Linky AI pricing: what Linky AI costs per month, what Linky Pro and Linky Gold cost, and what the coins cost

How much does Linky AI cost per month?

Linky AI costs $9.99 for Linky Pro and $17.99 for Linky Gold. Those are the two figures most people come here for, and both are verifiable, just not from Linky.

Apple's in-app purchase disclosure for app 6450916631 lists ten priced items. Two of them are the subscriptions above. The other eight are coin packs, which we cover in the next section because they are where the real money in this app lives.

One honest caveat, and we would rather state it than round it away. Apple shows no billing period next to Linky Pro or Linky Gold. For most apps the disclosure reads "Premium Monthly" or "Annual"; here it reads simply "Linky Pro" and "Linky Gold". That means $9.99 and $17.99 are the listed prices of those items, and we cannot tell you from Apple's data alone whether they renew weekly, monthly or annually. Google Play discloses a range rather than a per-item list, so it does not settle the question either. If you subscribe, read the billing period on the confirmation sheet before you tap, because the difference between a $9.99 monthly and a $9.99 weekly charge is $399.48 a year.

We flag this because the alternative is to guess, and guessing is how a wrong number ends up repeated across twenty review sites.

• Linky Pro is listed at $9.99
• Linky Gold is listed at $17.99
• Apple shows no billing period for either subscription
• Eight further coin packs run from $0.99 to $99.99
• All figures from Apple's disclosure for app 6450916631

What do Linky AI coins cost, and why does the ladder run backwards?

This is the finding that matters most on this page, and as far as we can tell nobody else has published it.

Every app that sells an in-app currency uses the same shape of ladder: small packs are poor value, large packs are better value, and the biggest pack is the best deal. That is the entire psychological point of a pack ladder. It nudges you upward by making the bigger number look like the smart choice.

Linky's ladder does the opposite. Here is Apple's disclosure, sorted by what you actually get for a dollar:

The $0.99 pack gives 180 coins, which is 181.8 coins per dollar. That is the best value in the entire list. The $99.99 pack gives 14,200 coins, which is 142.0 coins per dollar. Spending a hundred dollars at once buys you 22% fewer coins per dollar than spending one dollar. The $49.99 pack is worse again in the middle of the curve at 133.0, and the $4.99 pack sits near the bottom at 98.2.

So the ordinary buying instinct, which is to grab the big pack because bulk is cheaper, is exactly wrong here. If you are going to buy coins in Linky, the small packs are the efficient ones.

There is a second trap sitting inside the same list. Two separate items are priced at exactly $1.99. One gives 180 coins. The other gives 360. Same price, double the coins, and Apple lists them as two live products rather than a price change. That means the worst value in the whole ladder, at 90.5 coins per dollar, and the second-best value, at 180.9, are sold at the identical price point. Tap the wrong $1.99 button and you pay twice as much per coin as the person next to you.

We are not going to speculate about why this is so. It may be regional, promotional, or a legacy item nobody retired. What we can say is that it is disclosed, it is checkable by anyone in thirty seconds, and it costs real money to get wrong.

• $0.99 for 180 coins is 181.8 coins per dollar, the best value listed
• $99.99 for 14,200 coins is 142.0 per dollar, 22% worse than the $0.99 pack
• Two separate packs both cost $1.99: one gives 180 coins, one gives 360
• The worst rate in the ladder is 90.5 coins per dollar
• Bulk buying costs more per coin in Linky, which reverses the category norm

What does Linky AI say about your coins in its own terms?

Linky's terms of service give the coin economy its own numbered section, section 8, headed Recharge. Most companion apps bury this in a sentence. Linky writes it out, and it is worth reading before you put a hundred dollars into a balance.

The terms state that coins are "a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license" and that they "have no monetary or 'real world' value and can only be used with the Service". They cannot be exchanged back into money. That much is standard across the category.

Three clauses go further than standard, and all three are quoted directly. First: "In the event of any dispute, Linky shall have the final determination over the calculation of your Coins account balance." If your balance and Linky's records disagree, the terms say Linky decides.

Second: "Linky has the absolute right to reduce, manage, regulate, control, modify and/or eliminate the Coins as it sees fit in its sole discretion, and that Linky will have no liability to you based on its exercise of these rights." Alongside it, the terms reserve "the right to revoke the licenses to them, at any time without notice".

Third, and this is the one that bears on cancelling: "you will not receive money or other compensation for unused Coins when an Account is closed or terminated, whether the applicable closure was voluntary or involuntary". Unused coins do not survive you closing your account, and they do not survive Linky closing it either.

The terms also confirm that "the cost to purchase Coins is determined by Linky in its sole discretion, including any discounts or promotions, and may be changed at any time", which is the clause that makes the pack ladder above a snapshot rather than a fixture. None of this is unusual for virtual currency and none of it is hidden. It is simply stated more plainly here than most people bother to read, and the practical conclusion is straightforward: buy coins for what you intend to spend soon, not as a stockpile.

• Section 8 of Linky's terms is devoted entirely to the coin economy
• Coins have "no monetary or real world value" and cannot be cashed out
• Linky holds "final determination" over your balance in any dispute
• Linky reserves the right to "eliminate the Coins" and revoke them without notice
• Unused coins are not compensated on closure, voluntary or involuntary

Why does Linky AI cost more on Android than on iPhone?

Because the ladders are different lengths, and only one platform tells you the ceiling.

Apple's per-item disclosure for Linky tops out at $99.99. Google Play does not list items individually; it prints a range, and for package com.aigc.ushow.ichat that range is "$0.49 - $269.99 per item". So the Android catalogue starts cheaper than Apple's cheapest listed item and runs to nearly three times Apple's ceiling.

We cannot tell you what the $269.99 item is, because Play does not itemise. It may be an annual subscription that Apple lists differently, or it may be a coin pack far larger than anything on iOS. Either way, an Android buyer comparing against an article written from the App Store listing is working with a ceiling that is $170 too low. Several of our own pages carried the $99.99 figure for Android until this run, and we have corrected them.

There is a second platform difference that shows up in the ratings. On the US App Store, Linky holds 4.4 stars from 7,773 ratings. On Google Play it holds 3.9 stars from 26,232 ratings. That is a large gap, and the Android sample is more than three times the size. Google Play also carries the "Contains ads" label on the listing, which the App Store page does not flag.

If you are choosing a platform, the honest read is that the Android build has more users, a lower rating from more of them, advertising disclosed on the listing, and a purchase ceiling nearly triple the iPhone one.

• Apple's itemised ceiling for Linky is $99.99
• Google Play discloses items from $0.49 to $269.99, nearly 3x higher
• Play does not itemise, so the $269.99 product is not identified
• App Store rating is 4.4 from 7,773; Play is 3.9 from 26,232
• Google Play carries the Contains ads label, the App Store listing does not

Is Linky AI free, and what does the free tier cost you?

Yes, Linky is free to install and free to start chatting on, and the free tier is a real product rather than a countdown trial. That is a genuine strength and it explains the ten million installs.

What it costs you comes in two forms. The first is advertising: Google Play carries the "Contains ads" label. The second is the coin meter, and that is the one that shapes how the app feels. When a feature you want next requires coins and your balance is empty, the app has your attention at precisely the moment you are least inclined to comparison shop. That is not an accusation, it is the design of every consumable currency.

Apple's age rating page for Linky lists "Contains Loot Boxes" among the content descriptors, alongside "Sexual Content or Nudity" and "Mature or Suggestive Themes". A loot box descriptor means randomised paid outcomes: you spend a known amount for an unknown result. Linky's card draws are the mechanic Apple is flagging. If you have ever watched someone chase a card in a mobile game, you already know why this matters more than the headline subscription price.

So the free tier is real, and the cost of it is ads plus a currency designed to be spent in the moment. Tempted.ai does not run either. There is one price, it is $9 a month, and what the plan includes does not move depending on a balance.

• Linky is genuinely free to install and start using
• Google Play carries the Contains ads label
• Apple lists Contains Loot Boxes among the content descriptors
• Card draws are randomised paid outcomes, not fixed purchases
• The coin meter, not the subscription, is where most spending happens

Is Linky AI 17+ or 18+, and can you use it in a browser?

Two practical questions, and Linky's published answers are worth checking on both.

On age, the vendor's two stores disagree. The US App Store page rates Linky "18+ with content restrictions", noting In-App Controls and Age Assurance, with descriptors covering sexual content or nudity, mature or suggestive themes, infrequent profanity, loot boxes, user-generated content and age-restricted social media. Google Play rates the same app "Mature 17+". A parent or a buyer reading one store gets a different answer from the other. This is the same split we found on Chai, and it appears to be what happens when a vendor answers two rating questionnaires independently.

On the browser question we have a correction to make to our own work. Several pages on this site previously said Linky has no browser version and that using it on a PC means running an Android emulator. That is wrong, and we found it while checking the vendor's real domain. Linky runs a web client at linke.ai. Character chat pages load in a desktop browser, return HTTP 200, render a message box, and the page assets are served from a path the vendor itself names linky_pc_web. We have corrected every page that carried the old claim.

The reason the error survived as long as it did is instructive. Searching for Linky's site leads to linky.ai, which refuses automated requests with a 403, and to linkyai.com, which is a parked domain lander. Neither is the product. The company's actual domain, taken from the support and privacy links on its own App Store listing, is linke.ai. If you want to try Linky in a browser, that is where it lives.

• App Store rates Linky 18+ with Age Assurance and In-App Controls
• Google Play rates the same app Mature 17+
• Linky does have a browser client, at linke.ai
• We corrected our own pages that said otherwise
• linky.ai and linkyai.com are not the product; linke.ai is