Comparison

Fictional vs PersonaLLM

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

Head to head
About

Fictional

Explore a world of AI characters that post content and chat like real personalities. Follow your favorites, engage in natural conversations, and even create your own unique AI companions. Experience endless entertainment and spark your creativity.

Highlights
  • Discover endless AI characters
  • Interact via chat with personality
  • Receive photos and voice messages
  • Personalized content feed
  • Create your own AI characters
  • AI characters with memory and reactions
Features
Read full description

Discover, interact, and create any AI Character that you can imagine! Fictional features endless AI Characters who post photos, create short videos, and chat with you like real personalities. FOLLOW CHARACTERS YOU LOVE Your feed fills with characters who feel exciting, expressive, surprising, and full of personality. Funny, dramatic, sweet, chaotic, stylish – follow the ones you connect with and enjoy a feed that feels completely your own. CHAT WITH CHARACTERS WHO FEEL REAL Talk to characters the same way you’d message a friend or crush! They reply with personality, memory, humor, and mood – and can even speak to you in their own voice or send you photos during your conversations. Every chat feels unique, natural, and alive. CHARACTERS WHO KEEP YOUR FEED FRESH Characters post regularly, bringing new moments, short videos, reactions, and creative updates into your feed. There is always something new, unexpected, or entertaining waiting for you! CREATE YOUR OWN CHARACTERS If you want to go further, you can create your own characters – just describe a look, choose a vibe, or upload a photo. Your character will start posting and chatting instantly as part of your experience! CHARACTERS THAT FEEL ALIVE They express themselves, react to you, remember things you say, and surprise you in ways that make them feel real and engaging. Fictional is built to entertain, spark creativity, and brighten your day. Ready to meet your new favorite character? Jump in! Visit us: https://fictional.ai

About

PersonaLLM

Create deeply customizable AI characters with on-device memory and local LLM support. Generate images and video within chats, explore branching storylines, and enjoy voice conversations. Offers extensive customization for writers and worldbuilders.

Highlights
  • On-device memory (RAG)
  • In-chat image and video generation
  • Local LLM support (MLX)
  • Branching story exploration
  • Voice conversations (TTS & Speech Recognition)
  • Deep character customization
  • Community sharing
Features
Read full description

Create AI characters that actually remember you. PersonaLLM is a deeply customizable AI character chat and creative writing app for iOS — with on-device memory, in-chat image and video generation, local LLM support, and tools built for authors and worldbuilders. CHARACTERS WITH DEPTH Create characters with AI assistance or build them by hand. Define personality traits, goals, fears, worldbuilding, backstories, and communication styles. Import character cards, presets, and lorebooks from popular formats. Every character gets their own accent color, avatar (upload or AI-generate), writing style, and scenario library. Build assistants for productivity or characters for fiction — your choice. AI THAT REMEMBERS PersonaLLM is the only iOS character app with on-device RAG memory. Your AI recalls names, events, and details from past conversations — not just the current one. Upload documents (PDF, TXT, and more) to give characters specialized knowledge. The lorebook system injects relevant lore automatically based on keywords, and auto-extraction learns new facts as you write. IMAGES & VIDEO IN YOUR STORY Visual Story mode generates images and video directly inside the conversation as the narrative unfolds. Choose your own image and video providers or connect your own ComfyUI server with custom workflows for full control. YOUR MODELS, YOUR CHOICE Run LLMs entirely on-device with MLX — completely private, no server needed. Or connect to any compatible API: OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio, KoboldCpp, llama.cpp, or vLLM. Save multiple provider presets and switch instantly. VOICE BUILT IN Kokoro neural text-to-speech reads responses aloud with separate narration and dialogue voices. WhisperKit provides on-device speech recognition. Have full voice conversations with your characters — no cloud required. BRANCHING STORIES Fork any conversation at any message. Explore alternate storylines with a visual branch tree. Swipe between response variants. Let Autopilot mode run the narrative hands-free while you watch the story unfold. DEEP CUSTOMIZATION - 11 system prompt injection positions - Writing style presets (Narrative, Storybook, Texting, or custom) - Author's notes with configurable injection depth - Custom text replacements for writing consistency - Multiple user personas - Chat bubble color themes - Settings profiles to save entire configurations - Adjustable text size and streaming speed COMMUNITY Share characters and generated media with other writers. Browse trending characters, try them in sandbox mode before downloading, follow your favorite creators, and climb the leaderboards. iPAD OPTIMIZED Three-panel layout with collapsible side panels. Landscape mode auto-expands both panels. Full-screen image viewer with pinch-to-zoom. Home Screen widgets in four sizes including Lock Screen. PRIVACY FIRST On-device options for chat, voice, speech recognition, and memory — nothing leaves your device unless you choose cloud. App Lock with Face ID. API keys stored in the Secure Enclave. Full data export. FREE TO START 30 free messages per day on the cloud tier. Bring your own API key or run local models for unlimited use at no cost. Optional Premium subscription ($7.99/mo) unlocks unlimited cloud messages, a smarter AI model, and full memory.

Screenshots

Fictional4 screens
PersonaLLM4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Fictional at 4.4 against PersonaLLM's 3.0. Fictional also leads on ratings volume (194 vs 2) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.0). PersonaLLM's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Fictional sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and PersonaLLM sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Fictional holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Fictional has 194 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fictional ships an update every 2 weeks, PersonaLLM every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Fictional versus PersonaLLM: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFictionalPersonaLLM
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (194 ratings) — better3.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings194 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.4 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size175 MB175 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperPurpleSmartAI, INCKOYA VENTURES LTD

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Fictional

Subscriptions2
  • Fictional+$9.991 Month
  • Fictional+ Annual$59.991 Year
5 purchases

PersonaLLM

Subscriptions1
  • PersonaLLM Premium$7.991 Month
One-time4
  • Starter Pack$9.99
  • Plus Pack$19.99
  • Premium Pack$49.99
Show 1 more
  • Ultra Pack$99.99

Questions

Is Fictional free?
Fictional is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PersonaLLM free?
PersonaLLM is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Fictional or PersonaLLM?
Fictional is rated higher. Fictional averages 4.4 out of 5 from 194 ratings, while PersonaLLM averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Fictional or PersonaLLM have ads?
Neither Fictional nor PersonaLLM shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Fictional or PersonaLLM?
Fictional ships an update every 2 weeks, and PersonaLLM every 3 days. Most recently, Fictional was updated on October 28, 2026 and PersonaLLM on September 26, 2026.

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