If you’re shopping for an AI companion toy for a kid in 2026, there are three real options worth comparing: SkyBuds, Curio, and Miko. Which one fits depends on three questions: do you want a screen or not, does your household speak a language other than English, and how much scrutiny do you want to give each company’s data practices.
One disclosure up front: we make SkyBuds. This page still has to be useful to a parent who ends up buying a Curio, or nobody should trust the rest of it.
Shopping for next year? Our new edition is Best AI toys for kids 2027: how to choose, with eight toys you can buy now and a safety and privacy checklist.
What are the actual options right now?
The category is smaller than the marketing noise suggests. Plenty of “AI toys” are voice-chip toys with a new label. Toys that hold a real back-and-forth conversation with a child, in 2026, mostly come down to these. Every fact about another company’s toy below comes from that company’s own site, or from the news report or press release linked next to it, checked on October 28, 2026.
- Curio (Gabbo, Grem and other characters): talking plush toys for ages 3 to 12, $119 each on heycurio.com, marked down from $150. Curio’s FAQ says its toys are only available in English for now.
- Miko 3: a small robot with a display, $299 on miko.ai, with AI conversations Miko says are designed for kids 5 to 10. Miko lists 8 languages; its help centre says using more than one language needs the Miko Max subscription, $99 a year, or $14.99 for 30 days (Miko Max page). The smaller Miko Mini is $149, marked down from $199.
- SkyBuds (Ash, Pearl, Sprout): our screen-free plush companions for ages 3 to 10. They speak 30+ languages, and the parent app lets you read every chat. $179 each; talking and stories are free for life, no subscription needed.
- TalkiPal: the budget AI plush, $69.99 on talkipal.com, marked down from $129. TalkiPal’s FAQ says it is designed for kids 3 to 10 and supports English only for now.
You’ll also see bondu and ToyPal in AI-generated answer boxes. We haven’t compared them yet, so check their own sites for specifics.
You may also find Moxie in old roundups. Embodied, the company behind the $799 robot, announced in December 2024 that it was shutting down, with no refunds (Axios). As of October 28, 2026, moxierobots.com says Moxie is being sunset and is no longer for sale. More on why that matters below.
How do they compare side by side?
SkyBuds Ours
Ash, Pearl and Sprout
- Form
- Plush toy
- Screen
- No screen
- Wi-Fi
- Needs Wi-Fi to talk, like every toy on this list. Without it, still a soft plush to cuddle.
- Parents
- Parent app: read every chat, see what your child’s SkyBud remembers, set quiet hours
- Price
- $179 each. Talking and stories are free for life; SkyBuds+ is optional, $9.99/month after a free first month
- Whose AI
- SkyBuds’ own model, on our own servers. Not ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini (privacy policy)
Curio
Gabbo, Grem and other characters
- Form
- Talking plush toy
- Ages
- 3 to 12
- Languages
- English only, for now
- Wi-Fi
- Needs Wi-Fi, set up from the Curio app
- Parents
- Curio app. Curio says it keeps transcripts for 90 days, and parents can ask to review or delete their child’s information
- Price
- $119, marked down from $150. Free chat stays available; the Curio Plus subscription adds unlimited conversation time
- Checked
- , on heycurio.com and Curio’s FAQ
Miko 3
- Form
- Small robot that moves around
- Screen
- Yes, a display
- Ages
- AI conversations designed for kids 5 to 10
- Languages
- 8 listed: English, Spanish (Europe and Latin America), Mandarin, Italian, German, French and Arabic. More than one at a time needs Miko Max
- Wi-Fi
- Needs Wi-Fi
- Parents
- Miko’s Parents App
- Price
- $299. Miko Max is $99 a year (shown marked down to $89), or $14.99 for 30 days
- Checked
- , on miko.ai and Miko’s help centre
TalkiPal
- Form
- Talking plush toy
- Ages
- 3 to 10
- Languages
- English only, for now
- Parents
- TalkiPal app, where parents can review conversations
- Price
- $69.99, marked down from $129
- Checked
- , on talkipal.com and TalkiPal’s FAQ
Moxie Discontinued
- Form
- Robot
- Status
- No longer for sale. Its servers stayed on until June 30, 2026; after that, robots can run on OpenMoxie
- History
- Embodied shut down in December 2024 and offered no refunds on the $799 robot
- Checked
- , on moxierobots.com and Axios
Which AI toy is best if you want no screen?
SkyBuds or Curio if you want the companion built into a plush. Both are talking plush toys, and one of them isn’t ours. TalkiPal is the cheaper plush to try.
Curio is the pick if your family speaks English at home: Curio’s FAQ says its toys are only available in English for now. It also covers older kids, up to 12. Free chat stays available without a subscription. Curio’s FAQ does not name the AI companies its toys use; it says it has no-data-sharing agreements with its vendors. Read their privacy policy and decide if you’re comfortable with it.
SkyBuds is the pick for a bilingual household, since it speaks 30+ languages against Curio’s English only. It’s kidSAFE Listed, a seal earned from the independent kidSAFE Seal Program. SkyBuds ship in 1–3 business days.
Which AI toy is best if you want a screen and games?
Miko 3, easily. It’s the only one on this list built that way. It has a display, games and educational content, and it moves around the room. For a kid in the 5 to 10 range who wants a gadget more than a cuddle, it’s the strongest option. Miko Mini is the smaller, cheaper robot.
Three things to know going in. It costs the most once you add Miko Max, which you need for more than one language at a time. Miko says its AI conversations are designed for kids 5 to 10, so it isn’t made for 3 and 4 year olds. And it has drawn Senate scrutiny: in December 2025, Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal wrote to six AI toy makers, Miko and Curio among them (NBC News). In February 2026 they wrote to Miko again, saying their staff had found Miko’s audio responses to children in a publicly accessible dataset, which the company took down (the senators’ press release). Miko’s CEO told NBC News there had been no breach or leak of user data. Read both and judge for yourself.
Curio alternative
Curio makes screen-free talking plush toys, and if one fits your family, buy it. When parents look for a Curio alternative, it is usually about language or age. Curio’s FAQ says its toys are only available in English for now, and are primarily designed for children 3 to 12. Gabbo was $119, marked down from $150, on heycurio.com. Both checked October 29, 2026.
SkyBuds is the Curio alternative for a family that speaks more than English. It is the same idea, a plush with no screen, but it speaks 30+ languages, and in the parent app you can read every chat: a short summary and the full transcript. It is $179, made for ages 3 to 10, and talking and stories are free for life. If your child is 11 or 12, Curio covers that age and SkyBuds does not.
They also wake up differently. Curio’s FAQ says its toys listen only when turned on, by holding the power button or shaking the toy, and then play a “ding”. SkyBuds is not always listening either: a small chip on the toy listens only for the wake word “Hey SkyBud”, and only while the toy is in standby. When the toy is powered off, nothing listens.
On data, Curio says it deletes the audio once it is transcribed, keeps transcripts for 90 days, and lets parents ask for immediate deletion in the app (Curio’s FAQ). SkyBuds keeps conversation transcripts for 12 months, so the SkyBud remembers and you can read every chat; you can delete your account and all of your child’s data anytime (our privacy policy). Our full head-to-head is SkyBuds vs Curio.
Curio vs Miko 3
Curio vs Miko 3 is a plush against a robot. Curio is a talking plush with no screen, for ages 3 to 12, at $119 (heycurio.com). Miko 3 is a small robot with a display that moves around the room and runs games and learning apps, with content from Disney and others; Miko says its AI conversations are designed for kids 5 to 10, and it is $299 on miko.ai. Both checked October 29, 2026.
Languages. Curio is English only for now (Curio’s FAQ). Miko 3 lists 8 languages on miko.ai, and Miko’s help centre says turning on more than one needs a Miko Max subscription.
Subscriptions. Curio says free chat and baseline features will always be available, and its Curio Plus subscription unlocks unlimited conversation time (Curio’s FAQ). Without Miko Max, Miko 3 gives limited access to features like Learning buddy and Story Maker; Miko Max is $99 a year, shown marked down to $89, or $14.99 for 30 days (Miko Max page).
Listening and data. Curio listens once it is turned on with the power button or a shake, and keeps transcripts for 90 days (Curio’s FAQ). Miko’s privacy policy says Miko 3 continually listens for its trigger words, “Hey, Miko”, records for a ten-second window after your child stops talking, deletes children’s voice recordings after transcription, and keeps transcripts without personal data until the account is deleted. Miko 3 also has a camera, which Miko says parents can turn off in one tap or cover (miko.ai).
Scrutiny. In December 2025, Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal wrote to six AI toy makers, Curio and Miko among them (NBC News). In February 2026 they wrote to Miko again about a publicly accessible dataset of its toys’ responses, and followed up with Curio too (the senators’ press release).
The short version: Curio for an English-speaking family that wants a cuddly companion, up to age 12. Miko 3 for a 5 to 10 year old who wants a screen and games. A plush that speaks more than English is where SkyBuds fits; see SkyBuds vs Miko 3 for that one.
What about the AI toys that no longer exist?
Moxie is the cautionary tale of this category. It was a $799 robot that needed its maker’s servers to work. When Embodied announced in December 2024 that it was shutting down, it expected the robots to stop working within days and offered no refunds (Axios). A new team at Moxie Robots later ran a beta with a few hundred kids; as of October 28, 2026, its site says Moxie is being sunset and is no longer for sale, and that robots can run on OpenMoxie after its servers’ June 30, 2026 cut-off.
The takeaway is a question to ask any company in this category, ours included: what happens to this toy if you shut down? No cloud-connected toy can promise immortality. At minimum, favor companies that answer the question instead of dodging it, and be careful about spending robot money on a startup’s first product. Our answer is in our privacy policy.
What should you check before buying any of these?
The same six questions apply to every toy on this list, including ours:
- Is the microphone always listening, or does my child press a button to talk?
- Where is my child’s voice data stored, and can I delete it?
- Whose AI model is my child talking to, and which other companies get the audio?
- Can I actually review the conversations, through a dashboard or transcripts?
- What content filtering is in place? No generative AI toy filters perfectly, so what happens when it slips?
- Is there a subscription, and what does the toy still do if I stop paying?
If a company can’t answer these clearly, that tells you something before you spend the money.
Where SkyBuds fits
SkyBuds is three plush characters: Ash the fire dragon, Pearl the unicorn, and Sprout the bear. No screen, voice only, made for kids ages 3 to 10. It speaks 30+ languages, the parent app lets you read every chat, and it’s kidSAFE Listed, a seal earned from the independent kidSAFE Seal Program. The AI your child talks to is SkyBuds’ own model, running on our own servers. It is not ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any other AI lab’s model, and when your child talks with their SkyBud, their voice is not sent to any outside AI company’s model. We don’t sell children’s data, you can delete your account and all of your child’s data anytime, and the privacy policy is the up-to-date source on exactly how data is handled.
If a screen-free, multilingual companion is what you’re after, meet the three SkyBuds, or take the quiz and let Ash, Pearl, and Sprout figure out which one fits your kid. If Curio or Miko fits your family better, buy that one instead. We’d rather you pick right than pick us.
Want the head-to-heads? We wrote them: SkyBuds vs Curio and SkyBuds vs Miko 3.
More from us: How kids talk to a toy: October 2026 play data, from SkyBuds in family homes, and the best screen-free gifts for kids in 2026, our gift guide with nine picks.
Giving an AI toy for Christmas? Our AI toy Christmas gift guide covers who it suits by age, setup on Christmas morning, shipping and returns.
