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Backyard AI
What it is
Backyard AI offers AI characters for fictional text and voice chats, including text adventures, interactive stories and roleplaying. Its Community Hub lets users explore thousands of characters, and character tools include lorebooks, an author’s note, grammars and model parameters. Group chats can include up to four characters, and voice calls are listed as a feature. The free plan includes 300 messages per week, one model and 16k maximum memory. The free desktop app runs local models offline and keeps data on the device; the listed desktop download is for macOS Intel. Local models can also be reached from a mobile browser or iOS app through opt-in tethering. Cloud subscriptions provide hosted models, with selection and limits depending on the plan. Standard costs $12 per month and offers unlimited messages with Standard models; Pro costs $35 per month and includes Standard and Pro models with a 100,000-token maximum context. Backyard AI supports GGUF models, but not FP16, GPTQ or AWQ files. Listed platforms are Android, iOS, macOS and web.
For and against
For
- Community Hub includes thousands of characters.
- Group chats allow up to four characters.
- Free plan includes 300 messages per week.
- Desktop app runs local models offline.
- Native apps listed for Android and iOS.
Against
- Free plan has a 300-message weekly limit.
- Free plan includes one model.
- Does not support FP16, GPTQ or AWQ files.
- Paid plans start at $12 per month.
The verdict
Backyard AI combines customizable characters, group conversations and voice features with both local and hosted model options. The free plan is limited, while paid tiers expand message and model access.
Who it suits
Backyard AI suits people looking for interactive fictional stories, text adventures or character roleplay, including voice chats. It also offers local offline model use for desktop users and mobile access through opt-in tethering.
Plans and prices
Free
300 messages/week · 1 included model · 16,384-token context · group chats
Read 21 Oct 2026 · techzella.com
Standard
Unlimited Standard-model messages · 16,384-token context
Read 21 Oct 2026 · techzella.com
Pro
Unlimited Standard and Pro-model messages · context up to 100,000 tokens
Read 21 Oct 2026 · techzella.com
Desktop App
Local models · runs offline · macOS Intel download listed
Read 3 Oct 2026 · backyard.ai
On the record
- API and integrations
- TechZella found no verified public developer API and no documented third-party integrations.techzella.com · read 21 Oct 2026
- Archive-format licence
- The public BYAF specification and tooling repository is MIT licensed, while the Backyard product itself is proprietary under its terms.github.com · read 21 Oct 2026
- Author's Note
- Author's Note lets users add scene, atmosphere and story-direction instructions that influence responses.backyard.ai · read 21 Oct 2026
- Character Hub
- Users can create bespoke characters or download and customize community-created characters.backyard.ai · read 21 Oct 2026
- Characters
- Users can explore thousands of characters through the Community Hub.backyard.ai · read 3 Oct 2026
- Character tools
- Characters can be customized with lorebooks, an author's note, grammars, and model parameters.backyard.ai · read 3 Oct 2026
- Cloud models
- Backyard Cloud subscriptions provide access to hosted AI models, with plan limits and model selection varying by tier.backyard.ai · read 3 Oct 2026
- Cloud privacy claim
- The Backyard Cloud announcement says chats are encrypted at rest and are not logged or shared.backyard.ai · read 21 Oct 2026
- Company founding and headquarters
- A business-record directory reports Ahoy Labs, Inc. was filed on March 21, 2022 and is based at 268 Bush Street in San Francisco, California.bizprofile.net · read 21 Oct 2026
- Company legal name
- The service terms identify Ahoy Labs, Inc. as the company.backyard.ai · read 21 Oct 2026
- Company size and status
- Crunchbase lists Backyard AI as an active private seed-stage company with 1–10 employees and San Francisco headquarters.crunchbase.com · read 21 Oct 2026
- Desktop app status
- The desktop app page describes local model use and says its data stays on the device and the app works offline.backyard.ai · read 3 Oct 2026
- Desktop downloads
- The deprecated download page still offers Intel macOS (288.8 MB), Apple Silicon macOS (282.3 MB) and Windows (865.1 MB) builds.desktop.backyard.ai · read 21 Oct 2026
- Documentation depth
- The documentation covers character prompts, response formatting, lorebooks, author notes, grammars, model parameters and advanced tips.backyard.ai · read 21 Oct 2026
- Documentation gap: imports
- The imports and exports documentation page currently says detailed documentation is still forthcoming.backyard.ai · read 21 Oct 2026
- Documentation gap: voices
- The voice documentation page currently says detailed text-to-speech documentation is still forthcoming.backyard.ai · read 21 Oct 2026
- Dynamic voices
- The product includes dynamic character voices and audio features.backyard.ai · read 21 Oct 2026
- Extensibility format
- Ahoy Labs publishes the Backyard Archive Format specification and a TypeScript package named byaf for creating and parsing character archives.github.com · read 21 Oct 2026
