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Character.ai alternative after the Chapter 11 filing (2026)

Character.ai filed for Chapter 11 on 12 Oct 2026 and is being sold. How to save your characters and the best alternatives for open-ended, adult character chat: Unrestricted AI, JanitorAI, SillyTavern and more.

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UNRESTRICTED AI EDITORIAL · UPDATED NOV 9, 2026 · READ AS MARKDOWN

Short answer

Character.ai’s parent filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware on 12 Oct 2026 and is running a court-supervised sale; it said the app stays up during the process but could wind down if no buyer keeps it running (checked 9 Nov 2026). If you want open-ended adult character chat that does not depend on that outcome, paste your character into Unrestricted AI (50 free messages a day, role-play model included) or use JanitorAI or SillyTavern with our API.

What happened to Character.ai

12 Oct 2026: Character Technologies filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to sell substantially all its assets.
Disney is the stalking-horse bidder at $20 million, for a non-exclusive license to selected IP, not the app itself.
Timeline: reporting puts the sale at the end of November or early December 2026; the company said it could wind down if no buyer continues the platform.
Before that: since 25 Nov 2025, users under 18 cannot use open-ended chat.

Save your characters first

Whatever happens to the sale, keep your own copy. For each character you made, copy four things into a text file: the name, the greeting, the description/definition, and any example dialogue. For long-running chats, copy the parts you want to keep. Then check your account settings for a data-export request.

To bring a character here, open the chat, choose the venice-uncensored-role-play model and paste: “You are NAME. DESCRIPTION. Speak like this: EXAMPLE DIALOGUE. Start with: GREETING.” In SillyTavern or JanitorAI, paste the same fields into a character card.

Alternatives compared (checked 9 Nov 2026)

Service	Free tier	Paid entry	Adult content	Bring your own model/API	Main limitation
Unrestricted AI (us)	50 chat messages a day on a verified account	Starter $19/mo, which includes $19 of usage; top-ups from $5	Yes, 18+	It is the API: use it in SillyTavern or JanitorAI	No public character gallery; you paste or build characters
JanitorAI	Free; its own JanitorLLM model has a daily cap it does not publish (reported)	Pro about $9.99/mo (reported), or pay your own API	Yes, 18+ characters	Yes, via proxy	Uptime complaints; proxy setup is manual
SillyTavern	Free, open-source app you run	Pay the API you connect	Depends on the API	Yes, that is the whole design	You install and host it yourself
Character.ai	Free	c.ai+ reported at $9.99/mo	No; strict filter	No	In Chapter 11; under-18 open chat removed
Local model	Free software	Hardware	Yes	Yes	Needs a strong GPU and setup

Who should pick what

You want to keep chatting tonight with no setup: Unrestricted AI chat, role-play model.
You want a big community character gallery: JanitorAI, ideally with our API as the proxy (setup guide).
You want full control of cards, lorebooks and memory: SillyTavern with our API (guide).
You never want prompts to leave your machine: a local model.

FAQ

Is Character.ai shutting down?

Not yet. It filed for Chapter 11 on 12 Oct 2026 to sell itself and said the app stays up during the process, but it could wind down if no buyer keeps it running.

Can I import my Character.ai bots?

There is no direct import anywhere. Copy the name, greeting, description and example dialogue, then paste them into a new chat here or into a SillyTavern or JanitorAI card.

Which alternative has no filter?

Unrestricted AI, JanitorAI (with an uncensored model) and SillyTavern (with an uncensored API) all allow adult fiction for 18+. Illegal content is blocked everywhere.

Is it free?

Verified accounts get 50 chat messages a day, reset at midnight UTC. After that, plans start at $19 a month and include the same amount in usage, or you can buy credit from $5.

Do I need to be 18?

Yes. Our terms require users to be at least 18.

Sources

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