Every Chai AI plan and price
| Plan | Price | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chai Ruby, app (weekly) | $9.99/wk | Google Play | in-app paywall, checked |
| Includes: 900 free blue pieces a week, access to all CHAI models, up to 20 personas, no ads, unlimited bots. App only; a web subscription does not carry over. | |||
| Chai Ruby, app (annual) | $134.99/yr | Google Play | in-app paywall, checked |
| Includes: Same as weekly Ruby, billed yearly. | |||
| Chai Diamond, app (weekly) | $19.99/wk | Google Play | in-app paywall, checked |
| Includes: 1,800 free blue pieces a week, everything in Ruby, plus new feature access. | |||
| Chai Diamond, app (annual) | $254.99/yr | Google Play | in-app paywall, checked |
| Includes: Same as weekly Diamond, billed yearly. | |||
| Pieces, app (200, smallest pack) | $2.79 one-time | Google Play | in-app paywall, checked |
| Includes: One-off pieces: 1 per message on the plus model, 2 on ULTRA; regenerated replies also cost pieces. Bought pieces are valid for 5 years (in-app guide). | |||
| Chai AI Pro, web (weekly) | $9.99/wk | Web | chai-ai.com, checked |
| Includes: The full 25 million character library, Chai's most advanced models, no ads or sponsored content, priority response speed. Web only; a Chai app subscription does not carry over. | |||
| Chai AI Pro, web (annual) | $159.99/yr | Web | chai-ai.com, checked |
| Includes: Same as weekly Pro. A 24-hour free trial is offered first and then renews as this annual plan unless cancelled. | |||
| CHAI MAX Monthly (add-on to Pro) | $90.00/mo | Web | chai-ai.com, checked |
| Includes: Doubles the Pro rate limit with a fixed monthly bill. Only available on top of a Pro plan. | |||
| CHAI MAX Auto (per 1,000 tokens, add-on to Pro) | $0.66 | Web | chai-ai.com, checked |
| Includes: Removes rate limits and bills per 1,000 tokens the AI generates, on top of a Pro plan. The bill depends on how much you chat. | |||
| Image generation, web (per image) | $0.12 | Web | chai-ai.com, checked |
| Includes: Pay-as-you-go images in chat, with edits, character consistency and an optional auto-generate toggle. The EULA bans sexually explicit images on every plan. | |||
The cheapest paid route works out at $11.25 a month, from the plans above.
Is Chai AI free?
Yes, capped. Every message costs pieces (1 on the default plus model, 2 on ULTRA). On October 6, 2026 Chai's founder said every user now gets 70 free pieces from the daily check-in, about 70 messages a day, plus 5 pieces per rewarded ad watched. Between October 2 and 5 many accounts had no free pieces; in our October 4 checks a new UK account could not send a message without paying. On October 11 the daily check-in was missing from Android app 0.4.429 on our US test account; on October 14, after the update to 0.4.430, it was back at 70 pieces a day, with the 5-piece ad listed beside it. On October 18 the check-in was still there at 70 a day and paid 70 pieces on our test account. In Chai AI's words: for now we want to give all users 70 pieces for their daily-check-in
Source: reddit.com, checked
What the app's free tier and paywall showed
Free account, October 4
- A new account starts with no pieces
- The profile showed 0 pieces. Every message costs pieces: the model menu says "Pieces are consumed every message, even when messages are refreshed", 1 per message on plus, the default model, and 2 on ULTRA.
- A 7-day check-in pays the free pieces
- The Charge Pieces screen had a Daily Check-In: 70 pieces on day one, then 105, 105, 70, 70, 70 and 210, and "Check in for 7 consecutive days to get 700 pieces!" Days count in UTC. One tap took the balance from 0 to 70, about 70 messages on plus. We saw no option to earn pieces by watching ads.
- A free-trial pop-up on opening
- Opening the app showed "EXCLUSIVE DEAL JUST FOR YOU": the first 3 days of Premium free, the yearly price struck through, a 24-hour countdown and "First-time subscribers only".
- Weekly or yearly, and only the yearly plans have a trial
- The subscription screen sells Premium and Ultra, each weekly or yearly. The yearly plan was pre-selected with a "74% OFF" badge and a 3-day free trial; the weekly plans start straight away and renew every week. Ultra adds "5x better memory", "2x longer reply" and a smarter model; Premium removes ads and limits.
| Plan | Weekly | Yearly | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium | $9.99 | $134.99 | 3 days, yearly only |
| Ultra | $19.99 | $269.99 | 3 days, yearly only |
One chat, one character, one day, on a new account with Google Play set to the US and a US VPN. A second new account on a UK Play account the same morning saw no daily check-in, so what you get may depend on your country or on when your account was made. Screenshots are cropped to the part of the screen described. Source: Chai store listing.
Plans and pieces re-check, October 18
- The check-in still pays 70
- The Charge Pieces screen still had the Daily Check-In at 70 pieces on each of seven days, "490 pieces" for the week, and Watch an Ad at 5 pieces. Checking in took the balance from 158 to 228, so the check-in also shows above 100 pieces.
- Two kinds of pieces
- The profile now shows two balances, My Pieces and Free, with the note: "red pieces, which can be earned or purchased, and blue pieces, which are refreshed weekly with a subscription. Both types can be used for all models on CHAI."
- Ruby and Diamond replace Premium and Ultra
- The subscription screen had two tabs, Diamond and Ruby, each weekly or yearly with the yearly plan pre-selected. The first row of its table is "Free blue pieces per week": 1,800 on Diamond, 900 on Ruby. Both list all CHAI models, up to 20 personas, no ads and unlimited bots; only Diamond has new feature access. Unlimited messages are no longer listed, and no plan showed a free trial.
| Plan | Weekly | Yearly | Blue pieces a week | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby | $9.99 | $134.99 | 900 | None shown |
| Diamond | $19.99 | $254.99 | 1,800 | None shown |
One account, one evening, with Google Play set to the US and a US VPN; nothing was bought. Chai calls the new plans a test, so another account may see different plans. Screenshots are cropped to the part of the screen described. Source: Chai store listing.
Chai AI price history
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pricing
Chai's founder says the app will offer less unlimited chat and more pieces
On October 21, 2026 Chai's founder, answering a question on Chai's subreddit about the Diamond plan, wrote that Diamond gives an ad-free experience and a weekly grant of blue pieces to spend on video, image and text generation, and that "moving forward CHAI will offer less unlimited chat experience, and more piece based experience." It came as a new wave of users reported that the daily check-in and the ads that pay pieces had gone; Chai has not commented on those reports, and the day before the founder called a new daily reward "an AB test".
Source: www.reddit.com/r/ChaiApp/comments/1xc0u5... · www.reddit.com/r/ChaiApp/comments/1xavr7...
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Chai's app offers Ruby and Diamond plans with weekly pieces in place of Premium and Ultra
On October 18, 2026 Chai's Android app (0.4.430) offered our US test account two plans, Ruby at $9.99 a week or $134.99 a year with 900 blue pieces a week, and Diamond at $19.99 a week or $254.99 a year with 1,800 blue pieces a week, where on October 14 the same account saw Premium and Ultra. Premium had listed unlimited messages; the new plans list a weekly pieces allowance, all models, no ads and unlimited bots, and showed no free trial. The profile now separates red pieces, earned or bought, from blue pieces refreshed weekly with a subscription. Chai's founder called the new tier an A/B test on October 6. The 70-piece daily check-in still paid.
Source: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co... · www.reddit.com/r/ChaiApp/comments/1wzf5w...
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Chai's 70-piece daily check-in returns in Android app 0.4.430
In our US test account on October 14, 2026, the newest Chai Android app (0.4.430, published October 12) showed the Daily Check-In again at 70 pieces a day, 490 for seven days, with a 5-piece rewarded ad listed beside it; checking in added 70 pieces. The check-in had been missing from version 0.4.429 in our October 11 check.
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Chai tests a new ad-free subscription tier with monthly pieces
On October 6, 2026, Chai's founder said on the app's subreddit that a new subscription tier some users were seeing, with plans users called Ruby and Diamond, is an A/B test: an ad-free plan with monthly pieces for people who don't subscribe. He said some existing subscribers may be better off buying pieces as needed. What users see can differ by account and region.
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Chai gives every user 70 free pieces a day after four days of complaints
On October 6, 2026, Chai's founder said on the app's subreddit that an update the day before had given every user 20 pieces per daily check-in and 5 pieces per rewarded ad, and that the daily check-in would now pay all users 70 pieces, about 70 messages on the standard model. Free pieces had stopped for many accounts on October 2.
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Chai's free daily pieces stop for many accounts; new US accounts get a 7-day check-in
From the evening of October 2, 2026, Chai users reported that the daily check-in and rewarded ads, the two ways free accounts earned pieces, had disappeared. Since September every Chai message costs pieces (1 on plus, 2 on ULTRA). In our October 4 checks in the Android app, a new account on a UK Google Play account had 0 pieces, no free way to earn more, and its first message brought up a prompt to buy pieces; a new account on a US Play account the same day got a daily check-in worth 700 pieces over 7 days. Chai has not announced the change; in September its founder had promised free pieces every day.
Source: www.reddit.com/r/ChaiApp/comments/1wanps... · www.reddit.com/r/ChaiApp/comments/1wsic0... · play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co...
Two Chai products, two price lists
Most confusion about what Chai costs comes from the fact that there are two Chai products. The Chai phone app sells its own plans and Pieces through Google Play, and through the App Store to iPhones that still have it installed: the iPhone app left the App Store on October 22, 2026. Chai AI at chai-ai.com is a web product that sells its own Chai AI Pro plan and add-ons directly. Chai says the two are separate platforms with no data sharing, so a subscription bought in one does not unlock the other, and your chats do not move across.
Decide first where you actually chat. If it is the phone app, only the App Store and Play prices matter; if you have switched to the website, only the web prices do.
Ruby and Diamond in the app (and the old Premium and Ultra)
On October 18, 2026 Chai's Android app offered our US test account two plans we had not been shown before, Ruby and Diamond, in place of Premium and Ultra. Each comes by the week or by the year, with no monthly plan, and Google Play adds sales tax. We read both tabs on Chai's own paywall and backed out without paying. We have not read the iPhone paywall.
Ruby costs exactly what Premium did, by the week and by the year. Diamond costs Ultra's weekly price, and its yearly plan is a little cheaper than Ultra's was. Both list access to all CHAI models, up to 20 personas, no ads and unlimited bots; Diamond adds what the paywall calls new feature access. The plan table above has every price with the date we read it.
The real difference is in the first row of the plan table: "Free blue pieces per week", 900 on Ruby and 1,800 on Diamond. Chai's profile screen now explains that red pieces are earned or bought and blue pieces "are refreshed weekly with a subscription", and that both work on every model. At the message prices the app's model menu showed us earlier in October, 1 piece on the default model and 2 on ULTRA, Ruby's allowance is about 900 default-model messages a week, roughly 128 a day. Premium's paywall had promised unlimited messages; the new paywall does not.
Chai's founder called the new tier an A/B test on October 6, and Chai support told a user that existing subscriptions carry on as long as they renew, so some accounts may still be offered Premium and Ultra. The new paywall showed no free-trial line on any plan; the old yearly plans opened with a 3-day trial. The yearly badges, "74% OFF" and "75% OFF", compare a year's price with paying weekly for a whole year, and the sums check out.
Pieces
Pieces are what Chai's messages cost. The app's model menu charges 1 piece per message on the default model and 2 on ULTRA, and a regenerated reply costs pieces too. Free accounts collect pieces from a daily check-in; Chai's founder said on October 6, 2026 that every user now gets 70 a day.
On October 4, 2026 the US Android app's Charge Pieces screen sold ten packs, from 200 pieces up to 120,000, with the price per piece in the largest pack a little over half that of the smallest. An Auto Refill option topped up 2,000 pieces at a time for about a fifth less than the 2,000 pack. Chai's in-app guide says bought pieces stay valid for five years. The smallest pack's price is in the table above; pack prices are from that October 4 read, as the October 9 check covered the subscriptions only.
Chai AI Pro on the web
The web plan is called Chai AI Pro and comes weekly or yearly. The weekly price is shown next to a higher struck-through figure marked as a discount; the lower figure is what you pay. The pricing page leads with a 24-hour free trial that turns into the yearly plan when it ends, so cancel inside the day if you only want to try it.
Every Pro plan includes the full character library, Chai's most advanced models, no ads or sponsored content, and priority response speed. Chai says a Pro request gets about eight times the compute of an average app user's. You can cancel from your account settings and keep Pro until the end of the period you paid for.
CHAI MAX and paid images
Two add-ons sit on top of Pro, and only on the web. CHAI MAX Auto removes rate limits and bills per thousand tokens the AI writes, so the cost depends entirely on how much you chat. CHAI MAX Monthly is a flat fee that doubles your rate limit instead. Image generation is separate again, charged per image, with edits and consistent characters included.
Metered billing is where Chai costs can run away. Recent Trustpilot reviews of the web product cluster around unexpected charges after users linked a payment method. If you turn on MAX Auto or images, check your usage in the account settings regularly.
Did Chai stop being free?
Free to start, yes; free without limits, no. Free users see ads and live on a daily ration of pieces (70 a day, Chai's founder said on October 6, 2026), and Chai's FAQ presents Pro as the way to unlock endless conversations. In some countries Chai no longer offers free chat in the app at all: its Safety Center says some regions require a paid subscription, and Australia's eSafety Commissioner reported in March 2026 that Chai had restricted free access there.
If you are asking whether Chai became paid, that depends on where you are. Where free access remains, the free tier is enough to try characters; heavy daily users hit the cap.
Is Chai worth paying for?
The cheapest way to pay is the yearly Ruby plan in the app (the same price as the old yearly Premium), and the plan table above does the maths. Weekly plans, in the app or on the web, cost far more over a month than a monthly or yearly plan, so avoid them unless you want a single week.
A subscription removes ads. On the Ruby and Diamond plans our US test account was offered on October 18, it also brings a weekly allowance of blue pieces rather than the unlimited messages Premium listed. Buying pieces on their own does not remove ads: "Our consumable currency would still have ads," Chai's founder wrote on October 23, 2026. Paying does not change the content rules: Chai's agreement bans sexually explicit images and video on every plan, and its safety systems are designed to refuse sexually explicit content whoever is paying. If adult roleplay is the reason you would pay, compare the alternatives first.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Chai AI cost?
In the app, our US account was offered Ruby (900 pieces a week) and Diamond (1,800 pieces a week, about twice the price) on October 18, 2026, each weekly or yearly, in place of Premium and Ultra. On the web, Chai AI Pro is weekly or yearly. The table at the top of this page lists each price with the date it was checked.
Is Chai AI free?
Free to start, with ads and a capped allowance: every message costs pieces, and the daily check-in pays 70 (Chai's founder, October 6, 2026). In some countries the app requires a paid subscription before you can chat.
Is Chai Ultra still sold?
Not to our US test account: on October 18, 2026 its paywall offered Ruby and Diamond instead. Diamond is the closest match to Ultra, at the same weekly price and slightly less by the year, with 1,800 pieces a week instead of unlimited messages and no free trial shown. Chai calls the new plans a test, so some accounts may still see Ultra.
What are Pieces in Chai?
Chai's in-app currency for messages: 1 piece per message on the default model and 2 on ULTRA. Free accounts earn pieces from a daily check-in, and the app sells packs from 200 pieces up to 120,000.
Does a Chai app subscription work on chai-ai.com?
No. Chai says the app and the website are separate platforms with no data sharing, so each needs its own subscription.
What is CHAI MAX?
A web add-on for Chai AI Pro subscribers: MAX Auto removes rate limits and bills per thousand tokens, and MAX Monthly is a flat fee that doubles the rate limit.
Does paying for Chai unlock NSFW?
No. Explicit images and video are banned on every plan, and Chai's Safety Center says its models are designed to refuse sexually explicit content for everyone.
How do you cancel a Chai subscription?
Cancel an app plan in your Apple or Google account. Cancel Chai AI Pro in your chai-ai.com account settings; access lasts until the end of the paid period.
Sources
- www.chai-ai.com/pricing
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Beauchamp.Messenger.external&hl=en_US
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Beauchamp.Messenger.external&hl=en_US&gl=US
- www.reddit.com/r/ChaiApp/comments/1wz805l/
- www.chai-research.com/app-eula
- www.chai-research.com/safety.html
- chai.ml/privacy/
- www.chai-ai.com/faq
- apps.apple.com/us/app/chai-social-ai-platform-chat/id1544750895
- www.chai-ai.com/
- www.euronews.com/2023/03/31/man-ends-his-life-after-an-ai-chatbot-encouraged-him-to-sacrif...
- web.archive.org/web/20251124142126/www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-...
- www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/esafety-requires-providers-of-ai-companion-chat...
- www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/esafety-report-shows-ai-companions-are-putting-...
- www.trustpilot.com/review/chai-ai.com