Venice AI alternatives depend on which of its promises you came for. If it was privacy, look at a privacy-first assistant or a model on your own computer. If it was fewer refusals in fiction and roleplay, look at an adults-only writing app or a character site. If it was having text, images and characters under one account, few tools cover all three, and you will probably end up with two.
We make Hemmingway Unlocked, one of the options below. We have not tested Venice or the other products named here, so we do not rank them. What we say about each comes from its own site.
What Venice is
Venice describes itself as private, uncensored AI for text, images, characters and video.
- Privacy. Its privacy page says your conversation history stays on your device and is never stored on its servers, and that prompts pass through its servers without being kept.
- Models. It runs open-source models and also offers models from other AI companies. It says the privacy terms differ by model: on some, an outside provider stores what you send.
- What it makes. Chat and writing, image generation and editing, video, characters you create, and code.
- Around it. Apps, an API for developers, and a crypto token tied to the service.
Why people look elsewhere
- Nothing may leave your machine. Any hosted service, however careful, still receives your message in order to answer it. A local model does not send it anywhere.
- You want privacy without the adult side. For everyday questions, a privacy-first assistant may be all you need.
- You want a tool that does one thing. Venice covers a lot. Some people only want writing and roleplay, in a plain chat window, from a model made for it.
- You want a community of characters. Venice lets you make characters. A character site gives you other people's.
The options side by side
| Tool | What it is | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lumo | Proton's privacy-first assistant | Everyday questions you want kept confidential | It does not describe itself as uncensored |
| Duck.ai | DuckDuckGo's private chat, using other companies' models | Trying mainstream models without an account | Those models keep their makers' rules |
| NovelAI | A story generator with an image generator | Stories and anime-style pictures | Not a general assistant |
| Character sites | Janitor AI, SpicyChat and similar | Roleplay with ready-made characters | Built for characters, not for questions or long writing |
| Hemmingway Unlocked | Our adults-only chat and writing app | Adult fiction, roleplay and frank chat, in text | No images. No character library |
| Running an open model yourself | Ollama, LM Studio or KoboldCpp on your computer | Nothing ever leaves your machine | Strong hardware. Small models write less well |
Privacy-first assistants
Lumo is Proton's AI assistant. Its site says it keeps no logs of what you ask or what it replies, that saved conversations are encrypted so that only your device can read them, that its code is open source, and that your data is never used to train the model. It is pitched as a confidential general assistant. Its site makes no promise about what it will or will not write, and we have not tested that.
Duck.ai is DuckDuckGo's private AI chat. Its site says you can use models from other AI companies privately, with no account. That helps with who sees your chats. It does not change what those models refuse.
Pick one of these if privacy was your reason for Venice and refusals were not.
NovelAI
NovelAI's site offers a story generator and an anime-style image generator, and says privacy is fundamental to it. If the images were a large part of what you did on Venice, this is the option here that makes them. NovelAI alternatives covers the story side.
Character sites
Janitor AI's help pages and SpicyChat's docs both describe sites for chatting with characters made by other users, for adults only. Go this way if characters were your main use. Janitor AI alternatives and SpicyChat alternatives compare them.
Running an open model yourself
Ollama, LM Studio and KoboldCpp each run open models on your own computer. This is the only route where your words are never sent to anyone, and where no company's policy applies. You pay in hardware and set-up time: a model that writes well needs a strong graphics card. Uncensored LLM explains what to look for in a model.
Where Hemmingway Unlocked fits
Hemmingway Unlocked is the adults-only side of Hemmingway: the same app with an uncensored model, at wise.hemmingway.io. It asks first whether you are 18 or over, then shows its rules.
It is narrower than Venice. It writes and chats, and that is all.
- What it writes. Sex between adults, explicit and in full, and dark, violent stories. It does not lecture or refuse on grounds of taste.
- What it never writes. It is uncensored, with a short list of exceptions: nothing sexual involving anyone under 18, a real person, animals, family or anyone who does not consent, and no help with hurting a real person, stalking or scamming, weapons, making drugs or self-harm. The list is in our terms. Every answer has a Report button.
- Payment. It is free to try, with no card. After the trial it is a monthly membership through Patreon, by card, PayPal or Apple Pay, or you can pay with USDC on Base. A membership also opens regular Hemmingway.
- API. An OpenAI-compatible endpoint, for members. Uncensored AI API has the details.
Open Hemmingway UnlockedTry Hemmingway
Where it does not fit:
- No images, video or voice. Text only.
- No character library or character builder. You describe a character in your first message.
- You cannot run it yourself. Its weights are not out yet. We plan to open-source it soon.
How the privacy compares
On paper, Venice and Unlocked are built alike. Both say your chats are kept in your browser and not on the company's servers, and both pass each message through their own servers to reach the model. In Unlocked the message is not kept after it is answered, and chats are never trained on. The cost of that design is that chats do not simply follow you from one device to another. Venice's help pages mention encrypted backups. Unlocked has no sync, and clearing the browser's data deletes your chats.
Two things are different elsewhere. Lumo says it encrypts the chats it saves so only your device can read them. And a local model beats all of us, because nothing is sent at all.
With any hosted service you are taking the company at its word. Read the privacy page yourself. Ours is here.
How to choose
- Privacy for ordinary questions. Lumo or Duck.ai.
- Nothing may leave your computer. Run an open model yourself.
- Images as well as text. Stay with Venice, or look at NovelAI.
- Ready-made characters. A character site.
- Adult fiction and roleplay in text, with chats on your device. Hemmingway Unlocked.
Common questions
What is the best alternative to Venice AI?
It depends on why you used it. For privacy, a privacy-first assistant such as Lumo or a model on your own computer. For adult fiction and roleplay in text, Hemmingway Unlocked. For characters, a character site. We have not tested Venice or these other services, so we do not rank them.
Which Venice alternative is the most private?
A model you run on your own computer, because your words are never sent anywhere. Among hosted services, read what each says it keeps. Lumo says it keeps no logs and encrypts saved chats. Hemmingway Unlocked keeps chats in your browser and never on our servers.
Does Hemmingway Unlocked make images like Venice?
No. It writes text only: stories, roleplay and chat. If you need pictures, use an image tool alongside it, or stay with a service that makes them.
Is Hemmingway Unlocked as uncensored as Venice?
We have not tested Venice, so we cannot compare. Unlocked is uncensored for what adults write, explicit sex between adults and dark fiction, and it has a short list of things it never writes, printed in full on its page.
Does Hemmingway Unlocked have an API?
Yes. It is OpenAI-compatible, at https://wise.hemmingway.io/v1, and works in tools that accept a custom OpenAI-style address, SillyTavern included. A key needs a membership: the free trial is for the app.