HeyGen
HeyGen is an avatar video and video translation platform whose credit costs range from 4 to 48 credits per minute depending on the Avatar engine, with a free tier limited to 1–3 short, watermarked, non-commercial videos per month.
What is HeyGen?
HeyGen is an AI video platform built around two primary capabilities: generating avatar-led spokesperson videos from a script, and translating existing videos into other languages with lip-sync that re-renders the speaker’s mouth movements to match the dubbed audio. It also supports digital twin creation from user footage, photo avatars, voice cloning, and a Video Agent that generates a complete avatar video from a text prompt.
The platform is not priced as a flat per-minute service. Credits are the usage system across paid plans, and consumption is determined by the Avatar engine selected. Avatar III is the budget option at 4 credits per minute for a Video Look. Avatar IV raises realism and expression at 31 credits per minute for a Video Look (16 for a Photo Look). Avatar V is the highest-fidelity engine at 48 credits per minute. This spread means a Creator plan’s 600 monthly credits can cover roughly 150 minutes of Avatar III output, about 19 minutes of Avatar IV Video Look, or about 12.5 minutes of Avatar V. The practical cost of a finished minute changes by more than 10× depending on the engine chosen for a given project.
The Free plan operates on a separate logic: it does not use credits, and instead provides a quota of 1–3 videos per month, up to 1 minute each, at 720p with a mandatory watermark. HeyGen’s terms restrict Free output to personal, non-commercial, and internal evaluation use. The API is a third billing system, prepaid and metered per second, with engine-specific rates that differ from web-plan credit costs. Non-Enterprise data may be used for model training by default, with an email-based opt-out; Enterprise content is excluded by default.
How does HeyGen work?
Users select an avatar—a stock presenter, a digital twin created from their own footage, or a photo avatar—enter or paste a script, and generate a video. On paid plans, the interface displays the credit deduction before generation. Avatar III Video Look consumes 4 credits per minute; Avatar IV Video Look 31 credits per minute; Avatar V 48 credits per minute. Video Translation is priced separately on the credit table: Speed mode with lip-sync costs 6 credits per minute, Precision mode with lip-sync 10 credits per minute, and no-lip-sync dubbing 4 credits per minute.
The Free plan counts against the monthly video quota and applies the watermark automatically. When Creator credits are exhausted, the only path is upgrading to Pro; Creator does not support one-time purchases. Pro offers scaled credit tiers up to 100,000 credits per month rather than top-ups. Business allows add-on purchases at $0.05 per credit in 100-credit blocks, with auto-reload available. Unused monthly credits roll over for one billing cycle on monthly subscriptions; annual subscribers receive monthly allocations and unused credits accumulate until annual renewal.
The API is accessed through a separate dashboard and billed per second from a prepaid wallet. Avatar III Digital Twin costs $0.0167/sec (~$1/min); Avatar IV Photo Avatar $0.05/sec (~$3/min); Avatar V $0.0667/sec (~$4/min). API credits expire 12 months after purchase. The two pools—web-plan credits and API wallet—are not interchangeable.
Use Cases
- Testing avatar quality and translation behavior on the Free plan’s 1–3 video monthly quota before committing to a subscription
- Producing short marketing, sales, or social videos on Creator using Avatar III for budget output or Avatar IV for higher realism, accepting the engine-specific credit cost
- Translating existing videos into 175+ languages with lip-sync, subject to the plan’s credit allowance and the separate translation credit rates
- Building automated avatar video pipelines through the pay-as-you-go API, independent of a web subscription
- Using Business for shared credit pools, SCORM export, and LMS integration for eLearning content
- Producing 4K export on Pro or Business where delivery resolution matters
Pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
| Plan | Price | Billing | Included usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | free | 1–3 videos per month depending on region, up to 1 minute each, 720p, mandatory watermark. No credit system; governed by a video quota. 1 custom video avatar slot, 500+ stock avatars, 30+ languages, 1 voice clone, 3 Video Agent videos/month. Output restricted to personal, non-commercial, and internal evaluation use under HeyGen’s terms. | — |
| Creator | $29 | per month | $24/mo billed annually ($288/year). 600 credits/month. Videos up to 30 minutes, 1080p export, watermark removal, 700+ stock avatars, 175+ languages and dialects, up to 40 voice clones. Unused credits roll over one billing cycle. No one-time credit purchases; must upgrade to Pro when credits run out. | — |
| Pro | $49 | per month | $41/mo billed annually. 1,000 credits/month at entry, scaling up to 100,000 credits/month via higher Pro tiers. 4K export, Seedance 2.0 engine access, edit and proofread translation scripts, up to 70 voice clones. No credit packs; select a higher Pro tier instead. | — |
| Business | $149 | per month (first seat) | 1,500 credits/month for the first seat; $20 per additional seat/month. Seats do not add credits; the pool is shared across the workspace. 4K export, videos up to 60 minutes, SCORM export, LMS integration, SAML/SSO, credit add-ons at $0.05/credit (100-credit blocks), auto-reload available. | — |
| Enterprise | Custom | custom | Custom credit terms, unlimited voice clones, SAML/SSO with SCIM, multi-workspace control, commercial terms, priority support, invoice billing. Enterprise content excluded from AI training by default. | — |
Common Limitations
- Credit consumption varies by engine by more than 10× · HeyGen does not have a single per-minute credit rate. The Avatar engine determines consumption: Avatar III Video Look costs 4 credits/min; Avatar IV Video Look costs 31 credits/min (16 for Photo Look); Avatar V costs 48 credits/min. A Creator plan’s 600 monthly credits cover roughly 150 minutes of Avatar III Video Look, about 19 minutes of Avatar IV Video Look, or about 12.5 minutes of Avatar V. A plan-level credit figure is not a proxy for output minutes without specifying the engine. The interface displays the deduction before generation, but budgeting requires knowing the engine-specific rate in advance.
- Free plan is non-commercial and watermarked, with no removal path · Every Free-plan export carries a HeyGen watermark that cannot be removed on any free account. HeyGen’s terms license Free output “solely for personal, non-commercial, and internal evaluation purposes,” and explicitly prohibit selling, monetizing, or using it for advertising or client work. The watermark and the commercial restriction are separate barriers: even if the watermark were removed, the terms would still exclude production use. Free is sufficient to test avatar quality and translation behavior; it is not a path to publishable deliverables.
- No credit packs on Creator or Pro; upgrade is the only replenishment path · On Creator, if the 600 monthly credits are exhausted, the only option is upgrading to Pro. Creator does not support one-time credit purchases. Pro also does not use credit packs; users must select a higher Pro tier with more monthly credits, up to 100,000. Business is the lowest tier that permits add-on credit purchases, at $0.05 per credit in 100-credit blocks. A Creator subscriber facing a single heavy month cannot top up without changing plans.
- API and web plans are separate billing pools · HeyGen’s API is a standalone prepaid pay-as-you-go system starting at $5, billed per second of output. It does not share a balance with Creator, Pro, or Business credits. Authenticating with an API Key draws from the prepaid wallet; authenticating with OAuth draws from web-plan premium credits. API rates are engine-specific and are not equivalent to web-plan credit costs: Avatar III Digital Twin costs $0.0167/sec (~$1/min) via API, Avatar IV Photo Avatar $0.05/sec (~$3/min), and Avatar V $0.0667/sec (~$4/min). Users who need both a web interface and programmatic access pay into two separate pools rather than one subscription covering both.
- Non-Enterprise data may be used for model training by default, with an email opt-out · HeyGen’s privacy policy states that user inputs may be used to improve services, including to “train and enhance the models.” Enterprise content is excluded from AI training by default. Non-Enterprise users can opt out by writing to [email protected], but the opt-out is a manual email request rather than an in-product toggle. Users with confidentiality or provenance requirements cannot obtain Enterprise-equivalent default exclusion on Creator, Pro, or Business without taking that step.
- Free-tier video length and region variance · The Free plan provides 1–3 videos per month, and the exact count depends on the user’s region. Each video is capped at 1 minute (some third-party sources report 3 minutes; HeyGen’s current help center states “videos up to 1 minute in duration”). The free quota is a video count, not a credit balance, so unused videos do not accumulate or convert into additional generations.
Key Features
- Avatar video generation from scripts with stock, photo, or digital twin avatars
- Video translation into 175+ languages with lip-sync (Speed and Precision modes)
- Engine-specific credit consumption: Avatar III (4–7 credits/min), Avatar IV (16–31 credits/min), Avatar V (48 credits/min)
- Digital twin creation from user footage (1 slot on Free, up to 10 on Business depending on region)
- Video Agent for prompt-to-avatar-video generation (3 videos/month on Free; 80 credits/min on paid plans)
HeyGen vs. Synthesia and D-ID
This comparison focuses on documented differences in pricing structure, free-tier allowance, primary workflow orientation, and commercial terms. It does not rank avatar realism or lip-sync quality, which depend on engine, input quality, and subjective evaluation.
| Tool | Positioning | Key differences | Best fit | Pricing note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HeyGen Credit-based plans explained AI video pricing comparison (engine rates) API pricing breakdown | An avatar video and video translation platform oriented toward marketing, sales, and social content, whose credit costs vary by more than 10× depending on the Avatar engine selected. | Engine-dependent credit consumption: Avatar III 4–7 credits/min, Avatar IV 16–31 credits/min, Avatar V 48 credits/min. Free tier is 1–3 watermarked videos/month with no credit system and explicit non-commercial terms. No credit packs on Creator or Pro; Business is the first tier with add-ons. API is a separate prepaid pool billed per second. Non-Enterprise data may be used for training with an email opt-out. | Creators and marketing teams that need avatar video generation and multilingual lip-sync translation, and can match the engine to the project’s budget and quality requirement. | Free: 1–3 videos/mo, 1 min, 720p, watermarked, non-commercial. Creator $29/mo ($24 annual), 600 credits. Pro $49/mo, 1,000 credits, scaling to 100,000. Business $149/mo, 1,500 shared credits, $20/seat. API: prepaid from $5, per-second engine rates. |
| Synthesia Plan changes (Oct 2026) Free plan allowance (third-party) | An enterprise-oriented AI video platform for training, internal communications, and L&D, built around template-driven avatar videos and LMS/SCORM integration. | Free Basic plan provides approximately 10 minutes of video per month (roughly 500–1,200 credits depending on the source), a larger monthly allowance than HeyGen’s 1–3 videos, though output is watermarked and share-link-only. Synthesia’s orientation is enterprise training and governance rather than marketing or social content. It offers stronger LMS/SCORM positioning at entry tiers; HeyGen reserves SCORM and LMS integration for Business. Synthesia’s pricing structure is credit-based but does not expose engine-level cost variation in the same way HeyGen does. | Enterprise L&D and internal communications teams that need a larger free evaluation allowance and template-driven avatar videos with governance features. | Free Basic: ~10 min/month, watermarked, share links only. Paid plans from approximately $19–$22/month (Starter, annual). Custom avatar and advanced governance features are enterprise-tier. |
| D-ID D-ID pricing overview (third-party) D-ID API pricing (third-party) | A lighter-weight AI video platform centered on animating still photos into talking-head videos, with API-first access and a lower entry price point. | D-ID offers a 14-day free trial rather than a permanent free tier. Its entry paid plan (Lite) starts at approximately $4.70/month annually ($5.90 monthly) with 40 credits, substantially lower than HeyGen’s $29 Creator entry point. D-ID’s core strength is photo-to-talking-head animation rather than full-body digital twins or multilingual lip-sync translation. Its API entry tier (Build) is $18/month for 64 credits. D-ID is positioned for lightweight, API-driven avatar animation; HeyGen is positioned for engine-selectable avatar video and translation at higher fidelity. | Developers and occasional users who need low-cost photo-to-talking-head animation or API-first avatar video without a monthly platform subscription. | 14-day free trial (watermarked, limited credits). Lite from $4.70/mo annual ($5.90 monthly), 40 credits. Pro ~$16/mo annual. API Build $18/mo, 64 credits. Higher tiers scale to ~$108–$196/mo. No permanent free plan. |
Comparison checked against official product information on 2026-11-05. Features and pricing may change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is HeyGen free?
There is a Free plan, but it provides 1–3 videos per month depending on region, up to 1 minute each, at 720p with a mandatory watermark. HeyGen’s terms restrict Free output to personal, non-commercial, and internal evaluation use. Paid plans start at Creator ($29/month, or $24/month billed annually), which removes the watermark and includes 600 credits per month.
How many minutes of video do HeyGen credits actually buy?
It depends entirely on the Avatar engine. Avatar III Video Look costs 4 credits/min, so Creator’s 600 credits cover roughly 150 minutes. Avatar IV Video Look costs 31 credits/min, reducing the yield to roughly 19 minutes. Avatar V costs 48 credits/min, or roughly 12.5 minutes. A plan-level credit figure is not a proxy for output minutes without specifying the engine.
Can I buy extra credits on the Creator plan?
No. Creator does not support one-time credit purchases. If the 600 monthly credits are exhausted, the only option is upgrading to Pro. Pro also does not use credit packs; users select a higher Pro tier with more monthly credits, scaling up to 100,000. Business is the lowest tier that permits add-ons, at $0.05 per credit in 100-credit blocks.
Can I use HeyGen Free plan videos commercially?
No. HeyGen’s terms license Free output solely for personal, non-commercial, and internal evaluation purposes, and explicitly prohibit selling, monetizing, or using it for advertising or client work. Every Free export also carries a mandatory watermark that cannot be removed. Commercial use requires a paid plan starting at Creator.
Does the HeyGen API share credits with a Creator or Pro subscription?
No. The API is a standalone prepaid pay-as-you-go system starting at $5, billed per second of output. API usage draws from a separate wallet and is not interchangeable with web-plan credits. Avatar III Digital Twin costs $0.0167/sec (~$1/min), Avatar IV Photo Avatar $0.05/sec (~$3/min), and Avatar V $0.0667/sec (~$4/min). API credits expire 12 months after purchase.
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