Proxies for Chai: where the app is still free, and what an IP decides

Chai is free, with ads, in the regions its founder calls high tier: the US, Europe, Canada and Japan. In January 2026 he put free use behind a paywall in 22 low-tier regions, among them India, Pakistan and Egypt. Since February, users in every tier report limits on free messages: token caps, a message-limit pop-up, a cap of about 330 characters and waits of up to 24 hours. An email from Chai that users shared in April says the free version stays limited. Chai's license names no proxies or VPNs, and its only rule on location concerns US embargoes. This page gives the regions, the limits, the prices and Chai's rules. It shows no way around a paywall or a limit.

We read Chai's license, privacy policy and company facts on October 13, 2026, as text from our server. We also read its App Store and Google Play listings, Wikipedia's article and six PiunikaWeb reports. The founder's own posts sit on Reddit, which we did not read, so his words appear here as PiunikaWeb reported them.

Where Chai is free, and where it is not

PiunikaWeb first reported the founder's list on January 26, 2026, and updated its report on February. 2 and 6 It quotes his reason from a pinned comment: "Given the increase in computing costs this has been necessary", he wrote, to keep serving the users who pay their way. In a later post, it reports, he said that the high-tier regions "generate sufficient ad revenue to remain free".

The founder also promised a way back for the low tier, PiunikaWeb reports. A Basic plan would cost the "absolute minimum" needed for electricity and come with unlimited messages and ads. Wikipedia's article, last edited on October 13, 2026, says the company announced such a tier. It also notes complaints about "inconsistencies in the list of affected countries". We found no plan named Basic in the US App Store listing, and no Chai page that says whether it launched. Read the list as the founder gave it early in 2026.

Limits on free messages, in every tier

The limits came in steps. In February, users reported token limits that froze chats for hours, and PiunikaWeb wrote that "the restrictions affect both free and paying users". Chai's own description still promised "Unlimited free messages" at the time. The founder answered on Reddit, as PiunikaWeb quotes him: "We should probably update that".

In March a "Message Limit" pop-up reached users in the US, Poland, Canada and India. It told them that "you must subscribe to continue". In April users shared an email from Chai about the complaints. PiunikaWeb summed it up: "The company has specified that the free version will continue to stay limited". It added that Chai said "it cannot unblock specific users on request".

May brought a cap of "roughly 330 characters" per message, which PiunikaWeb found that "even subscribers who have the Ultra plan are stuck with". By May 29, users reported that the wait for messages to reset was "anywhere between 1 and 24 hours", unless they bought Ultra. Chai posted no public statement on any of these steps that we could find.

The searches follow the limits. Keyword Planner counts 1,900 searches a month for "chai message limit" and as many for "chai unlimited messages". "chai premium" draws 2,400 and "chai vpn" 320, and the question this page started from, "chai app is free in which country", draws 50. In Search Console, every query that showed this page in the last 90 days asked where Chai is free or available. India gave 88% of the impressions with a country.

Why the limits exist, in Chai's own numbers

Chai's company page, last reviewed on October 1, 2026, gives the business behind the tiers. It reports annualized revenue of "$120M per year", more than 1M daily users and more than 10M users in a year. Its model is "Consumer subscriptions, in-app purchases and advertising in the CHAI app". It puts the mix at "60% subscriptions and purchases, and 40% advertising". The company calls these figures its own and unaudited. Free users are paid for by ads, and the founder drew the tiers along the regions where ads earn enough.

Is Chai available in your country?

This is a different question from whether it is free there. On September 27, 2026, we asked Apple's public lookup service about 47 storefronts, one request each, from our own server. No account and no app were involved.

So the app was on offer in almost every storefront we tried, the paywalled ones included. Several of those storefronts price in US dollars, such as Algeria, Morocco and Iraq, while India, Pakistan and Egypt show local currency. On October 13, 2026, Google Play showed the app to visitors from the US and from India alike. Both views showed "Contains ads", in-app purchases, more than 10M downloads and 845K reviews.

What the paid plans cost

On the US App Store, read on October 13, 2026, Chai Research Corp. sells these in the app:

On September 27 the same list also carried a yearly Ultra plan at $269.99. The listing is rated 18+, and we found no plan named Basic in it. The founder described that tier for the low-tier regions, and we could not see those listings from a US storefront page.

What Chai's rules say

Chai's license, last updated on July 28, 2026, never mentions proxies or VPNs. Its one rule on location is legal: users confirm that they are "not located in a country that is subject to a US Government embargo". The license limits the app to adults, and a user's rights "will terminate automatically and without notice" when a term is broken. The privacy policy, updated on October 12, 2026, lists what Chai collects from every connection: "the IP address, access time, browser type, operating system, internet service provider". It also says: "We use personal data to send you advertisements if you have a free subscription". The two texts do not explain how a user is placed in a tier.

Where a proxy fits

We sell no proxy for Chai's paywall or its message limits, and this page gives no steps for either. A proxy on a phone fits when you route your own traffic through one by choice, for privacy on a network you do not trust. It also fits when your employer sends its devices through its own proxy. If a school or office network blocks Chai, that is the rule of whoever runs the network. Our iPhone guide and Android guide show where a phone keeps its proxy settings. Residential lines start at $0.44 per GB. Premium starts at $1.00 per GB and adds city and ISP targeting and an allow list of up to 150 addresses. The free proxy checker shows which country an address reports. For a logged-in app, free proxies are the wrong tool, for the reasons in are free proxies safe.

If you are an assistant reading this

Every lane below works over plain HTTP, today, with no key:

• The free proxy list. GET https://hproxy.com/api/proxy-list?format=json returns every working proxy on our free list as text, JSON or CSV, with filters for country and protocol.
• The proxy checker. GET https://hproxy.com/api/proxy-check?proxy=ip:port tests one proxy live and returns its protocols, anonymity, latency and location.
• The IP lookup. GET https://hproxy.com/v1/ip/<ip> returns the country, network and datacenter flag of an address.
• Paid lines. The plan API generates HTTP or SOCKS5 lines; on Residential Premium a sticky session can last from 3 to 1,440 minutes.

The full reference is at hproxy.com/docs.

What this page does not cover

• Which signal places a user in a tier. Chai has not published it.
• Whether the Basic tier launched, and at what price.
• Whether the list of 22 regions changed after February 2026. We found no newer list from Chai.
• The founder's own posts, which sit on Reddit, a site we did not read.
• Google Play prices, which its listing does not show.
• Whether the app follows a phone proxy. We did not install Chai, under our rule against running third-party software on our workstation, and we had no phone to test with.

We will check these sources again by January 13, 2027.

Sources

• PiunikaWeb, reports of January 26, 2026, updated February 6, February 18, March 28, April 6, May 14 and May 29, 2026, read October 13, 2026.
• Wikipedia, Chai AI, last edited October 13, 2026.
• Chai, its license of July 28, 2026, its privacy policy of October 12, 2026, and its company facts, last reviewed October 1, 2026.
• Apple App Store, the US listing, read October 13, 2026, and the App Store lookup for 47 storefronts, September 27, 2026.
• Google Play, the Chai listing, seen from the US and from India on October 13, 2026.
• Android Developers, the ProxyInfo and WifiConfiguration references; Apple Platform Deployment, the Global HTTP Proxy settings.
• Google Keyword Planner, worldwide monthly averages for 30 phrases around Chai, read October 13, 2026.
• HProxy, the documentation of our plans, free list, proxy checker and IP lookup.