Signup-to-first-message on desktop: 38 seconds. The 7-day free trial gates by email + (optional) Google login — no credit card required upfront, which is rare in this niche and the right call for evaluation.
Custom character builder is the most detailed in the category we've tested. Ten attribute groups: ethnicity (12 options), age range (18-50+, 5 brackets), eye colour (8), hair colour + style (combined 14), body type (6), personality archetype (12), voice (8), hobbies (free-text + 24 suggested tags), backstory (free-text up to ~600 chars), and explicit preferences. We built our standard fixture — bookshop barista Maya, six specified traits — and the character builder accommodated all six within its native fields without needing custom backstory padding. That's a first across the platforms we've tested for this fixture.
First sticker shock: the token economy. The free trial ships with a starting token allocation that disappears faster than the messages would suggest. Chat messages cost 1 token. Voice responses cost 5-8 tokens depending on length. Image generations cost 25 tokens. Video generations cost 60-100. By day 3 of casual use we'd burned through the trial allotment and the platform surfaced an upgrade prompt mid-conversation.
Week 1 verdict: builder is genuinely best-in-class for character customisation, and the trial gives enough rope to evaluate the chat experience — but the token economy is the thing nobody warns you about until you hit it.