BeautyCam built its reputation on Meitu’s beauty-tuning engine, the same one behind a decade of Asian selfie aesthetics. The DSLR, Digicam, Photo Booth, and iPhone Cam modes let any phone simulate a different camera look, and the AI tools cover nail art, makeup, wardrobe, removal, expansion, and slimming. The catch is that the most-shared features lean on VIP credits, watermarks land on AI exports, and the default beauty pass is heavier than some users want. If you are after BeautyCam alternatives that handle selfies and AI portraits with a different balance of polish and price, here are seven that hold up.
We tested each across Android and iOS for retouch quality, AR makeup depth, and subscription pressure on the free tier.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Starting price | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BeautyPlus | All-in-one Meitu-family editor | Yes, with watermark | $4.99/mo Premium | Broadest filter and sticker library |
| YouCam Perfect | Live AR makeup overlay | Yes, with ads | $5.99/mo Premium | Real-time camera makeup engine |
| AirBrush | Natural-look selfie polish | Yes, with ads | $4.99/mo Premium | Subtle skin and feature retouch |
| Facetune | Precision face and body sliders | 7-day trial | $7.99/mo Premium | Manual slider control without auto bias |
| Sweet Selfie | Filter-led capture | Yes, with ads | $3.99/mo VIP | Capture-side beautification by filter |
| B612 | TikTok-style live filters | Yes, with VIP gating | $3.99/mo VIP | Live AR camera with music sync |
| FaceApp | Age, gender, expression transforms | Yes, watermark on Pro filters | $4.99/mo Pro | Photorealistic single-photo transformation |
Why people switch from BeautyCam
AI features eat VIP credits fast. AI Nail Art, AI Wardrobe, AI Removal, AI Expansion, and AI Slimming all run on credit pools rather than a flat subscription. Heavy users hit caps within a session even after paying VIP, which makes the value question harder than a plain subscription.
Watermarks land on AI exports. Free saves of AI-generated portraits carry a small watermark in the corner. Removing it requires VIP plus, in some cases, an additional unlock. Reviewers consistently call this out as a frustration.
Default beauty pass leans heavy. BeautyCam’s auto mode applies a stronger smoothing and skin-tone shift than AirBrush or Facetune. On dark skin tones and on subjects who prefer a natural finish, the result reads as filtered. Manual mode helps but adds friction.
AR makeup trails YouCam. BeautyCam ships AR makeup looks, but the real-time engine is a step behind YouCam Perfect for makeup placement accuracy. Users who want live overlay rather than post-capture editing notice it inside a day of testing.
Performance drops on older Android phones. The AI features run partly on-device and partly in the cloud. On budget Android phones the local pipeline stutters, and the cloud round-trip adds delay that breaks the live-preview flow.
The best BeautyCam alternatives
BeautyPlus, best for all-in-one Meitu-family editor
BeautyPlus by Commsource is the original Meitu-family beauty camera, still maintained alongside BeautyCam by the same Meitu ecosystem. The library covers hundreds of filters, beauty presets, retouch sliders, makeup looks, stickers, frames, and AI generators in one app. The trending look catalogue refreshes weekly to track TikTok and Instagram aesthetics, which BeautyCam does too but with a heavier AI focus.
For users who like the Meitu look but want the broader library and a more familiar layout, BeautyPlus is the natural step.
Where it falls short: Free exports of certain AI effects carry a watermark. Ad pacing inside the editor can interrupt longer sessions.
Pricing:
- Free: Most editing, watermark on AI exports
- BeautyPlus Premium: $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year
- vs BeautyCam: Same monthly price, broader filter library, similar Meitu aesthetic.
Migrating from BeautyCam: Recreate favourite BeautyCam presets using BeautyPlus’s beauty sliders. The Meitu shared lineage means the sliders behave similarly.
Bottom line: Pick BeautyPlus when you want the Meitu look with broader filter variety.
YouCam Perfect, best for live AR makeup overlay
YouCam Perfect by Perfect Corp is the AR-makeup specialist. Open the camera and the live preview applies foundation, blush, lipstick, eyeshadow, brows, contour, and hair colour in real time. Capture, and the look is baked into the photo or video. The same engine powers makeup brand try-on apps for Estée Lauder, MAC, and Sephora, which is why the live overlay reads more accurately than BeautyCam’s preset-driven approach.
For users who want makeup applied at capture rather than retouched after, YouCam Perfect is the strongest tool in the category.
Where it falls short: Free tier nags toward Premium with daily reminders. The AR engine is heavier than the rest of the app, so older devices feel it.
Pricing:
- Free: Camera with most makeup looks, ads
- Premium: $5.99 a month or $29.99 a year
- vs BeautyCam: Pricier monthly, deeper AR makeup library, weaker on full editor breadth.
Migrating from BeautyCam: Save favourite BeautyCam makeup presets as reference, then rebuild equivalent looks inside YouCam’s makeup studio.
Bottom line: Pick YouCam Perfect when live AR makeup is the workflow.
AirBrush, best for natural-look selfie polish
AirBrush by Pixocial built its reputation on retouch that does not look retouched. Smooth skin without the plastic finish, teeth whitening that does not glow, eye enhancement that does not look posed. Compared to BeautyCam’s stronger default smoothing, AirBrush’s auto mode reads natural by default.
For users who came to BeautyCam for retouch and want a less stylised finish, AirBrush is the cleaner swap.
Where it falls short: AI Retouch and AI hairstyle features sit inside Premium. The free tier handles basic retouch and is competent on its own, but the headline features are paywalled.
Pricing:
- Free: Basic retouch and filters
- Premium: $4.99 a month or $59.99 a year
- vs BeautyCam: Same monthly tier, more natural default look, less stylised aesthetic.
Migrating from BeautyCam: Test AirBrush’s auto mode on existing BeautyCam edits. The default texture preservation is the differentiator; if you like it, the rest follows.
Bottom line: Pick AirBrush when natural-look retouch matters more than trending makeup looks.
Facetune, best for precision face and body sliders
Facetune by Lightricks is the editorial selfie retouch standard. The sliders are the cleanest on mobile: smoothness, eye whiten, teeth, jaw reshape, face slim, each on a manual scale rather than a one-tap auto setting. The AI retouch mode applies a sensible baseline that does not flatten texture the way BeautyCam’s auto pass can.
For users who want to retouch a portrait the way a magazine editor would, Facetune is the upgrade.
Where it falls short: No real free editor past a 7-day trial. Most features sit inside Facetune Premium. The interface assumes you know what each slider does.
Pricing:
- Free: 7-day trial of Premium
- Premium: $7.99 a month or $35.99 a year
- vs BeautyCam: Pricier monthly, slider-deep control, weaker on filters and stickers.
Migrating from BeautyCam: Re-edit recent BeautyCam saves in Facetune to compare. The slider layout transfers if you already used BeautyCam’s manual mode.
Bottom line: Pick Facetune when manual slider control and editorial finish matter most.
Sweet Selfie, best for filter-led capture
Sweet Selfie sits in the same Indonesian and SEA market as BeautyCam and shares much of the audience. The camera focuses on capture-side beautification: pick a filter, the smoothing, eye widening, and skin tone shift apply before the photo is saved. Lighter than BeautyCam’s full editor and friendlier to entry-level Android devices.
For users who want a filter-first selfie experience without paying for the AI add-ons, Sweet Selfie is the simpler workflow.
Where it falls short: Editor depth trails BeautyCam. Free tier shows ads between captures.
Pricing:
- Free: Camera and most filters with ads
- VIP: $3.99 a month
- vs BeautyCam: Cheaper, narrower feature set, lighter on resource use.
Migrating from BeautyCam: Use Sweet Selfie as the daily capture app and reserve BeautyCam for sessions that need its AI tools.
Bottom line: Pick Sweet Selfie when capture-time filters matter more than a deep editor.
B612, best for TikTok-style live filters
B612 by SNOW is the filter-led selfie camera built around TikTok-style live effects. Capture-side beautification, real-time AR filters, video lenses, and music-synced effects all live inside the camera rather than the editor. The free tier carries a deeper feature set than BeautyCam’s free mode.
For users who want a filter-first selfie experience and value live AR over post-capture editing, B612 is the cleaner fit.
Where it falls short: Some filters and VIP-tier looks sit behind subscription. The editor is shallower than BeautyCam for serious post-capture work.
Pricing:
- Free: Most filters and effects
- VIP: $3.99 a month or $19.99 a year
- vs BeautyCam: Cheaper, camera-first instead of editor-first, weaker for AI portraits.
Migrating from BeautyCam: Use B612 for capture, BeautyCam or another editor for serious retouch. The two cover different stages of the same workflow.
Bottom line: Pick B612 for live AR filters and music-synced video at capture.
FaceApp, best for age, gender, and expression transforms
FaceApp does one category better than anyone: photorealistic single-photo transformations. Age up or down by decades, swap gender, change expression, change hair colour, all from a single selfie with no training step. The results stay recognisable as the same person, which is what separates FaceApp from generic face-swap apps.
For users whose BeautyCam use leans more toward AI-style transformation than everyday retouch, FaceApp is the specialist.
Where it falls short: Not a retouch tool. Skin smoothing and blemish removal exist but the focus is transformation. Some filters carry a small watermark on the free tier.
Pricing:
- Free: Most filters, watermark on Pro-only filters
- Pro: $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year
- vs BeautyCam: Same monthly tier, different use case, weaker on body retouch and live makeup.
Migrating from BeautyCam: Keep BeautyCam for retouch, add FaceApp for transformation experiments. They cover complementary categories.
Bottom line: Pick FaceApp when single-photo age, gender, or expression transformation is the goal.
How to choose
Pick BeautyPlus when you want the Meitu aesthetic with a broader filter and sticker library at a similar price.
Pick YouCam Perfect when live AR makeup overlay matters more than retouching afterward.
Pick AirBrush for retouch that does not announce itself, where BeautyCam’s default smoothing reads too heavy.
Pick Facetune when manual slider control and editorial-quality retouch matter more than presets.
Pick Sweet Selfie for a filter-first capture app on entry-level Android hardware where BeautyCam stutters.
Pick B612 for TikTok-style live filters and music-synced video at capture.
Pick FaceApp when single-photo age, gender, and expression transformations are the workflow.
Stay on BeautyCam by Meitu if the AI tools genuinely match your use case, you are on flagship hardware, and VIP credits land before they expire. The Meitu engine is real and the trending makeup catalogue stays current. The cost question is the only thing that changes.
FAQ
Is there a free BeautyCam alternative? BeautyPlus, YouCam Perfect, AirBrush, Sweet Selfie, B612, and FaceApp all have meaningful free tiers. BeautyPlus stays closest to the Meitu aesthetic on the free tier. Facetune is the strictest, with most features locked behind Premium after the trial.
Which BeautyCam alternative looks the most natural? AirBrush is the natural-finish specialist. Facetune in manual mode also reads as natural when used lightly. BeautyCam, BeautyPlus, and Sweet Selfie all default to a stronger beauty pass.
Can I use BeautyCam-style makeup on video? YouCam Perfect handles live AR makeup on video better than any other alternative. B612 applies its retro and beauty filters to video at capture. BeautyCam’s own video beautification is fine but the AR makeup engine inside YouCam is stronger.
What is the cheapest BeautyCam alternative? B612 and Sweet Selfie sit at $3.99 a month for VIP, the cheapest paid tiers in the category. BeautyPlus and AirBrush both come in at $4.99 a month, the same price as BeautyCam VIP.
Does any alternative include AI portrait generation like BeautyCam? BeautyPlus has its own AI portrait tool. FaceApp covers transformation-style AI. Facetune adds AI features but stays editor-first. None match BeautyCam’s full AI catalogue, but each covers a slice of it.
Will switching apps lose my saved looks? Yes. Each app stores presets and looks locally to its own profile. Export favourite BeautyCam photos as a reference library, then rebuild equivalent looks inside the alternative.
