This is how we review face swap tools. Each review answers the questions a buyer in Malaysia asks first: what the tool costs in ringgit, what the free plan really includes and what happens to an uploaded face. Measured quality and speed come from a separate hands-on stage, added to each review with its date and inputs.
01What each review checks in official documents
Every profile starts with the provider's own pages: pricing, help centre, terms of service and privacy policy, plus the App Store or Google Play listing for mobile apps. Reseller sites, video walkthroughs and AI-written roundups are not used as sources, because they repeat old limits long after a provider changes them. Each source is linked at the end of the review, and the page shows the date the facts were checked.
| What is recorded | Where it comes from | Example from a review |
|---|---|---|
| Price and renewal | Official pricing page | VidMage: US$9.99 first month, then US$14.99 a month |
| Free limits | Pricing page or help centre | VidMage: 15 photo swaps, 20 seconds of video and 2 GIFs a day |
| Watermark | Pricing page or FAQ | Magic Hour: free photo swaps described as watermark-free |
| Upload retention and deletion | Privacy policy or FAQ | Pica AI: uploads deleted within 24 hours |
| Training on uploads | Privacy policy and terms | Magic Hour: says uploads are not used for training |
| Price in ringgit | BNM KL USD/MYR reference rate | US$1 = RM4.0841 on 26 October 2026 |
When an official page leaves a gap, the review says “not disclosed” instead of filling it from a third-party blog. The usual gaps are free video length, export resolution and whether deleted files survive in backups.
02How US dollar prices become ringgit
Most face swap services bill in US dollars. Each review converts the official price at Bank Negara Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur USD/MYR reference rate for the date shown at the top of the page. At the 26 October 2026 rate of 4.0841, Magic Hour's US$10 starter pack of 4,000 credits works out to about RM40.84.
- Monthly, annual and one-off prices are labelled separately, and an annual plan advertised “per month” is marked as billed yearly.
- Introductory prices sit next to the renewal price: VidMage's first month at about RM40.80 renews at about RM61.22.
- Bank charges are not included. Your card's own exchange rate, overseas transaction fees and tax at checkout can make the final charge higher.
If cost decides the choice, the free face swap comparison shows what each free tier includes before any payment.
03How provisional scores are set
Each review carries five scores: quality, free plan, speed, privacy and value. Free plan, privacy and value draw on published terms, while quality and speed need hands-on runs and are never estimated from marketing pages. Until the test stage is complete, all five are marked provisional.
| Score | What it measures | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | Blend at the jaw, hairline and eyes; stability across frames | Hands-on tests |
| Free plan | Swaps, seconds and resolution without paying; watermark | Pricing page, then tests |
| Speed | Time from upload to download for the same job | Hands-on tests |
| Privacy | Deletion window, training use, delete options, named company | Privacy policy and terms |
| Value | Ringgit cost of one usable export on the cheapest paid plan | Pricing page and BNM rate |
Tools are compared by task. A photo-only service is not marked down for lacking video; it simply does not appear on the video face swap shortlist. The weights behind the overall score will be published with the first tested results, so any total can be recalculated.
04What hands-on tests will add
The next stage runs every tool on identical inputs so results can be compared side by side. All test faces are AI-generated portraits of people who do not exist, so no real person's photo goes to any provider.
- Matched portraits: the same generated faces, front-facing and turned, in even and mixed light, swapped into the same target photos.
- A 30-second clip: one speaker with a head turn, a hand passing across the face and a change of light, used for every video tool.
- A group photo: several faces at different distances, to see how many each tool detects and whether the right face is replaced.
- A record of each run: plan used, credits charged, time to finish, output resolution and any watermark on the export.
Each tested review will list its inputs, the plan and the date, and a failed job counts as a failure rather than being retried until one looks good. Group results feed the multiple face swap comparison, and short loops go to the GIF face swap guide. If you repeat these tests yourself, use only your own face or faces of people who agreed to it.
05How privacy statements are judged
The privacy check reads each policy for four things: how long uploads and results stay on servers, whether they train AI models, how to delete them and which company is responsible. A number beats a promise: FaceSwapper AI states that files are purged every six hours, while a policy that keeps data “as long as necessary” gives a reader nothing to plan around. Statements are quoted as the provider's own claim, with a link, not as an audited fact.
Raises the privacy score
- Retention given as a number
- Training use answered in one sentence
- Files and account deletable without emailing support
- Company name and country published
Lowers the privacy score
- Data kept “as long as necessary”
- Public gallery on by default
- Wide licence over uploaded content
- No identifiable operator
The same questions work before any upload, and the face swap safety guide explains each one.
06Updates, corrections and affiliate links
Prices and free limits change often, so every page shows the date its facts were checked and gets a new date when price, limits or privacy terms change. Featured spots and the top list on the home page can reflect commercial relationships; the affiliate disclosure explains how they work. The tool profiles written with this method are collected in the face swap AI comparison on the home page.
Spotted an outdated price or a broken source? Send the page address, the sentence and a link to the provider's current page through the contact page, and the fix will be dated on the review.
Every number in a review should lead back to a page you can open yourself.
07Review method FAQ
Are the scores based on hands-on tests?
Not yet. Prices, free limits, watermarks and privacy terms come from each provider's official pages, so every score is marked provisional. Quality and speed need the hands-on stage, which runs the same generated portraits, a 30-second clip and a group photo through every tool. Each review will show its test date and inputs once results are added.
How are face swap tools scored?
Each tool gets five scores: quality, free plan, speed, privacy and value. Privacy reads the deletion window and training statement, value turns the cheapest usable export into ringgit, and free plan counts what you get without paying. Quality and speed come from identical hands-on inputs. Tools are compared within a task, so a photo-only app is not penalised for lacking video.
Which exchange rate is used for prices in RM?
The Bank Negara Malaysia Kuala Lumpur USD/MYR reference rate for the date shown on the page, which was 4.0841 on 26 October 2026. It is a fair comparison point, but your bank applies its own rate and may add an overseas transaction fee, so the amount on your statement can be higher.
Do affiliate commissions affect the rankings?
Scores in our reviews follow the same written criteria for every tool, including tools with no affiliate programme. The home page works differently: the featured tools, its top list and the picks panel can include tools placed there because we have a commercial relationship with their providers. The full arrangement is explained in the affiliate disclosure.