Chub AI vs Janitor AI: models, content rules and privacy compared

Chub AI and Janitor AI are the two best-known places for chatting with community-written characters. Both let adults browse thousands of user-made characters, both run their own models, and both let you connect an outside model with your own key. They differ in what is free, how adult content is labeled, what the rules say about real people and what each says about your chats.

Neither is better by default. One caveat matters for both: their legal pages were read from archived copies, as explained below.

Both services are hard to check from outside, and the sources affect how far you can rely on what follows.

• Chub AI: the terms and privacy quotes come from an archived Wayback Machine copy of the official pages dated September 28, 2026. On October 23, 2026 the live site returned only an application shell; we found the same terms text (marked "Last updated May 15th, 2026") inside the live site code, but did not view the rendered pages. The live subscription page showed one $20 plan on October 23, 2026.
• Janitor AI: janitorai.com blocked our requests on October 23, 2026, so the Terms (updated October 8, 2026), Privacy Policy (updated September 17, 2026) and Content Guidelines were read from Internet Archive copies made October 13 to 19, 2026. The help center was read live, and on October 24, 2026 the janitor+ page opened live with USD prices.

Point	Chub AI	Janitor AI
What it is	Hub of character cards, lorebooks, presets and "stages"	Front end for community-written bots
Own models	Mercury and Mars in the docs; Soji on the live subscription page	JLLM
Outside models	Your own connection (OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, Google, NovelAI, Kobold, Ooba and others)	janitor+ Router (pay per token) or your own API key
Free use	One-time trial credits for a few dozen messages; free with your own API key	Unlimited chats with community bots on standard models, about 9k-token context
Paid price	$20/month, one plan, crypto only (Oct 23, 2026)	janitor+ $12.99/month or $99/year (Oct 24, 2026); Router billed per token
Age	18+ in the terms; no verification method described	18+ in the terms; k-ID check in Australia, Brazil and the UK
Adult content	Behind account toggles for NSFW visibility	Characters with sexual or romantic themes must be tagged Limitless
Minors	Ban on anything that is or appears to be under 18	Zero-tolerance ban on minor-coded characters and personas
Real people	Real photos "frowned upon"; no explicit deepfake ban found	Recognizable depictions of real, non-celebrity individuals banned
Training	Private chats not used to train AI models (terms)	Data used for "research and development to improve our AI systems"; no plain statement on training
Deletion	Button described in account settings, not verifiable from public pages	Settings, Security, Delete Account, with a grace period
Refunds	None unless granted by the company	Subscriptions generally non-refundable except where terms or law require

Janitor AI's main draw is its free tier: unlimited chats with community bots on its own JLLM model, with a context of about 9,000 tokens, according to the help center. The paid janitor+ tier adds five times the context, priority replies and monthly swipes on top models, and costs $12.99 a month or $99 a year (checked October 24, 2026). There can be up to three bills: janitor+, Router credits and any outside provider you connect.

Chub AI's subscription page showed one plan on October 23, 2026: $20 a month with unlimited messages, payable in crypto only. The documentation still calls it Mars. New accounts get one-time trial credits for "a few dozen messages". Chub also offers an OpenAI-compatible inference API for use outside its own site.

On both, connecting your own key means the outside provider bills you and receives your messages. Janitor's guide tells users to treat the key like a password. For the risks of proxies, see the Janitor AI proxy guide.

Both limit use to adults 18+ and ban sexual content involving minors in strong terms.

• Chub AI (Text Content Policy): "Any character, lorebook, preset, or stage containing sexualization of or inappropriate content regarding any individual that is or appears to be under the age of 18 is strictly prohibited. Any attempt to rules lawyer or play games with this will result in account termination."
• Janitor AI (Terms): content that "Depicts, promotes, or facilitates the sexualization of minors in any form, including fictional depictions" or "Contains any depiction of individuals under 18 years of age" is prohibited. The help center bans minor-coded characters and personas under a zero-tolerance policy.

The difference is in labeling and enforcement. Janitor requires characters with sexual or romantic themes to be tagged Limitless, and uses automated scanning plus human review of reported content. Chub hides or shows adult content through account toggles, and its terms describe moderation as tag moderators, admin removal, reports and "primitive word filters" for comments. In a large user-written catalogue, that means enforcement depends heavily on reports. This is why our catalogue does not place Chub AI first in any list.

Janitor AI has no image generator, and its Content Guidelines ban "Obvious or recognizable depictions of real, non-celebrity individuals", adding that creators, influencers and adult performers do not count as celebrities. The rule does not cover celebrities in that line.

Chub AI's terms say only: "Real photos of real people are frowned upon, and will be removed if illegal." We found no explicit clause banning uploads of another person's photo or deepfakes, and we could not verify how Chub's image features work. Neither service is treated as an image generator in this catalogue.

Chub AI's terms say private characters and chats will not be "used for training an AI model, or any other purpose beyond providing the Services." Inputs and outputs sent through its API outside the Chub interface are described as not logged, with only metadata kept. No retention period is published, and the live site loads Google advertising and analytics tags that the privacy text does not list.

Janitor AI's Privacy Policy lists chat conversations among collected data and says data is used for "research and development to improve our AI systems", without stating plainly whether chats train models. Data is kept "only for as long as necessary". Deletion runs through Settings, Security, Delete Account: the account is deactivated first and can be restored during a grace period, and some records, including your email address, may be kept after permanent deletion.

For what to keep out of any chat, read the AI companion privacy guide and Is Janitor AI safe?

Chub AI "does not offer refunds unless explicitly granted by the Company"; a cancelled subscription stays active to the end of the paid period. Janitor AI subscriptions are generally non-refundable except where the terms or law require, Router credits are non-refundable except where law requires, and deleting the account cancels unused credits without refund. Web subscriptions on Janitor are cancelled in Settings, Billing, Manage Subscription; app subscriptions in the App Store or Google Play.

See the Chub AI alternatives and Janitor AI alternatives, or the wider roleplay category.

Facts are from official pages on the dates shown, not from paid testing. How we check facts.

• Free chat with no setup: Janitor AI. Janitor's free tier includes unlimited chats with community bots on its own model. Chub's free credits are one-time.
• Writing and sharing detailed character cards: Chub AI. Chub is built around cards, lorebooks, presets and stages that users publish and share, with a choice of its own or outside models.
• A written promise that private chats are not used for training: Chub AI. Chub's terms say private characters and chats are not used to train AI models. Janitor's policy mentions research and development without a plain statement.
• Clearer rules on real people: Janitor AI. Janitor's Content Guidelines ban recognizable depictions of real private individuals. Chub's terms only call real photos "frowned upon".
• Moderation you can read about in detail: Janitor AI. Janitor publishes a tagging rule, a zero-tolerance minors policy, image guidelines and k-ID checks in three countries. Chub's moderation is described mainly as moderators, reports and word filters.
• A documented self-service deletion flow: Janitor AI. Janitor documents Settings, Security, Delete Account with a grace period. Chub's deletion button is described in the account interface but could not be verified from public pages.