"Rent a friend website" autocompletes to "websites", "free", "login", "sign up", "app", "india", "japan", "uk" and "reviews". Here is the whole map, with the fakes marked.
The real in-person ones#
RentAFriend (rentafriend.com): the US directory, running since 2009. Free to browse; a membership (about $24.95 a month or $69.95 a year) to message; friends set their own rate and are paid in cash; no background checks; no official app we could find. Strong in the big US cities, thin elsewhere, with the recurring complaint that many profiles are stale. Review, cost, is it legit.
Rent a Local Friend (rentalocalfriend.com): Brazilian, since 2012, the other long-running one. Locals set their own rate (US$15 to US$50 an hour typical), profiles are approved before listing, travel agencies can book through it; a one-off fee to contact guides has been reported, no price list is published, no app. An independent 2023 review gave it 3.5/5 (uneven quality, cancellations); its Trustpilot page holds one one-star review. Rent a Local Friend review.
Roavi (roavi.com): browse and message free; the only payment is the Local Friend's own hourly rate, paid to them directly, no commission; every profile reviewed by a person, three real photos, reviews from previous meetups, optional identity-verified badge; works in a phone browser. Strongest in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Mexico, Japan and Thailand, growing in US cities. Counted on 28 October 2026: 293 Local Friends in 128 cities and 47 countries, median US$25 an hour (statistics). RentAFriend vs Roavi.
Side by side#
| RentAFriend | Rent a Local Friend | Roavi | Rent a Cyber Friend | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since | 2009, US | 2012, Brazil | 2025 | Online only |
| To message | Membership, about $24.95/month | A one-off fee has been reported | Free | Per minute |
| Friend's rate | $20–50/h typical, cash | $15–50/h typical | Median $25/h, counted | $60–180/h equivalent |
| Platform cut | None on the rate | Not published | None | 20% |
| Profile checks | None | Approved before listing | Person reviews each; 18+, 3 photos; optional ID badge | — |
| App | None found | None found | Browser, installs to home screen | Web |
| Numbers | Not published | 2,610 friends claimed (Oct 2026) | 293 counted, dated (Oct 2026) | Not published |
The online-only one#
Rent a Cyber Friend: video and chat by the minute, never in person; the platform keeps 20%. Good for late nights and language practice; the meter is the cost. Rent a Cyber Friend vs RentAFriend.
Friendship apps are a different thing#
Bumble BFF, Timeleft, Plus 1 and the rest match people who want friends; nobody is paid, nobody is hired, and most people report weeks of chat per meeting. Useful, slow, and not what "rent a friend" means.
Regional sites#
Japan has the oldest version: rental-friend and rental-family agencies, mostly in Japanese, plus the English-language searches that bring foreigners to Roavi's Tokyo and Osaka Local Friends (rent a friend in Japan as a foreigner). India and the UK have local sites and a UK RentAFriend with its own pricing; check who runs them before paying anything.
The copycats and login scams#
"Rent a friend website login" and "rent a friend app download" return pages and apps that borrow the name and ask for a card before you see a profile. The real sites let you browse first. Never pay to download, never give card details to "unlock" a site you have not used, and treat any "rent a friend" page that talks about dates rather than company as something else entirely.
Which to use where#
- Big US city, you want local company tonight: browse both; RentAFriend has more US profiles behind the membership, Roavi has reviewed ones with free messaging and a thinner list.
- Travelling, especially Latin America or Asia: Roavi.
- Japan: Roavi's Local Friends for English speakers; the agencies if your Japanese is good.
- Late at night, nobody nearby: an online-only service, with the meter in mind.
- You want to be the one listed: Roavi (free, no commission, people message you without paying) or RentAFriend (free to list, hirers pay).
Browse local guides free, message free, pay only the friend's own rate.
Meet local guidesEvery city where you can do this today, with the live number of Local Friends in each: rent a friend, by the hour. In the United States the list is also by state.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the real rent a friend websites?
In person: RentAFriend (US, since 2009, membership to message), Rent a Local Friend (Brazil, since 2012, travel-agency partnerships, a fee to contact guides) and Roavi (free messaging, the friend's own rate, no commission, human-reviewed profiles). Online only: Rent a Cyber Friend (pay per minute). Friendship apps (Bumble BFF, Timeleft and others) are a different thing: free, unpaid, slow. Regional sites exist in Japan, India and the UK.Is there a free rent a friend website?
Roavi lets you browse and message free; you pay only the friend's own hourly rate, directly to them. RentAFriend is free to browse but charges a membership to message. Anything asking you to pay to download, log in or 'unlock' before you have seen a real profile is a copycat.What is the best rent a friend app?
None of the real services has an app in the App Store or Google Play as of October 2026; RentAFriend and Rent a Local Friend are websites, and Roavi runs in the phone browser and installs to the home screen. Apps that come up for 'rent a friend app download' borrow the name; do not pay to download one. The best phone version is the one that lets you message free and shows real, reviewed profiles: on that test, Roavi.Which rent a friend site is the biggest?
By their own claims, RentAFriend (US, since 2009) and Rent a Local Friend (2,610 Local Friends claimed on 28 October 2026) are the largest. Roavi is smaller and publishes a counted, dated figure instead of a claim: 293 Local Friends in 128 cities and 47 countries on 28 October 2026, on its statistics page. Bigger lists have more stale profiles; what matters is who answers in your city.