Summary: Looking for the best deepfake app and software to unleash your creativity? Check below the detailed review of the 14 deepfake video makers in 2024 that you can leverage to create convincing deepfake videos, images, and voices.
Deepfakes, a blend of "deep learning" and "fake", are synthetic media digitally manipulated to seamlessly replace one person's likeness convincingly with that of another.
The rise of deepfake apps and software in recent years has unlocked a new dimension of innovation. From refacing your favorite videos to creating your unique artwork, deepfake video makers craft a platform where you're not just part of the audience but the protagonist in your digital world. In this post, we've collected the 14 best deepfake app and software with detailed reviews. Read on!
- Best Deepfake Apps and Software in 2024
- 1. Face Swapper
- 2. DeepFaceLab
- 3. Reface
- 4. DeepBrain
- 5. Lensa AI
- 6. Zao
- 7. MyHeritage
- 8. Deepfakes Web
- 9. Avatarify
- 10. Wombo
- 11. Faceswap
- 12. FaceApp
- 13. Face Swap Live
- 14. Jiggy
- Best Deepfake App and Software Comparison Chart
- What is Deepfake Software
- How are Deepfakes Made
- What Risks Do Deepfake Apps & Software Pose
- How to Detect a Deepfake
- FAQs
Note:
Since deepfakes can become the subject of misinformation, any action that involves nefarious intent or crosses the ethical line is not suggested.
14 Best Deepfake and Software in 2024
1. Face Swapper
Best deepfake app for swapping faces without reducing image quality.
Icons8 Face Swapper is an innovative and entertaining deepfake app site that can bring a delightful twist to your digital experiences. With this user-friendly deepfake maker app, you can seamlessly swap faces in photos and create hilarious and captivating deep fakes. Whether you are an aspiring comedian, a photography enthusiast, or someone wanting to see how you'd look with a different hairstyle, mimic a celebrity's appearance, or have some lighthearted fun with friends, the deepfake app has got you covered.
Platform: Online & iOS
Price: A free 3-day trial with no limits; paid subscription starts from $19/month
Rating: 5/5 by Product Hunt
2. DeepFaceLab
Best deepfake software for advanced users who want complete control over their deepfake creations.
Programmed as an open-source GitHub project, DeepFaceLab, the best free deepfake software for PC, is an important technology that drives the vast majority of this generation of deepfake services. Featuring great engineering support, the Windows-exclusive deepfake software enables you to achieve smooth and photorealistic face-swapping results. Its success stems from integrating deep learning and AI technology into a design that balances speed and ease of use, alongside advancements in computer vision for face recognition, alignment, reconstruction, and segmentation.
But first-time users might need some instructions to get started with this deepfake software, and you have to try certain videos with certain models with certain parameters and see what works best. The longer you are in the game, the better you are at it.
Platform: Windows
Price: Free.
Rating: 4.5/5 by Medium
3. Reface
Best free deepfake app for instant face-swapping with celebrities and popular characters.
Formerly known as the Doublicat app, Reface is one of the best free deepfake apps. Powered by GANs framework design, the free deepfake app could map your face onto another image in an eerily realistic way, with convincing facial expressions and movements that look very much like you. The home screen features a wealth of music video clips, movie clips, and celebrity videos that you can use for face swap. Collections of video clips and GIFs are organized by categories, including Game of Thrones, Victoria's Secret, WWE, Hot GIFs, Marvel Heroes, Girl Power, and Love. Users can also use the search function to browse trending searches or GIFs.
Platform: Android & iOS
Price: Free; offers optional in-app purchase options ranging from $2.49 - $24.99.
Rating: 4.6/5 by Product Hunt
4. DeepBrain
Best deepfake software for generating realistic deepfake videos.
DeepBrain is a web-based deepfake software for PC that stands out for its ability to produce highly authentic visually stunning deepfake videos. With advanced AI algorithms, the deepfake software has become a go-to choice for users who seek to create deepfake content of professional-grade quality with a seamless and credible face-swapping capability. The deepfake video maker offers a user-friendly interface, allowing both beginners and experienced users to explore its manifold capabilities to create impressive deepfake videos.
Platform: Online
Price: $30/mo for the Starter Plan; $225/mo for Pro; Contact to customize a plan for long-term professional use.
Rating: 4.8/5 by Product Hunt
5. Lensa AI
Best deepfake app for creating realistic AI portraits in various styles.
As another deepfake app, Lensa AI leverages advanced AI algorithms to analyze the facial features and details in the uploaded selfies and generate high-quality portraits that maintain the essence of the original photo while enhancing or altering aspects according to the chosen style. One of the standout features of the deepfake video maker app is its ability to produce images in various styles, such as superheroes, anime, and more. While the basic functions of Lensa AI deepfake are available for free, creating the advanced deepfake portraits requires payment for each set or a subscription to the app's premium service.
Platform: Android & iOS
Price: Free.
Rating: 4.0/5 by Google Play
6. Zao
Best deepfake app for creating deepfake videos with high-quality face replacements.
Rocketing to the top of the app store charts shortly after its release back in 2019, Zao, a Chinese free deepfake app, can paint your likeness automatically over famous actors in movies and TV clips. The deepfake app has enabled an arena for users to become stars and swap places with the likes of Marilyn Monore, Leonardo DiCaprio, or Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory within seconds. Characterized by its impressive processing speed and accuracy, Zao deepfake works to scan the image you upload and transpose it to the character of your choice, fully animating you in accordance with how the character moves.
Platform: Android & iOS
Price: Free.
Rating: 3.0/5 by VideoProc
7. MyHeritage
Best deepfake software for bringing old photos to life.
Blowing a huge social media spotlight on TikTok, MyHeritage, another intriguing online free deepfake maker on PC, has recently introduced its AI Time Machine, a grand breakthrough after its Deep Nostalgia. Stepping further from its previous feature that can animate the faces in still photos and create hyperrealistic video footage, the deepfake software enables users to transform themselves into historical figures with the help of artificial intelligence.
Platform: Android, iOS and Online
Price: Free; offers the yearly subscription options ranging from $79 to $189.
Rating: 4.8/5 by Mobile App Daily
8. Deepfakes Web
Best deepfake software online for beginners to make deepfakes.
For those who seek an easy-to-use deepfake software, the online deepfake video maker would be a great way to go. Deepfakes Web is a web-based deepfake software AI that harnesses machine learning to face-swap the subject with another. All you need is to upload your videos, click the button, and the online deepfake software will handle the rest. The reuse model feature allows you to improve the quality of your deepfake results. Every deepfake video generated on the tool comes out with a clear and visible watermark indicating that the video is deepfake. Besides, personal data privacy is ensured according to its official statement.
Platform: Web-based
Price: $3/hour.
Rating: 3.0/5 by Trustpilot
9. Avatarify
Best deepfake video call app for bringing facial animation into video calls.
Avatarify is a powerful and user-friendly free deepfake video call app that brings facial animation and deepfake technology to the fingertips of users. It offers a seamless and realistic face-swapping experience, allowing users to apply facial movements from one person to another on video calls like Zoom and Skype. The deepfake video call software provides a straightforward interface, making it accessible even to those with limited technical knowledge. Users can simply select the source and target videos or images and let the deepfake software handle the rest.
Platform: Android & iOS
Price: Free trial; $2.49 a week or $34.99 a year.
Rating: 4.0/5 by TapSmart
10. Wombo
Best deepfake app for creating fun and entertaining deepfake lip-sync videos.
Priding itself as the world's best AI lip-sync deepfake app, Wombo could make just about any photo literally sing. The free deepfake maker app is remarkably easy to use, and all you need is to snap a selfie or pick a head-on image of a character, and upload it to the app. Housing a variety of character images, the deepfake app enables you to unlock numerous customizable feeds within a few clicks. Moreover, Wombo states clearly in its privacy policy that it does not lay claim to any of the images that are used in the app and will delete the "facial feature data" after the images are created.
Platform: Android & iOS
Price: Free; $4.49 a month or $29.99 a year.
Rating: 4.0/5 by Tech Rounder
11. Faceswap
Best deepfake software for swapping faces with customizable settings.
Compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux, Faceswap, similar to DeepFaceLab, is a leading open-source free deepfake software for PC. It offers an arbitrary face-swapping framework on images and videos with one single trained model. Powered by Python, Keras, and Tensorflow, the deepfake software has an active team supporting and developing the program and is hosted on GitHub. But it requires a modern GPU and arduous efforts to fully grasp the workflow, which might be unideal for those who do deepfake for just fun.
Platform: Windows, macOS and Linux
Price: Free.
Rating: 4.0/5 by LibHunt
12. FaceApp
Best deepfake app for applying various filters and transformations to faces.
Considered by many to be the best deepfake app for face photo editing, FaceApp generates highly realistic transformations of human faces in photographs, adding to the image uploaded an impression, make-up, smiles, hair colors, ages, filters, background, and more. Yet, what makes the deepfake app unique is the way it handles things. Instead of relying on base-level photo editing to slap a set of smiling dental onto your grimacing face, the deepfake app uses innovative AI technology to reverse your frown and make you look a little more cheerful.
Platform: Android & iOS
Price: Free; $19.99 for a lifetime subscription; a $1.99 monthly subscription or $9.99 per year option.
Rating: 4.4/5 by Google Play
13. Face Swap Live
Best deepfake app for real-time face-swapping during video calls or livestreams.
Having made plenty of headlines thanks to the feat of its ingenuity, Face Swap Live enables users to switch faces with another person in real-time during video calls and create videos using a set of bundled live filters with the device's camera. You can select from the ones that come preloaded or search for a particular picture you'd like to morph yourself into. Unlike other deepfake face-swapping apps that can only use static photos, the deepfake app swaps faces live right from your camera's video feed, but it falls a little short in terms of accuracy, as the morphed images might come out unnatural.
Platform: Android & iOS
Price: $0.99 for iOS, $1.99 for Android.
Rating: 4.5/5 by Apple Store
14. Jiggy
Best deepfake app for adding realistic dance moves to deepfake images and videos.
Jiggy, a free deepfake app for realistic body and face-swapping, can create hilarious videos, GIFs, and stickers by animating your photos and selfies. Its integrated share feature allows you to easily send your deepfake memes, GIFs, and images to friends via Messenger, WhatsApp, iMessage, and other messaging apps.
Platform: Android & iOS
Price: Free.
Rating: 4.1/5 by Justuseapp
Best Deepfake App and Software Comparison Chart
Best Deepfake Maker | Beginner-Friendly | OS | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Web-based & iOS |
Free 3-day trial; |
||
Windows |
Free |
||
Android & iOS |
Free; |
||
Web-based |
$30/mo for Starter; |
||
Android & iOS |
free 7-day trial; |
||
Android & iOS |
Free |
||
Android, iOS and Web-based |
Free; |
||
Web-based |
$3/hour |
||
Android & iOS |
Free trial; |
||
Android & iOS |
Free; |
||
Windows, macOS and Linux |
Free |
||
Android & iOS |
Free; |
||
Android & iOS |
$0.99 for iOS, $1.99 for Android |
||
Android & iOS |
Free |
What is Deepfake Software
Deepfake software uses artificial intelligence, specifically deep learning techniques, to create highly realistic and often deceptive visual or audio content by altering videos, images, or even sound recordings. At its core, deepfake technology utilizes Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), a type of neural network architecture developed to produce synthetic data that looks authentic. GANs consist of two main components: a generator and a discriminator. The generator is tasked with creating fake images or audio that resemble real-life visuals or sounds, while the discriminator assesses whether the generated content is genuine or fabricated. Through repeated training, the generator and discriminator engage in a "cat-and-mouse game," improving until the generated content becomes nearly indistinguishable from reality.
How are Deepfakes Made
Deepfakes are created using advanced machine learning techniques, most commonly Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and autoencoders. These techniques enable deepfake software to learn from large datasets of videos, images, or audio recordings, allowing it to produce realistic synthetic media. Here's a breakdown of the key steps involved in making deepfakes:
- 1. Data Collection and Preparation:
- The first step in creating a deepfake is to gather a substantial dataset of images, videos, or audio recordings of the person (or persons) being used for the fake. The more data, the better, as this helps the software learn the fine details of the subject’s facial expressions, angles, gestures, or vocal nuances.
- The collected data is then pre-processed to align and crop faces or audio segments, standardizing elements like size, angle, and lighting. This alignment helps the model focus on key features, like the eyes, mouth, and facial structure, for more accurate synthesis.
- 2. Training the Model with Autoencoders:
- Many deepfake tools use autoencoders, which are neural networks trained to encode and decode information. Autoencoders are trained with two main parts:
- Encoder: This part compresses the face or voice data of the target person, learning essential features.
- Decoder: This part reconstructs the compressed data into the target’s face or voice.
- If creating a face swap, the model typically requires two autoencoders: one trained on the face of the person to be replaced and one on the face that will be swapped in. Both are trained simultaneously to help the model understand how to map features of one face onto the other.
- 3. Fine-Tuning with GANs:
- GANs are a key part of making deepfakes realistic. A GAN has two components:
- Generator: Creates fake images (or sounds) that resemble real images based on the trained data.
- Discriminator: Attempts to identify which images are real and which are fake.
- These two components are trained together, with the generator getting better at creating lifelike images or sounds, while the discriminator becomes better at spotting fakes. Over time, the generator learns to produce content that is almost indistinguishable from reality.
- 4. Face Swapping and Blending:
- Once the model has learned enough details, the next step is to apply the face swap to the original video. This involves blending the generated face onto the target’s face frame-by-frame. Advanced deepfake software uses techniques like seamless blending, color matching, and motion tracking to make the swap appear natural.
- Frame-by-frame adjustments are made to ensure that the swapped face or body movements align perfectly with the original video’s lighting, expressions, and movements.
- 5. Audio Deepfake Synthesis (Optional):
- If the deepfake includes voice manipulation, a separate model is used to synthesize speech. This process, known as voice cloning, involves training on hours of audio data from the target person to capture their vocal patterns.
- Text-to-speech (TTS) models are then used to generate new sentences in the target’s voice. Some tools combine lip-syncing technology with voice cloning, aligning the lips in the video to match the synthesized audio.
- 6. Post-Processing and Final Adjustments:
- The final output often requires additional post-processing to enhance realism. This can include adjustments to colors, shadows, or sharpness. Some deepfake creators use traditional video editing software to fine-tune any glitches and ensure that the final video looks polished.
- For high-quality deepfakes, this post-processing might involve adding special effects to create natural lighting transitions or small facial adjustments, making the deepfake even more convincing.
What Risks Do Deepfake Apps & Software Pose
Deepfake apps and software pose several risks, particularly as they become more advanced and accessible. While there are beneficial uses of this technology, the potential for misuse can lead to severe social, ethical, and legal consequences. Here are the primary risks associated with deepfake technology:
- Misinformation and Fake News: Deepfakes can create realistic but fake videos of public figures, leading to misinformation or propaganda that could influence public opinion, elections, or financial markets.
- Reputation Damage and Defamation: Individuals can be impersonated in compromising or damaging scenarios. For instance, a deepfake could portray someone engaging in illegal, unethical, or inappropriate behavior, which could ruin personal reputations, careers, or relationships.
- Privacy Violations and Harassment: Deepfake technology can be used to create non-consensual, explicit content, especially targeting women. Known as "deepfake pornography," this involves placing someone’s face onto explicit video content without their consent.
- Fraud and Identity Theft: Deepfakes can impersonate voices and faces, allowing criminals to bypass security measures or deceive people into transferring money or sharing sensitive information.
- National Security Threats: Deepfakes can destabilize security by spreading disinformation or impersonating government officials, risking political or diplomatic crises.
- Psychological and Social Impacts: Deepfakes can erode public trust in digital media, creating skepticism about legitimate content and making it harder for people to discern truth from fiction.
- Legal and Ethical Challenges: Many countries lack laws to address deepfakes, making it difficult to hold creators accountable, while ethical issues arise around balancing creative freedom with privacy and reputation rights.
How to Detect a Deepfake
Detecting deepfakes is challenging due to their growing realism, but several techniques and tools can help identify signs of manipulation. Here are some common approaches and tools for detecting deepfakes.
Start by looking for visual inconsistencies, such as unnatural blinking or odd facial expressions, along with mismatched lighting and shadows. Audio-visual sync is also crucial; check if lip movements align with speech and if the voice tone fits the speaker's expressions.
echnical artifacts like pixelation, blurring, or unusual frame rates can indicate manipulation. Tools like Microsoft Video Authenticator, Deepware Scanner, and Sensity AI provide AI-based detection support. Additionally, examining file metadata and conducting frame-by-frame analysis can uncover signs of tampering.
While advanced detection methods are becoming more accessible, the evolving technology still poses challenges. By combining these tools with careful analysis and awareness of contextual clues, individuals and organizations can better assess the authenticity of media content.
FAQs
1. Who created deepfake technology?
The foundation of deepfake technology was laid in 2014 by Ian Goodfellow. Goodfellow, who was a Ph.D. student at the University of Montreal at the time, along with his colleagues, introduced the concept of generative adversarial networks (GANs).
GANs are a type of artificial intelligence architecture that consists of two neural networks, a generator and a discriminator, trained together to produce realistic synthetic data, including images, videos, and audio. While Goodfellow and his team pioneered the GAN framework, deepfake technology itself has evolved rapidly since then.
2. Are deepfake apps illegal?
The legality of deepfake apps can vary depending on how they are used and the jurisdiction in which they operate. Several states, such as California, Virginia, and Texas, are proactively addressing the challenges posed by deepfake technology through legislative measures. In California, for instance, there are specific regulations against creating and distributing deepfakes of political candidates within 60 days of an election. Therefore, always be sure to check the laws in your specific location to understand the legal implications of using deepfake apps.
3. Is there a free deepfake app and deepfake software?
Yes, there are a few free deepfake apps and software. For free deepfake apps, you can check out Reface, Wombo, and Jiggy, while DeepFaceLab and Faceswap are among the top options for free deepfake software.