Is Chub AI free? Partly. The Chub front-end is free to sign up for and use, but something has to power the replies, and that part usually costs money: either Chub’s own $20-a-month subscription, a paid API key from a model provider, or a machine you run yourself. Chub says it regularly sends new users one-time trial credits worth a few dozen messages, and after that “free” mostly means you bring and pay for your own model.
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Here is what costs nothing, what you pay for, and where the “free” shortcuts carry a privacy cost.
| What you want | Cost on Chub (Sept 2026) |
|---|---|
| Account, character cards, chat interface | Free |
| Chub’s own models (trial) | One-time trial credits, a few dozen messages |
| Ongoing use of Chub’s own models, plus voice and multimedia generation as listed subscriber benefits | Subscription, $20/month, paid in crypto |
| OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter, NovelAI | Your own API key, billed by that provider per use |
| A local Kobold or Ooba backend | Free software, but your own hardware or a rented GPU |
What Chub AI actually is
Chub AI (also called CharHub) is a character-card platform and chat front-end. Its own guide describes it as a service for talking to characters through large language models accessed over APIs, and it says plainly that Chub is uncensored. A character card is a set of prompts that defines a personality and a scenario. You pick or write one, then connect a model to generate the replies.
That split matters for the price question. The website is the interface; the model is the engine. Chub gives you the interface for free and sells, or lets you connect, the engine. Its guide lists the connections it supports: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter, NovelAI, Kobold/Ooba backends, and Chub’s own subscription models.
Is Chub AI free? What you get without paying
Registering takes an email address, a username and a password, and costs nothing. With a free account you can use the full front-end:
- Create, import and edit character cards, personas and lorebooks.
- Adjust presets: system prompt, post-history instructions, temperature and penalties.
- Branch chats into a full chat tree and summarize older messages into chat memory.
- Export chats as SillyTavern JSONL, PNG or plain text.
What a free account does not come with is a free, ongoing model. Chub’s subscription page answers the question directly: new users are regularly sent one-time free trial credits worth a few dozen messages. Its release notes describe the same pattern for the flagship Soji model, with “a few trial messages” for non-subscribers. Once those run out, you either subscribe, connect your own key, or run a model yourself.
What costs money: Chub’s subscription
As of September 2026, Chub’s live subscription page shows a single plan at $20 a month. It lists:
- “Unlimited access” to all of Chub’s language models, including its flagship Soji model.
- Access to voice and to multimedia generation.
- Early access to new models, plus access to future ones.
- An API you can use in other apps that support OpenAI-style APIs, such as SillyTavern.
Two details worth knowing before you pay. First, “unlimited” is defined on the same page as unlimited for one person: parallel requests from one account get blocked, and obvious key sharing leads to restrictions. Second, the subscription is crypto-only. Chub says card companies and payment processors are the main source of censorship pressure for most websites, so it does not use them. If you do not already hold cryptocurrency, that adds a step and possibly exchange fees.
You may also see a cheaper tier called Mercury, and the names Mars and Mercury, in older guides. Chub’s documentation still refers to “the Mars and Mercury APIs”, and its guide describes Mars as $20 a month. Third-party guides put Mercury at $5 a month for smaller models. Chub’s live subscription page showed only the $20 plan as of September 2026, so treat any Mercury price as something to confirm on Chub’s site. Some third-party reviews also report that Chub bills in multi-month blocks rather than one month at a time; the page itself shows a monthly price, so check the total at checkout.
Bring your own API key: free front-end, paid model
The other route is to paste an API key from a model provider into Chub’s Secrets panel. Chub’s guide marks every hosted option as paid: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter and NovelAI all bill you directly, and for OpenRouter it notes that rates vary by model. You pay per use, so the bill depends on which model you pick and how long your chats run. Long roleplays with large context windows are the expensive kind, because the whole recent history is sent with every reply.
The one genuinely free model path in Chub’s guide is Kobold/Ooba: a model running on your own computer. It is free apart from hardware, and Chub notes the alternative is renting a GPU from a cloud service, which costs money again.
The catch with “free” reverse proxies
Chub’s connection settings also accept reverse proxies: third-party endpoints that pass your messages to a big model without you paying for a key. Chub itself warns against them. Its guide says reverse proxies are run by unauthorized third parties who get access to your data and IP address, may log or leak your information, and may run on stolen API keys. It adds that proxies advertised as free can shut down at any time.
In plain terms: with a free proxy, every message you send passes through a stranger’s server, which can log it. Chub recommends official API keys instead.
For chats that stay inside Chub, its privacy policy says private characters and chats are accessed programmatically to provide the service, are not plainly viewed by Chub staff without your written permission, and are not used to train AI models. Per the same policy, it may access, transform and transmit that content to run the service, and may access or share private information as its terms allow. Anything you set public is licensed to other users. When you connect an outside API, that provider’s own policy applies to what you send it.
What free users can’t do
- Chat on Chub’s own models past the trial. Ongoing access to Soji and the other in-house models is the subscription.
- Get the subscriber allowance for voice and multimedia generation. Chub’s subscription page lists both as subscriber benefits.
- Host a live chat. Chub’s guide says Go Live is a subscriber-only beta for hosts; anyone can join.
- Use Chub’s API in other apps. The OpenAI-compatible endpoint comes with the subscription.
How Chub’s cost compares
Chub makes sense if you enjoy the tinkering: writing cards, tuning presets, picking models. For that crowd, $20 a month in crypto, or a pay-as-you-go API key, buys a lot of control. If you want the same control with no platform at all, SillyTavern is free, open-source software you run yourself, with the same catch that the model is on you. We compare these setups in our Chub AI alternatives guide.
If you would rather skip keys and crypto entirely, hosted platforms bundle the model into the price. Janitor AI, for example, offers free chat on its standard models, with Janitor+ at $12.99 a month as of September 2026; our Is Janitor AI free? breakdown covers its limits. For a wider view, see our roundup of the best free adult AI.
For most people, Cherrypop.ai is the better pick: the no-setup option. You open the site, pick from a large catalog of ready-made characters (women, men and trans characters, in realistic and anime styles) and start an uncensored chat or roleplay, with no API key, preset or backend to configure. You can build your own character with the create-your-own wizard and generate images of your character, including NSFW, in the same place. It is free to start, with limits; paid plans unlock more messages, images and features (see pricing on the site). It works in any mobile browser, no app needed, and is 18+ only. Everything Chub makes you assemble comes ready to go, so you spend your time in the story instead of in settings.
FAQ
Is Chub AI completely free?
No. The front-end and account are free, and Chub says it regularly sends new users one-time trial credits worth a few dozen messages. Ongoing chat needs Chub’s $20-a-month subscription, a paid API key, or a model you run on your own hardware.
How much is Chub AI per month?
Chub’s subscription page listed one plan at $20 a month as of September 2026, paid in cryptocurrency only. Older guides mention a cheaper Mercury tier; confirm it on Chub’s site before counting on it.
Can I use Chub AI with my own API key?
Yes. Chub supports keys from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter and NovelAI. The provider bills you per use, and the cost depends on the model and how long your chats run.
Are free reverse proxies safe to use with Chub?
Chub’s own guide recommends against them: it says proxy owners get access to your data and IP address, may log or leak it, and may use stolen keys. Official API keys are the safer route.
Can I pay for Chub with a credit card?
Not according to its subscription page, which says the plan is crypto-only to stay clear of pressure from card companies and payment processors.