Umax — Become Hot holds 4.6 stars from 51,343 ratings, and its most recent release is version 1.4.3 from 28 June 2024. That combination — enormous install base, two-year-old build — is why most people end up searching for an alternative. Below are five, grouped by the reason you're switching rather than ranked into a single list, because “best” depends entirely on whether your problem is price, trust, or wanting an actual measurement.
How these numbers were read
Star ratings, rating counts, seller names and update dates come from Apple’s own app-lookup feed rather than from page text, because the two disagreed: one listing renders an 18+ badge where Apple’s data field says 17+. In-app purchase prices are not in that feed and were read from the listing pages the same day. Prices and ratings move — re-check before you spend anything.
1. Work out which problem you're solving
People arrive at this search from three different frustrations, and they have different answers:
- “It costs more than I realised.” Weekly billing. $9.99 a week is $519.48 a year. Go to options 1 or 4.
- “I don't believe the number.” No published method. Go to options 2 or 5.
- “Is this thing even maintained?” Current version 1.4.3, dated 28 June 2024. Go to option 1.
Nothing below is an affiliate placement; we sell a competing product and that is the bias to watch for in this article, not a commission.
2. If you want the same thing, still maintained — LooxUP
LooksMax Face Rating AI－LooxUP (ID 6478697267, DIALIGHT INTERNATIONAL LP). 4.5 stars from 36,387 ratings, version 1.62 shipped 3 August 2026, iOS 16+, age rating 9+.
This is the nearest like-for-like: same instant-score format, comparable ratings base, and unlike Umax it is visibly still being worked on. Pricing is aggressive and variable — promo weeks at $1.99 and $6.99, premium weeks at $4.99 and $9.99, one-offs to $29.99 — so read the price you are actually shown rather than the one in any review.
Our opinion: if you liked Umax and just want a current version of that experience, this is the switch. It inherits the same unpublished-method problem.
3. If you want a human to be accountable — QOVES
QOVES is the opposite end of the category: every analysis is reviewed by a person, covering 160+ assessments with 450+ improvement methods, with a turnaround the company puts at around 28 days. Pricing is not published on the site — we checked on 12 August 2026 and the reports page 404s; the widely reported figure is roughly $150 a year at checkout.
Our opinion: this is the only option here that meaningfully changes what you're buying rather than which app you're buying it from. If you are weighing an actual procedure, a four-week wait is a rounding error. See our QOVES review and QOVES vs Umax.
4. The creator-brand option — Face Harmony by Clavicular
Face Harmony by Clavicular (ID 6781068829, seller Nathan Kest) is the productised version of a large looksmaxxing audience. Read 12 August 2026, it holds 2.3 stars from 104 ratings — the weakest rating in this article by a wide margin, and Apple's own number, not our characterisation.
We include it because it is a real and visible alternative people do choose, not to bury it. Two fair caveats in its favour: 104 ratings is a small sample where a few dozen unhappy users move the average a long way, and apps with weekly paywalls collect one-star reviews about billing rather than about analysis. Its tiers are Harmony Weekly $9.99 ($519.48/yr), Monthly $9.99, Pro Monthly $19.99, and a Lifetime at $49.99 — that last one is the only non-recurring price in this entire comparison.
Also note the name collision: at least three current listings are called some version of “Face Harmony”, by three unrelated sellers. Ours-versus-theirs detail in Face Harmony vs Umax.
5. If you want to spend nothing — free web analyzers
A cluster of free browser tools will score a face without an app install or a subscription. They are genuinely free and genuinely limited, and most exist to sell you something adjacent. We went through the main ones in free AI face analysis compared.
The two questions worth asking of any of them: what happens to the uploaded photo, and is there any published basis for the number. “Free” does not resolve either.
6. If you want the measurement, not the verdict — SoftMaxx
This is us, so read it accordingly. The distinction we build on is that the score is not the product — the ratios are. SoftMaxx detects 478 facial landmarks, computes about 50 anthropometric ratios from them, and shows you the ratios and their reference ranges rather than only a number, in roughly a minute. Rescans produce per-metric deltas, so a routine can be evaluated against something. First scan is free, no signup; Pro is $19.99/month.
The honest limitation: a ratio is still a ratio. Publishing the method means you can check our working — it does not mean facial geometry determines how attractive anyone is, and any tool in this category implying otherwise is overselling.
See the measurements, not just a number
The SoftMaxx free scan shows the actual ratios behind the score — no signup, first scan free.
Run the free scan7. All five side by side
| Option | Rating (12 Aug 2026) | Cost | Method published | Switch if… |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LooxUP | 4.5 (36,387) | $1.99–$9.99/wk | No | You want the same thing, maintained |
| QOVES | Not an app | ~$150/yr | Human-written reasoning | Stakes justify a human and a wait |
| Face Harmony (Clavicular) | 2.3 (104) | $9.99/wk or $49.99 lifetime | No | You want a one-off price, not a subscription |
| Free web analyzers | Varies | Free | Mostly no | You want a number and nothing else |
| SoftMaxx (us) | Not an app | Free scan; $19.99/mo | Yes | You want to see the ratios and track them |
7. Common questions
What is the best alternative to Umax?
There isn't one best — it depends why you're switching. For a maintained mass-market app that works the same way, LooksMax Face Rating AI－LooxUP (4.5 stars, 36,387 ratings, updated 3 August 2026) is the closest like-for-like. For a human expert's reading, QOVES. For seeing the actual ratios behind a score rather than the score alone, a measurement-based web tool. For spending nothing, free web analyzers, with the caveat that most are lead magnets.
Is there a free alternative to Umax?
Yes, several web-based analyzers cost nothing, and SoftMaxx gives a genuinely free first scan with no signup. The thing to check with any free face analyzer is what happens to your photo and whether the score has any published basis — free tools have the same verification problem as paid ones, plus a reason to be generous with your score so you share it.
Why do people look for Umax alternatives?
Three reasons dominate. Price: weekly tiers of $3.99–$9.99 annualise to $207–$519, which surprises people at renewal. Trust: the app does not publish what its score is computed from. And maintenance: Apple's listing shows the current version as 1.4.3, dated 28 June 2024, about two years before this was written.
Is LooksMax AI better than Umax?
Not meaningfully. LooksMax AI (ID 6474518292, Mnkybrain Labs) holds 4.5 stars from 42,608 ratings and last shipped 4 April 2024; Umax holds 4.6 from 51,343 and last shipped 28 June 2024. Both are stale builds with unpublished scoring methods. Note that LooksMax AI is frequently confused with LooxUP (ID 6478697267), a different company's app, which is the one of the three still shipping. Match the ID.
Are these apps accurate?
Unknowable for most of them, and that is the honest answer rather than a dodge. Accuracy is a claim you can only evaluate against a published method — which ratios, measured how, compared to which population. Umax, LooxUP and most of the category publish none of that. What you can evaluate is whether a tool shows you its working, which is a different and more answerable question.
How much does Umax cost per year?
Depending which tier you are shown: $207.48, $259.48, $363.48 or $519.48, from weekly prices of $3.99, $4.99, $6.99 and $9.99 that Apple lists concurrently. Monthly tiers run to $24.99. Multiply any weekly subscription by 52 before comparing it to anything billed monthly or yearly.