CUSTOM CAST vs PaperVN
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CUSTOM CAST
Design unique 3D characters with extensive customization options for body parts, clothing, and accessories. Save multiple creations, pose them for social media, or use them as a virtual avatar for live streaming with facial tracking and AR capabilities.
- Extensive character customization
- Save multiple character designs
- Social media sharing with stickers/frames
- Virtual streamer functionality
- Facial motion tracking
- AR integration
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"Create your very own 3D character!" Choose from a variety of body parts and clothes, and create your very own 3D character from an infinite combination of parts. You can create your very own 3D character from a rich and wide variety of customization parts, such as hairstyle, clothes, skin color, face type and accessories. You can also create and save multiple 3D characters. You can use different characters, or enjoy dressing them up by changing their outfits and hairstyles. ------------------------------------------------- "Post on social media!" Take screenshots of your customized 3D characters making various expressions and poses using the app, and post them on social media! You can also decorate your screenshots with cute stickers and frames. Show off the 3D models that you created! ------------------------------------------------- "Let's stream!" You can start streaming as a virtual streamer using your created 3D character. Your face will be detected by the camera on your device, and your 3D characters will move based on your movements, such as tilting or turning your head. You can also use the gyro function to create immersive streams, and use Flicks to make your character do specific poses. The AR function is also available for iPhone X and later models to integrate the real world with your stream. Perhaps you can even become a virtual streamer in the real world...!? ------------------------------------------------- [Operating environment] iOS 15 or higher 1GB free storage or more
PaperVN
Discover and track visual novels with this companion app. Browse titles, learn about characters, and manage your personal library. Features daily selections, personalized recommendations, and extensive search capabilities.
- Discover visual novels
- Track play progress
- Manage personal library
- Daily visual novel selections
- Personalized recommendations
- Extensive search functionality
- Character and title details
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PaperVN is a visual novel companion built for Apple devices. It helps you discover visual novels, learn more about titles and characters, and record every step of your play journey. Browse, explore, and search VNDB's public data without signing in. After signing in to your VNDB account, you can also read and edit your personal library. Coming Swiftly: Throughout its development, PaperVN has followed a “beauty first” principle. It is built entirely with SwiftUI, and every detail has been carefully considered. Today: Today presents a daily selection of visual novels worth your attention and recent events. PaperVN can also analyze your library and use machine learning to generate a “For You” list. Library: After signing in to your VNDB account, you can edit your library and update play status, played release, rating, and start or finish date. Preferences such as language, appearance, and content safety are customizable as well. Visual Novel / Character Details: PaperVN includes localizations for more than 6,000 VNDB visual novel tags and character traits, with support for Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, and Korean. We are also working to localize the descriptions of more than 200,000 visual novels and characters on VNDB. Search: Search visual novels, characters, releases, staff, developers, and publishers, then narrow the results with matching filter criteria. LICENSED APPLICATION END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT:https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: PaperVN at 100% against CUSTOM CAST's 48%. PaperVN also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.4) and ads (none vs shown). CUSTOM CAST's advantage is ratings volume (4K vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. CUSTOM CAST sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and PaperVN sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.59 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PaperVN holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CUSTOM CAST has 4K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of CUSTOM CAST's written reviews are positive against 100% of PaperVN's.
CUSTOM CAST ships an update every 5 weeks, PaperVN weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CUSTOM CAST | PaperVN |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (4K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 48.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 896 MB | 204 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 17+ |
| Developer | DWANGO Co., Ltd. | 训杰 潘 |
Customer experience
CUSTOM CAST
PaperVN
Bugs and requests
CUSTOM CAST
Reported bugs
4 issues- Black screen issues when customizing characters
- Glitches with clothing and accessories
- Tracking and camera issues
- Inconsistent performance and crashes
Requested features
6 requests- More free clothing and accessory options
- Ability to customize hair color and facial features
- More diverse body types and skin tones
- Improved performance and reduced loading times
- Add more male-oriented clothing and styles
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- Ability to save and export character designs
PaperVN
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
CUSTOM CAST
- 160cc$0.99
- 480cc$2.99
- 1000cc$5.99
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- 3000cc$19.99
- 6000cc$39.99
- 10000cc$59.99
PaperVN
- PaperVN Senkou1 Month trial$0.591 Month









