The Chai lesson: scale on mobile, but count the store's cut
Chai's website says it has 10M+ active users, has raised over $55M and reached a $120M revenue run-rate as of October 1, 2026 (company figures). That is the upside of app store distribution. The cost is commission on every subscription: Apple charges 30% as standard and 15% in its Small Business Program and on subscriptions after the first year. We could not load Chai's US App Store listing on October 30, 2026, so its in-app prices are not listed here.
What an app like Chai has to include
| Chai feature (as Chai publishes it) | What you need to build | Ongoing cost driver |
|---|---|---|
| User-built characters and stories | Creation tools, discovery and moderation | Moderation and storage |
| iOS and Android apps | Two native apps and store review | App store commission on payments |
| Subscription (prices not published on the web) | In-app purchase and receipts | 15% to 30% Apple commission |
| 18+ only | Age gating and verification | Verification cost |
| Adult roleplay kept fictional; no explicit images | Content rules and enforcement | Moderation |
What it costs to run an app like Chai
Published list prices for the main running costs, as checked on October 26, 2026:
| Cost line | Published price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Small chat model (OpenAI gpt-6-luna) | $0.10 per million input tokens, $0.50 per million output tokens | OpenAI pricing |
| Small chat model (Claude Haiku 5.5) | $0.10 input, $0.50 output per million tokens (prompts up to 100,000 tokens) | Anthropic pricing |
| Open model via OpenRouter (Llama 3.3 70B) | From $0.10 input, $0.32 output per million tokens, plus 5.5% on credit purchases | OpenRouter pricing |
| Image generation (FLUX schnell on Replicate) | $0.003 per image ($0.025 for flux-dev, $0.04 for flux-1.1-pro) | Replicate pricing |
| Hosting (Vercel Pro) | $20 a month, including $20 of usage credit | Vercel pricing |
| Age verification (AgeChecker.net) | $25 a month plus $0.50 per accepted check | AgeChecker.net pricing |
| Adult-friendly card processing (Verotel Basic) | 15.5% of each transaction, 10% rolling reserve for 6 months | Verotel price chart |
| Adult-friendly card processing (Epoch) | 15% for new accounts, down to 13.25% by weekly volume; $1,950 card registration | Epoch business services |
| App Store commission (Apple) | 30% standard, 15% in the Small Business Program and on subscriptions after year one | Apple Small Business Program |
Build it, or launch on a white label platform?
Building Chai from scratch makes sense for a funded team with engineers and a compliance plan. Most people searching for an app like Chai want the business: a branded companion site that takes payments and earns. That is what a white label platform is for.
| Build it yourself | WhiteLabelFans white label | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Developers, design and setup; custom builds commonly run $50,000 or more | $0 for launch-catalogue brands |
| Time to launch | Months, plus payment approval | 48 hours after approval |
| AI, image and hosting bills | Yours, growing with every active user | Included |
| Payments, chargebacks, age checks | You apply for a high-risk merchant account and run them | Already in place |
| Companions and content | You design and refresh the roster | Included, new companions weekly |
| How you earn | 100% of revenue minus every cost | Up to 60% of total site revenue |
WhiteLabelFans builds and runs the site under your brand and domain, with companions, AI chat, memberships, tokens, tips and custom photo requests already working, and high-risk payments and compliance handled. You send traffic and keep up to 60% of total site revenue. See what the platform includes or compare the white label options.
Compare Chai with the other apps in the AI companion apps directory or on the Chai alternatives page.
Sources
Every price and policy above comes from the app's own website, help center, terms or US App Store listing, on the date shown. Prices are in US dollars, exclude tax and change often. Monthly equivalents of annual plans are our division by 12. The full dataset with a source for every field is on the AI companion apps directory.
- Chai: plans and prices (checked October 30, 2026)
- Chai: content policy (checked October 30, 2026)
- OpenAI API pricing
- Anthropic pricing
- Replicate pricing
- Verotel price chart
- Apple Small Business Program
Frequently asked questions
How much does Chai make?
Chai says its annualized revenue run-rate reached $120M as of October 1, 2026, with 10M+ active users and over $55M raised. These are company figures from chai-research.com.
How much does it cost to build an app like Chai?
A custom build with iOS and Android apps commonly costs $50,000 or more, before model costs, moderation and the 15% to 30% app store commission on subscriptions.
Should I launch a Chai-style app on mobile or the web?
Mobile brings distribution but costs 15% to 30% of revenue and depends on store policy, especially for adult content. Most adult companion brands sell on the web with an adult-friendly processor.