Last updated: 2026-09-03
Janitor AI is a web and mobile platform for creating and roleplaying with community-made AI characters, run by JanitorAI Inc. since 2023. The free tier gives unlimited chats on the built-in JanitorLLM model with a context limit of about 9,000 tokens. One subscription, janitor+, costs $12.99 a month for 5x context, unlimited priority messages, monthly swipes on frontier models, and access to janitor+ Router, which routes to third-party models from Anthropic, Google, xAI, DeepSeek and Z.AI billed per token. The platform is adults-only and screens every published item through automated moderation before it goes live.
About Janitor AI
Janitor AI is a web-based character-creation and roleplay platform that combines human creativity with AI flexibility. Launched in June 2023 by JanitorAI Inc., which has raised around $3M in funding, it grew quickly by pairing minimal content restrictions with a 'bring-your-own-API-key' model: users connect external models like GPT-4 or Claude, or default to the free built-in JanitorLLM.
The platform prioritizes character depth and memory continuity over task automation, positioning it as a more open alternative to companion apps that lock users into one proprietary model.
Screenshots
Pricing
Janitor is free to use: unlimited chats with the built-in model and a context limit of about 9,000 tokens. 99 per month, which the vendor announced on 24 June 2026: 5x more context, unlimited priority messages, monthly swipes on frontier models and a badge. janitor+ subscribers can also use janitor+ Router, which bills third-party models per token on top of the subscription and gives 10% off some of them.
Payments run through Stripe; subscriptions are non-refundable except where the terms or law require, and cancelling leaves the plan active to the end of the billing period. The older Pro and Premium plans this page used to list no longer exist. com on 3 September 2026.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | No per-message or per-token charge on the free tier |
| janitor+ | $12.99/mo | Flat monthly subscription. Router usage of third-party models is billed per token from a separate wallet balance, at the per-model prices shown before you chat. |
Feature Comparison by Tier
| Feature | Free | janitor+ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $12.99/month |
| Context window | 9,000 | 5x the free context |
| Chats with community characters | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Priority messages when load is high | — | Unlimited |
| Swipes on frontier models | — | Monthly allowance |
| janitor+ Router (third-party models) | — | ✓, billed per token |
| Router discount on popular models | — | 10% off some models |
| Character creation and sharing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Profile badge | — | ✓ |
| Web and mobile apps | ✓ | ✓ (Router is web-only for now) |
| Adults only (18+) | ✓ | ✓ |
Key Features
- Community character library: Browse and chat with characters other users have written, sorted by popularity and, since 28 August 2026, by similarity to the one you are looking at. Creating and sharing a character is free.
- Built-in model, no setup: The free tier runs on the platform's own JanitorLLM with unlimited chats and about 9,000 tokens of context, so nothing has to be configured before the first message.
- janitor+ Router for frontier models: Subscribers can route a chat to third-party models from Anthropic, Google, xAI, DeepSeek and Z.AI from inside the app, with each model's per-token price and context limit shown before you start. Launched 30 July 2026, web only for now.
- Generation controls and saved prompts: The API settings page was rebuilt on 19 July 2026 with multiple saved custom prompts and simpler response-length controls, alongside a short-response model released to everyone on 15 July 2026.
- Moderation before publication: Every new character and comment is screened by automated systems before it is published, with human moderators reviewing reports around the clock. The vendor publishes the volumes: over 100,000 items reviewed by AI daily and over 20,000 human moderation actions a month.
- Public status page and changelog: Incidents and fixes are posted publicly - useful, because the changelog shows they happen: a character-service outage on 24 August 2026 and chat-memory problems the week before.
Pros
- The free tier is a real product, not a trial: unlimited chats with the community library and no card, which is rare in this category.
- Nothing to configure. The built-in model works from the first message, and Router removed the pasted API keys and third-party proxies the community used to depend on.
- One subscription, one price, stated plainly on the vendor's own newsroom, with Stripe billing and cancellation that runs to the end of the period.
- Moderation is documented rather than asserted: screening before publication, human review of reports, and published volumes.
- Incidents are public. A status page and a dated changelog make reliability checkable instead of a matter of trust.
Cons
- Memory is the real limit on the free tier - about 9,000 tokens of context, which long roleplay outgrows, and lifting it means the $12.99 subscription.
- The privacy policy does not say your conversations stay out of model training; it lists research and development on the vendor's AI systems among its purposes for personal data.
- No SOC 2 and no ISO 27001, and data is stored in the US and other countries - fine for personal use, disqualifying for work.
- Reliability is visibly uneven: the vendor's own changelog records a character-service outage and chat-memory failures within the last month.
- Router costs extra on top of the subscription, is billed per token from a separate wallet, and is web-only for now.
- Adults only, with no workspace, team or admin features of any kind.
Data Handling
- Training-data policy
- Not excluded. The privacy policy does not promise that conversations stay out of model training: it lists conducting research and development to improve the vendor's AI systems among the purposes for which personal data is used. The safety page says conversations are never sold or shared with third parties for advertising, and retention is criteria-based rather than a fixed window; account deletion is self-serve and, since 13 August 2026, carries a 30-day restore window. Checked 3 September 2026.
- Data residency
- United States. The privacy policy says data is processed and stored in the US and other countries, with standard contractual clauses for cross-border transfers. Payment processing runs through Stripe and through Dulova Investments Limited, Nicosia, Cyprus.
- Compliance
- GDPR rights · CCPA/CPRA (no sale of personal data) · 18+ only · No SOC 2 · No ISO 27001
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Janitor AI cost in 2026?
Janitor is free: unlimited chats with community characters on the built-in model, with a context limit of about 9,000 tokens. There is one subscription, janitor+, at $12.99 a month, which the vendor launched on 24 June 2026. It gives 5x more context, unlimited priority messages when the platform is busy, a monthly allowance of swipes on frontier models, and a badge. The Pro and Premium plans older write-ups mention are gone.
What is janitor+ Router and what does it cost?
Router lets janitor+ subscribers use third-party models - Anthropic, Google, xAI, DeepSeek and Z.AI among them - inside Janitor without pasting an API key or running a proxy. It is billed per token from a wallet balance on top of the $12.99 subscription, with the per-model price and context limit shown before you start, and 10% off some popular models. It launched on 30 July 2026, is web-only for now, and the vendor still recommends the built-in model for everyday roleplay.
Does Janitor AI train on your chats?
The vendor does not say it does not. The privacy policy lists conducting research and development to improve its AI systems among the purposes it uses personal data for, and it makes no exclusion for conversations. What it does commit to is not selling personal data and not sharing private conversations with third parties for advertising. Data is stored in the United States and other countries, retention is criteria-based rather than a fixed window, and deleting your account carries a 30-day restore window. There is no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification.
Is Janitor AI safe to use, and who is it for?
It is an adults-only platform and says so plainly: 18+, with a firm line against anyone suspected of being under 18. Automated systems screen every character and comment before publication and full-time moderators review anything reported. That is a real moderation pipeline, not a claim on its own, but it is content moderation rather than a security certification - there is no SOC 2 or ISO 27001, so it is not a tool to bring into a workplace.
What are the closest alternatives to Janitor AI?
Character.ai is the closest like-for-like: a bigger, safer, single-model library at $9.99 a month, with tighter content limits. Poe is the better choice if what you actually want is many frontier models in one place, from $4.99 a month, though it is not built for long roleplay. ChatGPT writes better and remembers far more, but its policies rule out the adult roleplay Janitor exists for.