Tavus 50 new Phoenix-4.5 stock faces vs a Sume avatar handle

Tavus's changelog lists 50 additional first-party stock faces built on Phoenix-4.5, including 28 Pro faces. The Sume docs reserve the sume_ handle prefix for Sume system and default avatars (their example uses sume_clawra) but I found no catalog list of stock faces; you can create a reusable avatar from a prompt, a structured profile or a reference image, then call it by avatar_handle.

The Tavus entry is undated in its changelog snapshot, read 2026-10-01. Sume facts are from Create new avatar and Generate avatar video.

What did Tavus add?

The entry reads: "50 new Phoenix-4.5 stock faces: 50 additional first-party faces built on Phoenix-4.5, including 28 Pro faces." The changelog gives no price, availability date or API field for them, so this post does not either.

How do you get an avatar on Sume?

Avatar creation has three input kinds, sent to POST /v1/avatar-1.0/generate with a top-level avatar_handle and an input union.

How do I use the avatar afterwards?

Each request creates a job; poll it, then use the returned handle in POST /v1/avatar-1.0/talking-video. The handle may include a leading @, and Sume stores it normalized without the @. Current execution supports one resolved avatar per final video.

Stock face or created avatar: how do I decide?

A stock face saves the step of making one. A created avatar lets you describe the person you need and keep it as a handle across videos. If you have a photo of the person, the image route is covered in Tavus photo-to-replica versus a Sume photo avatar.