Comparison

ElfYourself® vs Elf Studio®

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

ElfYourself®

Personalize holiday videos by adding your face to dancing elves. Create custom videos with up to five faces and choose from various dances. Share your festive creations as greetings or on social media.

Highlights
  • Personalized elf dance videos
  • Add up to 5 faces
  • Dozens of dance options
  • Automatic video creation
  • Social media sharing
  • Send holiday greetings
Features
Read full description

The most popular app of the Holiday Season 14 years running is back with great new dances and features! This holiday tradition lets you "Elf Yourself" and star in dozens of personalized videos with your face on dancing elves. Add up to 5 faces, then select a dance and the app automatically creates your video! Share your dancing skills on social media - or message a super fun holiday greeting to your friends and family. It's as easy as pie! ElfYourself is FREE to download and enjoy, some dances are free, but most require purchase to unlock. You can purchase dances individually or get our Season Pass to access all content and remove ads for 12 months! Subscription Details Choose our Season Pass to subscribe for 12 months. Your iTunes account will be charged the listed annual fee until you cancel. Cancellation is easy through your iTunes settings. When you confirm your purchase, payment will be charged through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Don't want to auto-renew? Manage your account and renewal settings in your user Account Settings. Cancel your subscription anytime through your Account Settings. No cancellation fee. Privacy Policy: https://www.elfyourself.com/?page=privacy Terms of Use: https://www.elfyourself.com/?page=tos Happy Elfing!

About

Elf Studio®

Create magical videos and photos of Santa and his elves visiting your home using augmented reality. Place characters in any environment, customize their appearance and animations, and record your own festive scenes.

Highlights
  • Add Santa Claus and elves
  • Unlimited elves and recording time
  • Create custom elves with Elf Workshop
  • Customize elf outfits and accessories
  • Elves with walking and dancing animations
  • Pre-plan or perform animations
  • Customize lighting, shadows, and camera filters
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Elf Studio®! The latest marvel from the Software Elves here at the North Pole Command Center (Creators of Speak to Santa)! Turn your elf's Christmas mischief into photos and videos set in your own home! Put them under the tree, send them towards the cookie jar, or dream up a surprise of your own. - SCAN YOUR OWN ELF! Start with one photo of your elf toy, with room for up to four views. Every account includes one elf scan. Elf Studio Pro includes ten a month, with no additional credit charge. - NO TOY? DRAW OR DESCRIBE ONE! Sketch your elf on the drawing pad or describe it in words, and the AI turns it into an elf you can cast in any scene. - QUICK CREATE OR STUDIO! Pick an elf and a photo, then describe the action, or stage your photo by dragging elves and props into place, choosing poses and adjusting sizes. - GET HELP WITH THE WORDS! Studio builds a scene script from your layout. Get Ideas suggests actions for your photo, and Improve helps rewrite your prompt. - AI PHOTOS & VIDEOS! Make photo takes, compare them and animate your favorite. Cast up to three elves with their own roles in the scene. - DIRECT THE SHOT! Create five-second AI videos with Natural, Stop Motion or Storybook styling, camera movement, portrait or landscape framing and optional generated sound. Use start and end images to guide the action. - MAKE AN EXAMPLE YOUR OWN! Browse scene ideas and use an example recipe with your chosen elf and your own photo. - THE ELF WORKSHOP! Choose ready-made elves in classic and felt styles, or design one in 3D with hair, hats, outfits, gloves, shoes, glasses and colors, with a live preview. - ENHANCE WITH AI! Give your elf a lifelike look and keep different looks to choose from. - BRING THE PROPS! Pick from the prop shelf, scan a toy or describe a prop for the AI to create reference pictures. - STICKERS & POSES! Make AI stickers of your elf striking new poses, then use those poses in your Studio photos. Add a bust sticker of any custom elf, made right on your device. - SEND THEM IN MESSAGES! Open Elf Studio® in the Messages app drawer to send the cast, your own elves and the stickers you have made. - HOME SCREEN WIDGETS! Count the sleeps until Christmas or until your elf arrives, with a posed elf of your choice keeping watch. - MAKE THEM AR-READY! Generate a 3D model of a scanned elf or prop before placing it in your room. - FILM IN AUGMENTED REALITY! Place AR-ready elves and props on your floor, draw walking routes, add stops and choose animations. Capture AR photos and videos, with Look at Camera, footsteps, lighting and actions you can trigger while filming. AR needs a compatible device. - CATCH THEIR FACES! Record the viewer's reaction as your video plays. Reaction recordings stay on your device and are not uploaded to Elf Studio®. - ADD THE FINISHING TOUCH! Apply eight video looks and filters without changing the original. Find your creations in the Gallery, save them to Photos and share the files. AI generation needs an internet connection. Once a job is sent, it can continue on our servers while you leave the app. Enable notifications to hear when it is ready. Your Gallery is stored on this device. Elf Studio® does not provide cloud library backup, so export the memories you want to keep. AI or AR. Photo or video. Your elf, your home, your Christmas story! Elf Studio® is created by North Pole Command Centre Limited and works with any toy. Elf Studio® is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Elf on the Shelf®, but many families use Elf Studio® alongside their existing Elf on the Shelf traditions. Made by the software elves here at the North Pole Command Center! Elf Studio® is a registered trademark in the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States. All rights reserved.

Screenshots

ElfYourself®4 screens
Elf Studio®4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Elf Studio® at none against ElfYourself®'s shown. Elf Studio® also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs fortnightly). ElfYourself®'s advantage is review sentiment (66% vs 45%) and ratings volume (28K vs 3.8K). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. ElfYourself® sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per year and Elf Studio® sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for ElfYourself® against 4.7 for Elf Studio®. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ElfYourself® has 28K ratings behind it against 3.8K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 66% of ElfYourself®'s written reviews are positive against 45% of Elf Studio®'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ElfYourself® ships an update fortnightly, Elf Studio® every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ElfYourself® versus Elf Studio®: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterElfYourself®Elf Studio®
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (28K ratings) — better4.7 (3.8K ratings)
Positive reviews65.8% of reviews — better45.5% of reviews
Number of ratings28K — better3.8K
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 3 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size102 MB350 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMagic Mirror LLCNorth Pole Command Centre Limited

Customer experience

ElfYourself®

All ratings27,758 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral2.0%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews1,143 reviews
Positive65.8%
Neutral9.4%
Negative24.8%

Elf Studio®

All ratings3,778 ratings
Positive90.8%
Neutral3.3%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews99 reviews
Positive45.5%
Neutral6.1%
Negative48.5%

User reviews

ElfYourself®

From 28K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🤩 So much fun!!!
  • 😂 Funny and entertaining
  • 👍 Great for family and friends
  • 💖 Brings back good memories

Room to improve

  • 💰 Paid options are too expensive
  • 🤖 AI filters make videos look abnormal
  • 🤔 Confusing subscription model
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs

Elf Studio®

From 3.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎅 Elf-themed game
  • 👍 Fun for kids
  • 💡 Ability to create elf scenes

Room to improve

  • 💰 Many features locked behind paywall
  • 🐛 Glitchy performance
  • 🚫 Limited free functionality

Bugs and requests

ElfYourself®

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Videos not saving properly
  • Black screen issue on certain devices
  • Purchased content disappearing

Requested features

4 requests
  • More free dances and songs
  • Ability to change elf outfits
  • Easier sharing options
  • Improved video quality for paid version

Elf Studio®

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Unable to scan surfaces for elf placement
  • Crashes and freezes when trying to use app

Requested features

3 requests
  • More free customization options
  • Ability to save and share created scenes
  • Improved surface detection for elf placement

In-app purchases

9 purchases

ElfYourself®

Subscriptions1
  • ElfYourself® Season Pass 2020$6.991 Year
One-time8
  • Disco Dance$0.99
  • 80s Dance$0.99
  • Classic Dance$0.99
Show 5 more
  • HipHop Dance$0.99
  • All Dances$4.99
  • All Dances2 variants$5.99
  • All Dances$6.99
  • All Dances$7.99
11 purchases

Elf Studio®

Subscriptions4
  • Unlock Elf Studio$1.991 Month
  • Elf Studio™ - Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Unlock Elf Studio$3.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Elf Studio™ - Annual$6.991 Year
One-time7
  • 50+ Elf Dance Animations$0.99
  • 1 Credit - Pro Price$1.99
  • 5 Credits - Pro Price$5.99
Show 4 more
  • 5 Elf Video Credits$7.99
  • 10 Credits - Pro Price$9.99
  • Elf Studio - Lifetime Pass$19.99
  • 25 Credits - Pro Price$22.99

Questions

Is ElfYourself® free?
ElfYourself® is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Elf Studio® free?
Elf Studio® is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ElfYourself® or Elf Studio®?
ElfYourself® is rated higher. ElfYourself® averages 4.8 out of 5 from 28K ratings, while Elf Studio® averages 4.7 from 3.8K ratings.
Do ElfYourself® or Elf Studio® have ads?
ElfYourself® shows ads; Elf Studio® does not.
Which is updated more often, ElfYourself® or Elf Studio®?
ElfYourself® ships an update fortnightly, and Elf Studio® every 3 days. Most recently, ElfYourself® was updated on October 19, 2026 and Elf Studio® on October 18, 2026.

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