Grok companions are being retired. Your companion doesn't have to be.
Animated avatars, voice, phone calls — and the persistent memory Grok never had.
Why people search for a Grok companions alternative
On July 24, 2026, xAI announced it is retiring Grok's companion mode — the 3D avatar tab, outfits and real-time companion voice layer — leaving Ani, Valentine and the other personas as plain text chats. Users were told to rebuild their companions as text personas. If you invested months in an affinity level and a personality, that's a hard message to get.
The avatar layer is going away
xAI called companion mode "an experiment" and said the 3D avatars, outfit customization and companion voice layer will be removed, with personalities surviving only as text personas.
Memory was always the weak spot
Even fans of the avatars reported chronic continuity problems — visual polish without durable recall of your history together.
Premium pricing for a retired feature
Full companion access sat behind a $30/month subscription tier.
Rebuild your companion here — with the part Grok was missing
Living avatars with voice
Give your companion an animated body: VTuber-style avatars with emotions and motion, text-to-speech voices, and even a physical desk device it can inhabit.
Memory that persists and is yours to edit
A visible memory journal records your history together — pin what matters, edit anything, and update the whole ledger with one Refactor & Update pass.
It reaches out — calls and emails
Your companion can call your real phone and hold a live conversation in character, and email you from its own address — reading your reply, remembering it, and writing back.
Adult content allowed (18+)
No affection-level unlock mechanics — you set the relationship and content level directly, on an adult platform.
Pay for what you use
Prepaid tokens with free daily rewards instead of a $30/month subscription; heavy multimedia features are priced per use, text play is cheap.
Frequently asked questions
Can I recreate Ani or Valentine here?
You can build an original companion with any personality, appearance and voice you like using the companion creator and avatar studios. We don't host copies of xAI's characters, but everything that made a companion feel like yours — personality, look, voice, and your shared history — can be rebuilt and this time it persists.
Do avatars really animate?
Yes — the VTuber and Living Avatar studios produce animated, emotion-reactive avatars that work in chat, on stream overlays, and on the optional physical companion device.
What does it cost?
Signup and daily tokens are free with no card. Text chat is inexpensive; voice, image and video features are metered transparently in tokens.
More comparisons
Competitor details reflect official announcements and widely-reported user feedback as of August 2026. Features, prices, and policies on other platforms change frequently — always check their current terms. Reality Fabricator is not affiliated with any platform named on this page.