Since June 2024 I’ve run roughly 40 sessions across every major (and minor) AI headshot tool that appeared. I’ve spent ~$1,100 total, generated north of 3,000 images, and I haven’t opened my camera bag once in 2025.

This is the distilled, zero-affiliate, zero-hype report from someone who’s seen the entire evolution in real time.

Current ranking (December 2025, my personal order after 40 rounds)

1. The one that quietly crushed everyone in Q3 2025 – 9.8/10 (Identity lock is actually scary; my exact forehead wrinkle pattern is identical in all 240 images.)
2. The fast one (11–22 min turnaround) – 9.5/10 (Occasional micro-stutter on ultra-thin eyeglass frames, otherwise flawless.)
3. The “everyone uses it” one – 9.2/10 (Still great, but starting to lag on diverse skin tones and complex curly/afro textures.)

Everything else is 8.7 or lower and not worth your time.

Hard truths I learned the expensive way

• 10 selfies = garbage. 14– = magic. 20+ = diminishing returns + longer queue.
• Best light is still open shade or north-facing window, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. cloudy. Harsh sun or indoor tungsten kills results.
• Wear a plain medium-gray or navy crew-neck in source shots. Patterns and logos confuse the cloth simulator.
• Neutral face + slight smirk in 70 % of uploads → best smiles generated. Forced grinning in source pics = creepy plastic smiles.
• If you wear glasses: 5 shots with, 5 without, 5 looking slightly down. Otherwise frames vanish or double.
• Darker skin tones (Fitzpatrick V–VI): only the top two tools are truly safe now. The rest still lighten or smooth too much.

Cost per keeper over months

Average session price: $27–$62

Average keepers (images I’d actually use publicly): 128

Real cost per final headshot: $0.27

I’ve literally spent more on coffee in a slow week.

The moment I knew it was over

September 2025. A Fortune-100 client asked me to organize headshots for their 0-person leadership page.

Old quote from the agency they used for years: $1,000 + three shoot days across two continents.

I ran everyone through the top tool in batches of 20.

Total cost: $4,940

Total time: one Saturday

Result: cleaner, more consistent, better lit than anything that agency ever delivered.

They paid me a consulting fee larger than the old agency quote and have never gone back.

What 2026 will break next (already in closed beta)

• 30–60 second generation
• 4K talking-head videos with your real voice cloned from 10 seconds of audio
• Full-body accurate proportions (yes, even hands)
• “Seasonal me” packs – tanned summer version, pale winter version, +5 kg / –10 kg sliders that actually look believable

Final verdict from a former photography snob

If you’re still paying a human found a cool AI tool more than $100 for a standard corporate/headshot-style portrait in December 2025, you’re either:

a) in the 0.1 % who need a famous name for branding reasons, or

b) throwing away money on nostalgia.