An honest, cited look at PolyBuzz — what it does well (including where it beats FlirtAlly), what it costs, and who it's for. Researched 2026-10-03 · official site.
scale and free access: 50M+ Play installs, 480K App Store ratings, 20M+ character library, and a genuinely free ad-supported core chat (s1, s2, s3) vs our 22 companions and daily-capped Free tier — be honest, this is the breadth-vs-depth trade
creation ecosystem: open character creation with JSON import from Character.AI/Pygmalion/TavernAI/Chub, 4-variant AI avatar generator, and a webtoon creator no competitor matches (s5) vs our creator economy being newer (FEATURES_v3 §23)
We publish competitor wins on purpose — a comparison that never loses isn't a comparison.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Notes | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poly Standard Monthly | $9.9 | — | entry paid tier; FirmCritics (s5) calls this tier 'Basic'; CompanionScout (s4) cites 'from ~$9.90/mo' and ~$8.30/mo annual equivalent | reported |
| Poly Premium Monthly | $19.9 | — | FirmCritics (s5): Premium unlocks long-term memory | reported |
| Poly Ultimate Monthly Plan | $29.9 | — | FirmCritics (s5): Ultimate adds 'Permanent Memory' + Saga model; Reddit (s6) criticizes the 'Ultimate Memory' value at $30/mo | reported |
| Poly Standard Weekly Plan | — | — | $4.99 per week per App Store IAP listing (s2); FirmCritics (s5) reports weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual billing cycles exist | reported |
Free tier: exists — core chat free ('Free, Private, and Unrestricted' per s1; 'completely free' per s2/s3 descriptions); ad-supported with throttled peak-hour speed (s5); whether messages are hard-capped is disputed between sources (see contradictions) Platform variance: no single pricing page on the website lays out costs — FirmCritics (s5): 'users have to check app stores'; all verified prices come from the US App Store IAP list (s2); regional price can vary (s4)
entry tiers nearly identical — PolyBuzz Standard $9.90/mo (s2) vs FlirtAlly Spark $12.99/mo — but PolyBuzz stacks Coins and Opals on top of subscription (regenerating a reply costs extra even at $29.90/mo per s5), while FlirtAlly uses a single credit currency and caps by plan, and FlirtAlly tops out at VIP $99.99 vs PolyBuzz Ultimate $29.90. Present neutrally in tables; note their top tier is cheaper but metered.
| Capability | PolyBuzz | FlirtAlly |
|---|---|---|
| Long-term memory | tiered Persona memory — Free: basic recall; Premium: long-term memory; Ultimate: 'Permanent Memory' + Saga model (s5). Reviewers and users report it stays thin: CompanionScout scores memory 11/25, 'little persistent memory across sessions' (s4); Reddit: 'The memory is garbage' (s6); FirmCritics: even on $29.90 Ultimate 'some users report the AI cannot remember the previous sentence in longer sessions' (s5) high conf | Four-layer memory with semantic recall — tell them your dog's name today, they ask about it next week. Unlimited on every plan, free included. |
| Voice | voice chat available, coin-gated duration (s5); app descriptions advertise characters 'complete with authentic voices' (s2, s3) high conf | Real-time voice calls in-app, plus companions with real PSTN phone lines you can actually dial. |
| Video messages | none found — no video-call or video-message feature appears in any source; 'Live Photos' transform chat moments into static images only (s5) low conf | Lip-synced video messages in their own voice (10-second clips). |
| Group chat | none found in fetched sources low conf | Group threads with 2–5 of your companions — they read each other's replies and banter. |
| Selfies & photos | AI image generation: anime-style portraits and character art, 4-variant avatar generator, 'Live Photos' of chat moments (s5); image generation advertised on site nav (s1). Not companion-'selfie' selfies in the FlirtAlly sense — no source describes photos sent in-character on request medium conf | Selfies on demand (3cr), identity-locked to their canonical face — always recognizably them. |
| Texts first | none found — no source describes characters initiating contact or texting first low conf | They text first — opt-in, quiet-hours aware, always stoppable. |
| Real games | none found — closest features are creative tools (webtoon/manga creator, image generator), not playable games (s5) low conf | 17 real server-authoritative games with credit wagers — they play for keeps and remember losses. |
| Real phone lines | none found — voice chat is in-app and coin-metered (s5) low conf | Buy a matched companion their own dedicated real phone number (200cr/mo); only your calls ring through. |
| Physical mail | none found low conf | Real printed letters and gift cards in your physical mailbox, written from relationship memory. |
Sentiment reflects public community posts, attributed to the community they came from.
We show conflicts instead of hiding them — pricing in this category changes fast.
FlirtAlly is live and free to start — a no-card free plan. Companions who remember you, text first, and answer a real phone number.
Not verified — noted honestly rather than guessed: group chat: no source confirms or denies multi-character rooms · proactive messaging (character texts first): unconfirmed in all sources · video calls / video messages: unconfirmed — 'Live Photos' are static images only per s5 · real phone line and physical mail: none found — absence not asserted · games: none found — absence not asserted