Review · Alternatives
The Chub AI alternative that gives every card a world.
Chub is a library first: a vast shelf of character cards and lorebooks. LoreWeaver is where a card goes to live a long story. This review compares the two on memory, AI access, price, and content, and walks through the import.
LoreWeaver publishes this review. Chub’s details come from its documentation, terms, and subscription page, listed under Sources, and we update the page when either side changes.
The short answer
Where can I play Chub AI cards with long-term memory?
In LoreWeaver. Download a character from Chub as a PNG or JSON card and import it: it arrives as a world with its portrait, greetings, and any lorebook attached to the card, and from then on the storyteller saves a memory every few replies and keeps a summary of each session. Storytellers are included, so there is no API key to connect, and the free plan pairs unlimited replies from the free storyteller with 25 premium replies a day.
Updated
From shelf to story
One card, a whole realm.
A Chub card holds a character: a definition, greetings, and often a lorebook. Import it and each part finds a place. The definition becomes the world’s premise, every greeting an opening, and each lorebook entry a lore card.
Then the story adds what no card can hold. Memories collect every few replies, you add the places and rivals the card never mentioned, and on Plus and up the storyteller suggests new lore cards from the story itself, for you to keep or dismiss.
Ser Caedric
The oathbound knight
Tavern card V2 · PNG
- 2 greetings
- 14 lorebook entries
- Example dialogue
The world it became
- Openings
- 2One for each greeting on the card
- Lore cards
- 1914 from the lorebook, 3 you wrote, 2 kept from the story
- Memories
- 35Saved every few replies
- LoreMap
- 9 linksBetween the knight, his oath, and his rivals
Lore discovery
House VarnFaction
The family that took Ostra’s throne the spring Caedric’s king died.
Why this mattersNamed twice in tonight’s scene, and no lore card covers it yet.
At a glance
Chub and LoreWeaver, compared honestly.
| What matters | LoreWeaver | Chub |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Playing long stories, with worlds, memory, and storytellers in one place. | Finding and sharing character cards and lorebooks, with a chat of its own. |
| AI | Storytellers included on every plan. | Its own models on a $20-a-month subscription (Mars), your own API key, or a local model. |
| Paying | Free plan; paid plans from $7.99 a month. | Free to browse and download. One $20 monthly subscription, paid in crypto only. |
| Memory | A memory every few replies, recalled by meaning, plus a summary of each session. | Chat Memory: a summary you write, or ask the AI to write. |
| Lore | Lore cards recalled by title or tag and mapped on a LoreMap, with new ones suggested from the story on Plus and up. | Lorebooks and character books, triggered by keywords. |
| Context | 6,400 tokens on Free, up to 100,000 on Legendary. | Set by the model you connect; its own model is listed at 60K. |
| Branching | Branch from any message and see every branch in a tree. | Full tree branching of chats. |
| Content | Mature themes for adult accounts, within published hard limits. | For users 18 and over, and uncensored by its own description. |
| Taking it with you | Worlds you create export as JSON with their lore, Loom threads, and LoreMap; any session downloads as a transcript. | Cards download as PNG or JSON; chats export as JSONL, PNG, or text. |
Chub details come from its documentation, terms, and subscription page, checked October 3, 2026.
Honest about both
Where each one earns its place.
Where LoreWeaver is stronger
- Memory that keeps itself: a new memory every few replies and a running session summary, instead of a Chat Memory box to maintain.
- Nothing to connect: storytellers are built in, so there are no API keys and no crypto payments.
- Cards grow into worlds: add places and factions, map how they connect, and plan events with the Loom.
- Lore that shows its work: names that called up a lore card are underlined in the reply, and a hover or tap opens the card.
Where Chub is stronger
- The library: one of the largest public collections of cards and lorebooks, free to browse and download.
- Model choice: bring your own key, run a local model, or use Chub’s own models.
- One flat price, $20 a month, for unlimited messages with its own models.
- Chats export as JSONL for SillyTavern, as PNG, or as text.
Moving a card
From Chub to your library, one card at a time.
- 01
Download
Save the card from Chub.
On a character’s page, open the Download menu and choose PNG, which keeps the portrait, or JSON.
- 02
Preview
Read it before you import.
Drop the file on the free character card viewer to see its definition, greetings, and lorebook, privately, in your browser.
- 03
Import
Add it from My Stuff.
Choose Import and pick the file. The character arrives as a world: greetings become openings, and a lorebook attached to the card becomes lore cards.
- 04
Play
Choose an opening.
Pick a greeting and begin. A standalone lorebook saved as JSON can join the world later from its Lore tab.
Questions
Chub cards, answered.
01How do I import a Chub character into LoreWeaver?
Download it from Chub as a PNG or JSON card, then choose Import on My Stuff and pick the file. It arrives as a character world with its portrait, greetings, example dialogue, and any lorebook attached to the card.
02Do Chub lorebooks come along?
A lorebook attached to the character travels inside the card and imports with it, with always-on entries pinned. A standalone lorebook saved as a JSON file can be added to any world from its Lore tab.
03Do I need a Chub subscription or an API key?
No. A downloaded card is all you need. LoreWeaver includes its storytellers on every plan, the free one included.
04Can I bring my Chub chats?
Chat history doesn’t import. Start from one of the card’s greetings, or sum up where you left off in the session notes, which the storyteller reads on every turn.
05Can I publish a Chub character on LoreWeaver?
Only a character you made or have the creator’s permission to share. Publishing a world that began as an imported card asks you to confirm that; otherwise it stays private in your library.
06Is mature content allowed?
For adults, yes. Every account is 18+, and mature themes between adults are allowed within hard limits, such as nothing sexual involving minors or minor-coded characters. The community guidelines list them all.
Sources
- Chub Docs: Getting Started
- Chub Docs: API Connections
- Chub Docs: Just Chatting
- Chub Docs: Lorebooks
- Chub: Subscription
- Chub: Terms of Service
Checked . Prices and limits change; each site’s own pages are the final word.
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