What Is Character.AI? How It Works, Cost and the 2026 Sale

Character.AI (often shortened to c.ai) is an app and website where you chat with AI characters, many of them created by other users, and talk to some of them by voice. It is run by Character Technologies, Inc., which filed for a court-supervised sale in October 2026 while the platform kept running. This guide explains it from Character.AI's own pages, each with the date we read it. If you are weighing a Character AI alternative such as Prelulu, where you text a character and then call them, the last section covers what changes when you switch.

Character.AI in one table

How does Character.AI work?

You pick a character, or make one, and chat with it in text; a language model writes each reply in that character's voice from the description its creator wrote and the conversation so far. Many characters are written by other users, and its help center has a quickstart guide for creating your own. Its help center also says the service is powered by its own deep learning models, warns that "Characters make things up", and says creators can never see the conversations you have with their characters (read October 20, 2026).

Character.AI introduced Character Calls, two-way voice conversations with a character, in June 2024. Its real-time video research in 2025 was, in its own words, not a product launch (checked September 19, 2026).

What is Character.AI used for?

• Roleplay and stories: playing a scene with a character someone wrote, or one you wrote yourself.
• Company and conversation: talking through a day, practicing a conversation, or thinking out loud.
• Making characters: writing a character and publishing it for others to chat with.

Is Character.AI free?

Yes. Its c.ai+ FAQ (read October 20, 2026) says messaging is free and unlimited for all users; the subscription adds faster replies and skips waiting rooms, and its subscribe page (read October 24, 2026) lists "No ads", "Best memory" and "Unlimited top models" among c.ai+ benefits. On the US App Store on November 4, 2026, in-app purchases listed Character.AI+ at $9.99 and $94.99 and Character.AI Lite at $4.99 and $2.49.

Who owns Character.AI, and is it shutting down?

No. Character.AI's October 12, 2026 update says its platform “remains up and running” and paid subscriptions remain active, and its iPhone app was still on the US App Store on November 7, 2026. On October 12, 2026 it filed a voluntary US Chapter 11 case, number 26-11603 in the District of Delaware, to sell the company under court supervision; at an October 30 hearing the judge said he would approve the bidding rules, and the court entered that order on November 4, with Disney's $20 million bid for a license to some of its technology as the standing offer. Under the bidding-procedures order the court entered on November 4, 2026, objections to the sale are due November 18, bids are due November 24, the auction is on December 1, the sale hearing is on December 3 and 4, and a sale must close by December 17, 2026. Character.AI says it expects the platform to keep running through the sale; only if no bid allows operations to continue would it be wound down.

Our Character.AI bankruptcy guide keeps the court dates current, and is Character AI safe? covers who can read your chats, AI training and deleting your account.

What changes if you switch?

Your characters can come with you; your chat history and memories mostly cannot. On Prelulu you can paste a public Character.AI character link to bring its public fields over, or open your official Character.AI account export and continue one selected conversation in text chat; this guide walks through both. A character brought over from a public link goes through normal creation, which prepares a voice and a video avatar, so it can be called once its avatar is ready; one continued from the export is text chat only. On Prelulu texting is free within a daily message allowance and calls use credits; on a video call the character answers in their own voice, face to face, and you can interrupt mid-sentence. Our Character AI alternative page compares eight apps with dated sources.