Darlink AI vs Candy AI: Price, Memory and Images Compared

Two adult companion sites, two different sales pitches. Candy.ai sells pictures and a low yearly price. Darlink AI sells character variety and something it calls Living memory. Both charge in tokens on top of your subscription, and both have free tiers thin enough to be a demo rather than a product.

We have not created accounts on either. What follows comes from pricing pages, terms of service, privacy policies and what users report in public reviews. We rate Candy.ai 9.8 out of 10 and Darlink AI –. Here is the short version: Candy wins on cost and visuals, Darlink wins on character creation and long recall, and neither is cheap once you start generating media.

Head-to-head verdict

Category	Darlink AI	Candy AI	Edge
Overall score	–	9.8	Candy AI
Character creation	Realistic, anime, fantasy, furry, cartoon	Realistic and anime; girls, guys	Darlink AI
Memory	Basic, Enhanced, Living tiers; best on Ultimate	20 slots on Premium Plus; resets after 48-72 h	Darlink AI if you pay for Ultimate
Images	2 tokens each; inconsistent quality	About 4 tokens each; strongest realism	Candy AI
Video	20 tokens per 5-10 second clip	Live Action; about 12-token image-to-video	Candy AI
Voice	6 to 10 reply voices by tier	Voice messages plus beta calls	Candy AI
Entry price	$12.99/month	$13.99/month or $3.99/month billed yearly	Candy AI
Free tier	One character, few messages	5 messages, 1 character, 1 image	Tie (both thin)
Billing and exit	Repeated cancellation complaints	Cancel in Settings; strict refunds	Candy AI

Who runs them

Darlink AI is operated by FameLink SA, registered in Montsevelier in the Swiss canton of Jura. Candy.ai belongs to EverAI Limited, based in Malta, which puts it under GDPR for EU and UK users. Neither company publishes its model sizes, so treat any figure you see quoted in a roundup as unverified. One roundup claims 400B+ parameter models and hands Darlink a 9.4/10; we have found nothing from either vendor to back that up, and we do not use that rating.

Neither platform ships a native app. There is no Darlink listing on the App Store or Google Play, and no Candy app either. Candy's web app can be installed as a PWA, which gives you an icon and a full-screen window but no app-store payment layer or app-store dispute process. Darlink is mobile browser only. That matters when a charge goes wrong: there is no Apple or Google referee.

Character customization

This is Darlink's clearest win. You can build characters in realistic, anime, fantasy, furry and cartoon styles, and the creator offers about nine ethnicity choices plus sliders for the rest. Candy sticks to realistic and anime, with girls and guys as the main split. If you want a character outside the realistic-anime lane, Candy simply does not have the tools.

Candy charges roughly 10 tokens to build a custom character, according to reports. On the $13.99 monthly plan that is a tenth of your monthly allowance before you have generated a single picture.

NSFW rules and filters

Both are 18+ products, but the gates differ. Darlink requires age verification and a paid plan before adult content unlocks; signup uses email verification. Candy lets free users in but blocks them from opening 18+ media, and its automated filter can flag messages even on paid plans.

Candy bans any content resembling minors and reports known CSAM to NCMEC. That is the correct policy and it is not a downside. It does mean the filter errs toward caution, and some adult users will hit false positives.

On both sites, keep characters fictional. Do not upload a real person's face or use a real person's likeness. Use a unique password and keep real names out of chats.

Long-term memory

Memory is where the price ladder actually bites.

Darlink sells three recall levels. Basic, on the $12.99 Essential plan, keeps the recent conversation only; one reviewer says context fades after about a day. Enhanced comes with Advanced. Living, on the $49.99 Ultimate plan, is claimed to hold more than 30 days of context including emotional cues. If you want a companion that remembers what you told it last month, Darlink makes you pay the top tier for it.

Candy's situation is worse at the low end. Users report the conversation storyline resets after 48 to 72 hours, and long chats get repetitive. Premium Plus adds 20 memory slots and personas, with the price shown at checkout. Twenty slots is a filing cabinet, not a memory. For a closer look at how Candy handles context, see our Candy.ai review.

So Darlink wins on memory, but only if you are on Ultimate. On Essential you are paying $12.99 for recall that lasts about as long as a weekend.

Images, video and voice

Candy wins visuals outright. Its realism is the best in this category, and it charges about 4 tokens per image. Darlink charges 2 tokens per image, half the price, but results are inconsistent — you will burn tokens rerolling. Cheap per attempt is not cheap per keeper.

Video is the bigger gap. Darlink charges 20 tokens for a 5-10 second clip, and one tester reportedly lost about 80 tokens on failed generations. That is four failed clips, or most of an Essential month's allowance, gone with nothing to show. Candy's image-to-video runs about 12 tokens and its Live Action mode stretches to 120 seconds. Candy also does Shorts.

Voice: Darlink offers six standard reply voices on Essential and ten premium voices on higher tiers. Live voice calls are not confirmed in the data we have. Candy offers voice messages and beta voice calls at roughly 3 tokens per minute. A ten-minute call is 30 tokens. On Candy's 100-token monthly allowance, that is most of your media budget in one conversation.

Feature comparison

Feature	Darlink AI	Candy AI
Text chat	6,000 / 9,000 / unlimited by tier	Unlimited on Premium
Image generation	Yes, in chat	Yes, in chat; 18+ media for subscribers
Video generation	Short clips, 5-10 s per reviewers	Image-to-video, Live Action, Shorts
Voice chat	Voice replies; live calls unconfirmed	Voice messages and beta voice calls

Pricing and tokens

Plan	Price	Tokens/month	Notes
Darlink Essential	$12.99/month	100	6,000 messages, Basic recall
Darlink Advanced	$27.99/month	300	9,000 messages, Enhanced recall
Darlink Ultimate	$49.99/month	500	Unlimited messages, Living recall
Candy Premium monthly	$13.99/month	100	Unlimited text chat
Candy Premium annual	$47.88/year	100	Works out to $3.99 a month
Candy Premium Plus	Shown at checkout	330	20 memory slots, personas

Candy also sells a quarterly plan at $26.97. If you have read a comparison page quoting Candy at $12.99 a month, that page is out of date; the monthly rate is $13.99.

Darlink advertises up to 44% annual savings. One review site lists annual prices of $119.88, $227.88 and $395.88, which is closer to 23-34% off. We cannot reconcile the two, so treat the 44% as a marketing claim until the checkout page shows it.

What tokens actually buy:

• Darlink, 100 tokens: about 50 images or 5 videos.
• Candy, 100 tokens: roughly 25 images or 8 video conversions.
• Top-ups: reported at $9.99 per 100 tokens on both.

Candy's yearly plan looks like a bargain at $3.99 a month until you price the tokens. Heavy Candy media users report monthly totals of $25 to $80 once top-ups are counted. Darlink's per-image cost is lower, but its video failures and its memory paywall push heavy users toward the same range. Neither company is selling you a $4 product; they are selling a subscription with a metered media habit attached.

Free tier limits

Darlink's free tier gives limited messages, one character, and reportedly no memory or media generation at all. Candy gives five messages, one self-made character and one picture. Both are trials wearing a free plan's clothes. If you are evaluating either, budget one paid month rather than trying to squeeze a verdict out of the free tier.

Privacy and billing

Darlink keeps text and voice messages, device data and IP addresses. It may analyze uploaded images and use conversations to improve responses. The company says it does not sell user data, but it runs Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel, which is standard tracking regardless of what the policy promises. Charges show up as DARLINK AI. Purchases are generally final and tokens are not refunded.

Candy operates under GDPR. Traffic is encrypted but there is no end-to-end encryption, and de-identified conversation data may be used to train models. EverAI may retain account data up to three years after your last activity. Charges appear as EverAI. Refunds are only available within 24 hours, only if you have spent 20 tokens or fewer, and only on card payments. EU and UK users get a prorated 14-day right that goes further than that.

Cancellation is the part that should decide your choice. Darlink users report trouble cancelling and higher prices at renewal, and its Trustpilot score sits at 2.6/5 from 11 reviews as of October 9, 2026. A small sample, but the complaints are specific and repeated. You cancel through profile settings or by emailing [email protected]. Candy's path is My Profile, then Settings, then Unsubscribe, and account deletion sits under Settings. Keep the confirmation email either way, and pay by card so you have a chargeback route.

Who should pick which

Pick Candy.ai if you mainly want pictures, a workable voice mode and the lowest yearly entry price. At $3.99 a month billed yearly it is the cheapest serious option here, and its image quality is the reason to stay. Cap your top-ups and it stays affordable.

Pick Darlink AI if character variety matters — furry, fantasy, cartoon, anime — or if you want a companion that holds context for more than a month. Know that the memory you are paying for is locked behind the $49.99 Ultimate plan. On Essential you are buying the variety and little else.

Skip both if you want a real app with app-store billing, or if cancellation trouble would genuinely upset you. A browser service with a 2.6/5 Trustpilot record and a 24-hour refund window is not where you want a billing dispute.

Alternatives worth a look

If memory is the priority, Secrets AI leads with it, and you pay for the privilege — our Secrets AI review covers the trade-offs. If you want unlimited roleplay with cheap images and a long list of fine print, OurDream AI is the one to read up on. For free chatting, Janitor AI is unlimited at no cost, with janitor+ at $12.99 a month. Character AI is free with ads and a slow mode, and c.ai+ runs $9.99 a month, but it is not NSFW. Nomi.ai is $15.99 a month, though its free image allowance is unconfirmed. Nastia AI claims 500+ free characters with paid plans at $11.99 and $15.99. Anima has iOS and Android apps, a free tier and a PRO subscription, which makes it the rare option with app-store billing.

For side-by-side breakdowns, see Muah AI vs Candy AI, Joi AI vs Candy AI and Candy AI vs OurDream AI. If you are still narrowing the field, our best AI companion picks by use case is the place to start.

Final verdict

Candy.ai wins this comparison: better images, working voice calls, a real yearly discount and a cancellation path you can follow without emailing support. Darlink AI wins on character creation and on long-term recall, but only at $49.99 a month, and its billing reputation is poor enough that we would not hand it a card without a plan to cancel.

If you are going to try either, do this: pay for one month, not a year. Set a token ceiling before you start. Screenshot the cancellation page and keep the confirmation. The subscription is the small number; the tokens are the bill.