What actually changed in this category over two years

Any comparison of headshot tools written before roughly 2025 describes prices that no longer exist. That is not a detail; it is the main development.

What happened

The cost of running these models fell sharply, and prices fell with it. The entry point is now zero, which is why every product has a free tier.

That free tier is not a lure. It costs the vendor almost nothing and it answers the only question worth answering before paying: does this work on *this* face.

What did not change

The conventions for a professional headshot. A tight crop, frontal light and separation between hair and background decided the result in 2023 and still do.

And where the failures are

Where the failures cluster. Strong prescription glasses, tightly curled hair, darker skin tones and pronounced asymmetry still break these systems, consistently, across vendors.

Image quality has largely plateaued. The remaining competition is on consistency across a group of people over time — a duller problem and a harder one.

The practical consequence

Check the date on any comparison before the ranking.