We confirmed a free Joi account, filtered the Anime section by age, chatted with catalog characters without paying, built a waifu with a job and a personality, and read the three plans. Joi is the platform where you can talk the longest before spending anything.
Joi is the AI waifu app for people who want to talk before they pay. Free text chat works on a confirmed account, the Anime section filters by age from 21, and the yearly plan costs $47.99 with 1,500 coins a month.
The most generous free text chat of the seven and clean filters for the anime catalog. The builder and the pictures are a step behind the platforms above it, which is why Joi closes our ranking at 8.5.
Joi is a companion platform with a large catalog, a builder and a clear free tier. Its Anime section is the one AI waifu fans care about, and two of its features make it worth a place in our ranking: free text chat on a confirmed account, and filters that let you sort characters by age band, starting at 21.
That makes Joi the best place in our ranking to find out whether you like talking to an AI waifu at all. You confirm your email, filter the Anime section, open a character and chat by text for as long as you like. Pictures, voice and video cost coins; words do not.
We created a free account with a confirmed email, used the 10 Neurons Joi gives at sign-up for a test, chatted with catalog characters, built a character in anime style and read the plan page. The screenshots on this page come from that account, with personal details masked.
Joi's catalog mixes community characters and Joi Originals. The ones we recommend are fictional adults, and Joi's own age filter makes it easy to stay within the 21 and over range we use across this site.
The way we score is the same for all seven platforms: anime style, builder, chat and memory, images and video, price, and free start, each out of 10, then an overall score that sets the ranking. Joi's overall 8.5 hides a wide spread. It has the highest free start score of the seven and the lowest score for pictures, so whether it is the right app for you depends almost entirely on how much you care about images.
Once your email is confirmed, a free Joi account can chat by text with catalog characters. In our test the free chat kept going far longer than on any other platform in our ranking, which makes Joi the best place to discover how an AI waifu conversation feels before paying anything.
The account also receives 10 Neurons at sign-up, enough for a small taste of the extras. Pictures, videos and voice use coins, and coins come with the paid plans.
Joi sells three billing lengths. One month costs $13.99 with 1,000 coins a month. Three months cost $20.99 with 1,200 coins a month. Twelve months cost $47.99 for the year with 1,500 coins a month, which Joi says covers up to 350 images or 100 videos.
Paid plans also bring a memory of 8,000 messages, which keeps long relationships consistent. Joi states that no adult transaction appears on your bank statement.
Compared with the other six platforms, Joi has the best free start for conversation and a fair yearly price. It is behind Candy and OurDream for pictures and builder depth.
One more thing about the free chat: it is not a time limited trial. Nothing in our test suggested the free text chat would stop after a few days, which is very different from platforms where the free account is a countdown. That makes Joi a place you can come back to, not just a place you try once.
| Plan | Price | Coins a month | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 month | $13.99 | 1,000 | |
| 3 months | $20.99 | 1,200 | |
| 12 months | $47.99 a year | 1,500 | up to 350 images or 100 videos |
Joi states that no adult transaction appears on your bank statement.
Joi suits three profiles.
Joi is not the best choice in two situations.
If pictures matter as much as words, Candy AI and OurDream produce more consistent anime images of the same character, and Candy's yearly Premium is cheaper per month. If you want fantasy races in two clicks, Nectar AI's race screen is faster than anything in Joi's builder.
Joi also keeps its free tier to text. If you want to hear her voice without paying, no platform in our ranking really allows it, but OurDream's 55 coins at least let you try pictures for free.
And if you already know exactly what your waifu looks like, down to the eye color and the outfit, a visual builder will get you there faster. Joi's strength is personality and conversation, not fine control over looks, so it shines most when you are still discovering what you like.
Seven parts of the product, each scored out of 10, with the screenshot we took.
The Anime section can be filtered by age band, from 21 to 26, 27 to 35 and up, by creator, community or Joi Originals, and by tags. It is the cleanest way we found to browse an anime catalog while staying with clearly adult characters.
Start with Joi Originals if you want consistent writing, then explore the community once you know what you like. Cards show a portrait, a name and an age, which saves a lot of clicking.
Tags are the other half of the filter row. Combine an age band with a mood tag such as shy, dominant or fantasy, and the list drops to a few dozen cards that actually match what you came for. We found this far quicker than scrolling an unfiltered feed, and it is the habit we recommend on every platform that allows it.
One small thing we liked: Joi Originals are labeled as such. When a character is written by the platform rather than a user, you get a more even level of writing and fewer abandoned profiles, which matters when you plan to talk to her for weeks.
On a confirmed account the text chat is free with catalog characters, and in our test it kept going long after other platforms would have asked for money. Replies are fluent, in character and reasonably long.
This is the feature that earns Joi its place. Use it to test archetypes: a quiet dandere, a teasing goth, a proud knight. You will learn what you like before you spend anything anywhere.
A practical test we ran: we opened three characters with very different personalities and sent the same first message to each, a simple question about how their day went. The replies were clearly different in tone, length and vocabulary, and each one ended with a question back. That is the sign of a companion that will carry a conversation instead of waiting for you to do all the work.
Free chat is text only. If a scene would be better with a picture, Joi will offer one for coins; you can ignore the offer and keep writing. Nothing in the free chat stopped working when we declined.
Joi's builder starts with Female and an Anime style, then ethnicity, body and hair, then a name and an age band starting at 21. The last screens add a relationship, an occupation and a personality, which give the character something to talk about from her first message.
Looks options are fewer than Candy's or OurDream's, but the personality side is well thought out. A barista who is your neighbor and a knight who is your rival feel like two different people even with similar faces.
At the end, Joi shows her portrait with a summary of every choice and a button to bring her to life, priced in coins on the button itself, 99 in our test. The cost is shown before you click, which we appreciate.
The age band step deserves a word. Instead of a free number field, Joi offers bands such as 21 and over, 30s, 40s and 50s. It is a simple way to make sure your waifu is clearly adult, and it also shapes how she talks: a character in her 30s with a career reads differently from one just starting out.
Our tip for Joi's builder is to spend more time on the last three screens than on the first three. The relationship you pick, neighbor, coworker, old friend, partner, decides how the first conversation opens, and a precise occupation gives her daily stories to tell you.
Paid plans include a memory of 8,000 messages, which covers weeks of daily chatting. In our sessions, characters recalled earlier details and stayed consistent.
To test memory we told a character the name of a café and a plan for the weekend, chatted about other things for a while, then asked what we had planned. She remembered both and added a detail of her own. Long memory is not a headline feature on Joi's plan page, but in daily use it is one of the reasons the paid plans feel worth it.
As on every platform, a one line recap at the start of a new session helps: where you left off, what you were doing. It costs nothing and makes the first reply of the evening much better.
Pictures and video use coins. The yearly plan's 1,500 coins a month cover up to 350 images or 100 videos by Joi's count. Image consistency is decent but a step behind Candy and OurDream for the same character over many scenes.
Because pictures are paid, we recommend a simple routine: chat for free most of the time, and spend coins on images when the scene really changes, a new place, a new outfit, a special evening. On the yearly plan that routine leaves plenty of coins at the end of the month.
Video is the most expensive item by far. With 1,500 coins a month and up to 100 videos by Joi's count, it is there for occasional moments rather than daily use.
Sign-up needs a confirmed email, which takes a minute. Joi states that no adult transaction appears on your bank statement, which many users will appreciate.
The confirmation email arrived within a minute in our test. Settings let you manage your profile and subscription, and cancelling a plan is done from the account page. As with any platform here, use a dedicated email if you prefer to keep your companion apps separate from the rest of your life.
$47.99 a year is a fair price for the memory and coins included. The three month plan at $20.99 is a sensible test, and the monthly plan at $13.99 is the least interesting.
Because the free chat is so generous, there is no rush to pay. Upgrade when you want pictures or voice, not before.
On independent forums, Joi gets credit for its free chat and its catalog filters, and some criticism for its pictures compared with the bigger names. Our test agrees.
Several users mention that the free chat let them try several personalities before choosing one to build. That is exactly how we recommend using it.
A few comments complain about the email confirmation step. It takes a minute and it is what unlocks the free chat, so it is worth doing.
Taken together, the feedback paints Joi as a friendly first platform: easy to start, generous with words, a little behind on pictures. That is also how we would summarize it for a friend.
Joi scores 8.5 and closes our AI waifu ranking in seventh place. It has the best free text chat of the seven and the cleanest anime filters, but its pictures and builder are a step behind the platforms above it.
Our advice: confirm a free account, filter the Anime section from 21, and chat with two or three characters. If you find you want pictures and voice, compare Joi's yearly plan with Candy's before paying; for many people Candy will be the better deal, and for people who mostly write, Joi may be all they need.
For this site's archetypes, Joi is the cheapest way to test dandere, yandere and goth personalities before building one elsewhere.
If you only remember one thing from this review, make it this: Joi is the cheapest way to learn what you want from an AI waifu. Use its free chat to try a shy character, a teasing one and a proud one, note which conversations you looked forward to, and then decide where to build your own. For some readers that place will be Joi itself; for many it will be Candy AI or OurDream, with a much clearer idea of the character they want.
Written by
Tessa Hartwell @tessahw
Former UX writer from the US Midwest who builds an anime companion on every app she covers. She keeps one spreadsheet of what each platform really costs and one of the characters worth a second chat.
How we testYes for text. Once your email is confirmed, a free account can chat by text with catalog characters. Pictures, videos and voice use coins from the paid plans.
$13.99 for one month with 1,000 coins, $20.99 for three months with 1,200 coins a month, or $47.99 for a year with 1,500 coins a month.
Yes. The Anime section has community characters and Joi Originals, with filters for age band, creator and tags.
Yes. The Anime section filters by age band, starting at 21, which makes it easy to stay with clearly adult characters.
Yes. Choose Female and Anime style, then ethnicity, body, hair, name and age band, then relationship, occupation and personality.
Paid plans include a memory of 8,000 messages.
Joi states that no adult transaction appears on your bank statement.
A small bonus of 10 Neurons is given at sign-up to try the extras.
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