Live AI video is no longer the thing that separates one companion app from another — Mel, Kindroid, Vidy and Prelulu all offer some form of it, and Replika offers it on a paid tier. What separates them now is the mechanism, the price, and whether the claim on the marketing page matches the claim on the company's own documentation. Those three came apart in interesting ways when we checked them on 2026-09-02.
Everything below is quoted from a public page with the date we read it. Where two pages from the same company disagree, that is stated rather than resolved — we cannot resolve it from outside.
What each app publishes about its video
| Live video | What is rendered | Price of entry | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mel | Yes | “Talk through live video and see them respond with expressions, gestures, and movements in real time” (App Store) | Its FAQ says “Mel is 100% free”; its App Store sells nine credit packs up to $49.99 |
| Prelulu | Yes | Our own avatar model, rendered per word | Text chat free forever; first live call on us; paid minutes after |
| Kindroid | Yes, for subscribers | Animates an avatar PHOTO — you can upload a “Driving Image” (2:3 ratio recommended) | $13.99/mo web, $15.99/mo in-app |
| Replika | On a paid tier | Not documented publicly | Gated behind its Platinum tier at $89.99 |
| Nomi.ai | No live video | Ships ~5-second animated-image clips | n/a |
| Character.AI | No — voice only | n/a | Free in-app |
Two places the public pages disagree with each other
Mel published its own comparison of video-calling AI apps on 2026-08-25. Two of its rows do not match what the named companies publish, and both errors run in the same direction — they make the competition look weaker on video than it is.
- Replika's priceMel's article puts Replika's video “behind Pro at $19.99/month ($69.99/year), with an Ultra tier at $29.99/month.” Replika's real-time video sits behind its Platinum tier at $89.99, which the article does not name.
- Nomi's videoMel's table marks Nomi.ai “No — voice only.” Nomi does ship a video feature; it is roughly five seconds of animated still image rather than a rendered call. “Voice only” understates what exists.
We are not calling that dishonest — a comparison table written in August is a snapshot, and prices move. It is a reason to check any comparison table against the source, including this one.
What Mel says about us, quoted in full
Prelulu renders faces in real time with its own avatar model — mouth shapes per word, micro-expressions, sub-second latency.
— mel.us, “AI apps you can video call”, 2026-08-25
Its only stated shortcoming of ours is that our daily free video allowance is thinner than Mel's, so you hit the paywall sooner if video is the whole reason you came. That is fair, and it is the honest trade of our pricing: text chat stays free forever with full memory, and the live video is what is metered.
The free-tier question, and where the pages disagree
Mel's FAQ states: “Mel is 100% free. There are no subscriptions, hidden fees, or paywalls.” Its US App Store listing sells nine in-app purchases, from a $1.99 starter pack to a $49.99 item; Google Play states in-app purchases of $1.99–$49.99. Mel's own article separately describes a free tier of “100 credits a day free, which is 5 minutes of video or 10 minutes of voice,” with video at 20 credits per minute.
Those can all be true at once — a generous daily allowance plus optional credit packs is a normal design, and it is close to ours. But “no paywalls” and “nine credit packs” are hard to hold in one hand, and if the daily allowance is what you are choosing on, read the article's number rather than the FAQ's sentence.
Photo animation versus a rendered face
Kindroid is the clearest published example of the distinction, because its help centre documents it plainly: Live Avatar Video “animates the Kindroid's avatar photo during calls,” and you can upload a separate “Driving Image” to be animated instead, at a recommended 2:3 ratio. That is a real feature and people like it. It is also a different thing from generating the frames.
A detail worth knowing if you are comparing store listings: Kindroid's iOS and Google Play descriptions both contain the word “video” zero times — they describe “Real-Time Voice Calls.” The video is documented in the help centre and on the homepage, not in the store copy.
How to tell which you are looking at, in one call
- Say a word with hard consonants — “pumpkin,” “bottle.” Watch whether the mouth shape changes per word.
- Interrupt mid-sentence. A rendered face stops; a played asset finishes.
- Ask for a specific expression and watch whether the face attempts it.
- Move the conversation somewhere unexpected. Motion that repeats on a cycle is a loop.
None of this requires trusting a comparison table, including ours. It takes about a minute in any of these apps.
Which to try first
- MelIf a large daily video allowance is the deciding factor. Its App Store listing is rated 17+; iOS 3.4★ from 9 ratings, Google Play 3.1★ from 105 reviews (2026-09-02).
- KindroidIf you want to choose the face — the uploadable Driving Image is genuinely its own thing. $13.99/mo on web, and its memory documentation is the most detailed in this group.
- PreluluIf you want text chat that stays free with full memory, a character who remembers across conversations, and a face rendered per word. First call on us.
How we checked
Read on 2026-09-02 from public pages: mel.us and its FAQ, About and blog; the Mel iOS and Google Play listings; Kindroid's help centre, homepage and both store listings; and the published Replika and Nomi tiers. We did not create accounts on Mel or Kindroid, so nothing here describes what their calls look like in use — only what each company publishes.
Run the mouth-shape test on us first
Text chat is free forever and the first live call is on us. Interrupt him mid-sentence and see what the face does.