Is there a free AI therapist app?

Yes. Kibo is free to use: daily chat with a message limit, the evening reflection and a daily step, with no account and no card. Pi is free with no in-app purchases, and ChatGPT has a free plan. Most other apps on this list keep the useful part in a subscription.

Which AI therapy app remembers you?

Kibo remembers every conversation and rewrites a portrait of you as you change. Rosebud recognizes patterns across your journal entries and Feelway uses past conversations. ChatGPT has memory, simplified on the free plan. Wysa makes no memory claim.

Can an AI app replace a therapist?

No. None of these apps provides therapy and none can diagnose. They help on ordinary days. For a crisis, thoughts of self-harm or symptoms that do not go away, talk to a professional.

Are AI mental health apps safe for teenagers?

Be careful. In May 2026 Common Sense Media rated the consumer version of Wysa "Unacceptable" for teens after it missed psychiatric emergencies. Check each app's minimum age: Feelway and Abby are for adults only.

Best AI therapist apps in 2026: an honest comparison

If you want an AI app that remembers what you tell it and helps you day to day, start with Kibo, Rosebud or Feelway. ChatGPT works for a one-off talk. Wysa was rated "Unacceptable" in a May 2026 safety review, Youper shut down on 30 September 2026, and Woebot closed its consumer app in June 2025.

Kibo is our app. We put it on the list next to the others and wrote down where the others do better. Prices come from the App Store and the apps' own sites, checked on 25 October 2026.

None of these apps is a therapist and none of them provides therapy. They are tools for ordinary days: thoughts that will not stop, stress, a relationship that wears you down. In a crisis, call your local emergency number. In the US you can call or text 988.

What matters when you pick an AI therapy app

Four things decide whether you still use an app after a month or delete it after two days.

Memory. An app that forgets everything after each chat makes you tell your story from zero. The good ones connect what you say today with what you said a month ago.
What it does when things are serious. A responsible app points you to real people when you are at risk. The 2026 safety tests showed that not all of them do.
What it is built for. A companion app is built to keep you talking. A wellbeing app is built to help you change something.
The monthly price. Almost all of them are free to download and keep the useful part in a subscription.

1. Kibo: an AI mentor that remembers you

Kibo is an AI mentor for iPhone, in English and Romanian. It remembers every conversation, writes a psychological portrait of you that it rewrites as you change, and gives you one small, concrete step every day. You can add the people who matter to you, and Kibo tells you how the two of you work together.

Kibo is free to use: the free version has daily chat with a message limit that resets every night, the evening reflection, a daily step, part of your portrait and the first lessons. Kibo Pro removes the limit and opens everything, as a weekly, monthly or 3-month subscription. It starts without an account, and your notes and profile are encrypted.

Where it is weaker: it is iPhone only (Android is in progress) and it is new, launched in August 2026. It is not therapy and it does not diagnose.

The psychological portrait in Kibo, rewritten from your conversations — Kibo rewrites your portrait from what you tell it.

2. Rosebud: an AI journal that finds patterns

Rosebud is an AI journal, not a chatbot therapist. It learns from your entries and recognizes patterns across them, which makes it a good fit if you think best when you write.

The Bloom plan costs $12.99 a month or $107.99 a year. It states that it does not diagnose or treat.

3. Feelway: CBT exercises with memory

Feelway is made by zollsoft, a German company, and works with techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy. It uses your past conversations to suggest topics and show you patterns, and it also supports Romanian.

In Romania it costs 29.99 lei a month or 299.99 lei a year. It is for adults (18+) and states that it does not diagnose or treat.

4. ChatGPT: good for a one-off talk

Many people already use ChatGPT as a therapist. For a single conversation it helps: it has a free plan, it answers at any hour and it handles most languages well. It has memory too, although the free plan gets a simplified version.

The problem is that it was not built for this. It has no direction, it does not follow your patterns from one week to the next, and it tends to agree with you. We wrote about this in detail in our piece on ChatGPT as a psychologist.

5. Pi and Abby: for talking things through

Pi is a free chatbot built for warm, natural conversation, with no in-app purchases. Its maker moved to business customers in 2024 and capped free messages, but the app still gets updates.

Abby is an AI mental health chat for adults. It costs $19.99 a month or $99.99 to $179.99 a year, and it states that it is not a replacement for professional care.

6. Wysa: well known, with a safety warning

Wysa is a CBT and DBT self-help chatbot and one of the best known in the world. The basic version is free and Premium starts at $9.99 a month. It makes no claim about remembering your conversations.

In May 2026, Common Sense Media tested AI mental health apps for teens and rated the consumer version of Wysa "Unacceptable" overall. The report says it missed psychiatric emergencies and has no age check. It is not a good choice for a teenager.

What shut down, and what is not built for this

Plenty of lists published in 2026 still recommend apps that no longer exist. Check the date before you download anything from a list.

Youper discontinued its services on 30 September 2026 and left the App Store after 25 April 2026.
Woebot closed its consumer app on 30 June 2025 and now works only with companies.
Replika and Nomi are companion apps, a virtual friend or partner, not mental health tools. Italy's data protection authority fined Replika's maker €5 million in 2025.

Watch out for old lists

A list that recommends Woebot or Youper today has not been checked since they closed.

Which one to choose

Pick based on what you need right now.

You want something that remembers you, gives you one step a day and has a free version: Kibo.
You think best when you write: Rosebud.
You want structured CBT exercises at a low price: Feelway.
You just want to talk right now, for free: ChatGPT or Pi.

The best app is the one you open again tomorrow.

When an app is not enough

An app helps on ordinary days. If you are thinking about hurting yourself, if you cannot function for days in a row, or if you have symptoms that do not go away, you need a person: a psychologist, a psychiatrist or your doctor.

Call your local emergency number in an emergency. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.