About
What this site is
Companion Index is an independent site where I review AI companion apps — the chatbots, platforms, and services that sell simulated relationships, intimacy, and ongoing conversation to adult users. I test them, I write about them, and I publish the results in a format that's actually useful before you spend money.
The category is large and growing, and the existing coverage is bad. App stores list these products without testing them. Tabloid pieces treat their users as symptoms. The companies themselves explain very little. I started Companion Index to fill the gap: a site where someone actually subscribes, actually uses the app the way a paying customer would, for long enough to find out what it is, and writes about the findings without theatre.
The site launched in May 2026. The hub is in English. A French version is rolling out in parallel.
Who I am
My byline is Théo Vasseur. Théo is a pseudonym. I separate the byline from my real identity because the AI companion industry is litigious in places and harassing in others, and because testing means creating accounts on apps that retain user data aggressively. The pseudonym keeps the work — and me — out of conflicts that would distract from the reviews.
Théo isn't a character. No backstory, no face, no opinions outside the work. He's a stable editorial voice. When you read "I" on this site, that's a small team operating under that voice — currently one primary writer, occasional help on specific test domains, and editorial support that includes AI tools for drafting and structure.
What isn't pseudonymous is the work. Every review is grounded in dated test logs. Every score traces back to specific observations. The methodology is published in full and applied identically across apps. If a company thinks I got something wrong, there's a correction policy and I use it.
How I work
Every app I cover gets 14 days minimum on a paid plan, on my own card, on a real device, with someone whose job for those two weeks is to use the app the way a paying customer would.
Reviews are written after the test concludes. Scores are issued on eight axes, /10 each, aggregated to a single rating. The score is the consequence of the observations, not the starting point.
The three things I won't move on
Specificity. When something is broken, dishonest, or great, I describe what specifically is broken, dishonest, or great. I don't gesture. I don't generalise from a feeling.
Restraint. The category invites moralising. I don't. The AI companion industry is worth covering without pity for users and without contempt for them. I try to write it that way.
Independence from outcomes. When a test produces a finding I didn't expect, I publish it. When a finding contradicts something I wrote three months earlier, I publish that too, with the link back.
How I make money
Most reviews on this site contain affiliate links. When you subscribe to an app via one of those links, I may receive a commission. The commission has no effect on the review's score or on whether the app appears in the index.
The full explanation, with the alternatives I considered and rejected, is on the affiliate disclosure page.
Who I'm not writing for
I don't write for readers who want to be told AI companions are dangerous, that they're wonderful, or that they're a sign of a generation in crisis. I write for adults who want to know whether a specific app is worth a specific subscription, what its actual practices are, and what the industry it belongs to is doing.
Contact
Editorial: editor@thecompanionindex.com
Press: press@thecompanionindex.com
Corrections: corrections@thecompanionindex.com
Anything else: contact@thecompanionindex.com
I read everything. I don't always reply. When I do, it's on the record unless explicitly agreed otherwise in advance.