The 4 best ConvAI alternatives for AI NPCs in 2026

If you're searching for ConvAI alternatives, you're probably building AI-driven NPCs (or companions) in Unreal Engine or Unity - and you've hit one of the classic "cloud character" walls:

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  Costs that scale with players (every conversation is metered)
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  Latency that breaks immersion (especially under load)
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  Privacy / compliance friction (player interactions leaving the device)

Even Inworld calls out latency as a top engineering pain point for real-time conversational AI at scale. And ConvAI's own pricing model emphasizes concurrency limits (how many interactions can happen in parallel).

That's why more studios are looking at on-device AI NPC architectures where the model runs locally on the player machine so you can ship believable characters without building a usage-billing business on top of your game.

Below are 4 ConvAI alternatives (including the strongest "local-first" option), plus a quick guide on how to choose.

At a glance: the best ConvAI alternative for most game teams

GladeCore

GladeCore is built specifically for game developers who want AI NPCs that can run locally on player devices (Unreal + Unity), avoiding the biggest cloud tradeoffs:

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  No per-interaction usage fees once shipped (no metered conversations)
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  Lower latency because inference happens on-device (no network roundtrip)
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  Better privacy because player interactions don't have to leave the machine

If you've ever worried that AI NPCs will blow up your unit economics, the local approach is the cleanest answer—because it scales with player hardware, not your cloud bill.

What to look for in a ConvAI alternative

When comparing ConvAI competitors, you'll usually be trading off:

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  Cost model: pay-per-use vs. ship-once (local)
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  Latency: network + backend orchestration vs. on-device inference
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  Privacy & control: where player data flows, who hosts what
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  Engine workflow: Unreal/Unity integration, iteration speed, tooling
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  Production readiness: observability, fallback behavior, guardrails

Inworld's own engineering writeup frames real-time latency and orchestration complexity as core challenges teams repeatedly run into.

1) GladeCore: Local AI NPCs for Unreal + Unity

Best for: studios that want predictable costs, lower latency, and privacy-first AI characters.

GladeCore's core difference is architectural: it's designed around on-device LLM inference for NPC dialogue (plus voice), rather than "character conversations as a cloud API."

Why teams choose it

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  Cost: no metered conversations (your costs don't explode with DAU)
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  Latency: fewer moving parts → faster-feeling responses
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  Privacy: interactions can stay on-device
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  Game-native authoring: data-driven character definitions inside the engine

Good fit if: you're shipping on PC (and want a path that doesn't require running a conversational AI backend for every player).

2) Inworld: Cloud runtime + tools for real-time interactive AI

Best for: teams that want a cloud-based AI runtime with tooling, orchestration, and observability.

Inworld positions its Runtime as a low-latency backend and explicitly talks about the "latency breaking the realtime feel" problem when scaling to many users. They also offer SDKs for game development workflows.

Pricing note: Inworld is usage-based (example: TTS priced per million characters on the pricing page).

Good fit if: you're okay with usage-based cloud costs and want a more "managed platform" approach.

3) Charisma.ai: Story-focused conversational characters

Best for: narrative-first teams that want plug-and-play story characters with voice + scenes.

Charisma offers "Plug 'n' Play" content to connect stories to Unity or Unreal and highlights features like voices and lip-sync integration.

Good fit if: you're building interactive narrative experiences where authoring and story tooling matter more than running everything locally.

4) NVIDIA ACE + NVIGI: On-device inference stack for AAA pipelines

Best for: high-end PC experiences (RTX-class) that want deep, on-device AI character tech.

NVIDIA's ACE + NVIGI approach is explicitly about integrating AI inference directly into games for performance/latency, with on-device models enabling characters that "perceive, reason, and act."

Tradeoff: it's powerful, but there are various bugs and setup complications. It does not fit the "drop in and ship" option - expect deeper engineering investment.

When the "local LLM" approach is the best decision

Choose a local-first alternative (like GladeCore) if any of these are true:

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  You expect lots of NPC interactions (cost blowups scare you)
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  You care about reliable moment-to-moment latency
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  You want privacy by default (no player voice/text leaving their device)
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  You don't want to maintain a conversational AI backend forever

Cloud platforms can be great for experimentation, but cloud pricing + concurrency limits + latency under scale are recurring issues across the category.

FAQ: ConvAI alternatives

What is the best ConvAI alternative for games?

If you want a managed cloud workflow, Inworld is a common path. If you want predictable unit economics and privacy, local-first approaches like GladeCore are the best option.

Can ConvAI run fully locally?

ConvAI discussions indicate local LLMs are not available directly on standard plans.

Our Recommendation

If your goal is to ship AI NPCs (not just demo them), the biggest difference-maker isn't a prettier character editor - it's the architecture. A local LLM approach is the simplest way to avoid turning your game into a metered API product.

That's exactly why GladeCore exists: AI NPCs that feel real, integrate directly into Unreal/Unity workflows, and scale without per-conversation billing.

Ready to get started? Download our plugin on Epic Games Marketplace / FAB and be among the first to experience the future of game development.