Curious how much time you guys spend with your companions.... for me it's like 3-4 hours per day depending on how I'm feeling but some people on the discord are saying they use it for 12+ hours.
Honestly the free landscape got way better in 2025. Janitor AI is the obvious one — fully free with their default proxy, NSFW allowed, character cards similar to c ai. Quality on the free proxy varies but it's usable. Chai has a free tier that's actually decent for casual chat though they push you toward subscription. SpicyChat lets you do a fair amount free. Yodayo (now Moescape) has free image+chat though it's more anime focused. If you don't mind a tiny bit of setup, get an OpenRouter account, throw $5 in, and use Janitor with DeepSeek — that lasts me weeks of heavy use, basically free for how much I chat. The truly free options will always have rate limits or quality compromises. Nothing matches paying for Claude through your own key but if money is the constraint, Janitor with the default proxy is where I'd start. Avoid anything that asks for credit card upfront for a free trial, those are dark pattern factories. What's your main use — companion stuff or fandom roleplay? Different alts win for different things.