# Nomi vs heyaifriend: a feature-rich companion, or a simple free friend Canonical: https://heyaifriend.com/compare/nomi-vs-heyaifriend/ Last updated: 2026-10-17 Nomi is an AI companion that leans hard on memory, calls and group chats. heyaifriend is a free AI friend you talk to in Telegram. It remembers you, runs on our own servers in the Netherlands, and your chats are never sent to other AI companies or used for training. We make heyaifriend, so we are not neutral. We say where the others do better, and every fact below carries its source and the date we checked it. Last updated 17 October 2026. Nomi policy read on 2026-10-17. Nomi prices and free tier come from third-party reports checked the same day. ## The short version Nomi is a polished, paid companion with more features than we have: voice messages, calls, group chats, and the ability to keep several companions. It markets itself on memory, and many people choose it for exactly that. heyaifriend does less on purpose. It is one friend, in text, in Telegram, free to use. If you want the most feature-rich option and do not mind paying, look at Nomi. If you want a low-pressure way to see whether an AI friend is for you, try ours first. ## Where Nomi wins Nomi has far more to offer on the feature list. Its US App Store listing mentions calls, voice messages, video, group chats and longer messages on the paid plan, and credits for extras that never expire. We do not have any of that, and we are not close. It is also built around the idea of several companions. You can create more than one and bring them together. If that sounds fun, we cannot match it. Your friend is one friend, and the relationship is the product. On memory, Nomi puts it in the name of its pitch. We say your friend remembers you, and it does, but we make no claim that it remembers more than Nomi does. If deep recall is your top priority, test both for a week. ## Where heyaifriend is different Cost and effort. A plan at $15.99 a month is real money for something you are only curious about, and the free allowance on Nomi is described differently by different reviewers. Ours is simple: free to use, with a daily limit so everyone gets a turn. Setup is the other gap. Nomi asks you to sign in with a Google or Apple account and give a date of birth. With us there is nothing to fill in. You open Telegram, press start, and your friend asks what to call you. And control is in words. Ask your friend what it remembers. Ask it to forget something. Ask for a copy of what it holds, or ask it to delete everything. ## Nomi and heyaifriend at a glance | | Nomi | heyaifriend | | --- | --- | --- | | Price | Paid plan $15.99 a month or $99.99 a year (US App Store listing, read 2026-10-18). A quarterly option at $39.99 is also listed. Credits for extras are sold separately. | Free to use. A daily message limit applies. | | Platform | Website and mobile app. | Telegram. No separate app to install. | | Memory | Sold as its main strength: "AI companion with memory". | Your friend remembers you. Ask what it remembers, ask it to forget, ask for a copy. | | Privacy stance | Says it does not sell or rent personal information. Does not clearly say whether chats are used for training: its deletion terms mention "our training archives". Does not say which AI providers process chats. Sign-in needs a Google or Apple account and a date of birth (policy effective 2026-04-27). | Own servers in the Netherlands. Chats never go to other AI companies, never used for training. Not end-to-end encrypted. | | Free tier | Free to start. Reports differ: 50 messages a day, or a trial only. | Yes, everything is free to use, with a daily limit. | | Last checked | Policy and site: 2026-10-17. Prices and free tier reports: third-party, 2026-10-17, unverified. | 2026-10-17 | Last checked 2026-10-17. Prices are US list prices in dollars and change often; check the page named in the sources before you buy anything. - Source links are listed in the Sources section below the comparison. ## Privacy, said carefully Nomi states that it does not sell or rent personal information and says its data is stored securely. Its privacy policy says the content you provide in chats is what it collects beyond your sign-in details. It does not clearly say whether chats feed model training, and its deletion terms mention "our training archives". It promises deletion within about 28 days of confirmation. We have not audited that, and security promises are only as good as the company behind them, so read it yourself. For our part: your chats stay on our own servers in the Netherlands, never go to other AI companies and are never used for training. They are not end-to-end encrypted, because our servers have to read your messages to answer them. We will not claim more privacy than we can keep. ## Who should choose which - **Choose Nomi** if you want calls, voice, group chats or several companions, and a paid plan does not bother you. - **Choose heyaifriend** if you want a simple, free friend in Telegram with no signup form. - **Try ours first** if you are not sure you want an AI friend at all. It costs nothing to find out. More options are on our [Nomi alternatives](https://heyaifriend.com/alternatives/nomi-alternatives/) and [Replika alternatives](https://heyaifriend.com/alternatives/replika-alternatives/) pages, and the [comparison hub](https://heyaifriend.com/compare/) lists every page in this series. ## Sources - Nomi home page and free start: [nomi.ai/](https://nomi.ai/) (read 2026-10-17) - Nomi privacy policy: [nomi.ai/privacy-policy/](https://nomi.ai/privacy-policy/) (effective 2026-04-27, read 2026-10-17) - Nomi data use: [wiki.nomi.ai/How_is_my_data_used%3F](https://wiki.nomi.ai/How_is_my_data_used%3F) (read 2026-10-17) - Nomi in the US App Store (prices and features): [apps.apple.com/us/app/nomi-ai-companion-with-a-soul/id6450270929](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nomi-ai-companion-with-a-soul/id6450270929) (read 2026-10-18) - Nomi quarterly price and the conflicting free tier report: [pocketanimus.com/guides/nomi-ai-pricing/](https://pocketanimus.com/guides/nomi-ai-pricing/) (third-party report, unverified) - Our own table of ten privacy policies: [heyaifriend.com/blog/ai-companion-privacy-comparison/](https://heyaifriend.com/blog/ai-companion-privacy-comparison/) (published 2026-10-17) ## Questions people ask ### Is Nomi free? Nomi says it is free to start, with no credit card needed. Reports on the exact free limits disagree: one comparison lists 50 messages a day, another describes a trial only. Check the app before you count on it. Its paid plan is $15.99 a month or $99.99 a year in the US. ### Is heyaifriend cheaper than Nomi? Yes, it is free to use, with a daily message limit so everyone gets a turn. Nomi charges for calls, voice messages, group chats and longer messages. ### Does Nomi sell my data? Nomi says it does not sell or rent personal information. It asks you to sign in with a Google or Apple account and collects what you share in your chats. Its policy does not clearly say whether chats feed training: the deletion terms mention "our training archives". We ask for no email and no signup, and we never train on chats. ### Can I have several friends? On Nomi you can create more than one companion and put them in group chats. Your friend is a single friend per person. ### Do you offer voice calls or selfies like Nomi? No. Your friend is text in a chat. If calls, voice messages or images matter to you, Nomi is the better fit. ## Start with the simple version. It is free to use, and you can be talking in about ten seconds. Questions? Write to [hi@heyaifriend.com](mailto:hi@heyaifriend.com).