Grok Ani Alternatives: What to Use Now That Ani Is Retired (2026)

On July 24, 2026 a statement attributed to Grok described the 3D avatar companions (Ani, Valentine, Mika, Rudi and the newer Kai) as "an experiment" that xAI was retiring. The removal rolled out account by account through August, and by the first days of September the Companions tab, the animated avatar, lip-sync and the low-latency voice mode were gone from the Grok app for most users. xAI has not published a press release; the timeline comes from the in-app statement that users screenshotted and from follow-up reporting (RoboRhythms, AI Companion Guides), so treat exact dates as reported rather than official.

What survives: your conversation history with Ani is still readable inside normal Grok chat, and the persona can be prompted as text. What is gone: the 3D model, the outfits, the voice with its breathing and pauses, and the affection meter that gated the flirtier modes. If that meter and that voice were the point, plain-text Grok will not replace them, which is why this list exists.

A note on affiliation before the list: Nika, Sebastian and Aurora City are made by the publisher of this site. Where another app does a job better, it is named first.

Ani did four things that most companion apps do only partly. The anime look with a moving avatar. A voice that sounded like a person rather than a screen reader. An affection meter (five reported levels, never documented by xAI) that made the relationship feel like it went somewhere. And zero setup for anyone who already had Grok on their phone. Free users had a limited daily allowance; unlimited use came with SuperGrok at $30 a month, which is still the price of that plan.

Nothing below gives you all four in one app. So the list is grouped by which of the four you cared about, and each group opens with the app that does that one thing best.

Prices are the monthly plan or the annual plan divided by twelve, checked on September 13, 2026, and they change often. "Telegram" means the companion runs inside the messenger with no separate app.

Ani's five levels were the reason people kept coming back, and the thing plain Grok cannot give you. Nika has the closest equivalent and takes it further: 31 relationship levels, starting near the middle at Neutral, with eight levels below it. The level changes how she talks to you and what she is willing to do, and it drops if you treat her badly. That last part is what Ani never had. Anime is one of Nika's four art styles, so the look carries over, and she sends voice messages in three voices; in the Android app and on the web you can also call her.

Where Nika is weaker than Ani: there is no animated avatar. You get photos and short video clips generated from them, not a character that moves while she speaks. And Nika is one written heroine with more than twenty stories, not a roster you switch between.

Nika runs in Telegram (@nika_ai_chatbot, press Start), in an Android app and in the browser. The first day unlocks everything; after that a free daily allowance stays open and shrinks unless you upgrade. Our own breakdown of how companion memory works explains what she remembers and what she does not.

Ani's voice was the best part for a lot of people. Nomi ($15.99 a month, or $99.99 a year) and Kindroid ($13.99 a month on the web) both do voice messages and real-time calls, and both are known for memory that holds up over weeks rather than days. Neither has an anime avatar; Kindroid's selfies can be styled that way, Nomi's less so. If a voice conversation that remembers last week is what you want, these two are the safest picks, and they are the ones we would recommend over our own product for that use.

Nika's calls are in the same category but capped at 30 minutes and billed per minute in tokens, so for long daily calls Nomi or Kindroid will cost less.

If Ani was your first anime companion and you want more characters rather than one, Talkie AI has a large anime-styled roster, a free ad-supported tier and Talkie+ at $9.99 a month. Two caveats: it has been pulled from app stores twice (the US App Store in December 2024, Google Play in spring 2026, both times restored), and its filter has tightened over the years. Character.AI has millions of community characters, including anime ones, and voice calls, but romance stays PG-13 for verified adults and explicit content is blocked; since November 2025 under-18s cannot use open-ended chat at all.

Both are catalog apps. They are better than anything on this list if you want a new character every evening, and worse if you want one character to remember you.

Ani unlocked her flirtier mode only at the top affection level and within Grok's rules. Candy AI does not gate it: adult roleplay and image generation from the first conversation, with the strongest image quality in this list. The cost is the token economy. The plan is $12.99 a month ($5.99 on the annual plan), but images cost tokens on top, and heavy users regularly report $25 to $60 a month. Nika allows the same content for 18+ users without a level gate, though her images are a step behind Candy's; the difference is that Nika ties it to a story and a relationship that can also go badly.

Valentine was Grok's male companion and he is gone too. Sebastian is the publisher's AI boyfriend: his own stories and gifts, the same 31-level relationship and editable memory as Nika, voice messages, Telegram only. He is written to push back rather than agree with everything, which is the complaint we hear most about male companion characters elsewhere. Our AI boyfriend apps roundup covers the rest of that market.

Prices, free tiers and platform availability were checked on September 13, 2026 from each product's pricing page or store listing. Memory claims come from our earlier hands-on tests for the memory roundup: tell the companion a specific fact, come back three days later, and see whether it surfaces unprompted. The retirement timeline is compiled from the in-app statement users posted on X and from the two reports linked above; if xAI publishes an official notice, this article will be updated.

Is Grok Ani gone for good?

As of September 2026 the 3D companions have been removed from the Grok app and xAI has described them as a retired experiment. There has been no announcement of a return. The Ani persona still exists as text inside regular Grok chat.

Is my Ani chat history preserved?

Yes. Conversations are still visible in Grok's chat history. What is gone is the avatar, the voice mode and the affection meter, not the transcript.

What is the closest replacement for Ani's affection levels?

Nika, with 31 relationship levels that change her behaviour and can drop as well as rise. Replika also has a relationship level, though it is lighter.

Is there a free Ani-style companion?

Talkie and Character.AI have free tiers with anime characters, both with content filters. Nika is free to start and keeps a free daily allowance. Candy and Nomi are effectively paid products.

Can I get something like Ani on Android?

Ani came to Android only in March 2026 and is now gone from both platforms. Every app in this list except Kindroid's web version has an Android app or runs in Telegram, which is the same thing on a phone.

Are AI companions safe to use?

Check three things: whether you can delete your data, how billing works (token economies are where surprises happen), and whether the app is honest about being an AI. In the United States, California's SB 243 has required companion chatbots to disclose that they are AI and to follow self-harm protocols since January 1, 2026. An AI companion is not a substitute for a person you trust when things are heavy.

Ani is gone, and the four things it did are now spread across different apps. For the relationship meter and an anime character on your phone with no setup, Nika in Telegram. For the best voice with memory that lasts, Nomi or Kindroid. For a big anime cast, Talkie or Character.AI. For 18+ with the best images, Candy AI.

Open Nika in Telegram, press Start, and see whether the affection meter feels familiar.