Fantaly test results

Passes, credit packs and payment methods from the purchase window and the checkout page. Nothing was bought.

There is no subscription. A 7-day pass is $9.99 and an annual pass $199.99, one-time, each with 1 hour of Live Cam a day (both on a launch special). Credit packs are 500 credits for $4.99 (about 16 minutes) and 3,500 for $28.99 (about 116 minutes).

A Live Cam costs 30 credits a minute, about 25 to 30 cents, and messages are included. Images are 5 credits. Payment is by PayPal, card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

A week of daily live video for under $10 with four ways to pay is good value; pay-as-you-go minutes add up: 4/5.

Three characters were made: Maeve Doyle from a written image prompt (a red-haired Galway librarian), Jade Park from a free starter look (a fitness coach from Seoul), and Yuki with the guided options (an anime ice mage). Each got a written background, then five questions in a Live Cam about her job, home, hobbies, pets and personality.

The look is easy to make and accurate: a starter look, a guided image (2 styles, 9 hairstyles, 19 outfits, 21 settings, 4 moods and a details box) or your own prompt, plus an image editor. Each look was ready in about 8 seconds and matched what was asked. There are no choices for voice, age, body or personality.

The written background was ignored. Maeve said she was 'a freelance designer from Dublin' with a ginger cat called Finn, Jade 'a freelance designer living here in Seoul', and Yuki 'a freelance illustrator living here in Tokyo'. Only the name and the look carried over.

Good control over the look, but the personality and background don't carry into chat and there's no voice choice: 2/5.

Each message was typed during a Live Cam and timed from Send to the first new text of the character's reply. The next message was sent only after her text had stopped changing for 2.5 seconds and her voice had been silent for 1.5 seconds.

Three characters, 31 messages each: Aria Rosewood, Elsa Hart and Empress Barbara, all from the public library. 93 timed replies.

Most replies start in about 1.6 to 1.7 seconds. Her words appear sentence by sentence while she speaks, so some turns begin with the end of her previous answer, which makes the average higher than the typical wait. None failed.

The methodology scores on the median time to the first visible text. 1.70 seconds is in the 1.50 to 2.49 second band: 3/5.

Each conversation opened with a made-up name and three facts (job, hometown, favourite food), different for every character, after clearing the saved history. Nothing was repeated afterwards. A name check at message 16 and the full check at 31. A Live Cam fits about 24 messages, so message 31 was asked in a second Live Cam with the same history.

All three got the name right at message 16. At message 31 the results split: Barbara recalled everything, Elsa only the name, and Aria nothing.

One perfect recall, one name only and one complete miss average to 3/5.

Each character's story was read first: Aria a warm woman in a quiet romance, Elsa Hart an iron-willed company boss who once called you unreliable, Barbara an immortal empress of a realm with dragons and dark magic. The conversations mixed questions about her life, small talk, an emotional message, a compliment and unrelated topics.

No one answered like an assistant, and Barbara stayed in her fantasy world (floating islands, Crystal Gardens, cavalry charges). But all three slid into the same sweet, dreamy tone.

Elsa was warm from her first line and called the user 'a breath of fresh air', though her story says she thought him unreliable. Barbara, an immortal, said she had ruled 'just five years' and later spoke of lonely centuries. After most answers the character adds a dreamy line of her own ('There is something so peaceful about...').

No breaks into an assistant, but personalities flatten into one tone and there are contradictions with the stories: 3/5.

20 images were made in the creator's 'Create with AI' tool with written prompts describing the same woman (26, long wavy auburn hair, green eyes, freckles, slim): 10 safe-for-work scenes and 10 explicit ones. All were downloaded and inspected.

All 20 came back in 8 to 12 seconds at 768x1024 and cost 5 credits each. Every one follows its prompt, and they look like real photos, with no broken hands or faces.

Each image is a new look for a new character, so the face changes from image to image: there is no way to keep one character's face. Images are used as a character's look; there are no photos in chat.

Realistic and accurate every time, quick and cheap, but no way to keep the same face: 4/5.

Fantaly's video is the Live Cam itself. A minute of Aria's live video was recorded and measured frame by frame (motion, frame-to-frame similarity, jumps), and frames across it were inspected. In a second Live Cam, 13 requests were typed ('wave at me', 'blow me a kiss', 'stand up and twirl', two adult requests and more) and the recorded video was checked after each one. Live video of two characters made in the creator was also recorded.

The video is 480x640 at about 24 frames a second, with sound. It looks real and lively: she smiles, laughs, closes her eyes, tilts her head and reaches toward the camera. Motion is smooth, with a short blur when an arm comes close to the camera.

She acted on 10 of 13 requests, including waving, blowing a kiss, stretching, putting her hair in a bun, winking, hiding under the blanket and taking her top off. She could not stand up and twirl, show a sad face or slip a strap off, though she said yes to each in chat. The scene can change on its own: in one Live Cam Aria's room had become the seaside cottage from an earlier chat.

Realistic live video with natural movement that acts on most requests, held back by the small size and a few requests it can't do: 4/5.

Three Live Cams, one each with Aria, Elsa and Barbara, with 15 recorded questions spoken through the microphone button ('Tap to talk. Your message sends when you pause.'). Latency is the gap from the end of each question to the first sound of her answer, measured on the call recording.

Answers start after about 4 seconds, which includes Fantaly waiting for a pause before it sends what you said. Every question was understood correctly. In 10 of 45 questions no separate answer could be picked out of the recording, because she was still speaking or added a line of her own.

3.96 seconds is in the 2.50 to 3.99 second band: 2/5.

The answers from the three calls were scored on naturalness, clarity, pacing and intonation against the same fixed criteria as every site, with a transcript.

The voices are clear and warm, with lively pitch and a calm pace. Every answer transcribed cleanly.

Mostly natural with minor synthetic qualities: 4/5.

The public library was counted page by page through the site's own character list, for each of its three tabs.

1,568 public characters: 1,028 women, 358 anime and 182 men, made by about 400 different creators. Most are modern-day stories; about 330 are fantasy or historical and about 120 sci-fi or horror. About 150 are family set-ups (step-sister, cousin, stepmother), and about 200 are fan versions of existing characters or real people. You browse by tab and sort by popular or latest; there is no search.

More than 800 characters: 5/5.

One-time payments, no automatic renewal.

Partial minutes are rounded up.

All ten tests are scored and average 3.4/5.

Fantaly's live video is the best part: a real-looking character who moves, laughs and does most of what you ask, starting in about five seconds.

The chat behind it is weaker: memory is hit and miss after 30 messages, personalities blur together, and the creator ignores the background you write.

The account the Fantaly team provided had every feature.