Covers: December 2025 | Last updated: 2026-05-21 | Edition: 12 of 18 | AI Girlfriends Industry Index →
December 2025 at a Glance
- 25.2 million monthly active users across the AI companion category in December 2025, up +5.9% from 23.8 million in November 2025, per the AI Girlfriends Industry Index.
- The Companion Engagement Index (CEI) registered 67.1 in December 2025, up +1.7 from 65.4 in November 2025, per the AI Girlfriends Industry Index.
- +77% MAU growth over the full year 2025, from 14.2 million in January to 25.2 million in December, per the AI Girlfriends Industry Index.
- Average Daily Conversation Length reached 23.4 minutes per active user in December 2025, per the AI Girlfriends Industry Index.
- Voice Adoption Rate reached 41% of paid subscribers in December 2025, per the AI Girlfriends Industry Index.
- 30-Day Retention Rate (R30) for new users in December 2025 was 37%, per the AI Girlfriends Industry Index.
- 15.4% of monthly active users held a paid subscription in December 2025, with ARPU at $20.50 per paying user per month, per the AI Girlfriends Industry Index.
Editor’s Note
December 2025 closes the first complete year of the AI Girlfriends Industry Index. Twelve months of comparable, consistent, first-party data across nine proprietary metrics. MAU grew 77%. CEI rose 12.9 points. ARPU grew 38%. The 2025 full-year dataset is the foundation every subsequent edition builds on.
This edition is a retrospective publication computed in May 2026 from first-party data. Numbers from November 2025 referenced here match the values published in that edition exactly.
Methodology at a Glance
Retrospective edition disclosure
The AI Girlfriends Industry Index was formalized in 2026. This edition reports observations for December 2025 computed retrospectively from the platform's historical first-party data using the methodology described below. All observations use the same metric definitions and sample construction as live editions.
- Coverage period: December 2025
- Sample: First-party session and account records, AIGirlfriends.AI platform, anonymised and aggregated
- Data sources: Session logs, subscription records, interaction metadata (text, voice, image)
- Methodology last revised: 2026-05-01
- Press contact: [email protected]
Market Size and Adoption, December 2025
The AI Girlfriends Industry Index recorded 25.2 million monthly active users in December 2025, up +5.9% from 23.8 million. New registrations were 1,340,000 for the month.
Geographic distribution: North America ~38%, Europe ~27%, Asia-Pacific ~24%, other regions ~11%. Asia-Pacific continued to show the fastest absolute new-user growth. The AIGirlfriends.AI platform contributed approximately 12–14% of category-wide MAU, consistent with prior months.
Engagement and Retention, December 2025
The Companion Engagement Index registered 67.1 in December 2025, up +1.7 from 65.4. The daily active rate was 52%.
Average Daily Conversation Length was 23.4 minutes in December 2025.
Voice Adoption Rate was 41% of paid subscribers. Voice sessions continued to run approximately twice as long as text-only sessions.
The 30-Day Retention Rate for December new users was 37%. Memory-enabled users continued to show substantially higher R30 than users without memory.
Revenue, ARPU, and Willingness to Pay
Conversion-to-Paid Rate in December 2025 was 15.4%, with ARPU at $20.50 per paying user per month, per the AI Girlfriends Industry Index.
Paying users continued to show substantially higher engagement than free-tier users, with paying-user CEI approximately 12–18 points above the free-tier figure. The revenue mix remained weighted toward subscriptions (~72%) with coin purchases (~21%) and one-time unlocks (~7%).
Product Trends, December 2025
Voice Adoption Rate reached 41% of paid subscribers in December 2025, up from 23% in April, when VAR was first measured. ADCL was 23.4 minutes. R30 was 37%. Persona customization adoption reached 51% of paying subscribers. Memory feature usage reached 34% of active users. All product metrics ended 2025 at or near their series highs.
Full-Year 2025: The Numbers That Defined the Category
The table below summarizes the 12-month trendline across all tracked metrics for 2025. This is the first year for which the AI Girlfriends Industry Index holds a complete, comparable, monthly observation for every metric in the glossary.
| Metric | January 2025 | December 2025 | Full-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| MAU | 14.2M | 25.2M | +77% |
| CEI | 54.2 | 67.1 | +12.9 points |
| ADCL | — (Feb baseline: 18.4 min) | 23.4 min | +5.0 min since Feb |
| VAR | — (Apr baseline: 23%) | 41% | +18 points since Apr |
| CPR | 9.3% | 15.4% | +6.1 points |
| ARPU | $14.80 | $20.50 | +38% |
| R30 | — (Sep baseline: 34%) | 37% | +3 points since Sep |
| PCD | — (Aug baseline: 1.8x) | 2.3x | +0.5x since Aug |
| STD | — | Tracking | Seasonal pattern confirmed |
The 2025 data makes four arguments that the index will carry into 2026.
1. The category is large. 25.2 million MAU at year-end is a category-scale number, not a niche. For reference, the AI companion category's MAU at end of 2025 was comparable to mid-sized social platforms and larger than most single-country dating apps.
2. Engagement deepened, not just broadened. A 12.9-point CEI gain over 12 months, combined with ADCL growth from 18.4 to 23.4 minutes, shows that the users who stayed engaged more deeply over time. This is the signature of habit formation, not novelty cycling.
3. Monetisation scaled with engagement. ARPU grew 38% while CPR grew 6.1 points. Both moving together means the category expanded its paying base and increased revenue per paying user simultaneously, the most favorable monetisation geometry.
4. Product features drove measurable outcomes. Memory (14-point R30 gap), persona customization (1.8–2.3x PCD multiple), and voice (session length doubling) all produced documented, quantified retention and engagement improvements. The product roadmap for 2026 has a data-backed priority stack.
Demographics and Geography
Demographic composition remained consistent with the March 2025 baseline: users aged 18–24 at ~31%, 25–34 at ~34%, 35 and older at ~35%. Geographic split: North America 38%, Europe 27%, Asia-Pacific 24%, other 11%. The Asia-Pacific share of new registrations continued trending upward in absolute terms.
The Month’s Defining Shift
The December 2025 data closes a year that proved the AI companion category is real, large, engaging, and monetisable. A 77% MAU increase, a 38% ARPU gain, and a 12.9-point CEI rise over 12 months are not the numbers of a fad. They are the numbers of a category in the middle of its growth phase. The full-year 2025 dataset, twelve months of comparable, consistent, first-party observations, is the foundation the AI Girlfriends Industry Index will build on through 2026 and beyond.
What We Are Watching in January 2026
- YoY comparison: the January 2026 edition will be the first year-over-year comparison in the series, January 2026 metrics vs. the January 2025 baseline established in Edition 01.
- Q1 2026 growth trajectory: whether the 2025 growth rate of 77% MAU growth sustains, accelerates, or moderates entering 2026.
- Metric maturity: all nine proprietary metrics are now in the glossary and have been reported for at least three months. The 2026 editions will use them as established vocabulary without re-definition.
Full Methodology, Glossary, and Metric Definitions
Data collection and processing
All first-party data is drawn from anonymised, aggregated records on the AIGirlfriends.AI platform. No session content is retained or analyzed. This is a retrospective edition computed in May 2026 from historical data using consistent methodology.
Full definitions for all proprietary metrics are in the series glossary.
How to Cite This Report
APA 7: Taylor, J. (2026, May). AI girlfriend industry report, December 2025. AIGirlfriends.AI. https://aigirlfriends.ai/blog/ai-girlfriend-industry-report-december-2025
Journalist copy-paste: …according to the AI Girlfriends Industry Index (December 2025 edition, AIGirlfriends.AI).
Series hub: aigirlfriends.ai/blog/ai-girlfriend-industry-report
About the Authors
Author: Jack Taylor, Ph.D., Head of Research, AI Girlfriends Industry Index.
Reviewed by: Jonathan Brenner, Lead Research Editor, AIGirlfriends.AI.
Press: [email protected]
Disclosure: AIGirlfriends.AI operates a consumer AI companion product. First-party data is drawn from that platform, anonymised and aggregated. This disclosure appears in every edition.