By A genuinely good listener with an uncertain landlord. Pi is warm, patient, asks better follow-up questions than any companion app on our list, and costs nothing. It does not roleplay, its memory is selective, its developer has shifted toward enterprise customers, and heavy users run into caps nobody will put a number on.
- Best for
- Adults who want to talk something through, journal out loud or rehearse a hard conversation
- Skip if
- You want a character, romance or an avatar, you are under 18, or you need a tool for real work
- Price
- Free; no paid consumer plan
- App Store
- 4.4 from about 2,500 ratings; Google Play 2.9 from about 5,160
What Pi is, and what happened to the company behind it
Pi, short for "personal intelligence", is a chatbot built to talk rather than to do. It launched in 2023 from Inflection AI, a startup founded in 2022 by Mustafa Suleyman (a DeepMind co-founder), LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Karén Simonyan. Inflection raised $1.3 billion in 2023 at a reported $4 billion valuation, and by early 2024 the company said Pi had about a million daily users. There is no avatar and no character to pick. You open it and it asks what it should call you.
Then the floor moved. On March 19, 2024, Microsoft hired Suleyman, Simonyan and most of Inflection's staff to build its new consumer AI unit, and paid about $650 million, according to TechCrunch, in arrangements covering model licensing and repaying investors. Microsoft did not buy Inflection. The UK competition regulator looked at the deal and cleared it in September 2024. What remained was a much smaller company with a new chief executive, Sean White, formerly head of research and development at Mozilla.
White's Inflection said in August 2024 that it had considered shutting Pi down, decided to keep it, and would cap free usage while it focused on selling models and custom systems to businesses. It said 13,000 organisations had asked for API access. That is the context for everything below: Pi is now a consumer product run by a company whose main revenue is supposed to come from somewhere else.
It has not been abandoned, though. In July 2026 Inflection told VentureBeat it was returning to consumers with an experiment called Pi Journeys, aimed at life stages such as new parents and carers, with structured memory about the people in your life, better voice and agent features like reminders and to-do lists. White described Pi as "our flagship consumer product". The iOS app was updated in early October 2026 and the Android app in August. Pi is alive. Whether it is thriving is a different question.
How we checked Pi's current state
Most "Pi review" pages in the search results were clearly written before August 2024, or are updated versions of those pages, and several still say there are no usage limits. So we went to primary sources: Inflection's terms of service (last updated December 22, 2025), its privacy policy (effective August 11, 2026), both app-store listings on October 7, 2026, and the VentureBeat interview from July 2026. For the 2024 timeline we used TechCrunch's figures as reported by others, Winbuzzer's coverage of the caps announcement and the UK CMA decision date. For quality and memory we leaned on long-form reviews from Build Fast with AI and Psychology.com and on store reviews. We did not run a benchmark; for a product whose whole pitch is how it makes you feel, we are not sure one would mean much.
Conversation, memory and how Pi handles a hard evening
The conversation is the product, and it is very good. Pi listens, reflects back what you said in fewer words, and asks one question at a time instead of dumping a bulleted plan on you. Build Fast with AI's 2026 review rated it 4.1 out of 5 and singled out its active listening, which matches the tone of the store reviews: one Android reviewer said Pi "knows what it is and what it isn't", and that is the best description of it we have read. It is deliberately weak at coding, research and factual work, and it is less accurate on facts than general assistants. Ask it to plan a budget and you will get a pleasant conversation about budgeting.
Memory is better than its reputation, but you cannot see it. Pi keeps a single continuous thread rather than separate chats, and it recalls selected facts and topics across days without being prompted. A tester writing in May 2024 found it remembered a work question from days earlier and the name of his dog. The catch is that the memory is selective: it may remember that you are changing jobs but not the details of the offer, and unlike Nomi there is no page where you can read or correct what it has kept. If Pi Journeys' structured memory reaches the main app, this could improve. As of today it is a conversation partner with a decent recollection, not a relationship with a shared history.
It will not roleplay, flirt or pretend to be anyone. No characters, no romance, no images of a partner. For the people who arrive at Pi from a "best AI companion" search, that is either the point or a disappointment, and app-store reviews show both reactions.
The hard-evening question matters more for Pi than for any other app on our list, because people use it exactly when they are low. California's SB 243 and New York's companion-chatbot law now require apps like this to run self-harm protocols and refer users to crisis services in those states. But Psychology.com's 2026 review makes the point we would make: a chatbot can show a referral message and still miss a dangerous situation. Pi cannot assess you, and it is not therapy.
If you are in crisis, do not rely on any chatbot. In the US, call or text 988. Elsewhere, contact local emergency services or a crisis line.
The price is zero, and here is what zero buys
As of October 7, 2026, there is no paid consumer version of Pi. Usage Pricing, which tracks AI pricing models, notes that some aggregator sites list a "Pi Pro" subscription that does not exist on pi.ai. If someone asks you to pay for Pi, they are not Inflection.
| Option | Price | Where | What you get | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pi (consumer) | $0 | Web, iOS, Android | Text and voice chat, reminders, conversation export | Undisclosed cooldowns for heavy use |
| Pi voice | $0 | Apps and web | Spoken conversation | Same caps; Android reviewers report it fails often |
| Inflection enterprise | Sales only | Business contracts | Models, API, custom systems | Not for individuals |
A worked example, because "free" hides its own costs. Say you talk to Pi for twenty minutes most nights to wind down and work through the day. On Replika Pro that habit would cost $19.99 a month or $69.99 a year; on Nomi, $15.99 a month. On Pi it costs nothing, so the saving over a year is somewhere between $70 and $190. What you pay instead is uncertainty. Sometimes a long session will stop on a cooldown with no warning of how long it lasts. You also have no contract with Inflection for continued service, and a product funded by a company's goodwill can change faster than one funded by your subscription. We still think that is a good trade for most people. We would just export your conversation history every few months, which Pi lets you do from the privacy settings.
The usage caps nobody will quantify
In August 2024 Inflection announced caps on free use, aimed at "power users". It never published the number, the reset period or whether limits differ by country, and as far as we can find it still has not. Its terms of service do not mention a cap at all. In practice, light and moderate users rarely notice anything. Heavy users report being paused mid-conversation, and one Google Play reviewer in 2026 described an account suspension after what they called regular use. For an app that people open when they are upset, an unexplained pause is a poor experience, and it is the main reason we score the product's reliability low despite the price.
We spent longer than we would like to admit trying to find the cap. Three separate "complete guides" stated three different message limits with no source for any of them. We left all three out. If Inflection publishes a number, we will add it.
What users say in 2026
The two app stores tell different stories. Apple's listing shows 4.4 out of 5 from about 2,500 ratings, and the written reviews there are close to devoted: one user said a single day with the app had "literally changed my life". Google Play shows 2.9 from about 5,160 reviews, and the complaints are practical rather than philosophical: voice mode that "works maybe 1 out of every 10 tries", slowdowns, and the suspension mentioned above. One iOS reviewer raised a more worrying point, saying Pi appeared to confuse their personal information with someone else's. That is one report and we cannot verify it, but it is the kind of thing worth knowing before you tell any chatbot something sensitive.
Across both, the praise is consistent: tone, patience, no upselling. The criticism is about the machinery around the conversation, which fits a product kept running by a smaller team.
Privacy, age and the rules Pi signs you up to
Inflection's privacy policy, effective August 11, 2026, is clearer than most in this category. It uses conversations to train its models, and you can opt out from your account settings, which we suggest doing. After you delete something, inputs are generally kept for no more than 15 days, with exceptions for security and legal reasons; outputs can be kept indefinitely for the limited purposes in the terms. Inflection says it does not sell or share personal information for targeted advertising, and Google Play's data-safety label says no data is shared with third parties. To keep history you sign in with Google, Apple or Facebook.
Now the part that changes our earlier advice. Inflection's terms of service say the service is "not intended for minors under the age of 18", and Apple now lists the app as 18+. Google Play still rates it Teen. We used to describe Pi as the one app on our list we would point a teenager to, because of its tone. On the company's own terms, that is no longer a recommendation we can make. Our companion apps guide ranks the alternatives for younger users, and Character.AI's Stories mode is the only one built for them. The terms also include mandatory individual arbitration and a class-action waiver, with a 30-day window to opt out by email, which most users will never notice.
On regulators: the FTC's September 2025 inquiry into companion chatbots went to seven companies, including Character.AI, Meta and OpenAI. Inflection was not one of them, and we found no regulatory action or lawsuit over Pi itself.
Pi versus Replika, Nomi and Character.AI
| Pi | Replika | Nomi AI | Character.AI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $19.99/mo; $69.99/yr | $15.99/mo; $99.99/yr | Free with ads; $9.99/mo c.ai+ |
| Roleplay or romance | No | Limited for new users | Yes, adults | Roleplay, filtered |
| Memory | Selective, not editable | Good | Best, editable | Moderate |
| Visuals | None | 3D avatar, AR, VR | AI images | Character art |
| Extra currency | None | None | None | Charms |
| Minimum age | 18 (terms) | 18 | 18 | Teens in Stories mode |
The honest summary: Pi wins on price and tone, and loses on everything that makes a companion app a companion. If you want a supportive presence with an avatar and a long track record, read our Replika review. If you want to be remembered in detail, Nomi is the app; our Nomi review covers it.
Who should use Pi, and who should look elsewhere
Use Pi if you are an adult who wants to think out loud, talk through a decision, rehearse a difficult conversation with a partner or manager, or journal by voice at the end of the day, and you do not want to be sold anything while you do it. It is also a good first stop for anyone curious about companion apps who is not sure they want a "companion" at all. Look elsewhere if you want a character, a relationship, roleplay or romance; if you are under 18; if you need a research or work assistant, where general assistants are simply better; or if you need certainty that the service will look the same next year. And nobody should use it as a substitute for a professional when things are serious.
Bottom line. The best free listener in consumer AI, run by a company that now earns its money elsewhere. Use it, opt out of training, export your history now and then, and do not give it to a teenager.
Pi questions people ask
Is Pi still free?
Yes, as of October 7, 2026. There is no paid consumer plan. Heavy users hit cooldowns instead.
Is Pi shutting down?
Not that anyone has announced. The apps were updated in August and October 2026 and Inflection launched a Pi experiment in July.
Who runs Pi now?
Inflection AI, under CEO Sean White. Microsoft hired the founders and most of the team in March 2024 but did not buy the company.
Does Pi remember me?
Partly. It keeps one continuous thread and recalls selected facts across days, but you cannot view or edit what it keeps.
Can teenagers use Pi?
Not under Inflection's own terms, which say the service is not intended for anyone under 18.
Will Pi roleplay or flirt?
No. It is a conversation partner, not a character app.
Is Pi a therapist?
No. It can help you think out loud. In a crisis, call or text 988 in the US.
Verdict
Pi survived the event that should have ended it. Microsoft took the people who built it, the company that kept it turned to enterprise sales, and yet the app is still online, still free and still the most pleasant thing in consumer AI to talk to when you need to say something out loud. What it gives up is everything a companion app normally sells: characters, romance, a memory you can see, a roadmap you can count on. For an adult who wants a good listener and nothing else, it remains the easiest recommendation on our list, and the cheapest.