AI Desktop Companion: What to Actually Install on Your PC

"AI desktop companion" gets used for at least four different things. A local roleplay frontend. A browser app you pin to your taskbar. An indie overlay that watches your screen. A plastic robot on your desk that wiggles when you touch it. They cost anywhere from nothing to 150,000 yen, and they promise wildly different things.

This guide sorts them by what you actually get, what it costs, and what the fine print says about your chats. Everything here comes from published pricing pages, developer documentation and user reports. We have not installed every app on this list, and we say so where it matters.

Quick picks

Pick	Type	Runs	Price	Best for
Desktop AI Companion (indie)	Desktop overlay	PC, local default	Not confirmed	Screen-aware avatar sidekick
SillyTavern + KoboldCpp	Local frontend	Own computer	Free software	Control and privacy
HammerAI desktop	Desktop app (itch.io)	Local or cloud	Free local mode	Easy local roleplay
Backyard AI	Desktop app	Local or cloud	Free local mode	Existing users only (frozen)
Secrets, Candy, OurDream	Browser PWA	Cloud	$3.99–$9.99/month annual	Romance and adult chat
Replika, Nomi, Kindroid, Character.AI	Mainstream apps	Cloud	$9.99–$15.99/month	SFW friendship and voice
Razer Project AVA	Desk hologram	Next to monitor	Not confirmed	Gamers
Gatebox	Desk hologram	Japan	150,000 yen at launch	Anime fans in Japan
Eilik, Loona	Desk robots	On desk	$139.99 / $499	Robot pet, not partner

The four things people mean by "desktop companion"

1. A local frontend. Software that runs on your machine and talks to a model you also run. SillyTavern is the big one: free, open source, AGPL-3.0, and it works in your browser. It supports character cards, personas, World Info, group chats and unlimited characters. A Windows launcher exists, and there are Linux and macOS paths too. You pair it with a backend — KoboldCpp or Ollama locally, or OpenRouter and Gemini via API if you want cloud models.

2. A browser app pinned to your desktop. {{Secrets AI}}, {{Candy.ai}} and {{OurDream AI}} are web services. You install them as a progressive web app, get a taskbar icon, and everything still runs on their servers. That is not a criticism. It is just a different product from a local model.

3. An indie desktop overlay. There is a Steam and itch.io app literally called Desktop AI Companion, by a developer going by dokk75. Nine pre-made characters, selectable persona and voice, VRM or Live2D avatars, and any VRM model is importable. It claims local voice cloning without an API.

4. Hardware. Razer Project AVA is a 5.5-inch desk hologram that sees and listens. Gatebox is a desktop anime character with a camera, motion sensor and microphones. Eilik and Loona are desk robots. Only the first two aim at conversation; the robots are pets with personalities.

What the software actually claims to do

The productivity framing is everywhere. Vendor material promises task prioritization, daily schedules, multi-step tasks across apps, key-point extraction from files, summarizing, rewriting, first drafts, email thread summaries, file organizing and web search. Microsoft's 2026 AI PC primer describes companions capturing screen context without manual input. One indie developer says their app connects to Twitch and reads chat aloud.

Some of that is real and some is a demo video. The honest test is whether you would use it daily without being told to. If a companion mainly watches your screen and comments, that is a toy — a fun one, but a toy.

Indie overlay: Desktop AI Companion

This is the pick if you want an avatar sitting on your screen while you work or game. Nine characters out of the box, voice selectable, VRM or Live2D avatars, any VRM model importable. The Steam edition uses no external AI service and needs no account, which is unusual and worth noting.

The itch.io version has a cloud option that uses a key and sends data to that provider. The privacy policy was updated in September 2026. The developer says local is the default.

What we cannot tell you: the price, the system requirements, or how good the local model actually is. None of that is confirmed. Treat it as a maybe until you see the store page yourself.

Local setup: SillyTavern and KoboldCpp

Free, private, and more work than anything else here. SillyTavern is the interface. KoboldCpp is the engine, downloaded from LostRuins' GitHub releases, running quantized GGUF models. No account, no subscription, no content policy between you and the model.

The trade-offs are real. Bigger models need a strong GPU. Context windows on modest hardware are smaller than what cloud plans give you. There is no polished overlay, no avatar walking around your desktop. You get a browser tab that behaves like a chat app.

But your chats never leave the machine. For a lot of adults, that is the whole point.

Middle ground: HammerAI and Backyard AI

HammerAI has a website, a mobile app and a desktop build on itch.io. Local mode is free and local messages stay on your machine. Cloud conversations are processed on HammerAI's servers, and saved cloud conversations are a paid feature per the developer. The local setup takes work, but less than SillyTavern.

Backyard AI, formerly Faraday, is the cautionary tale. Local mode is free and chats sit on disk. But the desktop version has been frozen since February 2025, and the site now prioritizes phone apps and cloud subscriptions. Fine if you already use it. Do not start here in 2026.

Browser apps for romance and adult chat

If you want romance rather than a productivity sidekick, the browser services are the practical route. All three below allow NSFW for verified adults. All three are cloud, which means your conversations go to their servers.

{{Secrets AI}} is the memory-first option. Lorebooks sit on higher tiers, live voice is there, and the pitch is continuity — a companion that remembers what you told it. It is $9.17 per month billed yearly. Storage is AES-256 encrypted and chat history is wiped when you close your account. The caveat: the policy still allows conversations to be used for model training. Our full Secrets AI review digs into that.

{{Candy.ai}} is the picture machine. Photorealistic images, an interface in 13 languages, and the cheapest sticker price in the category at $3.99 per month billed yearly versus $13.99 monthly. Free users get five messages. De-identified chats can feed training, and account data is kept up to three years. If images are why you are there, read what Candy AI images cost in tokens before subscribing.

{{OurDream AI}} is strong on media and $9.99 per month billed yearly. The homepage claims end-to-end encryption. The policy only describes server-side encryption, and the company may train models on user submissions. That gap is the story. Our OurDream AI review lays it out.

Mainstream apps, if you want SFW

Character.AI, Replika, Nomi and Kindroid are the big names, and they are cloud apps with content rules. Character.AI is $9.99 per month with no adult content and a huge character library. Replika is $14.99 per month for Pro, with romance and voice calls paywalled; there is a Meta Quest app in Early Access. Nomi is $15.99 per month with group chats, voice and strong memory. Kindroid is $15.99 per month with voice calls, selfies and extra Kindroids.

One warning that applies to all four: they can change models or rules overnight, and users have documented real grief after updates. Back up anything you care about.

Hardware: mostly concept or niche

Razer Project AVA is a 5.5-inch desk hologram that sees and listens. Razer frames it as a gaming wingman — voice interaction, real-time translation — not a romance partner. Price, launch date and requirements are unconfirmed.

Gatebox is the anime character in a tube with a camera, motion sensor and microphones. It launched in Japan at 150,000 yen before tax. Current price and availability are unconfirmed.

Eilik by Energize Lab is $139.99 and reacts to touch with animations. Real conversation needs the AI Station add-on, sold separately. Loona by KEYi Tech is $499 list with GPT-4o voice and, per the maker, no monthly fee. Both are robot pets. Neither is a partner, and neither will remember your week.

Games that use an LLM

AI2U pairs an LLM with text-to-speech and entered Steam Early Access in January 2025, with a full release on August 12, 2026. No explicit content. Whispers from the Star by Anuttacon takes voice, text or video calls and needs a microphone. Yandere AI Girlfriend Simulator is pay-what-you-want on itch.io for Windows, Mac and Linux, with voice input and your own OpenAI key.

That last one is the catch with key-based games: you pay per message. Early access games also change a lot. Everything is an adult character, everywhere, in all of these.

Local vs cloud, in plain terms

Factor	Local	Cloud
Privacy	Stays on machine	Goes to provider
Quality	Limited by GPU and RAM	Usually stronger models
Context	Smaller windows on modest hardware	Larger on most plans
Cost	Free software; hardware and power	Per message or monthly plan
Rules	No platform filter	Provider content policy
Setup	More work	Paste key and talk

Local software is free, but electricity and a GPU are not. Cloud is cheaper to start and more expensive to love. Local has no platform-level filter, but big AI labs disallow explicit content through their APIs, so "cloud with no filter" usually is not a thing.

Privacy and security: the part people skip

Screen vision is the biggest risk on this list. If an app can see your display, it can see your banking tab, your work email and private calls. Turn screen vision off for all three. Grant file access narrowly — do not hand an agent your whole project folder or home directory.

Store API keys safely. Never paste them into a chat or a screenshot. Download only from the developer's site, Steam, itch.io or GitHub releases. Cracked builds and re-uploads are a bad idea for any desktop software, and worse for something with screen access.

Anything tracking your schedule, habits and moods holds a detailed record of your life. That is the price of a companion that feels attentive. Decide whether you are fine paying it.

One more: in July 2025, Visa and Mastercard pressure led Steam and itch.io to pull or hide adult games. Availability of adult content on storefronts can change without notice.

Healthy use, briefly

An OpenAI and MIT Media Lab study in 2025 found that the heaviest daily chatbot users reported more loneliness and dependence. The effect was mainly among people prone to attachment; most users showed no problematic engagement. A chatbot is not therapy. If you notice the app replacing people rather than filling gaps, cut back.

How to choose

1. Decide what you want. Company, focus, gaming or romance. The answer changes everything.
2. Check OS support on the store page — Windows, Mac, Linux — before you get attached to a name.
3. Compare the real cost. A lifetime license can beat a subscription after a few months, if updates continue.
4. Check the exit. Subscriptions should let you unsubscribe anytime without contacting support.
5. Start free. Try a free option first and pay only once you use it daily.

If you want the broader field, our best AI companion app ranking compares eight apps by what you actually need.

Bottom line

The 2026 market splits four ways. Indie overlay apps offer screen vision and avatars, with unconfirmed prices. Local setups win on privacy and lose on polish. Browser services handle romance, with training clauses in the fine print. Desk hardware is mostly concept or niche.

Privacy-first users should start local or buy the indie app from an official store. Romance users should pick a browser service and read the policy. And treat screen access and memory as what they are: data you are handing over.