Magic Studio AI Headshots Review (2026): I Saw My Headshots Before Paying
Magic Studio is an AI photo editor that took over InstaHeadshots, so older reviews and its Trustpilot page still use the InstaHeadshots name. The headshot product is the same. What sets it apart is the order of things. Most headshot generators take your money and then make your photos. Magic Studio makes them first, and you pay only if you want to download them.
I ran it right after Aragon, on the same night, with mostly the same selfies. Here’s how it went.
Signing up: two questions
Click “Create your Headshots Now For FREE” and sign in. It asks your name and gender, and that’s it. After Aragon’s nine screens about my age, hair and body type, that was a relief. It worked out the rest from my photos.
Uploading ten photos
The effort goes into the photos instead. Magic Studio wants ten you already have: at least 2 from the waist up and 8 close-ups, in different outfits and expressions. Upload from your computer, or scan a QR code to send them from your phone.
A few of mine were rejected, so I went back through my camera roll for replacements. I spent more time choosing photos here than anywhere else. Ten is a lot more than the six Aragon took. As the results show, it paid off.
Picking outfits: hundreds of them
This is the one real question Magic Studio asks, and it’s a big one. Instead of Aragon’s three attire choices, there’s a library of hundreds of outfits, sorted into categories: business (suits and ties), semi-casual, casual, and professional, meaning uniforms like doctors’ scrubs and lawyers’ clothes.
I spent five to ten minutes going through the whole library. Part of that was me being impatient, since I was testing rather than shopping for a headshot. Someone who wants one good professional photo will appreciate the control. And the categories make it easy to stay in one lane. It’s far better than picking between “business professional” and “smart casual”.
The wait
A countdown clock shows how long is left. Mine showed 14:40 when I looked, so about 15 minutes in all. It says it will email you when they’re ready. While you wait, it asks a short survey about how you heard of it, which you can skip.
The results, before paying
The gallery opens with “Welcome, Sankalp A” and all 50 headshots, watermarked. You can open each one, heart the ones you like, and choose Edit, Get hi-res, More like this or Share on any of them.
This is where the ten photos earned their keep. A lot of these look like me. The best ones are very faithful to how I look in person, close enough that I don’t think anyone looking at them would guess they’re AI. The only giveaway is that they look too professional: good hair, good light, a good background, with my exact face in the middle of it.
It also got my facial hair right, in a way that told me it had read my photos. Some of mine were nearly clean-shaven and some had two or three weeks of beard. The headshots came back with the same mix.
I liked five or six of the 50. From Aragon I liked one of 100.
They are professional photos, though, whatever you put them in. Even the casual outfits look like a photographer set up the shot. That makes them perfect for LinkedIn, a résumé, a company website or a speaker bio. I wouldn’t put one on Instagram or Facebook. They aren’t fun photos, and they don’t show me anywhere real.
Pricing
You see prices when you click “Pay & Remove Watermark”. On 7 November 2026, from India, I was shown three packs in rupees:
| Pack | Price I was shown | Crossed out | What you get | Resolution | Edit credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | ₹2,499 | 3 headshots you choose | Standard | None | |
| Standard | ₹3,499 | ₹5,000 | All 50 headshots | Standard | None |
| Premium | ₹3,599 | ₹7,500 and ₹3,999 | All 50 headshots | Print-ready, high resolution | 50, never expire |
It costs a lot more than Aragon’s $15. But I haven’t paid yet, and I don’t have to until I’m sure. I can keep looking at the results, or try again with a different set of photos if something isn’t working, and only then decide.
Having looked, I don’t need all 50. I’d only ever use a few, so the Starter pack’s three downloads are plenty. The only reasons to go up to Premium are the high-resolution files and the edit credits: Starter and Standard can’t be edited. Premium is just ₹100 more than Standard while its 10% countdown runs, so Standard makes little sense.
What I liked
- Likeness. Five or six I’d use, and the best are faithful to how I look in person.
- It read my photos. The facial hair varied the way my uploads did.
- Two questions, not nine.
- The outfit library, sorted into clear categories.
- Seeing everything before paying, and being able to retry with other photos.
- A three-headshot Starter pack for people who need one good photo.
What I didn’t like
- Ten photos, and some got rejected. Curating them took the longest.
- Hundreds of outfits to scroll through if you’re in a hurry.
- Expensive next to Aragon, and no edits unless you buy Premium.
- Countdown timers on the discount.
Refunds and privacy
Magic Studio refunds you if you don’t get at least four decent headshots and haven’t downloaded any. You have to email it within 3 days of getting your results. It says your photos and headshots are deleted automatically 30 days after they’re made, and that a separate model is trained for each shoot and not used for anything else.
Magic Studio or Aragon?
I ran both on the same night, so here’s how they compared.
| Magic Studio | Aragon | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions before upload | 2 (name, gender), plus outfits | 9 (age, hair, body type, glasses, attire, backgrounds…) |
| Outfit choice | Hundreds, in categories | 3 styles |
| Photos needed | 10 (2 waist-up, 8 close-up) | 6 to 10 |
| Time to results | About 15 minutes | 18 minutes |
| See results before paying | Yes, watermarked | No |
| Headshots | 50 (download 3 on Starter) | 40, 60 or 100 |
| Ones I’d use | 5 or 6 of 50 | 1 of 100 |
| Price I was shown | ₹2,499 to ₹3,599 | $12 to $25 |
| Refund | 3 days, fewer than 4 decent shots, nothing downloaded | 14 days, nothing downloaded |
If you want a headshot that actually looks like you, for LinkedIn, a résumé or your website, Magic Studio is the better tool, and you can find out for free whether it works on your face before paying. Aragon is cheaper and faster to set up, but I’d only recommend it if price matters more than likeness. The full Aragon walkthrough is in my Aragon review.
FAQs
Is Magic Studio the same as InstaHeadshots? Yes. InstaHeadshots is now part of Magic Studio, and its Trustpilot profile and socials still carry the InstaHeadshots name.
Can I try Magic Studio AI headshots for free? You can generate them and see every result for free, with a watermark. You pay to download.
How much does Magic Studio cost? From India on 7 November 2026: ₹2,499 for 3 headshots, ₹3,499 for all 50, or ₹3,599 for all 50 in high resolution with 50 edit credits (with a timed 10% discount).
Do Magic Studio headshots look like you? For me, more than any other tool I tried. Five or six of 50 were good enough to use, and the best were faithful to how I look in person.
Are they good for Instagram? Not really. Even in casual outfits they look like professional headshots. They’re best for LinkedIn, résumés and websites.