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    Social AI / AI character platform
    Freemium
    Free Trial
    Sponsored

    Circle Labs

    Social AI / AI character platform

    Circle Labs (legal entity: Circle Labs, Inc.) builds Shapes — a social platform for creating and chatting with AI-powered characters in solo and group conversations. Users design "Shapes" with custom personalities, knowledge bases, and memory, then deploy them on Shapes.inc, Discord, and mobile apps. The product targets fandom communities, roleplay, and creative social AI rather than enterprise productivity.

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    Alternatives & similar tools

    Related picks from editorial notes.

    Also mentioned

    • Character.AI
    • Replika
    • Chai

    Features & details

    Full overview from our catalog (read-only reference).

    Category (short)
    Social AI / AI character platform
    Category
    Social AI / AI character platform
    Pricing (CSV)
    Free Trial
    Directory pricing
    Freemium
    Sponsored note
    no
    Target audience
    Fandom and roleplay communities (anime, gaming, VTuber audiences), Creators building shareable AI characters without coding, Social-first users who want AI in group settings, not 1:1 chat only, Discord server owners adding interactive AI members
    Best for
    Fandom and roleplay communities (anime, gaming, VTuber audiences), Creators building shareable AI characters without coding, Social-first users who want AI in group settings, not 1:1 chat only, Discord server owners adding interactive AI members
    Pricing notes
    Free to use with many free AI engines (no credits). Premium engines consume Shape Credits — purchasable or earnable through platform activity. Auto-top-up available with saved payment method. No fixed public subscription tiers; credit pricing varies by model. App Store listing emphasizes free access with optional credits. Company raised ~$4.2M seed (Lightspeed, 2022). Corporate site: shapes.inc; legal name Circle Labs, Inc.

    Pros & cons

    Editorial notes to help compare fit before opening the vendor site.

    Pros

    • Deep character customization (personality, knowledge, 70+ models)
    • Unique multiplayer/group AI chat experience
    • Large library of community-created Shapes
    • Free tier with genuinely free engine options
    • Cross-platform (web, iOS, Discord)

    Cons

    • Credit system can surprise users on premium models
    • Not suited for business/professional workflows
    • Content moderation and safety vary by community norms
    • Smaller general audience vs Character.AI
    • Company/product naming (Circle Labs vs Shapes) causes discovery confusion

    Review notes

    Context from the listing review and editorial research.

    Strong engagement in niche social-AI and Discord communities (180K+ Discord members cited by third parties). App Store reviews highlight memory, customization, and group-chat novelty. Criticism includes credit confusion, content moderation concerns, and premium engine costs. Not comparable to enterprise AI assistants; reception is community-driven and fandom-specific.

    Extended features

    In-depth description and capability notes.

    Custom AI characters — Configurable personality, knowledge, memory, and training prompts. 70+ AI engines — Free and premium models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and open-weight options. Group chat with AI — Multiple Shapes and humans in one conversation on web and mobile. Cross-platform memory — Characters remember context across sessions and platforms. Creator marketplace — Millions of community-made Shapes across fandoms and OC universes. Voice & multimodal — Voice messages, image generation, PDF reading, web search, code. Credit system — Free engines at no cost; premium engines consume Shape Credits.

    Use cases

    Shapes fits creators, fandom communities, and social users who want customizable AI companions for roleplay, study groups, or creative collaboration — not corporate chatbots. Discord communities and mobile users are core audiences. Roleplay and fan-fiction with persistent character memory Group chats mixing friends and AI characters Building and sharing custom OC or brand mascot bots Study groups with AI tutors in multiplayer chats Community engagement on Discord with AI NPCs Testing multiple LLM backends without separate subscriptions