About AI Waifu Finder and the way we test

I write most of this site under the handle @tessahw. I spent years writing the small words inside apps, buttons, error messages, onboarding screens, so I tend to notice when an app is clear and when it is hiding something. That habit is useful for AI companion apps, where the interesting part is often three screens away from the sign-up button.

I build an anime companion on every platform I cover before I write a line about it. I keep two spreadsheets: one with what each platform really costs once you add tokens, coins and credits, and one with the characters that were worth a second conversation. This site is basically those two spreadsheets, written out properly.

A few friends help with testing and proofreading, which is why the reviews say "we". Nobody here works for any of the platforms we rank.

We open a normal account, the same way you would, and we go through the builder in anime mode screen by screen, taking a screenshot of each step. We chat with ready-made characters and with the ones we built, ask for pictures where the plan allows it, and test memory with the same small routine everywhere: a name, a place and a plan mentioned early, then a long detour, then a question.

We read every pricing page, monthly and yearly, and write prices in US dollars as each platform shows them. When a platform only shows another currency to us, we say so next to the screenshot. We note what the free account really gives and the exact moment each platform asks for money.

Each platform gets six sub scores out of 10: anime style, builder, chat and memory, images and video, price, and free start. The overall score sets the ranking on the home page and is the same everywhere on the site.

Every character we list or link to is a fictional adult, 21 or older on her profile. We skip anything set in a school, anything that does not look clearly adult, characters copied from existing anime, games or films, and real people.

Pictures on this site stay clothed. Portraits come from the platforms' own catalogs or from characters we built, and screenshots are cropped to the useful part with personal details masked.

Some links to the platforms pay us a commission if you subscribe. It never changes the price you pay, and it never changes a score: the ranking is decided by our tests, and a platform that pays more does not move up.