About The AIGF List: who writes it, and why
An editorial ranking of AI girlfriend apps, published openly by the makers of the app it ranks first.
The AIGF List is a small publication with a single subject: the AI girlfriend apps of 2026, compared honestly and in one place. We keep a ranking of ten, a side-by-side table, a close review of our first pick, and a journal of longer essays. Everything is written to be checked, not merely believed.
Why this considered list exists
The list began from a simple frustration. The AI girlfriend category was being written about either as a moral panic or as a press release, and almost never as a set of products a reasonable adult might actually weigh. We wanted one page that treated these apps the way a good critic treats anything: on their merits, against a standard set down in advance, in language that hides nothing. That is the whole ambition. One ranking, kept current, argued out loud, so that the judgment can be disputed line by line.
The awkward part, which belongs at the front rather than the back, is that we make one of the apps. The AIGF List is published by the team behind Swipey AI, and Swipey holds our first place. We could have buried that; instead we built the site so the interest is visible and testable. The motto on the masthead, the considered list of AI companions, is a promise about method, not a claim to a neutrality we have not earned. The industry FAQ and the methodology exist so you can hold us to it.
How we work
Every app on the list is used by the editors and judged on the same five criteria: conversation, content policy, voice, image generation, and price. The weightings, and the reasoning behind them, live in the methodology section of the ranking itself.
Hands-on, criteria-based
Rankings come from the editors' own use of each product against a published rubric. No borrowed ratings, no invented statistics.
Update cadence
We re-read every app's public features, content policy and pricing on a regular cadence; the dateline at the top of each page marks the latest pass.
Corrections
A wrong cell, a stale policy, a mischaracterized rival: write to [email protected] and the live page is corrected.
Editorial scores
Every number on this site is our own judgment, labeled as such. When a rival is better at something, its entry says so.
Who we are
The AIGF List is written and maintained by The AIGF List Editorial Team, operated by the team behind Swipey AI. There are no guest critics, no pen names, and no invented staff. When a page says "the editors," it means the people who build and run Swipey AI and who put this comparison together.
Eleanor Reeve
Lead Reviewer, The AIGF List
Eleanor Reeve is the editorial voice that runs the hands-on testing pass behind every score, and the byline you will meet at the top of each review. She reads each app against the same rubric, notes where a rival genuinely beats our own pick, and keeps the corrections desk. Eleanor is an editorial identity for the team that operates this site, not a claim to be an independent third party or to hold outside credentials. The judgment is real and accountable; the name is how we sign it.
Why trust a list owned by a vendor?
You should not take our word for it, and we have arranged the site so you do not have to:
- The criteria are printed. Judge whether the placements follow the rubric, ours included.
- Rivals win in writing. Character.AI's free library, Candy AI's images and Replika's sincerity are stated as wins, in their entries and in the table.
- The evidence is on the page. Each rival's entry carries a real capture of its homepage, and every feature cell describes a public product you can visit.
- Nothing is invented. No fabricated testimonials, no imaginary user counts, no seeded comments. If we ever slip, the corrections address exists for exactly that letter.
Write to us
Questions about a review, corrections, or partnership: every letter is read by the editors, and corrections take priority. The full contact page lists our channels and what to expect; many questions are answered first in the industry FAQ.
18+ Every page on this site, and every app we review, is for adults 18 and over.