The AI girlfriend market in September 2026: what the data says

1 · Market size

How many people visited

In plain words: Fewer people came to these sites from Google than a year ago (-16%), and September 2026 was a better month than August 2026 (+4%).

In September 2026 the tracked sites received an estimated 8,458,432 visits from Google search worldwide. That is -15.7% against September 2025 and +3.7% against August 2026 (+303,377 visits in a month). The 24-month peak was 10,038,844 in September 2025, so the month sits 16% below it. United States visits were 2,146,537, +7.0% year on year.

2 · Demand

How many people went looking

In plain words: More people typed a site’s name into Google than a year ago (+28%). That is the loyalty number, because nobody types a name by accident.

Demand has two layers. The category’s own search, “ai girlfriend”, averages 135,000 searches a month in the US and 450,000 worldwide, and that one term sent the tracked sites an estimated 113,405 US visits in September 2026. Underneath it, people typed the tracked brand names into Google 2,951,570 times a month in the US in August 2026 (+28.3% year on year) and 11,919,420 times worldwide (+34.2%). Brand demand rising while search visits fall means people increasingly arrive by name rather than through rankings, which is the pattern of a category whose leaders are becoming known brands.

Rising next to the term on Google Trends: “zach braff ai girlfriend”, “zach braff”, “mr tumnus”, “uncensy”, “virtualover”, “best ai girlfriend 2026”, “yollo ai” and “nice things to do for girlfriend”. Breakouts are usually a news story or a celebrity, not a product.

3 · The ranking

Who is at the top of Google

In plain words: 4 sites are on Google’s first page for “ai girlfriend”, and AIGirlfriends.ai is at the top. Being on that page is the biggest single thing that decides how many visits a site gets.

The site ranking places AIGirlfriends.ai first as the editor’s pick after testing, then orders every other tracked site by its US Google position for “ai girlfriend”, then by Tranco all-traffic rank for the sites that do not rank for it. In September 2026, 4 of the 65 ranked sites held a page-one position for the term, led by AIGirlfriends.ai at #1, Romantic AI at #2 and Kupid.ai at #7. The first position alone sent 85,755 US visits a month.

Google position: DataForSEO ranked keywords, United States, September 2026. Tranco: list of 2026-10-06; the 30-day move is against the list of 2026-08-31 (negative numbers climbed). The full list is on the sites page; the top ten are reviewed on the best AI girlfriend page.

4 · Movers

Who grew, who faded

In plain words: Candy AI grew the most in a year (+3451%); Kuki AI fell the most (-100%). Big swings are usually one site winning or losing one Google ranking.

Three clocks run at different speeds. Year on year shows who built an audience; month on month shows who had a good or bad September 2026; the 30-day Tranco move shows reach across every channel, not just search. The fastest year-on-year grower was Candy AI (+3451.1%, from 16,673 to 592,075 visits); the steepest decline was Kuki AI (-99.9%). On the month, Juicy Chat gained most (+95%) and NextPart AI lost most (-44%) among the 40 sites with at least 5,000 visits the month before.

Worldwide search visits, September 2026 against September 2025; sites with at least 5,000 visits a year ago.

On the month

Brand demand, year on year

Brand searches are the loyalty line: a name people type on purpose. The name that grew most was DarLink (+1326%, to 27,100 US searches a month); the name that faded most was Dippy (-84%).

US Google Ads search volume for each brand name via DataForSEO, August 2026 against a year earlier; brands with at least 1,000 searches a year ago.

Reach across every channel, last 30 days

Tranco all-traffic rank, list of 2026-10-06 against 2026-08-31. A rank, not a visit count: it reflects direct, app and social reach as well as search.

5 · What users said

What people said about these sites

In plain words: Out of every 10 videos, threads and articles we read, about 4 were positive and 1 negative. Reddit, where the paying users talk, was the harshest.

Every profile carries the most-watched YouTube videos, the Reddit threads Google surfaces and the press about the brand, each classified as positive, mixed, neutral or negative after reading it in full. Across the 38 brands with at least five items read, that is 531 pieces: 192 positive, 109 mixed, 162 neutral and 68 negative, or 36% favourable. The sources disagree: YouTube ran 35% positive, the press 46%, Reddit 31% positive and 24% negative. Reviewers and the press are kinder than the people who pay, which is why the profiles weight Reddit upvotes over video views.

Brands users were kindest and harshest about

Brands with at least five classified items. The share is of all items read for that brand, so a brand with little coverage can swing on one thread.

The features people praise and the ones they complain about

Each profile gives a verdict per feature from the sources read for it. Across the 16 features judged for at least five brands, the most praised was characters and customisation (positive for 74% of the 39 brands judged on it) and the most criticised was voice (negative for 46% of 35).

A feature counts once per brand whose profile judges it. “Praised” is the share of those brands where users were positive about it.

6 · Geography

Where the visitors live

In plain words: About 25 of every 100 visits come from the United States, where most of the paying users are.

The US supplied 25.4% of worldwide search visits in September 2026, against 20% a year earlier. Of the visits from outside the US, the largest sources among the countries estimated individually were India (25.2%), Indonesia (13.1%), Canada (8.4%) and South Korea (6.7%). For the category's own search the US is 30% of worldwide volume, so demand is more American than the visits are.

7 · Authority and pricing

Links, ratings and what it costs to start

In plain words: Other websites link to these sites more than a year ago (+53%), and a typical paid plan starts at about 12 a month.

The tracked sites had 129,556 referring domains between them, +53.1% year on year, with an average Domain Rating of 44. CrushOn AI has the strongest link profile at DR 85. On price, 18 of the sites offer a free tier, and the advertised starting price runs from $3.99 to $29.99 a month with a median of $12 across the 19 sites that publish one.

Referring domains: DataForSEO, September 2026. Domain Rating by Ahrefs, out of 100. Starting prices: each platform’s own pricing page, as recorded on its profile.

8 · Outlook

What happens next

In plain words: We expect about 8.4M visits in October 2026 (about the same as September 2026) and about 8.4M by April 2027, so the next six months look flat.

Our forecast for October 2026 is about 8,366,285 worldwide search visits, in a range of 7,437,628 to 9,294,943. The full forecast, the six months after it and how the last one scored are in the October 2026 monthly forecast, which is built from this month’s numbers.

From the October 2026 monthly forecast; the range is what would not surprise us, and it widens with distance.

9 · Method and sources

Where every number here comes from

Tracked sites.

AI girlfriend and companion sites with real visibility, a Tranco top-million rank or a Google position for the category’s searches. Every site with real visibility feeds this edition.

Search visits.

DataForSEO Labs estimates of monthly visits from Google organic results, worldwide and for the US, summed across the tracked sites. Not a count of all traffic.

Demand.

Google Ads monthly search volume for the category term and for each brand name, via DataForSEO; it runs a month behind traffic data. Rising searches: Google Trends via SerpApi.

The ranking.

US Google position for “ai girlfriend” from DataForSEO ranked keywords, then Tranco all-traffic rank, cross-checked with the Chrome UX Report.

What users said.

The most-watched YouTube videos (read through their transcripts), the Reddit threads Google surfaces and the press about each brand, each classified after reading it in full and recorded on the brand’s profile.

Links.

Referring domains from DataForSEO; Domain Rating by Ahrefs.

Snapshot.

Every figure on this page was frozen on 2026-10-08 with the data for September 2026, and the edition is kept as published. The same snapshot renders the AI girlfriend industry report; the methodology page describes each indicator.