AI Girlfriend Simulator: What You're Actually Getting, and What It Costs

You can spend an evening in a yandere escape room, or you can spend six months building a companion who remembers your birthday. Both get called an AI girlfriend simulator. They are not the same product, and the price structures are different enough that it's worth knowing which one you're actually shopping for.

This guide is for adults who want the dating-sim feeling — progression, personality, a bit of game — rather than a plain chatbot with a profile picture. We compare on game feel, memory, customisation, price and privacy. Sources are store pages and privacy policies; where a company makes a claim about its own product, we say so.

Quick picks: the main simulators and what they cost

Six options cover most of what people mean by the term. Two are games, four are web companions, and one is a free yandere chat toy.

Simulator	Type	Best for	Price
AI2U	PC Steam game	Yandere escape room	$14.99 on itch.io
Blush	Mobile dating sim	Matches, storylines	Free; from $9.99/week
Secrets AI	Web companion	Memory, growth	Free tier; $19.99/month
OurDream AI	Web companion	Anime or realistic design	$9.99/month annual
Candy.ai	Web companion	Photorealistic visuals	$3.99/month annual
MyAnima	Web and mobile	Free yandere chat	Free version

If you want the full breakdown of each companion app, we keep a scored list in our AI girlfriend reviews hub.

What makes a simulator different from a chatbot

The old text-adventure simulators ran on scripts. You picked option B and got paragraph 12. Modern ones use large language models, which generate dialogue in real time. That's why the better ones feel like a person who is reacting to you, and the worse ones feel like a mirror that agrees with everything.

The game part comes from progression. Some simulators have explicit endings — you win, you lose, you get out. Others simulate progression through memory: the companion remembers what you said last week, and the relationship has a shape. Both are gamified. Only one of them ends.

The yandere game: AI2U

AI2U started as a free 2023 prototype from AlterStaff called Yandere AI Girlfriend Simulator. The premise was simple and sticky: a girlfriend who won't let you leave. It became a game.

In the current version you're in an escape room. You talk, charm or trick your way out. The characters see and hear your actions, and you can type or use voice control. Steam tags it Psychological Horror, and the endings vary depending on how you chat. There are four homes to work through, from Eddie's apartment to Eiona's island.

On Steam it holds a Very Positive rating from roughly 1,060 English reviews. It entered Early Access in January 2025 and is scheduled for full launch on August 12, 2026. The game costs $14.99 on itch.io.

The local AI DLC

Here's the part that matters for privacy. The main game sends conversations to third-party AI services — Azure OpenAI, Gemini and Minimax — so your chats leave your PC. On October 1, 2026, a free Prototype DLC arrives that runs the AI locally, with no API key and no usage fees. The original prototype required your own key, so this is a genuine improvement.

The catch is hardware. The local DLC needs a graphics card with 6 GB or more VRAM. If you don't have that, you're on the cloud version whether you like it or not.

The developer describes romantic themes and mild fantasy violence, and states there's no explicit content. That's a notable choice for a genre that trades on obsession.

Date	Milestone
2023	Free prototype by AlterStaff
January 2025	Steam Early Access
August 12, 2026	Full launch
October 1, 2026	Free Prototype DLC, local AI

Blush: the mobile dating sim

Blush is a different animal. It's a mobile dating simulator, and its App Store listing describes it as a tool for practising dating skills. It's rated 18+ and holds a 4.4 rating from about 7,900 App Store reviews.

The download is free. Subscriptions run $9.99/week, $14.99 or $19.99/month, and $29.99/month for VIP. It also sells gem packs. What each tier unlocks isn't spelled out in the listing, which is a common problem with dating sims: you know you're paying, you don't know for what.

If you're comparing against the bigger companion apps, our apps like Character AI guide covers the alternatives worth trying.

Secrets AI: memory as the game mechanic

Secrets AI is a web companion, and its selling point is memory. The free tier gives you 20 messages a day plus basic memory. Premium costs $19.99/month or $109.99/year — about $9.17/month — and includes 8,000 Moments. Ultimate is $39.99/month and adds Lorebooks, personality editing and proactive messages.

Two caveats. The free tier can't generate media, and monthly Moments don't roll over. So the free plan is a text-only trial, and the paid plans reward heavy use rather than casual use.

We rate Secrets AI 9.9 out of 10 for memory, and the full breakdown is in our Secrets AI review.

App	Free tier	Paid tiers
Secrets AI	20 messages/day, basic memory	Premium $19.99/mo or $109.99/yr; Ultimate $39.99/mo
Blush	Free download	$9.99/wk; $14.99 or $19.99/mo; $29.99/mo VIP; gem packs
OurDream	Not stated	$9.99/mo annual; $19.99/mo monthly
Candy.ai	5 messages	$3.99/mo annual; $13.99/mo monthly; 100 media tokens

OurDream AI: building the character

OurDream AI leans into the builder. You can design a companion in realistic or anime styles and choose a voice. Subscribers get unlimited chat, group roleplay and access to a community character library, plus 1,000 dreamcoins a month for image and video generation.

Pricing is $19.99/month or $9.99/month on the annual plan. The memory leans on recent messages, so long conversations fade at the edges. And if your subscription lapses, your media gets blurred — a detail worth knowing before you build a gallery.

We rate OurDream AI 9.7 out of 10 overall. If you're weighing it against Secrets, our OurDream AI vs Secrets AI comparison covers memory versus media.

Candy.ai: the picture machine

Candy.ai is the cheapest entry point on this list and the strongest on visuals. The builder sets appearance, personality, voice and hobbies, and keeps a consistent face across images. Annual pricing is $3.99/month versus $13.99 month to month.

The free tier gives you five messages. Premium includes 100 tokens a month for media. Reviewers report storylines resetting after a few days, which is the trade-off for that price. We rate Candy.ai 9.8 out of 10, and our Candy.ai review goes into the token costs.

Free options, and what 'free' means

MyAnima has a free yandere chat version on web and mobile. It claims jealousy and clinginess, total creative freedom and private chats. Those are vendor claims and we haven't verified them.

HakkoAI is a free virtual girlfriend with login credits and shy or confident traits. It says chats aren't shared with third parties, but other models process messages — so 'private' has a specific meaning there.

Romantic AI lets you start from a photo or template, with realistic or anime styles and tone selection. It claims encryption and a privacy priority but publishes no prices, which makes budgeting impossible.

If you want to know what you get before paying anywhere, our AI girlfriend free guide covers the free tiers in detail.

Yandere expectations, and where they break

The yandere archetype — a sweet partner whose love turns obsessive — is the engine behind most of the genre's appeal. AI2U builds a whole game around it. MyAnima sells it as a chat personality.

What you won't get from a web companion is consequence. The model can play possessive, but there's no escape room, no ending, no stakes. That's not a flaw exactly, but it's a different experience from a game. If you want the tension, AI2U is the one built for it.

How to choose without wasting money

1. Decide whether you want a game or a companion. Games have endings and fixed prices. Companions have memory and subscriptions.
2. Test memory early. Mention something specific in your first session and bring it up a week later. If it's gone, the app is a chat toy, not a relationship sim.
3. Prefer monthly plans first. Annual discounts are real — Candy at $3.99/month versus $13.99, OurDream at $9.99 versus $19.99 — but only after you know you'll stay.
4. Check what media costs. Tokens, Moments, dreamcoins and gems are all the same idea: a second currency that runs out.
5. Read the privacy policy before the personality options. It tells you more about what you're buying.

Privacy and safety: the parts the store pages skip

We found no end-to-end encryption in the privacy policies of the big web companions. That's not a scandal, but it means your chats are readable by the platform. Secrets deletes chat history on account deletion. OurDream's policy may allow data to be used for model training.

AI2U sends conversations to third-party AI services unless you run the local DLC. HakkoAI says other models process messages. MyAnima's privacy claim is unverified.

Practical advice: avoid sharing real names, addresses, workplaces or photos of real people. None of these apps need that information to work, and once it's in a chat log it's out of your hands.

Emotional limits worth naming

A simulator can be comforting, and the bond can feel real. It isn't a real relationship. The emotions are generated by a model, not felt by a person. That doesn't make the comfort fake, but it does mean the reciprocity is one-sided by design.

Attachment is possible, and for some people these apps encourage isolation. Take breaks. Keep real life in view. If you notice the app is replacing people rather than supplementing your time, that's worth paying attention to.

Getting started

Start free. Compare two apps rather than five. Test memory with something specific. If you're drawn to the game side, buy AI2U once and see whether the yandere premise holds your attention for more than a weekend. If you want a companion, start on Secrets' free tier for the memory, or Candy's cheap annual plan for the visuals, and upgrade only when you hit a wall you actually care about.

For a wider ranking with costs attached, our best AI girlfriend app guide sorts ten options by what they actually charge.

Bottom line

AI2U is the best pick for yandere puzzles and escape-room tension. Blush is the one for matches and storylines on your phone. Secrets AI leads on memory; OurDream and Candy are for designing a partner, one for anime and group play, one for photorealistic pictures at a low annual price. Whatever you choose, protect your privacy and keep real life in view.