HeyGen vs Synthesia
Two ai avatars tools side by side: pricing, free plans, features and who each one suits.
#10 in AI avatars
The best-known AI avatar platform, with stock presenters, a digital twin of you, Video Agent and lip-synced translation into 175+ languages
Best for: Creators, coaches, course makers and marketing teams who want a realistic presenter, often a clone of themselves, and need the same video in many languages.
#3 in AI avatars
The enterprise standard for AI avatar videos, built for training, onboarding and internal comms in 140+ languages
Best for: Companies and L&D teams that need a lot of presenter-style training or explainer video in many languages, with security and approval controls.
HeyGen or Synthesia?
HeyGen and Synthesia both turn a script into a talking-presenter video, but they aim at different buyers. HeyGen is the creator and marketer pick, with your own digital twin, longer videos and translation that keeps your voice. Synthesia is the company pick, with compliance badges and training workflows. Solo creators should start with HeyGen; L&D teams with Synthesia.
What each one is built for
HeyGen leans into personal use. You clone yourself from a short phone clip, translate a finished video while it re-syncs your lips, or hand Video Agent a one-line prompt. Creator videos can run 30 minutes.
Synthesia leans into corporate content. It imports slides and documents, pushes edits to a published video everywhere it is shared, and lists SOC 2, GDPR and ISO 42001. The catch is that its plan table caps video length at 3 minutes on every tier, and many of its best features (1-click translation, SSO, SCORM, brand kits) are Enterprise only.
What it costs at typical use
Assume a team making 10 two-minute avatar videos a month, so 20 finished minutes.
- Synthesia Starter: $18 a month yearly or $29 monthly. Its own FAQ puts Starter at roughly 22 minutes a month including the free allowance, at about 100 credits per finished minute. That covers 20 minutes with almost no room for retakes.
- HeyGen Creator: $24 a month yearly or $29 monthly for 600 credits. On Avatar IV, at 16 to 31 credits a minute, 20 minutes costs 320 to 620 credits, which fits. On the newer Avatar V, at 48 a minute, it costs 960 credits, so you would need Pro from $49.
So the two are close at this volume. HeyGen’s edge is rollover: unused credits carry over, while Synthesia’s reset every period. Synthesia’s edge is the bigger free tier, about 10 minutes a month against HeyGen’s three one-minute videos, though Synthesia’s free videos cannot be downloaded.
Which to pick
- Pick HeyGen if you want an avatar of yourself, need videos longer than 3 minutes, or plan to translate content for new audiences. See the HeyGen review.
- Pick Synthesia if you run training or internal comms, need security sign-off, and your videos are short modules. See the Synthesia review.
Specs side by side
| HeyGen | Synthesia | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $24/mo | From $18/mo |
| Free tier | ||
| Pricing | Free plan with 3 watermarked videos a month up to 1 minute. Creator from $24/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly), Pro from $49/mo. | Free Basic plan with 10 minutes of watermarked video a month. Paid plans from $18/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly). |
| Platforms | Web, API | Web, API |
| Best for | Creators, coaches, course makers and marketing teams who want a realistic presenter, often a clone of themselves, and need the same video in many languages. | Companies and L&D teams that need a lot of presenter-style training or explainer video in many languages, with security and approval controls. |
| Last checked | 2026-10-21 | 2026-10-19 |
Pricing
HeyGen
Free plan with 3 watermarked videos a month up to 1 minute. Creator from $24/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly), Pro from $49/mo.
- FreeFree
- Creator$24/mo yearly · $29 monthly
- ProFrom $49/mo
- Business$149/mo + $20 per extra seat
- EnterpriseContact sales
- APIPay as you go from $5
Synthesia
Free Basic plan with 10 minutes of watermarked video a month. Paid plans from $18/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly).
- BasicFree
- Starter$18/mo yearly · $29 monthly
- Pro$64/mo yearly · $89 monthly
- EnterpriseCustom
- Roleplay seats$25 per learner per month
- Studio avatars$1,000/year add-on
Key features
HeyGen
- Personal Avatar (digital twin) from a short recorded clip plus a consent statement, on HeyGen's Avatar V model
- Photo Avatar that turns one front-facing photo into a talking presenter, on Avatar IV
- Stock library of ready-made presenters, cleared for commercial use on paid plans
- Video Agent that turns a one-line prompt into a scripted video with avatar, B-roll and motion graphics
- AI Studio, a text-based editor where you control script, voice, gestures and emotion
- Video translation with voice cloning and lip sync, from an upload or a YouTube link, up to 10 languages at once
- Brand glossary for protected terms and forced translations
- PowerPoint and PDF to video, up to 50 slides, with speaker notes as script
- Seedance 2.0, Veo 3.1 and Nano Banana inside the app on Pro
- API, MCP server and a ChatGPT app
Synthesia
- 240+ stock AI avatars, plus customizable outfits and scenes
- Personal avatars from a single photo or short video, with live consent check
- Avatar Builder to design a character from a prompt or reference image
- AI voices in 140+ languages and accents, plus voice cloning
- AI Video Assistant turns docs, PowerPoints or links into a draft video
- AI dubbing with voice preservation and lip-sync
- Interactive video with quizzes, CTAs and branching
- Roleplay and survey Sessions with conversational avatars
- Brand kits, approvals, SCORM export and analytics
- API for programmatic video, dubbing and real-time interactive avatars
Strengths and weaknesses
HeyGen
- Free plan with no card, enough to test a custom avatar and Video Agent
- Translation keeps your cloned voice and re-syncs the lips, not just subtitles
- Custom avatars require on-camera consent from the person shown
- Credits roll over one month on monthly plans and all year on annual plans
- One app covers avatars, translation, slides to video and B-roll generation
- Public API from $5 pay as you go
- Free videos are watermarked and capped at 1 minute
- Credit cost per minute depends on the avatar model, so budgeting takes work
- Stock avatar count, language count and free plan resolution differ between HeyGen's own pages
- 4K, Seedance and Veo need Pro at $49 a month or more
- Only Business users can buy one-off credit packs
- Business seats add $20 each on top of $149
Synthesia
- Free plan with no credit card, enough to test the editor properly
- Very wide language and voice coverage
- Strong security story (SOC 2, GDPR, ISO 42001, SSO on Enterprise)
- Consent check on personal avatars reduces misuse risk
- Videos update in place across links, embeds and your LMS
- PowerPoint and document import fits how training teams already work
- Free videos carry a watermark and cannot be downloaded
- The pricing table lists a 3-minute video length on every tier, which is short for full lessons
- Credit system makes it hard to predict how many minutes you really get
- Many headline features (1-click translation, SSO, SCORM, brand kits) are Enterprise only
- Aimed at corporate communication, so it is a weak fit for TikTok-style creator content
- No pay-per-video option
Try HeyGen
Free plan with 3 watermarked videos a month up to 1 minute. Creator from $24/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly), Pro from $49/mo.
Try Synthesia
Free Basic plan with 10 minutes of watermarked video a month. Paid plans from $18/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly).