Updated October 19, 2026
Most "alternatives" lists make you rebuild your characters from scratch. You don't have to: back up your Character.AI characters first, then pick an app that can read them.
Use the free backup extension. It saves each character as a standard character card, the format most AI chat apps import, along with every chat and swipe. On a phone, request Character.AI's official export instead. It's slower and comes as raw data.
What carries over: name, tagline, greetings, and the definition when Character.AI made it available to you (your own bots, or public definitions). What doesn't: Character.AI's own models and voices, and hidden definitions.
An adult AI character platform built to take Character.AI refugees in one step. Drop in the backup file and each character's personality, greeting and story come over. You pick the opening greeting, then create a new look for them with Cherrypop's image generation.
A free, open-source app you run on your own computer and connect to the AI model of your choice. It imports character cards natively, and its documentation points Character.AI users to export tools. Best for: technical users who want full control. Trade-off: setup takes time, and you supply the model or API.
A popular web platform for character roleplay that accepts character cards. Best for: a large public library of community characters.
Features and policies change; check each app's site. We only list apps with an import path for character cards.
| If you want… | Look at |
|---|---|
| Your characters back in one step, with new images (18+) | Cherrypop |
| Total control and your own model | SillyTavern |
| A big community character library | JanitorAI |
Close, not identical. The personality, greeting and examples come over, but a different AI model writes the replies. Most people find their character recognizably themselves after a few messages. Correct anything off with a quick note in the first messages.
The backup keeps your full history on your computer. Support for continuing an imported chat varies by app.
For personal use, most apps allow importing a character card. Don't republish someone else's character as your own.