When you test consumer AI companion apps, almost every landing page makes two claims: "Discreet billing" and "Proprietary next-gen roleplay models."
At The Companion Lab, we wanted verifiable, first-party data instead of marketing copy. In October 2026, we put our own card into 8 major AI companion apps (plus tested Nomi's free plan), sent the exact same 6-prompt benchmark across every app, inspected their frontend bundles and network payloads, and documented the exact merchant strings that hit our credit card statements.
Here is what we found across both billing infrastructure and LLM stacks.
1. The Bank Statement Audit: "Discreet Billing" vs. Reality
If you see an unfamiliar charge like DREAMSTUDIOS.CO, S LABS INC, or NDAI.CC on your statement, or if you want to know whether an app prints its brand name on your monthly bill, here is the exact descriptor table from our October 2026 paid tests (full receipts and cancellation notes are published in our AI Girlfriend App Bank Statement Database):
| App Tested | Exact Statement Descriptor | Amount Charged | Operator / Jurisdiction | Truly Discreet? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candy AI | EverAI candy.ai MT |
$9.99 | EverAI Limited (Malta) |
No — prints candy.ai right in the descriptor |
| Ourdream AI | DREAMSTUDIOS.CO Limassol CY |
$19.99 | DreamStudios (Cyprus) | Yes — uses parent studio name |
| Secrets AI | S LABS INC 604-3295224 CA US |
$19.99 | S Labs Inc. (US/Canada phone) | Yes — generic corporate string |
| SpicyChat AI | NDAI.CC 514-2860020 DE US |
$19.95 | Next Day AI Inc. (Delaware/Montreal) | Yes — shortened to NDAI.CC |
| GirlfriendGPT | NDAI.CHAT 514-2860020 DE US |
$15.00 | Next Day AI Inc. (Delaware/Montreal) | Yes — sibling descriptor to SpicyChat |
| DreamGF AI | Dream AI dreamgf.ai RO |
$12.99 | DreamGF operator (Romania) |
No — prints dreamgf.ai directly on the card bill |
| Xotic AI | Xotic.ai Tallinn EE |
$24.99 | Xotic operator (Estonia) |
No — prints Xotic.ai on the statement |
Key Takeaway on Billing Processors
-
Shared corporate parents: SpicyChat (
NDAI.CC) and GirlfriendGPT (NDAI.CHAT) route through the same Next Day AI Inc. billing phone number (514-2860020). -
Broken discretion promises: Three of the seven apps we billed directly (
Candy AI,DreamGF, andXotic AI) include their literal.aidomain name in the bank statement line item, despite marketing "discreet billing" on checkout screens. - Token traps after subscription: Several apps advertise a $9.99–$19.99 monthly subscription, then meter voice notes, image generation, or video clips via secondary token currencies (DreamCoins, Gems, Moments). We documented the exact burn rates in Hidden Costs: DreamCoins, Moments, and Bank Statements.
2. Under the Hood: What Models Actually Power These Apps?
While reviewing the apps, we also examined their client bundles, model selectors, and context window behaviors:
- Open-weight fine-tunes vs. proprietary stacks: Community-driven platforms like SpicyChat AI expose model pickers ranging from 8B/13B Llama fine-tunes up to 70B+ parameter roleplay models and DeepSeek variants. We published a full breakdown in What AI Models Power Ourdream, Candy, Secrets, and Kindroid and Part 2: SpicyChat, GirlfriendGPT, DreamGF, Xotic, and Nomi.
- DeepSeek V3.2 vs. V4 Flash for Roleplay: For developers building their own companion or roleplay pipelines, we benchmarked raw API latency, refusal rates, and persona adherence in our DeepSeek Roleplay Guide.
- The Six-Message Stress Test: Marketing demos always look great on message #1. To test actual memory retention and instruction following, we sent the exact same six-message sequence across every app. You can read the side-by-side transcripts in Same Six Messages: Nomi vs. Kindroid vs. Candy vs. Ourdream.
3. Why We Built Static Interactive Sandboxes (/try/)
Most users bounce or get burned because AI companion apps lock the character creator and chat UI behind an email wall or credit card wall before showing you what the interface actually feels like.
So we built clean-room, client-side interactive walkthroughs on The Companion Lab Sandboxes that replicate the onboarding flows and character builders without requiring an account or card.
If you are researching how consumer AI apps handle subscription funnels, merchant descriptors, or roleplay LLM routing, check out our full Methodology & Audit Notes.
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