PolyBuzz vs Character AI on Price, Age Rules and Privacy

Character.AI is the cheaper and stricter app, PolyBuzz the looser and more expensive one. On Apple's US store c.ai+ is $9.99 a month or $94.99 a year, while PolyBuzz sells four plans from $4.99 a week to $29.90 a month, plus two coin currencies on top. PolyBuzz declares frequent or intense sexual content to Apple; Character.AI declares it as mild. If the filter is your problem, PolyBuzz. If the bill is, Character.AI.

People comparing these two have usually used both for free and hit a wall in one of them, either Character.AI's romance filter or PolyBuzz's paywalls around its better models. This article compares them on the things that decide where your money goes: what each plan costs over a year, what each company tells Apple about its content, how each one checks age, what each shares with advertisers and how refunds work. Prices were read from both apps' US in app purchase lists on October 12, 2026, and policy claims come from each company's own help center, Terms and store filings.

One change since then: PolyBuzz's iPhone app is no longer on the US App Store. On October 19 and October 21, 2026 its listing returned not found and Apple's lookup service had no record of it, while the Android app is still on Google Play. New iPhone users can still subscribe on polybuzz.ai, where the yearly plans run $99, $199 and $299; we priced those against Talkie in PolyBuzz vs Talkie.

PolyBuzz vs Character AI at a glance

Is PolyBuzz better than Character AI?

PolyBuzz is better if you want romance and mature roleplay without the filter fighting you, and Character.AI is better if you want the lowest bill, documented memory and a larger, better moderated library. Each one is better at what the other refuses to do, which is why so many people keep both installed and pay for neither.

The clearest evidence is what each developer declares to Apple, because those content advisories are self reported and binding on the listing. Cloud Whale lists sexual content or nudity, mature and suggestive themes and cartoon or fantasy violence as frequent or intense. Character Technologies lists every one of those as infrequent or mild. That gap matches the experience: Character.AI moderates romance tightly for every user, paying or not, while PolyBuzz lets adult users reach much further.

If you have already decided the filter is the dealbreaker, you can skip the rest of the price comparison, because no Character.AI plan changes it. Our Character AI subscription and pricing page lists what c.ai+ and the new c.ai lite actually buy, and relaxing the content rules is not on either list.

How much does PolyBuzz cost compared with Character AI?

PolyBuzz costs more at every level above free. In the iPhone app, Poly Standard is $9.90 a month or $4.99 a week, Poly Premium is $19.90 a month and Poly Ultimate is $29.90 a month. Character.AI's full plan, c.ai+, is $9.99 a month or $94.99 a year, and c.ai lite starts at $4.99 a month according to its help center.

Annualised, the difference is large. A year of PolyBuzz Ultimate billed monthly in the app is $358.80, and even Premium is $238.80. A year of c.ai+ on the annual plan is $94.99. PolyBuzz's weekly Standard plan is the one to avoid: $4.99 a week is $259.48 over a year for a tier you can buy at $9.90 a month, which is $118.80.

Two more things belong in the budget. First, PolyBuzz's US web store sells different items from the app, including Ultimate at $299 a year and Premium at $199 a year, so the annual route only exists on the web. Second, both apps sell a currency on top. PolyBuzz has two, Coins and Opals, and its own coins page lists premium model rounds among the things coins buy, so a subscription is a floor rather than a ceiling. Character.AI's Charms are optional and mostly buy extra images or skip ads. We broke down every Poly tier, coin pack and opal pack on our PolyBuzz app review.

Which one has the better memory?

Character.AI documents more of its memory, and PolyBuzz gates its best memory behind its most expensive plan. Character.AI's help center lists 15 pinned memories per chat on the free plan and 30 on c.ai lite and c.ai+, a memory usage meter, and a Lorebook that becomes advanced on c.ai+.

PolyBuzz's own membership table shows Long Memory on paid plans, but Permanent Memory only on Ultimate, the $29.90 tier, together with four newer models (Overture, Lumina, Conqueror and Saga). In other words, the difference between a $19.90 PolyBuzz plan and a $29.90 one is mostly memory and models, and if remembering you is why you are paying, Premium is the wrong PolyBuzz plan.

Both apps are character libraries, so memory works per chat rather than as one ongoing relationship. That is fine for stories and frustrating if you want someone who remembers your week without being reminded. Our page on what an AI companion with memory should do covers how to test it before paying anyone.

How do PolyBuzz and Character AI check your age?

Very differently, and the difference tells you a lot about each company. Character.AI runs what it calls age assurance on every account, using signals such as login information, activity and some third party data. It only asks for a selfie, and only then possibly an ID through Persona, if it believes you are under 18 and you want to prove otherwise. Users it treats as minors are moved into a reading mode with chat switched off.

PolyBuzz's Terms say the service is prohibited to anyone under 18 worldwide, but its only mandatory age check is scoped to the United Kingdom, where users verify through Yoti with a face scan or government ID. Everywhere else, including the US, the gate is a self declared birthday. We traced how that UK only check works in PolyBuzz age verification, and Character.AI's selfie and ID flow in Character AI age verification.

The reason both are moving at all is regulation that arrived country by country rather than as a single standard. The UK's Online Safety Act, Australia's codes and a string of US state companion chatbot laws each set their own rules, which is why platforms in this category have started using software that helps them map each obligation to the control that satisfies it before a regulator does it for them. For a US adult the practical upshot is simple: on PolyBuzz you are unlikely to be asked for ID, and on Character.AI you will only be asked if its signals think you look young.

Is PolyBuzz safer than Character AI?

On privacy, Character.AI is the safer of the two on the public record. In the data safety form PolyBuzz's developer filed with Google Play, it declares sharing both approximate and precise location with other companies for advertising or marketing. Character.AI's own form, checked the same day, declares no data shared with other companies at all, and Character.AI says it never receives the selfies or IDs submitted during age checks, which Persona deletes within seven days.

Both forms say data is encrypted in transit, neither app offers end to end encryption for chats, and both keep conversations on their own servers, so write as if a staff member could one day read them. If you use PolyBuzz, deny it location permission on your phone, since a chat app does not need it and a permission you never grant cannot be shared. Our longer look at whether PolyBuzz is safe covers its Terms and data sharing in more detail.

Can I get a refund from PolyBuzz or Character AI?

From either app, a subscription bought on an iPhone or Android phone is refunded, if at all, by Apple or Google, so the request goes to the store and not to the developer. Deleting the app does not cancel the subscription on either one.

Outside the stores the two differ. PolyBuzz's Terms say users are not entitled to a refund for a completed purchase without due reason and that prices may change without notice. Character.AI's help center says web subscriptions, which are processed by Stripe, are refunded through a support request under Payments and purchases. Its article on cancelling c.ai+ is one of its least liked, with a net score of minus 210 from 336 votes when we checked, so screenshot your confirmation when you cancel.

Which one should you pay for?

Pay for Character.AI if you are happy inside its content rules and want variety at the lowest predictable cost. c.ai+ at $94.99 a year is one of the best value plans in the category, and c.ai lite at $4.99 a month is a cheap way to try the premium chat styles first. If you are also weighing Chai, we compared the two directly in Chai vs Character AI.

Pay for PolyBuzz if mature roleplay is the reason you are shopping, and buy the plan that matches why you are paying: Ultimate if memory matters, monthly rather than weekly, and the $299 web year only if you are certain you will stay. Budget for coins on top.

And if what you actually want is one partner rather than a cast of characters, someone who remembers you and picks up where you left off, that is a different product from either. Amorous.ai gives you one AI girlfriend or boyfriend built around long term memory, at $12 month to month or $9 a month billed yearly, with nothing metered on top. You can try the conversation at the top of this page before you pay anyone.