Best AI Headshot Generators

I've worked in corporate leadership for over 20 years with companies like American Express, IBM and other Fortune 500 companies. Doing this sort of work entails building a personal brand, and I was a very early adopter of LinkedIn, where a great profile picture is a MUST. I noticed the AI headshot trend in early 2023, and I’ve long since been a tech-forward user, consistently trying out new technology, so I thought I’d share my results with everyone to cut through all the noise that it’s in the market right now.

Initially, I just wanted to get updated headshots for my various speaking and media engagements (I googled myself and saw the same set of pics coming up over and over again!); however, I've recently realized how I can use these photos for creating online content.

The short headline: Many AI Headshot providers offering this service are terrible! I tried many of them to make an informed decision, especially as I coach others on personal branding and content creation. Based on Google searches and speaking to others, I chose to try the most recognized ones and decided to write an article comparing them so you can save time and money.

To give you an objective review, I followed the same process for all:

• I used the SAME uploaded photos of me for each provider
• I bought the same (or as close as possible) package and selected the same options
• I chose the BEST 10 images for each provider in my comparison
• I tried any other tools or services they offer
• I scored the tools based on: Overall Image Quality, Ease of Use, Customization and Pricing

The AI headshot generators that I compared are Secta, Aragon, HeadshotPro and BetterPic.

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A few words on the “AI Headshot Generator” landscape

I’ve spoken with a few technical people to understand the AI headshot space, and the dirty secret of this space is that most companies are just “wrappers” around various AI providers, and they only offer parts of the generation service. This results in many indie developers starting their own ‘AI headshot’ site with little care for the outcome or results. Given such, I recommend that if they don’t offer a refund policy, DO NOT use them.

All the companies I’ve compared are popular; they have generated millions of images and offer your money back.

Privacy is also a big concern for me. If the company is not based in the US, it was not considered as it generally wouldn’t comply with US data privacy laws.

Okay, enough preamble. Let’s get to the review and comparison!

Review of Secta.ai (Ranked #1 Overall)

I’ll admit I’m a bit biased when it comes to Secta Labs. They were the first company globally to offer professional headshots in early 2023. I was an early adopter and have seen their product improve significantly since then.

Because of their early entry, they’ve had more time than the others to invest in improvements and have subsequently generated the most images compared to any other provider (almost 16 million vs the others who have between 8-12 million)

?They are by far my #1 choice - not just because they provide superior results which realistically look like me, but because they allow me to continue generating images without paying for a new package each time. I can also edit my photos with a feature that they call “Remix” - sometimes the remix works, and sometimes it doesn’t (and on occasion, I get a funny BLOOPER!). Still, it doesn’t matter because I’ve got an unlimited membership and can generate as many as I want.

Secta is not the cheapest solution, but the unlimited generations make it a much greater value in the long run.

Image Quality: Rating: 5 ?????

Secta is the only tool that gets a 5 out of 5 here, and my standards are very high. I’d estimate that 8 or 9 out of 10 images are identical to my studio images. The lighting, facial resemblance, and general composition are excellent.?

Secta offers “Styles,” which are different themes for the image set. Some produce only four or five images that I think are great photos, but I still walk away with great images that I can use.? Of those produced that I don’t use, it’s usually because of a blemish, a mole or maybe the body proportions are a bit off.

Secta’s photos look like professional photography images, and this is the most essential factor for me when comparing any of these services, as I see them as a replacement for in-studio photo shoots.

Ease of Use: Rating: 4 ????

Secta has the most stringent interface but is very user-friendly and elegant and clean. The process is super easy, and among the four, Secta is the only one I’ve seen that provides a video guide on achieving outstanding results AND has automated analysis of the uploads. Something many of the other tools don’t allow for, but Secta does, is group photos.

Secta required me to upload 20 or more images, which was the most challenging part. They are also strict with image uploads, as they automatically detect poor image quality and reject those images. However, I understand their goal: the more high-quality photos you upload, the better your chances of producing high-quality results.

My results were delivered in less than an hour, and I received 300 HQ images.

Customization and Style Options: Rating: 5 ?????

This is another big advantage for Secta over its competitors. They call this feature "Remix," which has 13 powerful customization tools that let you instantly edit your favourite headshot with just one click. In addition, they offer over 90 styles now. There are too many for me to count.

Styles

Here are some of the ones I selected.

One of the most addictive features is called Shook, which allows you to copy various styles, clothing, or celebrities, and they also have a face swap feature, which they refer to as a meme.

Sample Results:

Their pricing options include a base price of $49, which allows you to receive 300 images.

They also offer subscription options that fit your needs. I love being able to constantly try new styles and themes for all the major holidays and celebrations!

Secta has the longest money-back guarantee of all the options. They offer a 30-day period during which, if you are not satisfied, you can get a full refund of your payment.

My experience with Secta is positive all around, and it’s my top choice amongst all AI generators due to the impressive results that closely resemble professional photos. The extensive customization options, additional features, privacy and security, and money-back guarantee make it the winner.

Review of Aragon.AI (Ranked #2 Overall)

Aragon.ai claims to be one of the best AI headshot generators, which is why I chose it—not only because of its popularity but also out of curiosity to try their service. When I search on Google, they are the first to appear, making me eager to try it. You can tell they are skilled at what they do, and I believe they have put a lot of effort into their product and marketing.

Image Quality:Rating: 3 ???

Many of the images produced are high quality; however, my challenge with Aragon is that the output is highly variable and only sometimes a realistic version of me.? Specifically, the face looks very filtered - the skin texture is too perfect; it doesn’t show my freckles, and I hardly have any “lifelines,” aka wrinkles lol. The images look overly retouched, making them seem unrealistic. That said, the images do actually look like me - facial structure, hair, etc.- so they have a slight edge over some of the others compared here.

Here are some of the best sample images generated using Aragon. However, I would use only one or two in any of my content.

Ease of Use: Rating: 4 ????

Aragon’s interface is quite simple and very user-friendly; however, there is quite a lot of preliminary information to fill out, unlike the others, where you can complete everything in just a few pages. This information is likely needed to make the results more accurate.

I didn’t have any trouble uploading images, and one advantage is that they only require six images to generate a gallery. But less is not more in this case.

They are also very strict about the quality of uploaded images, but they don’t have a video guide like Secta Labs to help with the best image selection.

Rejected Images:

My advice: Make sure that the quality of your uploaded images is excellent, as they don’t offer a free retry if the generated images turn out poorly due to low-quality uploads. This burdens the user to find the best photos of a tiny sample size.

I received the results in less than an hour.

Customization and Styles Options: Rating: 4 ????

Aragon offers 13 additional editing options and just six style options.

The editing result generation is incredibly fast, but you only receive one image per generation, unlike some of the others. Personally, I prefer more choices here.

I enjoyed using Aragon’s tools, and the speed of the AI edit feature is outstanding; however, there are still some improvements to be made here, for example, the background remover option leaves some rough edges between the subject and the background itself.

Here are their pricing options, depending on what fits your needs. I chose the basic package.

Lastly, they offer a 7-day money-back guarantee, shorter than all of the competitors.

Review of HeadshotPro (Ranked #3 Overall)

HeadshotPro claims to be the number one AI-generated headshot provider. But personally, I think they are just the best at SEO. They are run by an indie developer who runs multiple other startups. They recently implemented some new tools from other tech providers, which has boosted their image quality, as prior iterations were horrible. I’m ranking them #3; however, I wouldn’t personally recommend them.

Image Quality Rating: 2.5 - 3 ???

At first glance, you can see that the images generated by HeadshotPro are beautiful. The resolution is very high, the settings and feel of the images are great, and I really like how relaxed the poses are. However, these images don’t closely resemble me and, therefore, are not usable. There is a resemblance, but not a close one. They don’t capture the authentic details of my face - my freckles, my smile lines, for example. They also struggled to capture my natural hair colour - a strawberry blonde, although more blonde in some of the pictures I uploaded - they struggled with the balance of blonde and red.

Here are the samples of the best images generated by HeadshotPro.

Ease of Use Rating: 4 ????

It has a simple design. I like that it is minimalist, spacious, clean, and very user-friendly.

They required me to upload 15 images, and like Secta Labs, they are also very strict about uploading images, as they automatically reject any poor-quality pictures. I don’t think they support group photos, either.

I received the results in less than an hour and got 100 high-quality images.

Customization and Styles options: Rating: 2 ??

There was a huge opportunity to stand out from the competitors here; however, there are limited editing options - just two retouching options: Remove Blemish and Remove Objects.

Surprisingly, they make up for the lack of editing options with many different styles, offering more than 30 options.

Here are their pricing options.

They also offer a money-back guarantee, which is only valid for less than 14 days.

An important aspect to be aware of with this subscription is that you must download your images within 30 days, or they will be deleted.

Review of BetterPic (Ranked #4 Overall)

Image Quality:Rating: 1 ?

As you can see, the images from BetterPic clearly look AI-generated, which is what I want to avoid. They look entirely artificial and almost stylized. If you're looking for an avatar, this might be fine, but if you want a professional headshot with realistic results that look like they were taken in a real studio, then I don’t think this is suitable for you. Now, I must state that one of the photos I uploaded was avatar-like, and it wasn’t rejected for quality, and it seems to be leveraging that one pic for its generation of new images.

Here are some of the best sample images generated using BetterPic.

Ease of Use: Rating: 4 ????

BetterPic’s user interface is clean and minimalistic, which is nice.

The upload process was easy and straightforward, making it the simplest of all. What's great is that they only required me to upload eight images, but they didn’t discard some of them, which the others discarded for poor image quality, including the one avatar-like image from the lot (see below).

I really like that they show a quality score for your uploaded photo, although, based on my outputs, it doesn’t seem to mean much.

After processing, I received the results in less than an hour. However, as you can see below, the evidence's avatar-like nature is very apparent.

Customization and Styles Options: Rating: 3 ???

Like Aragon and Secta, they also currently offer 11 powerful customization tools. Unlike Aragon, which provides only one image per generation, BetterPic gives you four image options. They also offer retouching options, such as background and clothing changes. Despite the options available, I ranked it three stars, as the reworked images still look highly “fake.”

From what I saw in their marketing ads, they claim to offer 150 styles, but based on my experience, I found only about 6 to 10 styles available.

However, I was pleased to see some of their additional features, like the profile picture editor and AI LinkedIn picture analyzer. Although I usually use Canva for this.

Here are their pricing options:

Like the other three AI headshot generators, BetterPic offers a money-back guarantee: 7 days if your images still need to be trained and 14 days after they have been taught.

My experience with BetterPic would have been great if the generated images hadn't looked so obviously AI-created and avatar-like. I hope they'll offer me a free retry to retrain my pictures for better results. For now, BetterPic ranks fourth among its competitors because of this. I see a lot of potential if they can better scan out poor-quality photo uploads and ensure realistic headshot images.

Overall Ranking Summary

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# 1 Secta Labs:

My top choice for its impressive and realistic results, extensive customization options, and the most style choices available. It has a user-friendly interface and a video guide on how to get great results. You will receive 300 high-quality images, offering the most extended 30-day money-back guarantee for peace of mind. I also love the ongoing service to generate more images for custom needs, holidays etc.

#2 Aragon.AI:

It offers a simple interface and quick results with just six photos required. You will receive 100 high-quality images. There are extensive customization options, but they have the fewest styles to choose from—only six options. The image quality is good but needs improvement regarding likeness, facial details, and posing. They have the shortest money-back guarantee of just seven days and a disclaimer that prevents them from refunding you if they think your photo uploads aren’t quality images.

#3 HeadshotPro:

A strong contender with high-quality images and a clean design. However, the likeness of the images, as well as the facial details and skin texture, needs to be improved. However, it lacks extensive retouching options. Consider this the cheap and cheerful option, but the images don’t resemble me, so it's a waste of money. They offer a 14-day money-back guarantee.

#4 BetterPic:

“4K quality” and a straightforward upload process. It also offers extensive customization options and styles to choose from. You will receive 100 high-quality images. This, in my opinion, despite great feature options, is a total waste of money given the output of images looking like Avatars; there are many free apps out there to generate these kinds of images.

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