This guide cuts through the noise with a practical, side-by-side comparison of MetaHuman Creator and Tavus—what each delivers and where they fundamentally differ.
MetaHuman Creator vs. Tavus: feature comparison and explanation
Core purpose
MetaHuman Creator is a cloud app for authoring high-fidelity, fully rigged 3D human characters for Unreal Engine projects. It focuses on character creation, rigging, and animation-ready assets within real-time production pipelines.
Tavus is an end-to-end platform for lifelike AI humans. It offers:
- A Conversational Video Interface for real-time, face-to-face interactions with sub-1-second latency
- Video Generation that creates videos from scripts using AI digital twins (Replicas)
Creation and authoring
MetaHuman Creator runs in the browser with parameterized controls for:
- Facial features
- Body type
- Skin, eyes, and hair
It includes libraries for hairstyles, facial hair, and clothing, with automatic fitting for rapid iteration and consistent results.
Characters are saved to a library and exported via Quixel Bridge into Unreal Engine. Standardized skeletons and facial rigs are ready for animation and facial capture, support DCC tools like Maya, and ship with auto-generated LODs for performance.
Tavus lets you create personal or stock Replicas rendered by Phoenix-3 for full-face, high-fidelity output with identity preservation and industry-leading lip sync. Replicas maintain consistent likeness across both real-time and generated content.
You can build conversational Personas using:
- A no-code Persona Builder or APIs
- Objectives & Guardrails
- A Knowledge Base (RAG)
- Memories for persistent context
Sparrow-0 enables natural turn-taking, while Raven-0 provides real-time perception and context.
White-labeled APIs, webhooks, and SDKs enable rapid integration. You can swap in any LLM, RAG, or TTS with a single config, allowing you to tailor intelligence, grounding, and voice without changing application code or pipeline plumbing.
Outputs
MetaHuman Creator outputs rigged 3D assets for use and rendering within Unreal Engine pipelines. These assets plug into your animation, facial capture, and rendering stacks, and rely on your real-time infrastructure for delivery.
Tavus CVI streams real-time, interactive video of AI humans. Video Generation outputs ready-to-use 1080p videos from scripts using AI Replicas, with:
- Support for 30+ languages
- White-labeled deployment options for flexible embedding
Integration and automation
MetaHuman assets integrate into Unreal Engine via Quixel Bridge, with deeper customization and animation in DCC tools as needed. You manage rendering, optimization, and deployment inside your own Unreal Engine environment.
Tavus provides an end-to-end multimodal pipeline with hosted streaming and generation. Rendering and delivery are handled for you, supporting:
- Function calling to take actions during conversations
- A Knowledge Base (RAG) with ~30 ms retrieval
Bring-your-own LLM is supported through APIs, webhooks, and SDKs. Event-driven integration enables orchestration across your systems, while white-labeled endpoints allow brand-consistent experiences across web, mobile, and custom surfaces.
Performance and realism
MetaHuman delivers high-fidelity characters optimized for real-time engines, with performance governed by your Unreal Engine pipeline. Realism depends on your materials, lighting, animation, and runtime configuration.
Tavus offers:
- Sub-1-second conversational latency for fluid interactions
- Phoenix-3 for full-face animation and micro-expressions in real time
- Sparrow-0 for interruptible turn-taking
- Raven-0 for contextual perception and event-triggered tool use
Governance and enterprise readiness
With MetaHuman, versioning, governance, and access control occur within your Unreal and DCC workflows. You retain full control over deployment, hosting, analytics, and compliance within your infrastructure.
Tavus provides:
- White-labeled endpoints
- Replica consent options
- Enterprise features such as SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance (on select plans)
- Dedicated support and bespoke integration to meet stringent security and governance needs
What MetaHuman Creator and Tavus do (and don’t do)
MetaHuman Creator specializes in authoring 3D human character assets for teams building interactive 3D experiences in Unreal Engine. It provides deep control over rigging, animation, and runtime performance inside game and real-time pipelines.
Tavus specializes in lifelike AI humans for real-time conversations and video generation. CVI powers on-screen agents that see, hear, and react like a person, while Video Generation creates videos from scripts using AI Replicas with rapid time-to-value.
What MetaHuman Creator is
MetaHuman Creator is a cloud tool from Epic Games for creating fully rigged, high-fidelity 3D digital humans for Unreal Engine. You can:
- Blend and adjust facial features
- Set body proportions
- Apply assets like strand-based hair and clothing
Characters export via Quixel Bridge into Unreal Engine with standardized skeletons and facial rigs suitable for animation and facial capture. MetaHuman automatically generates LODs for real-time performance and consistent runtime scalability.
Rendering, hosting, analytics, and deployment are managed within your Unreal Engine pipeline. This gives teams complete control over visual quality, optimization, integration, and infrastructure operations across platforms and projects.
What Tavus is
Tavus is a platform for AI humans built on a modular human-AI OS that unifies vision, speech, emotion, and face rendering. It delivers:
- Conversational Video Interface for real-time, face-to-face conversations with sub-1-second latency, where agents can perceive (Raven-0), converse naturally (Sparrow-0), and render with lifelike presence (Phoenix-3)
- Video Generation to produce videos from scripts using AI digital twins (Replicas), with personal Replicas or a stock library available for many use cases
Beyond generation and streaming, Tavus offers:
- White-labeled APIs, webhooks, and SDKs
- The ability to swap LLM, RAG, or TTS
- Function calling to take actions
- Access to enterprise options including SOC 2 and HIPAA on select plans
How to use this comparison
Choose MetaHuman Creator if you need authoring tools for 3D human assets in Unreal Engine with deep control and custom pipelines.
Choose Tavus if you want lifelike AI humans that converse in real time or generate videos from scripts, without managing a 3D pipeline or real-time infrastructure.
Creation workflows and technical stacks
MetaHuman’s authoring pipeline
Start in a supported browser to design a character using:
- Parameterized controls
- Asset libraries for hair, facial hair, and clothing
Save to your MetaHuman library and export via Quixel Bridge to Unreal Engine.
Use standardized rigs for animation, facial capture, and optional DCC work in tools like Maya. Manage rendering and performance, including LODs, inside your Unreal Engine pipeline for consistent frame budgets and quality targets.
Tavus’s authoring pipeline
For Replicas and video, you can:
- Create personal or stock Replicas
- Generate videos from a script via Video Generation and APIs
Phoenix-3 renders expression, while identity is preserved across outputs for consistent brand and persona.
For real-time agents, use the Persona Builder or APIs to configure Personas with:
- Objectives & Guardrails
- Memories
- A Knowledge Base (RAG)
Sparrow-0 handles turn-taking and interruptions; Raven-0 adds live perception and context.
Integration is straightforward with:
- White-labeled endpoints
- Webhooks
- SDKs
You can swap any LLM, RAG, or TTS with a single config, enabling rapid experimentation and alignment with your existing AI stack and data governance.
Skill sets and setup effort
MetaHuman fits teams with Unreal Engine and 3D/DCC expertise who need fine-grained control over digital human assets, animation workflows, optimization, and deployment in real-time environments.
Tavus fits teams that want to move fast with no-code tools and APIs—launching interactive AI humans or generating videos without 3D modeling, rigging, animation, or real-time rendering experience.
Output, integration, and performance
MetaHuman outputs and engine integration
MetaHuman outputs fully rigged 3D character assets for Unreal Engine, supports facial capture and animation workflows, and ships multiple LODs. Rendering and hosting occur within your Unreal Engine and infrastructure.
Tavus outputs and delivery options
Tavus CVI streams lifelike AI humans on-screen with sub-1-second latency. Video Generation produces finished, high-fidelity videos from scripts. Tavus handles rendering and streaming end-to-end with:
- White-labeled APIs
- Webhooks
- SDKs
Personalization, automation, and AI capabilities
MetaHuman provides extensive visual variation via parameterized controls and asset libraries for authoring characters inside Unreal Engine. Teams craft look, topology, and rigging to match project-specific aesthetic and technical goals.
Tavus supports:
- Personal and stock Replicas for tailored presence
- Memories for persistent context across sessions
- Objectives & Guardrails to steer multi-step conversations
- Function calling to enable agents to take actions during dialogue
A Knowledge Base (RAG) enables accurate, document-grounded responses with retrieval latencies as low as 30 ms. Tavus supports:
- 30+ languages
- Plug-and-play TTS
- Bring-your-own LLM
- White-labeled APIs and webhooks for event-driven experiences
Use cases and best-fit scenarios
Where MetaHuman Creator fits best
Teams building interactive 3D experiences in Unreal Engine—such as:
- Games
- Virtual production
- 3D twins
who require high-fidelity, rigged human assets and deep control over animation and performance.
Where Tavus fits best
Real-time, face-to-face AI agents for scenarios such as:
- AI Friends & Companions
- AI Tutors
- Recruiters & HR
- Healthcare navigation and intake
- Role-play for education
- Marketing or sales education and onboarding
Video Generation for:
- Sales outreach
- Converting help articles to video
- Internal training and compliance
- Healthcare communications
- Personalized landing experiences where scale and speed are critical
Decision drivers and trade-offs
If you need rigged 3D assets for Unreal Engine, choose MetaHuman Creator. If you need real-time on-screen AI humans or generated videos with lifelike presence, low latency, and end-to-end delivery, choose Tavus.
Access, pricing considerations, and enterprise readiness
Access and platform requirements
MetaHuman Creator requires:
- An Epic Games account
- Runs in supported browsers
- Targets Unreal Engine
- Often pairs with DCC tools like Maya for advanced workflows and production integration
Tavus offers:
- Cloud-based access via a Portal and APIs
- End-to-end Conversational Video and Video Generation pipelines
- White-labeled endpoints, webhooks, and SDKs for integration and embedding
Enterprise readiness
MetaHuman governance and controls are managed in your Unreal and DCC environment, aligning with your existing processes for access, security, and compliance.
Tavus provides enterprise options including:
- SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance
- Dedicated support
- Bespoke integration
- White-labeled Replica consent and deployment controls on select plans
Evaluation checklist
- Do you need 3D character assets for an engine, or lifelike AI humans for real-time conversation and video generation?
- Do you have 3D/Unreal expertise, or do you prefer no-code plus APIs to move fast?
- Is document-grounded conversation (RAG), memories, and goal-driven dialogue important?
- Do you need to integrate with LLMs/TTS and orchestrate with APIs and webhooks?
- What are your latency and scalability requirements?
In summary
MetaHuman Creator is purpose-built for authoring rigged, high-fidelity 3D humans for Unreal Engine. It serves teams that need deep control over assets, animation, and runtime performance inside real-time pipelines and custom infrastructure.
Tavus delivers lifelike AI humans for real-time, on-screen conversations and video generation. It is powered by:
- Phoenix-3 for facial realism
- Sparrow-0 for human-like turn-taking
- Raven-0 for live perception and contextual awareness
An end-to-end, white-labeled pipeline with sub-1-second latency and modular intelligence accelerates time-to-value. Teams can integrate quickly, scale reliably, and customize LLMs, RAG, and TTS to fit their stack and governance needs.
Ready to build human? Sign up for free or see the developer docs to get started.
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