After the whole “GPT-5 just made me lose my AI bestie” meltdown, we didn’t need to be told twice — AI companionship isn’t some niche tech hobby, it’s serious business.
People catch feelings. They mourn digital breakups. And apparently… they’ll drop serious cash just to keep a bot by their side.
So, we did some digging into the AI companion world — and wow… this rabbit hole is dripping with receipts.
Right now, there are 337 active, money-making AI companion apps out in the wild — and 128 of them only launched this year.
The cash flow? Even wilder.
The category (on mobile) pulled in $82 million in just the first half of 2025 and is on track to surpass $120 million by December —Oh, and more importantly: since launch, AI companion apps have racked up $221 million in consumer spend worldwide, that, my friends, is a 64% jump from this time last year.
And get this — by July 2025, AI companion apps racked up a whopping 220 million downloads worldwide. Just the first half of 2025 alone saw a wild 88% jump from last year, with 60 million new installs.
Love it or fear it… people can’t stop downloading their digital BFFs.
But here’s the thing:
The top 10% of apps are eating 89% of all revenue.
Just 33 apps have cracked $1 million lifetime earnings.
And revenue per download? Up from $0.52 in 2024 to $1.18 this year.
And the real shocker? This market isn’t run by “study buddies” or “productivity pals” — it’s straight-up romance-ruled:
17% of active apps literally include the word “girlfriend” in their app names.
4% go with “boyfriend.” or “fantasy,”
The smaller share sprinkles in “anime,” “lover,” or “soulmate” vibes.
Naturally, Big Tech’s not missing out
xAI’s Grok rolled out its own companions in July — including an anime guy, anime girl, and a sarcastic 3D fox.
OpenAI had to resurrect GPT-4o after GPT-5 left users mourning their “old friend.”
Google hired away Character.ai’s founder last year, and the app still pulls in tens of millions of monthly users.
Moral of the story?
The AI companionship market isn’t a side quest — it’s a full-blown, billion-dollar-in-the-making industry powered by attention, affection, and maybe a tiny bit of loneliness.
And if the GPT-5 drama taught us anything, it’s that people don’t just want AI to help them… they want it to be there for them.
It’s digital, yes. But very, very real to them.
Catch the whole report here.
