Three kinds of product, one name
“AI avatar” covers a business API, a phone companion and a Mac app. They solve different problems and they are priced in different units. This page puts them side by side so you can tell which one you are actually looking for. Prices and plans are as published by each company in September 2026 and change often; check them before you buy anything.
Side by side
| Per-minute avatar platforms | Companion apps | Facelet | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examples | HeyGen LiveAvatar, D-ID, Tavus, Anam, LemonSlice | Replika, Character.AI, Nomi | Facelet for Mac |
| Built for | Companies putting a face on a product | People who want a companion with a personality | People who already talk to ChatGPT |
| Whose AI | A model you wire in, through their service | Theirs | Your own ChatGPT account |
| Where the face is rendered | Their servers, streamed to a browser | Their servers or a phone app | Your Mac, natively |
| Lifelike human | Yes, video-style | Stylized or 3D, varies | Yes, real-time 3D |
| How it is priced | About $0.10 to $0.37 per active minute, or monthly plans with minute allowances from about $59 | About $8 to $20 a month; Character.AI $9.99, Nomi $15.99, Replika Pro $19.99 | $24.99 once for an early seat, $49.99 at launch |
| API key | Yes | No | No |
| Separate AI subscription | Usually, for the model behind it | Included in their plan | Your ChatGPT plan, which you already have |
| Runs as a Mac app | No, browser or API | Mostly phone and browser | Yes, Apple silicon |
When a per-minute platform is the right choice
If you are building a product with a talking face in it, a platform is exactly what you need: an API, concurrency, a face you can brand, and a bill that scales with your customers. It is the wrong tool for one person who wants to talk to their own ChatGPT at their desk, because every minute costs money and the conversation runs through the platform.
When a companion app is the right choice
If what you want is a new someone, with their own personality and a memory of you, a companion app is built for that, and the monthly price includes the AI. If what you want is the ChatGPT you already use, with its knowledge and your subscription, a companion app makes you start over with a different, usually smaller, model.
When Facelet is the right choice
You have a ChatGPT plan with Voice. You have an Apple silicon Mac. You would rather look at a person than a pulsing shape, and you do not want another subscription to do it. Facelet signs in with your account, renders a lifelike human on your Mac in real time, and costs one payment. It is not the choice if you need Windows, an iPhone, an Intel Mac, or an AI other than ChatGPT.
The ones that came before
Call Annie, in 2023, showed that a real-time face for ChatGPT could run on an M-series Mac. WEHEAD put a ChatGPT face on a $4,950 desk device. xAI gave Grok animated 3D companions in 2025 and announced in July 2026 that it was retiring them, with removal beginning September 1, 2026. The idea keeps proving popular; the products keep being tied to someone else’s service. Facelet’s bet is that the durable version is a native app you own, running on the model you already pay for. See rendered on your Mac.
Questions
Is Facelet a HeyGen, D-ID, Tavus or Anam alternative?
For a person, yes; for a business, no. Those platforms sell streaming avatars for customer-facing products, billed per active minute through an API. Facelet is a Mac app for one person who wants to talk to their own ChatGPT face to face, for one payment.
Is Facelet a Replika or Character.AI alternative?
Only partly. Companion apps come with their own AI, personality and memory on a monthly plan. Facelet has no AI of its own: it is a face for the ChatGPT you already use, so you keep ChatGPT’s knowledge and your own subscription.
What happened to Call Annie and Grok’s companions?
Call Annie showed in 2023 that a real-time face for ChatGPT could run on an M-series Mac. xAI announced in July 2026 that Grok’s 3D companions were being retired, with removal beginning September 1, 2026. Facelet is built to be the durable version of that idea: a native app you own, on the model you already pay for.