Dolphy vs DarLink AI: the AI companion that doesn't make you subscribe first

Yes. Both are full AI companion platforms with chat, images, and video. The difference is the wall: DarLink makes you create an account and, for video and the full experience, subscribe ($12.99-$49.99/month) plus spend coins per generation, and it keeps your history on its servers. Dolphy lets you start chatting free with no signup, gives your first image and clip free, uses pay-as-you-go credits instead of a subscription, and stores your chats on your own device. If you want to try before paying and keep your history off a company server, Dolphy is the easier switch.

For most people, yes. DarLink runs $12.99 to $49.99 per month and layers a coin meter on top, where images cost about 2 coins and video about 20, against a monthly allowance of 100-500 coins, so a heavy month can blow past your allotment. Dolphy has no required subscription. Credits are about $0.10 each (cheaper for members), an image is 1 credit, and video runs 10-50 credits depending on length and resolution. You pay only for what you generate, and chat is free.

DarLink keeps your conversations on its own servers as part of your account history, and its policy says it may use automated systems and monitor activity for fraud prevention, safety, and policy enforcement. Dolphy takes the opposite approach: your chats and generated media are stored locally in your own browser using localStorage and IndexedDB, so they live on your device rather than in a server-side account history. Generation still runs on third-party model providers, so it is not fully local, but there is no account history sitting on our servers for you to worry about.

DarLink stores your conversations on company servers, and its policy states it may use automated systems and monitor activity for fraud prevention, safety, and policy enforcement; it also runs a public, searchable character-discovery gallery. Dolphy stores your chats and generated media locally in your own browser using localStorage and IndexedDB, not in a server-side account history, and there is no public feed, shared gallery, or user profile. Your history stays on your device.

No. You can start chatting as a guest straight from the Dolphy homepage with no account, and your first image and first video clip are free to try. There is no required subscription, ever. New accounts get free starter credits, and after that you simply buy credits as you need them. DarLink, by contrast, has you create an account to use even its free tier and reserves video and the full experience for paid subscribers.

DarLink's Living Memory is a real strength, companions are designed to remember details, preferences, and past conversations over time, and it ships voice options (6 standard, 10 premium) on its paid tiers. If long-term persistent memory and a deep voice library are your top priorities and you don't mind subscribing and keeping that history on its servers, DarLink does that well. Dolphy focuses on giving you everything (chat, images, photo editing, video, and custom PersonaForge companions that send real generated photos), free to start, and stored on your own device by default.