Comparison

Backyard.ai vs PerChat AI

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Backyard.ai

Engage in immersive text and voice conversations with AI-powered characters. Customize your characters with detailed backstories, notes, and visuals. Discover new adventures in a vibrant community and select from multiple AI models for unique interactions.

Highlights
  • AI-powered text and voice chat
  • Character customization (lore books, notes, images)
  • Community hub for adventures
  • Choice of 12+ AI models
  • Extensive character memory
Read full description

Introducing Backyard.ai — Dive into immersive text and voice chats with AI-powered characters. - Bring your characters to life with advanced features, such as lore books, author’s note, background images, and more! - Explore the thriving community hub to find your next adventure. - Choose from 12+ top-tier AI models to give your custom characters a unique flair & extensive memory. __ Terms of service & privacy policy: https://backyard.ai/terms https://backyard.ai/privacy

About

PerChat AI

Engage in private AI conversations powered by your own device. Create detailed characters and enjoy offline chat experiences. Enhance chats by using a Mac or Windows PC as a remote server for more complex interactions.

Highlights
  • On-device AI processing for privacy
  • Offline chat functionality
  • Create detailed AI characters
  • Role-play with various personas
  • Use Mac/Windows PC as remote server
  • Curated LLM model selection
Features
Read full description

PerChat AI, the chatbot app powered by your own devices. Unlike other AI chatbot apps, all Characters, Chats, and data remains on your iPhone at all times and no data is shared. This app can run AI chats all on your iPhone if you wish, no internet required! It supports a wide range of iPhones, starting from the iPhone XS and up. 4GB of RAM is recommended but the more RAM you have, the better! If you happen to have a Mac or Windows PC lying around, you can have more complex and interesting chats by using that machine as a remote server for this app. Note that remote chatting is only supported on your own home network, or with the use of a VPN to access outside your home. You can run the PerChat AI server on your Mac or Windows PC with some hand-picked models, or you can run your own server such as LM Studio or Ollama, and have character chats using those tools. Features: - create richly detailed Characters to chat with, and Personas to chat with - partake in epic conversations with dungeon masters, real celebrities, or any character you can imagine - choose from a curated list of LLM models that will run well on your iPhone to change the flavor of your chats - run a vast number of LLMs on your own Mac or Windows PC to offload computing, and improve chat quality

Screenshots

Backyard.ai4 screens
PerChat AI4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: PerChat AI at 100% against Backyard.ai's 30%. PerChat AI also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.5) and in-app purchases (none vs 5). Backyard.ai's advantage is ratings volume (36 vs 4) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Backyard.ai sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. PerChat AI asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PerChat AI holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Backyard.ai has 36 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 30% of Backyard.ai's written reviews are positive against 100% of PerChat AI's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Backyard.ai ships an update every 2 months, PerChat AI every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Backyard.ai versus PerChat AI: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBackyard.aiPerChat AI
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.5 (36 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews30.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings36 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB12 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperAhoy Labs, Inc.Ryan Laseter

Customer experience

Backyard.ai

All ratings26 ratings
Positive65.4%
Neutral7.7%
Negative26.9%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive30.0%
Neutral15.0%
Negative55.0%

PerChat AI

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Backyard.ai

Subscriptions5
  • Standard Plan AI Models$6.991 Month
  • Backyard Cloud Standard$12.001 Month
  • Backyard Cloud Pro$34.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Standard Plan - Yearly$107.991 Year
  • Pro Subscription - Yearly$314.991 Year
None

PerChat AI

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Backyard.ai free?
Backyard.ai is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PerChat AI free?
PerChat AI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Backyard.ai or PerChat AI?
PerChat AI is rated higher. Backyard.ai averages 3.5 out of 5 from 36 ratings, while PerChat AI averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Backyard.ai or PerChat AI have ads?
Neither Backyard.ai nor PerChat AI shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Backyard.ai or PerChat AI?
Backyard.ai ships an update every 2 months, and PerChat AI every 4 weeks. Most recently, Backyard.ai was updated on October 4, 2026 and PerChat AI on October 6, 2026.

Other comparisons