- NSFW Not safe for work
- Adult or sexual content. An app that is NSFW-capable allows it for verified adults across chat, images or voice; others filter or block it. On our board this stat often swings a seed, because Swipey AI allows it plainly while Character.AI bans it and Replika restricts it.
- SFW Safe for work
- Non-explicit content only. An SFW-leaning app keeps romance and adult material off the table by design. That is a cap if you want open romance and a feature if you do not: some players specifically want a companion that stays safe.
- LLM Large language model
- The underlying AI that turns your messages into the companion's replies. Different apps run different models, which is a big part of why chat quality varies across the board. You do not need to know which model an app runs, only that it shapes how natural and consistent the conversation feels.
- Persona
- A single companion identity: its personality, look, voice and memory bundled together. Some apps give you one persona to nurture (Replika's model); others, like Swipey, let one account hold several distinct personas you switch between without losing each thread.
- Hearts / credits
- Pay-as-you-go tokens spent on premium actions such as image generation or voice minutes, instead of a flat monthly fee. Swipey runs on a hearts credit system, so casual players stay effectively free and heavy players pay for what they use. The trade-off: a very heavy month can out-cost a subscription.
- Roleplay RP
- A scenario-driven conversation where you and the companion play defined roles, like a teacher, a nurse or a stranger. Roleplay-first apps lean on a large character library and scenario tools; the quality depends on how well the model stays in character across a long session.
- Tier
- A grade band on a ranking. On our board, S is category-leading overall, A is excellent with one notable gap, B is solid with trade-offs, and C is situational. Tiers are editorial judgments from our comparison, not aggregated user scores.
- Image generation
- The app produces pictures of your companion on request. Two shapes exist: generated photos created in the flow of chat (Swipey, Candy) and rendered avatars you dress and pose (Replika). Generated images tend to match the conversation; avatars give you fine control over a fixed character.
- Voice chat
- The companion speaks replies out loud and can often listen back. Most top seeds support it. It matters most for archetypes built on back-and-forth, where hearing a reply lands differently than reading one. On integrated apps, voice shares the same conversation thread as chat and images.
- Memory / context
- How much of your history the companion carries forward. Short context resets often and forgets last week; long-term memory keeps names, history and running threads for months. It is the stat memory-focused seeds like Nomi specialise in, and it is what makes a relationship feel continuous.
- Free tier
- What you can do without paying. A generous free tier (Character.AI) lets you play meaningfully for free; a limited one is a taster that pushes you to subscribe. Free to start is not the same as free to play heavily, so match the tier to your habits.
- Filter
- An automated guardrail that blocks certain content. On SFW apps the filter enforces the content policy; players sometimes hit it mid-session, the "filter roulette" complaint. A stated, stable policy (like Swipey's NSFW-allowed stance for adults) avoids surprise blocks either way.