deep-live-cam vs cherry-studio
Two of the top projects in Desktop AI apps, side by side: who leads on each score part and who each one suits, then setup, license, activity and what each review found.
deep-live-cam
Real-time webcam face swap from a single source image
cherry-studio
Cross-platform desktop chat client for many cloud and local LLM providers
Verdict
Both score 75; deep-live-cam ranks higher on stars, 97,037 to 52,608. Of the 5 score parts we measure for both, deep-live-cam leads on 2, cherry-studio on 1 and 2 are even.
- Adoptiondeep-live-cam leads by 27 points, 95 to 68: a wide gap.
- FreshnessEven at 100.
- Maintenancedeep-live-cam leads by 2 points, 89 to 87: close to even.
- Easy to runEven at 50.
- Agent-readycherry-studio leads by 85 points, 85 to 0: a wide gap.
Pick deep-live-cam if you are
Creators and streamers wanting local real-time face swapping on a webcam
- Live webcam mode plus image and video file processing from one GUI
- Execution providers for CPU, CUDA, CoreML, DirectML and OpenVINO
Pick cherry-studio if you are
Individuals wanting one desktop client for many LLM providers and local models
- Supports cloud providers plus local Ollama and LM Studio in one client
- Runs the same prompt against multiple models in a single conversation
| What we compare | deep-live-cam | cherry-studio |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 95, widely used | 68, popular |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 89, healthy | 87, healthy |
| Easy to run | 50, easy | 50, easy |
| Agent-ready | 0, none | 85, ready |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 97k | 52.6k |
| License | AGPL-3.0 (copyleft) | AGPL-3.0 (copyleft) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Sep 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Docker | No | No |
| GPU | Optional | Optional |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Mentioned | Mentioned |
deep-live-cam
Deep-Live-Cam is a Python desktop GUI that swaps a face from one source image onto a webcam feed, video or image, using ONNX models (inswapper_128_fp16, gfpgan-1024). It supports mouth masking, mapping different faces to multiple subjects, and CPU, CUDA, CoreML, DirectML and OpenVINO execution providers. A paid pre-built edition with extra features is sold on the project website.
Who it is for: Creators and streamers wanting local real-time face swapping on a webcam
Strengths
- Live webcam mode plus image and video file processing from one GUI
- Execution providers for CPU, CUDA, CoreML, DirectML and OpenVINO
- Mouth mask and face mapping for multiple subjects in one frame
- Needs only a single source image, no per-face training
Weaknesses
- Manual install needs Python, ffmpeg, CUDA/cuDNN pinning; README says not for beginners
- CPU-only mode is slower; live preview takes 10-30 seconds to appear
- Command-line arguments are marked unmaintained in the README
- insightface models are limited to non-commercial research use
- GPU optional
- Needs Python 3.11-3.14, ffmpeg, onnxruntime, CUDA Toolkit 12.8 (NVIDIA), tkinter, OBS (for streaming output)
- Models: inswapper_128_fp16.onnx, gfpgan-1024.onnx, ONNX
cherry-studio
Cherry Studio is a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux that talks to cloud providers such as OpenAI, Gemini and Anthropic, and to local models through Ollama and LM Studio. It includes 300+ preset assistants, simultaneous multi-model chats, document handling (text, images, Office, PDF), WebDAV backup and an MCP server integration. An Enterprise Edition with admin backend and shared knowledge bases is sold separately.
Who it is for: Individuals wanting one desktop client for many LLM providers and local models
Strengths
- Supports cloud providers plus local Ollama and LM Studio in one client
- Runs the same prompt against multiple models in a single conversation
- Installs as a desktop app with no environment setup, on Windows, Mac and Linux
- 300+ preconfigured assistants plus custom assistant creation
Weaknesses
- AGPL-3.0; commercial use outside AGPL terms needs a separate license
- Admin backend, team knowledge base and access control are Enterprise-only
- Plugin system, OCR, TTS and ASR are listed as roadmap items, not shipped
- No Docker or web deployment; desktop only, so no multi-user server in Community Edition
- GPU optional
- Needs Ollama or LM Studio (optional, for local models), WebDAV (optional, for backup)
- Models: OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, Ollama, LM Studio
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