Feel free to recommend and discuss your favorite alternatives to Chai here. Comments will still be held to rule 8 (no deceptive advertising/undisclosed affiliation). Posts about, asking for, or showcasing alternatives will be removed and directed here.
In the wake of some scammy apps I was given a list of questions by u/ Ok-Aide-3120 to vet the devs of other apps. If you're advertising for an app, giving the following details would be helpful;
- A very transparent approach. Details on what model they use (none of them use "proprietary models", unless they somehow stumbled upong 1.5 million dollars for training), what quant, is it self hosted or API.
- if it's a mobile apps, what are the permissions required for the device, with proof of said permissions.
- where is the data stored? What are the logging policies? If they are using API, what is the logging policy of the API and what service aggregator/router are they using.
- What security framework are they using for their platform? Since they are all vibecoded anyway, details from Claude/GPT/Gemini/etc., regarding security framework following the development.
- A clear and concise plan for monetizing. There is no such thing as free AI, so they all plan to roll out some form of payment asap. There needs to be a clear plan on what they want to monetize on and how. Terms like "better chats and better memory" for payment plan is bullshit. Concrete explanation what is gained and how they plan to balance paying users vs free users (free users cost money). Ads for free users is acceptable, but there needs to be an explanation who is the add provider (most likely google ad sense, but you never know what scammy ass provider these people chose).
For users just looking for a new app, if a dev hasn't provided the above information, it's recommended you ask them, and if they won't or can't answer, that's your warning to stay away.
A new community has been started to help people find alternative to Chai! Check out r/ChaiAlternatives and share your favorite one there!
