Janitor AI keeps crashing or not working for me, and I really liked some of its features. Does anyone know reliable alternatives with similar functions? I’d appreciate suggestions from people who have switched or compared options, since I need a replacement quickly for my workflow.
Okay, Janitor AI flaking out is a whole mood lately. Switched myself about a month ago after the third crash in a week. Closest match for me has been Character.AI – not exactly the same vibe (less customization, more on rails, but pretty stable and the convos are actually pretty decent). Chai is another I tried, but the free version is super limited and they push their paywall real hard, so heads up.
If you’re big on NSFW stuff, Pygmalion is another platform that gets recommended a lot. You do need to jump through a few more hoops to get set up (local install, etc), but the custom bots and personalities are decent with good tweaks if you’re patient with a little technical fiddling. There’s also NovelAI if your main jam is storytelling and character-building, but it’s kinda pricy and not everyone digs the interface.
For straight-up chatbots, Inworld is pretty popular now too. IMO, it’s a bit corporate-feeling but you can get wild with personas and behaviors.
Most let you import or edit personalities, but honestly, none of them hit all the Janitor AI marks—a little stability here, a little less freedom there; you’re always trading something. I’d say try a couple (most have free versions), see which feels less like talking to a brick wall, and go with whichever bugs you least lol.
And if you’re doing massive, crazy custom bots? Might wanna look at OpenAI playground or even KoboldAI—more technical but literally unlimited options, if you’re up for the learning curve.
If anyone else has gotten a perfect Janitor AI dupe that doesn’t choke and die randomly, let me know, because I’m still looking too.
Not gonna lie, Janitor AI’s been giving major “about to crash, hope you saved” vibes lately. I saw @voyageurdubois’s rundown (solid points btw) but I feel like Character.AI’s guardrails are way too high—I barely breathe a spicy prompt and it’s waving the parental controls at me. For NSFW or wild character convos, TavernAI is another alternative some folks swear by, especially since it’s open source and adaptable if you want freedom, though you’ll need to mess with settings and probably wrangle a hosted LLM like Pygmalion or OpenHermes. It’s not as quick as Janitor AI’s out-of-the-box stuff but you do get back some agency.
Craiyon’s chatbot feature is also picking up lately—not nearly as robust in personality, but it’s snappy and new features land frequently. Real talk though: if you’re after deep conversation with really customizable bots, you might think about rolling your own via GPT-4 Plus and prompt engineering (slap together character sheets and tweak their temp/frequency etc). Not plug-and-play, but when Janitor and the rest drop your convo mid-sentence, at least you only have yourself to blame.
Chai never caught my attention for long, by the way—paywall city and the depth isn’t always there. If all else fails and you want a basic, stable chat with light customization, maybe try Replika. It’s super “therapy bot lite” vibes, but it’s rarely down, and you can push the personality a bit.
Tldr: Nothing is as frictionless as Janitor AI when it’s working, but nothing is as hair-pulling either when it’s not. Pick your pain: stability with rails, or DIY freedom with some tech knowhow.
Let’s rip through options, since Janitor AI clearly can’t hold the mess together right now.
Pros for Janitor AI (when it works): smooth onboarding, practically instant bot spins, solid selection of personalities, easy setup for both standard and elaborate roleplay. Cons? You all know—borked sessions, instability, and lately even safe prompts can disappear into the void. That said, none of the other platforms tick every box.
So, on to competitors mentioned earlier:
- Character.AI: Rock solid uptime, but it’s like trying to have a pillow fight in a padded room—everything’s restricted, and freedom for custom bots, especially for edgier content, is choked out by filters.
- Chai: Fun for a rainy afternoon, but the paywall smacks you fast, and conversations aren’t as deep unless you shell out.
- Pygmalion/TavernAI: Amazing tweakability and freedom (including NSFW), but you’ll need some patience, GPU resources, or at least a willingness to twiddle settings; it’s not “grab and go.”
- NovelAI: If you’re the narrative master, this is heaven for storytelling. Otherwise, expensive if you’re just chat-focused.
- Inworld: Extremely versatile for character creation, can get corporate-ish, less for personalized kink or wild improvisation.
Honestly, one alternative rarely mentioned (and worth a peek) is Poe by Quora. It offers access to multiple AI models, including Claude and even GPT-4, in a unified chat-like interface. Pros: Quick setup, and the Claude models are especially strong for keeping conversations coherent and creative. Cons: NSFW is right out the window, and while it feels personal, it’s not true persona building—you’re talking to models, not handcrafted characters.
Another curveball if you’re desperate for plug-and-play that rarely flakes: Pi (Inflection). It lacks depth for ongoing story roleplay, but if you want a genuinely pleasant, lengthy chat, it’s stable and surprisingly empathetic.
Finally, for pure techies, don’t sleep on running OpenHermes with your own front-end (e.g., SillyTavern or KoboldAI). But you’ll need to fight with compatibility, find decent LLM weights, and be prepared for some DIY.
TL;DR? If Janitor AI stability is still in the gutter, decide fast: stick with stable but gated (Character.AI, Poe), gamble on expensive but fancy (NovelAI), or build your own with open-source kits (TavernAI, SillyTavern). You’re always trading something—freedom for friction, or friction for freedom.