SillyTavern alternatives · verified August 2026
Ten options, one honest split. Family one packages the actual SillyTavern server into an app or a terminal — full desktop parity, and Android still gets a vote on background processes. Family two skips the server: native apps that read the same cards, lorebooks, and presets. We build Foreverse, one entry in family two, so weigh our judgment accordingly — every fact below is checked against each project's own releases and docs, with dates.
The split that matters
Everything about choosing a SillyTavern alternative collapses into this one question. The real server means every extension, every setting, byte-identical behavior — and a Node.js process a phone has to keep alive. Your files mean cards, lorebooks, presets, and regex in an app built for a phone — and a compatibility layer that is never quite 100%. Neither answer is wrong. Picking without knowing which one you need is.
Termux (the officially documented route), plus three 2026 projects that hide the terminal: ST-android, Wivern, and ST-Ctrl bundle the unmodified SillyTavern source with a Node.js runtime inside an APK. One tap starts the server, a WebView or browser shows the familiar UI. You get the desktop feature set; you also inherit the desktop's assumption that the machine stays awake.
Foreverse, Tavo, Pyre, RPClient, WryTour AI, MiniTavern: apps that reimplement the tavern format stack — chara_card PNG/JSON, World Info, presets, regex — as ordinary Android (and some iOS) apps talking directly to model APIs. Nothing to keep alive, nothing to update over git. The question moves from “will it stay up?” to “how much of my setup imports?”
Family one
Four ways to run the genuine article. All four give you the real SillyTavern — extensions, vector storage, exact desktop behavior. All four are servers on a phone, which is the thing Android is built to suspend. Verified against each project's repository on 2026-08-12.
The official Android route: install Termux from F-Droid, four commands, server on localhost:8000. Free, fully yours, every extension works. The tax is process management — since Android 12 the OS silently kills “phantom” child processes past a cap of 32, and the workaround needs adb from a PC. Pick it if you enjoy terminals. Skip it if a dead session mid-scene would ruin your evening.
An APK bundling unmodified SillyTavern plus a patched Node.js. v0.5.0 (July 29, 2026) carries SillyTavern 1.18.0 and Node 24.18.0 LTS — the current security-hardened core, bumped in v0.4.1 three days earlier. ~170 MB sideload, arm64, Android 8+; imports full backups from the SillyTavern UI. Extensions install but updates remain broken by the project's own account, and it is one volunteer's personal project. Pick it for stock-feature parity without a terminal. Skip it if your workflow leans on an extension stack.
A fork that packages the entire SillyTavern — server, frontend, extensions — via nodejs-mobile, running as a foreground service with the UI in a native WebView. The catch is the calendar: its latest release, v1.16.0-fix, landed March 7, 2026, and nothing has shipped since — meaning it still bundles SillyTavern 1.16.0, two versions behind the 1.18.0 security-hardening release. Pick it only if you accept running an unpatched tavern. Watch the repo instead if you don't.
A Chinese-language shell (June 2026, MIT-licensed shell code) around a bundled Node.js runtime + SillyTavern 1.18.0, built in Kotlin with a real management console: install third-party extensions from a GitHub URL or zip, detect extension updates, full backup/restore, four performance modes, LAN access from a desktop browser, and online updates for both the app and the ST core. Pick it if you read Chinese and want the server family with the least babysitting. Skip it if a two-month-old single-maintainer project is more trust than you can extend.
A $3–6/month VPS (or your home PC) runs the server; the phone is just a browser tab — this is also the only server-family answer for iPhone. Thin launchers like Aegis's SillyTavern-Android wrap that remote instance in a fullscreen WebView with file-upload support. You trade battery problems for ops problems: TLS, auth, disks, and updates are yours. Our four-roads field guide covers the security switches that matter.
Family two
No Node process, no keepalive, updates from a store or a release page. The differentiator inside this family is format coverage — card spec versions, lorebook fidelity, regex, automation — and that is where the honest differences live. Disclosure again: Foreverse is ours.
Our entry. chara_card_v3 import including PNG/JSON/.charx, embedded lorebooks and regex that activate with the card, V3 decorators, Quick Reply v2 with an STscript subset, group chats, presets, beautify packs — regression-tested against 1,500+ community files. BYOK across 60+ providers, keys encrypted on-device, plus a long-fiction reader with branching continuation and an AI companion. Skip us if you need third-party ST extensions (no runtime here), vectorized lorebooks, or open source. Android on Google Play, iPhone on the App Store. The full compatibility list.
By Bitbear Limited, on Play and the App Store (plus iPad/Mac) since May 2025, free. V1/V2/V3 cards in PNG/JSON/CHARX, URL import from Chub, JanitorAI, Pygmalion, RisuRealm and others, presets, lorebooks, regex, group chat, TTS, and HTML/CSS/JS rendering for styled cards — with store ratings around 4.8. Closed source, roleplay-only scope. Pick it for a mature store-distributed client. Skip it if you want auditable code or anything beyond character chat.
AGPL-3.0, no account, no cloud: Android, Windows, Linux, and web, with sync between your own devices. chara_card_v2 import/export (v3 not documented), personas, branching, group chats, long-term memory, an AI-assisted card creator, and a built-in BotBooru browser. Pick it if open source and a desktop twin matter. Skip it if your library is v3-heavy or you want a store install.
Kotlin/Compose, on F-Droid, Android 8+, ~19 MB. Card v1/v2 import with v2 export, SillyTavern-style lorebooks with recursion, probability, priority and token budgets, regex in three scopes — with card-embedded scripts permission-gated rather than auto-run, a security posture we respect. Summary memory, prompt inspection, request-log debugging. Pick it for a lean, open, privacy-careful client. Skip it if you need v3 cards or STscript automation.
Free, no ads, on Play and the App Store, from one developer. Card v1/v2 in PNG/JSON, BYO providers or self-hosted endpoints, local-only data, plus a browser-based Card Studio for editing cards and lorebooks on a desktop. Pick it for a friendly store-installed client on both platforms. Skip it if single-maintainer risk or missing v3 support is a dealbreaker.
A free, mobile-optimized companion app for SillyTavern fans, distributed through Google Play (GitHub releases fill review-lag gaps; an iOS build is listed). Imports PNG/JSON cards including URL cards. It positions itself explicitly as an SFW chatbot — the clearest content boundary in this family. Pick it for a store install with zero setup and SFW play. Skip it if your library or your lorebook demands run deeper than its docs describe. Smaller projects like PocketTavern (source-available, standalone since v2.0) and Glaze fill the same lane with less traction so far.
Side by side
Status lines verified against each project's own repository, docs, or store listing on 2026-08-12. Projects this young change fast — treat release dates as the load-bearing column.
| Option | What runs | Cards | ST extensions | Status (2026-08) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Termux | Real ST server, terminal-managed | All (it is ST) | All | Evergreen; phantom-process babysitting |
| ST-android | Real ST server in an APK | All (it is ST) | Install yes, updates broken | v0.5.0, 2026-07-29; ST 1.18.0 |
| Wivern | Full ST fork in an APK | All (it is ST) | Included | Last release 2026-03-07; still ST 1.16.0 |
| ST-Ctrl | Real ST server + manager console | All (it is ST) | Manager: install/update/uninstall | New (2026-06); Chinese UI |
| Foreverse | Native app, no server | v1/v2/v3 + charx | No runtime; built-in plugin center | Google Play and App Store |
| Tavo | Native app, no server | v1/v2/v3 + charx | No | Play + App Store; ~4.8 rating |
| Pyre | Native app, no server | v2 documented | No | AGPL; Android/Win/Linux/web |
| RPClient | Native app, no server | v1/v2 (v2 export) | No | On F-Droid; active releases |
| WryTour AI | Native app, no server | v1/v2 | No | Play + App Store; solo dev |
| MiniTavern | Native app, no server | PNG/JSON + URL cards | No | Play (SFW positioning); iOS listed |
FAQ
For the long-form version of the server-family story — exact Termux commands, the phantom-process workaround, VPS security switches — read the four-roads field guide. For what a native app covers and where it stops, the honest-limits section of the Foreverse tavern page is the shortest answer we have.
It depends on one question: do you need the actual SillyTavern server, or just your cards and lorebooks? If your setup leans on desktop extensions, pick an app that packages the real server — ST-android (updated July 2026, bundles SillyTavern 1.18.0) or ST-Ctrl (adds an extension manager and backup tools). If you want a phone-first app that survives screen locks with zero server, pick a native client that reads the same formats: Foreverse, Tavo, Pyre, or RPClient. There is no single best — there are two families, and mixing them up is how people end up disappointed.
Yes, three projects now package the unmodified SillyTavern server plus a Node.js runtime inside an ordinary APK: ST-android (v0.5.0, July 2026, the most active), Wivern (a full fork including extensions, but its last release was March 2026 and still bundles the older SillyTavern 1.16.0), and ST-Ctrl (a Chinese-language shell from June 2026 with extension management and four performance modes). All three are one-tap installs — no terminal, no git. They are still servers living on a phone, so Android's process management still gets a vote in the background.
No. SillyTavern ships as a Node.js server and the team distributes no mobile app — every project on this page is community-built or independent. That also means any app store listing trading on the SillyTavern name is a lookalike. The projects here are honest about what they are: ST-android and Wivern call themselves unaffiliated personal projects in their own READMEs.
Cards yes, with version caveats. PNG and JSON cards are the ecosystem's common ground, but spec coverage differs: Foreverse and Tavo import chara_card_v3 including .charx archives; Pyre and RPClient document v1/v2 support. Lorebooks import broadly, though trigger fidelity (recursion, token budgets, decorators) varies by app. Presets and regex scripts are the least portable — test yours before committing. Server-family apps skip this whole question because they run the real thing.
The server family is Android-only: iOS does not allow long-running server processes, so there is no Termux route and no ST-android equivalent. On iPhone you either open a cloud- or PC-hosted SillyTavern in Safari, or use a native client with an iOS build: Tavo and WryTour AI are on the App Store today, MiniTavern and NativeTavern have App Store listings, and Foreverse has been on the App Store since September 2026.
Most publish their source: ST-android, Wivern, and Pyre are AGPL-3.0, ST-Ctrl's shell is MIT, RPClient is on F-Droid, PocketTavern is source-available. The practical risks are elsewhere: several are single-maintainer projects that can go quiet (Wivern's last release was March 2026), sideloaded APKs skip store review, and anything holding your API keys deserves a look at where those keys are stored. Closed-source options like Foreverse and Tavo trade auditability for store distribution and faster product cycles — a real trade-off, not a footnote.
Formats are the exit door
Cards as PNG/JSON, lorebooks as JSON, presets as files — every road on this page is reversible if you keep exports. If you want to see how far a native app gets with your actual library, Foreverse imports it in minutes; if it doesn't fit, your files leave with you. Related reading: the wider roleplay-app roundup and Foreverse vs SillyTavern in detail.
