriptions are written for explicit roleplay; the characters themselves can be steered toward slow, story driven chats.
Use the creator filter to switch between community characters and Joi Originals; the originals are more consistent, the community has more variety.
With a confirmed e-mail, text chat with catalog characters is free. I could start several conversations without hitting a wall, which no other platform in the ranking allows to the same extent.
Replies are quick and the characters stay in role. Memory is shorter on a free account; Premium raises it to 8,000 messages.
Ask a question about her world in your second message; community characters often have more backstory than their card shows.
Joi's builder starts with Female and an Anime style, then ethnicity, body, hair, a name and an age band (21 and up), relationship, occupation and personality.
It is straightforward and quick but offers fewer fine controls than Candy AI's tiles or Lovescape's ten screens. Building is a Premium feature.
Write the occupation as a short phrase rather than one word; it gives the chat a clearer role to play.
Personality, relationship and occupation lists are long enough to cover the usual archetypes. Combining a fantasy occupation with a reserved personality gives a convincing kuudere elf, for example.
There is less control over voice than on Lovescape.
A calm, curious opening works best with reserved personalities; playful ones respond to teasing.
Premium unlocks image and video generation with your Neurons. The quality is good for portraits and simple scenes.
Joi does not try to compete with OurDream's multi scene videos, and that is fine for a chat first platform.
Keep generations for your favorite characters; Neurons go further when you are selective.
$47.99 for a year with 1,500 Neurons a month is one of the best deals in the ranking. The 3 month plan at $20.99 is also fair.
The monthly plan at $13.99 is only worth it for a single month of testing.
If you are not sure about a year, the 3 month plan at $20.99 is cheaper than two separate months.
Joi says no adult transaction appears on bank statements. Sign-up only needs an e-mail.
As with any platform, use an e-mail address you are comfortable with and check the settings for chat history options.
Joi's wording is reassuring for privacy, but always check the account settings for history options.
Joi is an adults-only service with an age gate on its anime pages. Its catalog is filterable by age band and every character on this site is 21 or older.
Joi states that no adult transaction appears on your bank statement. Sign-up only needs an e-mail; use one you are comfortable with. Community characters are made by users, so judge each card on its own and leave any chat that drifts somewhere you do not want to go.
Joi is the richest source of ready-made fantasy archetypes in the ranking. Elves are everywhere: archivists, guardians, weavers and nature mystics. Witches range from moon priestesses to flower shop enchanters. There are androids and cyborg officers, a fox spirit for kitsune fans, a gothic vampire and a manor maid.
Everyday archetypes are well covered too: office ladies, athletes with a tsundere streak, a police officer with a kuudere calm. If an archetype exists in anime, someone on Joi has made a version of it.
Candy AI's Anime tab is smaller and curated; Joi's catalog is huge and community made. Candy AI's characters open on polished scenes; Joi's vary from excellent to forgettable. Candy AI charges for chat extras and building; Joi lets you text the whole catalog for free once your e-mail is confirmed.
On a yearly plan the two cost almost the same: $47.88 for Candy AI and $47.99 for Joi. Candy AI's builder is faster and its visuals stronger, which is why it ranks first. Joi is the better place to explore for free.
More than half of the characters on this site come from Joi. A few to start with: Lunara, a moon witch who speaks softly and means every word; Elara, an elf archivist; Mimosa, a mercenary knight with a temper; Lily, who runs an archive like a corporate office; Vespera, a gothic night owl; and Renata King, a police officer who rarely raises her voice.
Browse all characters to see the full list, with a sample conversation on every profile.
Joi's builder is a short sequence of screens. It starts with Female and a style choice, where Anime is one of the options. Then come ethnicity, body and hair, followed by a name and an age band, where 21 and up is the first choice. The last screens set the relationship, the occupation and the personality, each from a list.
The whole thing takes about three minutes. It is quicker than OurDream or Lovescape and less flexible. Its strength is that the occupation and personality lists are long, so the character's voice comes out clearly in the chat even if her look is simple.
Joi works well in a mobile browser. Filters fold into a menu, cards stack in a single column and the chat takes the whole screen. Free text chat behaves exactly as on desktop, so you can explore the catalog from the couch.
I browsed the anime catalog with its age, creator and tag filters, opened community characters across several archetypes, read the Premium window with its three durations and used builder screenshots reworked for this review. Prices are the US dollar prices Joi shows.
Skip Joi if you want strong visuals or a deep builder, or if you would rather not read a character's card before opening her chat. Joi rewards people who explore and are happy with text.
Neurons are Joi's currency for everything beyond text chat: images, videos and some extras in the builder. A free account starts with 10, which is enough to try a picture or two. Premium adds 1,000 Neurons a month on the monthly plan, 1,200 on the 3 month plan and 1,500 on the yearly plan, and Premium members get a discount on Neurons they buy.
In practice, most people spend Neurons on pictures of the one or two characters they talk to most. Keep generations for scenes that matter in your story, and the yearly allowance goes a long way.
Comments about Joi on forums and review sites mostly praise the free text chat and the variety of characters. The common complaint is that the community catalog is uneven and that some characters are written for very explicit roleplay.
Users who pay usually mention the yearly price as fair. I am not quoting individual users because I could not verify their posts.
Joi is the best free entry point for anime character chat: confirm your e-mail and the whole catalog is open for text. Its fantasy community characters are the richest source of archetypes I found.
It ranks fourth because the builder and the visuals are a step behind Candy AI, Lovescape and OurDream. Use it as your free chat home, and take the $47.99 yearly plan if you want pictures and your own characters.
Yes for text chat. Confirm your e-mail and you can text characters from the catalog for free, with 10 Neurons offered at sign-up. Images, video and your own characters need Premium.
$13.99 for 1 month, $20.99 for 3 months or $47.99 for 12 months, with 1,000, 1,200 or 1,500 Neurons a month.
Neurons are Joi's currency for images, videos and other extras. Free accounts start with 10; Premium adds between 1,000 and 1,500 a month.
Yes, a large anime catalog made by the community plus Joi Originals, filterable by age band, creator and tags.
Yes with Premium. The builder covers style (including Anime), ethnicity, body, hair, name, age band, relationship, occupation and personality.
Joi states that no adult transaction appears on your bank statement.
Premium gives characters a memory of 8,000 messages. Free accounts have a shorter memory.
The anime catalog filters by age bands starting at 21 to 26, then 27 to 35 and higher. Every character on this site is a fictional adult.
Open Candy AI, the number one pick
Candy AI tops our ranking: an anime tab full of ready-made characters and a builder that starts with an Anime style switch. Opening it costs nothing.
See Candy AI
Try Joi for free
