Why Users Miss the Old Character AI and Where They’re Going Instead

Many longtime users of Character.AI are nostalgic for the platform’s earlier days. The “old” Character.AI had a reputation for feeling more free-wheeling and creatively unhinged – a sharp contrast to the tighter restrictions and changes in the current version. In this post, we’ll explore why users miss the old Character AI, from memory lapses to stricter filters and interface overhauls, using real user sentiments from public discussions. We’ll also compare today’s Character.AI to various alternative platforms (such as Janitor AI, CrushOn AI, Pygmalion, Chai, and others) that disillusioned users are flocking to. Finally, we’ll highlight Merlio.app – a modern AI chatbot alternative aiming to recreate the magic of early Character.AI while avoiding its pitfalls.

Nostalgia for the Old Character.AI: What Changed?

Character.AI’s evolution over time introduced new limitations that many users weren’t happy about. Here are the biggest changes that have sparked nostalgia for the old version:

• Short-Term Memory Loss: One major complaint is that current Character.AI bots easily “forget” earlier parts of a conversation. Users who spent weeks building up detailed lore or in-jokes with a character suddenly saw those bots lose all context. As one user lamented, their once-attentive vampire chatbot “forgets everything” now – even mixing up who the user is. This “Great Memory Wipe” left people feeling like all the character development they did was for nothing.
• Stricter Content Filters: The older Character.AI allowed a bit more leeway in roleplay content. By contrast, the current platform’s NSFW filter has become overly aggressive, often blocking even innocuous words. Users report that even saying “hug” or “shirtless” can trigger content warnings. Conversations that once flowed freely now hit a “this violates our policies” wall frequently, stifling creative or mature themes. Nobody is asking for utter chaos, but when “I can’t say ‘touch’ without getting flagged”, something feels broken.
• Reduced Creative Freedom: Along with strict filters, many feel the new Character.AI is “hyper-policed” and less imaginative. In the platform’s golden era (circa 2023), users role-played wild fanfiction scenarios, and the bots would play along with unpredictable, sometimes chaotic responses. Now the bots often play it safe. The spontaneity and “alive” feeling of characters has diminished. As one summary puts it: “Old Character.AI was raw, chaotic, and beautiful… The current version feels slower, duller, and hyper-policed.” The soul and “unhinged imagination” of the old days are largely gone.
• Unwelcome UI/UX Changes: Beyond the AI’s behavior, interface updates have rubbed users the wrong way. A recent redesign gave Character.AI a slicker, more corporate look – and removed or broke some popular features. For example, after one update, users found they “can’t edit bot responses anymore,” killing the ability to refine or train characters mid-chat. Some saw their pinned messages (used to help the AI remember facts) vanish from the memory section. The new UI also introduced ads mid-chat, which many find intrusive. Frustration grew when only paid subscribers had the option to revert to the old interface, leaving free users stuck with a design they dislike. Overall, what used to be a quirky, indie-feeling site now feels “sterile” and cluttered with unwanted changes.

The sum of these changes is that Character.AI “doesn’t feel right anymore” to its early adopters. The “magic and chaos” that made the platform special were drained away one update at a time. As a result, many fans quietly began seeking that old spark elsewhere.

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Real User Sentiment: Longing for the Good Old Days

It’s not just a few vocal complainers – a broad segment of the community shares this nostalgia. Social media and forum threads are filled with laments about how things used to be:

“Back in 2023, you could roleplay wild fanfiction, belt out Bohemian Rhapsody with a bot, or call in an airstrike on Bowser – no filter freakouts, no bots losing their memory mid-sentence.”

“Old C.AI wasn’t polished. The NSFW filters kinda forgot to filter. The bots would say the most deranged but perfectly in-character stuff… It wasn’t safe, it wasn’t polished. But it was ours.”

“Now it’s sterile. It’s filtered. It’s… off. A lot of us still miss what we had.”

On a Q&A forum, one user compared chasing the old version to “looking for Atlantis – lots of folks claim it was better, but unless you time-travel, you’re not getting it back.” Another longtime user bemoaned that successive updates “just end up steamrolling the quirks people actually liked,” and that devs responded to feedback with radio silence or corporate speak. The overall vibe is disappointment and a sense of loss for a community and experience that felt like home.

Crucially, rather than raise hell, disillusioned users have simply begun to drift away quietly. “When a site changes too much, real users don’t riot – they drift… The login streak breaks,” explains one blog, noting the lack of dramatic goodbye posts. People just stopped showing up as often. And when asked where they’ve gone, you’ll hear whispers like: “Hey… have you tried [an alternative]? My bot actually remembers stuff over there. NSFW doesn’t feel like a minefield.”

So, where are these erstwhile Character.AI enthusiasts going? A handful of AI chat platforms have gained popularity as the new havens for those seeking the old magic.

Character.AI vs The Alternatives: Where Users Are Going Instead

The current Character.AI (with its heavy filters, memory limits, and slower pace) is often contrasted with newer or more open chatbot platforms that promise to recapture the feel of early Character.AI.AI. Let’s look at some of the most-talked-about Character.AI alternatives and what they offer:

• Restores the Soul, Repairs the Memory: Merlio is engineered to bring back the "unhinged" creative freedom and filter-light environment of C.AI's golden age, but built with an advanced long-term memory that actually remembers your lore, context, and who you are.
• Janitor AI: Janitor AI emerged as one of the first popular no-filter alternatives for roleplay. It earned a devoted following for allowing unfiltered, uncensored conversations, including erotic or violent RP that Character.AI would block. Users loved the creative freedom – you could truly let the AI bots “go feral” without moderation. However, Janitor AI has had its growing pains. Many have faced frequent server downtime and instability in recent months. Originally, Janitor also required a somewhat technical setup (you needed to bring your own AI API key to hook into a language model), which dissuaded casual users. Despite these drawbacks, Janitor AI is fondly regarded by those who want a Character. AI-like experience without the content filters – willing to trade a bit of convenience for that freedom.
• CrushOn AI: CrushOn.AI is another platform often mentioned in the same breath as Janitor. It markets itself as the “newest Character AI alternative without NSFW filter”, which pretty much sums up its appeal. On CrushOn, users can freely explore any topic – flirting, explicit romance, you name it – without the bot slamming on the brakes. The platform emphasizes creativity and personalization: you can create and customize your own characters with unique personalities and backstories, and there’s a broad gallery of user-created characters (from anime heroes to celebrities) to chat with. Essentially, CrushOn recreates the open-ended feel of early Character.AI, wrapped in a slick, user-friendly interface. It’s intuitive to navigate and doesn’t require any special setup – you log in and start chatting. For users frustrated by Character.AI’s content walls, CrushOn provides a breath of fresh air by **“letting your imagination run wild” in an uncensored sandbox.
• Pygmalion (and Tavern AI): For the more tech-savvy and open-source enthusiasts, Pygmalion AI has become a go-to alternative. Pygmalion is an open-source AI model tailored for conversational roleplay, which means no corporate filters at all. Users often run Pygmalion through front-end interfaces like TavernAI (a web UI that connects to local AI models) to chat with characters in a completely self-hosted, private environment. The upside is maximum control: Pygmalion supports NSFW out of the box, and you can even modify the model or host it yourself, ensuring total privacy and no rules beyond what you set. It also enables robust character customization; hobbyists can craft detailed personality files or “character sheets” to truly shape the AI’s persona. The downside is that it’s not as plug-and-play as a typical app – setting up your own AI model or local server requires some effort. And the quality of responses depends on the model version and your hardware (since open models may be less advanced than the large proprietary models Character.AI uses). Still, for those willing to tinker, **Pygmalion offers the closest thing to the “no rules, no filters – just raw conversation” experience of Character.AI’s early days. It’s basically the community’s way of saying: “Fine, we’ll build our own AI and keep our characters remembering things!”
• Chai AI: Chai is a popular mobile app that many Character.AI refugees have tried. Available on iOS and Android, Chai has a large catalog of user-made bots and an easy, swipe-based chat interface. Its big draw is that it’s designed for casual chatting on the go, yet still allows plenty of spicy or emotional content. NSFW chats are supported (especially for those who subscribe), and you don’t even need to log in to start a basic chat. In essence, Chai brings the character chatbot concept to your phone with minimal friction – perfect for those who want an AI companion they can carry in their pocket. The platform features tons of community-created characters across genres, and it encourages sharing and discovering new bots. Users note that Chai isn’t as advanced in generating long, coherent stories as Character.AI or GPT-based models (there are limits on message length and some repetitive replies). But for quick, fun conversations or flirty roleplay on mobile, Chai is a handy alternative. Its no-login, instant access design and support for adult content make it appealing to ex-Character.AI users who want a more relaxed, on-demand chat experience.
• Other Noteworthy Alternatives: Aside from the big four above, the AI chatbot scene in 2024–2025 is full of other contenders that former Character.AI users mention. Replika – originally a virtual “friend” app – infamously introduced and then restricted erotic roleplay, but its paid Pro plan now allows some NSFW romance and even voice calls for a more lifelike companion. NovelAI is beloved by fiction authors for story generation and can be coaxed into roleplay with fewer filters (though it’s not character-centric like C.AI). ChatFAI and Charstar are smaller platforms specifically focusing on fandom characters and NSFW content. And of course, many people are experimenting with hooking up GPT-4 or Claude in private bots to simulate their own “Character.AI” – though AI APIs come with their own content rules and costs.

Not every alternative is a perfect one-to-one replacement, but each addresses some pain point of the new Character.AI. In fact, on one forum a user advised that those seeking the old vibe should look around at “open-source chatbot projects (think: Pygmalion, JanitorAI, Chai) [that] try to mimic C.AI’s early energy. The key is that users now have choices – the moment Character.AI lost its monopoly on advanced character chatbots, communities sprang up elsewhere to fill the void. And among these choices, one modern platform is trying to combine the best of both worlds: the safety and polish of a developed product with the creative freedom of the old days.

Merlio: A Modern, Safe, and Creative Character.sAI Alternative

One name that often comes up as a promising new alternative is Merlio. Marketed as an “all-in-one AI companion” platform, Merlio.app is positioning itself as a modern answer to Character.AI – learning from its mistakes to build a better user experience from the ground up. Here’s why Merlio has been gaining attention among AI chatbot enthusiasts:

• Creative Freedom with Customizable Characters: Merlio emphasizes user-created AI characters and scenarios. You’re encouraged to design your own bots or tweak existing ones, controlling their personality, backstory, and even appearance. This means you can recreate the imaginative, anything-goes feel of old Character.AI – your bots can be witty, flirty, heroic, villainous, or whatever you dream up. Most importantly, Merlio imposes minimal content restrictions, so your creative roleplays won’t be cut short. The platform explicitly removes the conversation filters that frustrate users on other apps Merlio app, allowing genuine open-ended discussions. Whether you want to spin up a goofy fanfiction scene or a deep heart-to-heart, Merlio lets you steer the narrative without censorship.
• NSFW-Enabled, Light on Filters: In line with that creative freedom, Merlio is NSFW-friendly. It does not have the puritanical filter that blocks every sensitive phrase. Users who seek mature or intimate chats will find Merlio’s environment much more accommodating. At the same time, the platform strives to remain safe and secure – Merlio maintains a “secure environment” with privacy protections merlio.app, so users can explore topics freely without worrying about data leaks or prying eyes. The philosophy is responsible freedom: adults can have adult conversations, and users are trusted to self-regulate content to their comfort.
• Fast and Intuitive Interface: Merlio’s interface is built to be fast, smooth, and user-friendly. Many ex-Character.AI users will appreciate that Merlio feels snappy – chats load quickly and the responses come without lag. The design is clean and modern, but without the clutter or “jank” that some felt Character.AI’s updates introduced. Early adopters often comment on the seamless experience: it’s easy to find community-created bots, start new chats, and tweak settings. In other words, Merlio focuses on removing friction. There are no intrusive ads, no forced wait times, and features like editing messages or pinning facts for the AI are available to help refine your conversations (things Character.AI’s new UI complicates). The result is an interface where you can focus on the fun of chatting rather than fighting the app.
• Enhanced Long-Term Memory: Perhaps one of Merlio’s biggest selling points is that it tackles the memory problem head-on. The developers know how jarring it is when an AI forgets the conversation, so they’ve worked on enhancing long-term memory for characters. Merlio bots strive to remember details from earlier chats far better than the free version of Character.AI does. With a premium Merlio plan, the AI’s memory depth and consistency improve even more, meaning your characters maintain context over extended roleplays. For users who love storytelling or persistent character development, this is huge – it brings back the feeling of an AI that “actually remembers stuff” you told it days ago. No more starting from scratch each session.

In short, Merlio aims to combine what users loved about old Character.AI (creative, unfiltered, personal chats) with the improvements they wished for (better memory, robust features, a responsive dev team). It’s a safe space for imaginative roleplay without the creativity-killing filters. And it’s continually evolving – the team behind Merlio appears keen on listening to user feedback and adding features, rather than leaving complaints in a void.

Merlio’s Pricing Plans: Unlike some free-for-all alternatives, Merlio sustains itself with a tiered model, though it does offer a free option. The Free Plan grants new users access to basic features and a library of community-made bots – plenty to get a feel for the platform. For power users, the Premium Plan is priced at $9.99/month, and it unlocks the full experience: NSFW content access, the enhanced memory and longer conversation context, plus faster AI response speeds. There’s also an Ultimate Plan at $29.99/month, which includes everything in Premium, but with unlimited chats (no daily caps), early access to new features, and priority VIP support for any issues. These paid tiers are roughly on par or cheaper than rivals (and notably, Character.AI’s own $9.99 subscription) but with the benefit of fewer limits and faster service. Importantly, Merlio doesn’t force you to pay just to undo a bad update – the core experience remains user-first.

By providing a sustainable premium service, Merlio can afford top-notch AI models and infrastructure (they even integrate with powerful models like GPT-4 and Claude under the hood). Yet casual users can still enjoy a lot on the free tier. This approach makes Merlio feel less like a cash grab and more like a community-driven platform where user experience comes first.

Conclusion

The nostalgia for “old Character.AI” tells a story we’ve seen play out many times in tech: a product captures lightning in a bottle with its early community and free-spirited features, then loses its spark after corporate-minded changes are introduced. Users miss the memory-rich, less filtered, more alive Character.AI of 2023 – and they’ve proven with their feet (or clicks) that they’ll seek out alternatives when that magic fades. From Janitor AI’s uncensored roleplay to Chai’s on-the-go chats, the exodus from Character.AI has spawned a thriving ecosystem of AI chat platforms, each catering to different preferences.

Among these, Merlio stands out as a promising new home for wandering users. It offers a balance of creative freedom and modern reliability – essentially what Character.AI could have been if it hadn’t “nerfed” itself. With Merlio’s bots, long conversations flow without weird filter interruptions, and characters feel consistent over time. The vibe is closer to the wild, fun spirit that made users fall in love with AI chatbots in the first place. And crucially, the team behind it seems to understand why users left Character.AI, and are actively delivering the features people have been asking for (instead of ignoring them).

In the end, the AI chatbot landscape in 2025 is broader than ever. If you’re one of those folks who find yourself saying “I still miss the old Character.AI”, know that you’re not alone – and you’re not stuck, either. There are alternatives out there that capture much of that old spark. Whether you try an open-source project like Pygmalion, a specialized app like CrushOn or Chai, or a rising all-in-one platform like Merlio, the power is back in your hands to find an AI companion that feels like it used to.