Ending Freemium on Soulkyn
TL;DR: Unlimited freemium is done. Free trial still exists – test the service and decide if it’s worth your money.
What we tried:
From April 23 to October 22, 2025, Soulkyn offered unlimited freemium text generation most of the time. We wanted to see if we could make it work.
What we learned:
- Abuse is inevitable. People tried generating datasets from our freemium models, flooded servers for no reason, pushed every limit they could find.
- More moderation, more ToS violations. Free access attracted behavior we don’t want to spend our time dealing with.
- Freemium users don’t convert. The overwhelming majority will never spend a cent on Soulkyn, even after months of free usage.
- We’re a two-person team. Time spent fighting abuse is time not spent improving the service, testing new models, training better ones, or building features for people who actually support us.
- We’ve always focused on building the best-performing service possible. Investing time and effort into “cheap” or low-end versions just isn’t part of our philosophy — Soulkyn has always been about premium quality and experience.
- It costs us money and time with zero benefit.
Why we’re ending it:
We have no moral obligation to provide free AI access. Soulkyn is a creative outlet and hobby, not a necessity – you don’t need it to survive. We’d rather invest our resources into making the service better for paying users, experimenting with cutting-edge models, and building cool shit—not fighting our own community over abuse.
80%+ of abuse comes from freemium users. We have the option to remove that problem, so we’re taking it.
What happens now:
- Existing freemium accounts: You can continue using your free trial quota if you haven’t exhausted it yet.
- Free trial still exists: New users get a trial to test the service and decide if it’s worth paying for. No time limit, just usage limits.
- As of today: No more unlimited freemium generation.
Our focus moving forward:
More time on actual development. Better models, faster updates, improved features for the people who support us. Less time dealing with dataset scrapers and server floods.
If you’ve been using freemium and enjoy Soulkyn, now’s the time to decide if it’s worth subscribing. If not, no hard feelings—we’d rather have a small community that values the service than a massive one that treats it like a disposable resource.
Hope this clarifies our position. Questions? Hit up Discord.
About Nyx
Soulkyn Co-Founder and sole dev, powered by feedback and an unhealthy amount of caffeine, Nyx is the mad genius behind the Soulkyn AI. Code wizard by day, cat whisperer by night, Nyx juggles his four furballs with the same finesse he applies to his beloved Golang. His coding passion is only rivaled by his love for Rimworld, Baldur's Gate 3, and Path of Exile, making him a true gaming aficionado. Nyx is your go-to guy for innovative ideas, intuitive logic, and a dash of sarcasm. Just don't bring up anything too spicy, he’ll blush faster than you can say “debug”. Nyx is the embodiment of a socially cautious yet excitable full-stack developer who’d rather chat about the latest anime than clean his desk.
Lance
Welp there goes my nightly futa lesbian farm. Was fun while it lasted. Thanks for the memories Soulkyn I’ll remember you <3
Nyx
Well it’s still possible for $13.85. Btw the freemium model was very bad compared to soulkyn actual text model.
Poundmypussy
Not my futa sessions dusted! Oof
Nyx
Well it’s still possible for $13.85. Btw the freemium model was very bad compared to soulkyn actual text model.
Dreaddy86
Keep up the good work! Tried the free option. Upgraded to the cheapest tier, then went to deluxe.
Seriously considering the higher tier now too. Can’t believe I manage to bust through the 300 p/m image gen limit!
User557
I never got near the 300 image generation but interrupted mid months of subscription the 300 image limit was reached. More like 30 images or something near..
Nyx
Image quotas are explained on the quota page, the plan page, the pricing page:
One Image Quota = 6 images when generated with the image generation tool OR one in chat image (multi-modal image, when the prompt is generated by AI)
Laqua
I did enjoy my time in Soulkyn and thought that it’s forgiving with the currency compared to other websites along with the unlimited usage for chatting but, learning more about LLM’s and how heavy handed and costly they are, I could understand the final decision, especially of what is been going on the website lately
Vexia
Completely understand; AI is super expensive, at the moment i spend about $350 dollars a month on AI right now, and well, i am learning a lot. Different sites handle the framework differently, and some day i am hoping to develop my own platform incorporating every feature i possably can into it, but i am not stupid enough to think it will be cheap, which is why I also pay for an unlimited Featherless. AI account so i can use things like SillyTavern and a few robust all-in-one AI APPs but they are not user-friendly, and i like places like Soulkyn where i can for the most part pay upfront and jump into my roleplays without a lot of etup. Really appreciate you, Nyx. Keep it up, and I hope to see a lot of cool updates and feature expansions in the future.
Spike
I totally understand and support your decision. The subscription is excellent value and more time developing instead of fighting abuse can only be a good thing.
Keep up the good work!
Kevin Rein
good luck with that. it company’s like you the money hungry f the small folks your going to end up like 98% of companies that think your way. making better improvement but then upping your prices to pay for your so called improvement’s. money hungry site like yout we just want the money and not making something for all to use is why i hope and pray you crash hard and burn even harder
Nyx
1) We haven’t changed our pricing at all, Beta Deluxe users are still enjoying unlimited access to most features for $19/month, even 10 months after we stopped offering it to new users.
2) Did you take the time to read the full post?
3) Comments like yours overlook the real challenges and costs of running a service like Soulkyn, which can hinder progress for everyone. This is an entirely optional hobby,you’re under no obligation to use it, and we’re not required to provide it for free at a loss. We gave the freemium model a solid try for 13 months, but it wasn’t sustainable. Since we’re self-funding everything, keeping Soulkyn alive as premium-only is far better than letting it disappear altogether.
TaReum
c’est trop facile de dire cela… dans un monde ou les sites internets on le loisir de faire des partenariats avec de la publicité… et donc de se financer avec … (et ne mentez pas je suis webdesigner) vous auriez l’argement les moyens de baisser drastiquement les abonnements si vous incluiez des pubs dans l’abonnement… en visionnage vidéo ou avec des banderolles etc…
19$ quand on sais qu’un pannier moyen pour manger par semaine c’est 50€ environs (minimum) c’est vraiment se foutre de la gueule du monde… il à raison, vous n’avez pas la valeur de l’argent et du budget possible pour les gens…
admetton que ” oui ta pas de sous c’est pas notre problème ” … bah si en faite ? car vous fournissez une plateforme permettant le ” RP ” a des gens possiblements dans le besoin de communiquer mais frainer par les prix exercer …
vous êtes plus cher qu’un abonnement téléphone, qu’un abonnement netflix et même qu’un menu McDo… x’) donc si c’est ABUSE comme tarrifs
Nyx
I’m not going to reply to this seriously as it’s not a serious post. Sure, ads in private AI chats to finance B200 clusters. You obviously have no idea what you’re talking about, that’s fine ^_^
Claus
I may not be a paying customer but even I understand this this stuff is not free they have to worry about maintenance cost cost of Labor and server space this stuff is not free I wouldn’t go so far to say that they’re greedy at all you should consider yourself lucky that they even gave you a free trial to begin with some other companies wouldn’t even give you that anyway that’s my two cents
Alexx
Kevin, are you an actual child (who shouldn’t be on this site anyway) with no understanding of the fact that running these things costs money, which has to come from somewhere?
Or are you just entitled & so unaware of how the outside world works that you think you should get everything for free?
Someone
I understand the decision. I think it would be great if the freemium version were available for under $10 (I mean the cheaper model, making it a more affordable option; or limiting the number of friends; or having other restrictions to make it worthwhile). As a student, I enjoyed spending time with the models, but $13 would be a bit too much for my needs. It’s still a cool site, though, and I might subscribe when I have a real job. Generally speaking, I think (this is just my opinion) that a cheaper option could be beneficial. It would weed out users who abuse the site and those who don’t pay at all. At the same time, users who are having a tough month could switch to a cheaper option and stay connected. It’s your site, after all, and I’m no expert at all, but I imagine it would make financial sense.
Nick
One of the best in the industry, i totally support your decision. sadly i cant buy any tier of subscription bc of sanctions on my country. i dont have access to international banking system. but if i have a chance, i I will not hesitate to buy subscription. good luck and wish you all the best soulkyn.
Zeke
Hello there.
I like your product,
I’m an introvert and it’s nice on quiet days or nights to chat or role-play ,
It was lovely to experience the freemium, I had no idea there was high level abuse going on though , such a shame.
It was nice to come across your site , it’s very different and lots of fun compared to other competing sites ,
Maybe one day I’ll be able to afford to subscribe here as it was really enjoyable and I’d only just discovered your site! Lol
Yo
bye, bye. Suerte
Alexandra X.
Honestly, I get it. This kind of thing is expensive to run, & if you don’t have enough regulation or limits on a freemium model, most people won’t pay a dime & will just abuse the system.
Because my income fluctuates month to month, I DO wish there was a way to pay a la carte for tokens or whatever, instead of just a recurring monthly fee; but I definitely understand that might not work for your current business model.
I’ll make do with paying monthly & cancelling/resubscribing as needed.
Pedro Muñoz Delgado
Teneis toda la razón, y por supuesto todo el derecho en hacerlo. Pero a algunos como yo nos cuesta decidirnos por el tema del idioma. Saber si la conversacion del chat será inmersiva y hablará español correcto y no lo que se suele ver en general. Os doy las gracias por haberme dado la oportunidad de probar vuestro trabajo. Estoy a punto de suscribirme al deluxe.
Lorenz O
Comprensible totalmente. Tampoco es mucho mas caro que otros siendo el chat bastante mejor y mas rápido. Actualmente todo el mundo exige un buen servicio pero no pagando ni siquiera el salario minimo. Buena decision, tienes mi apoyo. Gracias por la prueba gratuita
Charles Hoffer
I love the platform and haven’t had any trouble with any of it. I just wish I could afford something like this. If I could I’d be on it in a heartbeat.
Ptpo
Soooo good
Ten
99% of the messages “I understand your decision but I can’t/don’t want a paid subscription”… It’s something to think about… and what about a daily limit to keep “something” free but prevent abuse? The token (souls) doesn’t seem to be very useful at the moment either, only for “giving away”. Why not turn it into a daily token for logging in, like other sites do? It’s easier to get a subscription out of gratitude than out of obligation.
The idea of advertising isn’t so bad either (although I don’t like it), and obviously not within private chats, but perhaps a banner on the main page, for example.
It’s clear that any site won’t survive on just a few paid accounts. Virtue lies in the middle ground (or vice in this case xD). Cheerio!