Prices read from heygen.com and d-id.com
HeyGen vs D-ID Pricing and Cost per Finished Avatar Minute
Both avatar platforms plan by plan, what one finished minute really costs on each, and the license, rounding and seat rules that decide the bill.
HeyGen Creator
$288
a year, 600 credits a month
D-ID Studio Pro
$191
a year, 15 minutes a month
Need a scene rather than a talking head, or a 4 to 8 second presenter hook for an ad? The panel on the right renders it from a prompt or a photo.
The short answer
D-ID is cheaper to start: its first commercial plan, Studio Pro, is $16 a month billed yearly for 15 minutes, about $1.06 a finished minute. HeyGen Creator is $24 a month billed yearly for 600 credits, which buys 150 minutes of the older Avatar III or about 19 minutes of Avatar IV. On newer avatars the cost per minute is close; on older ones HeyGen is far cheaper.
HeyGen plan prices and allowances were read from heygen.com/pricing in October 2026 and the credit rates from HeyGen's help center. D-ID prices were read from the Studio and API pricing pages on d-id.com with the annual toggle selected, also in October 2026. All prices are in US dollars. Cost per minute is our arithmetic from those figures; neither vendor publishes it.
HeyGen and D-ID plans side by side
The two companies sell differently. HeyGen sells a pool of credits that different avatar models drain at different speeds. D-ID sells video minutes, the same minute whatever avatar you pick. Each row pairs the plans a buyer at that stage actually compares.
| Stage | HeyGen | D-ID Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Trying it | Free: 3 videos a month, 1 minute each | Trial: 14 days, 3 minutes in total, full screen watermark |
| Cheapest paid | Creator: $29 monthly or $24 billed yearly, 600 credits, watermark removed, up to 1080p | Lite: $4.70 billed yearly ($56 a year), 10 minutes, personal use only, D-ID watermark |
| First plan you can use in business | Creator, the same plan: $288 a year | Pro: $16 billed yearly ($191 a year), 15 minutes, commercial license, 1 voice clone |
| More volume, one person | Pro: from $49 a month, 1,000 credits at the base tier, up to 4K | Advanced: $108 billed yearly ($1,293 a year), 100 minutes, 3 voice clones, custom logo |
| A team | Business: $149 a month plus $20 per extra seat, 1,500 credits, SSO, SCORM, 60 minute videos | Enterprise: quoted by sales, team collaboration listed here |
D-ID shows its yearly discount as 20 percent on Lite and 45 percent on Pro and Advanced, which puts month to month billing near $5.83, $29 and $196. In October 2026 D-ID also advertises unlimited videos in the first month of a paid plan, under a fair use policy. HeyGen's Creator video cap is 30 minutes per video; Business raises it to 60.
What one finished avatar minute costs on HeyGen and D-ID
This is the number that settles most comparisons, and neither pricing page shows it. HeyGen figures use Creator credits at 4 cents each on yearly billing and 4.8 cents on monthly. D-ID figures divide the plan price by its monthly minutes. Commercially usable plans only, plus the API tiers.
| HeyGen Creator | Credits a minute | Yearly | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avatar III, Video Look | 4 | $0.16 | $0.19 |
| Avatar III, Photo Look | 7 | $0.28 | $0.34 |
| Avatar IV, Photo Look | 16 | $0.64 | $0.77 |
| Avatar IV, Video Look | 31 | $1.24 | $1.50 |
| Avatar V | 48 | $1.92 | $2.32 |
| D-ID plan | Minutes | Yearly | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio Pro | 15 | $1.06 | about $1.93 |
| Studio Advanced | 100 | $1.08 | about $1.96 |
| API Launch | 45 | $0.78 | about $1.11 |
| API Scale | 200 | $0.69 | about $0.99 |
HeyGen wins on older avatars
Avatar III Video Look at 16 to 19 cents a minute is the cheapest commercially licensed talking presenter either company sells. If your training library can live with that look, nothing on D-ID comes close.
It is a draw on newer ones
Avatar IV Video Look at $1.24 a minute on yearly Creator and D-ID Studio Pro at $1.06 are within 20 cents of each other. Pick on avatar quality and workflow, not price.
D-ID wins through the API
API Launch renders a commercial minute for about $0.78 and Scale for $0.69. HeyGen's API charges $4.83 a minute for an Avatar IV Digital Twin and $7.20 for Avatar V.
The cheapest HeyGen API route is an Avatar III Digital Twin at $0.60 a minute, slightly under D-ID Scale, but custom Digital Twin creation through the API is reserved for HeyGen's Enterprise API customers. Full rate tables are in our HeyGen pricing and credit breakdown and D-ID pricing per minute.
Five rules that make the real bill differ from the plan price
List prices are close enough that the fine print usually decides it. These come from each vendor's pricing page and help center.
D-ID rounds every clip up to 15 seconds
A 20 second personalized intro bills as 30 seconds. Teams sending hundreds of short clips can lose a third of their D-ID allowance to rounding, so size the plan on rounded lengths, not script lengths.
D-ID minutes vanish monthly, HeyGen credits get one extra month
D-ID minutes renew and do not carry over. HeyGen studio credits survive one more billing cycle and then expire. If your production is lumpy, that extra month on HeyGen is worth real money.
The license line sits in different places
HeyGen's cheapest paid plan, Creator, already removes the watermark, so a business can start there. On D-ID, Lite and API Build are personal use, so the true starting price for a company is Studio Pro at $191 a year or API Launch at $420.
A second editor changes the comparison
HeyGen Creator and Pro are single seat. Business costs $149 plus $20 per extra seat, so five people pay $229 a month before extra credits. D-ID puts team collaboration on its quoted Enterprise tier.
D-ID Studio and API share one balance
D-ID confirms that Studio and the API draw on the same minutes. HeyGen keeps them apart: API calls are paid from a separate dollar balance that studio credits cannot cover, and that balance expires 12 months after purchase.
HeyGen or D-ID by the job you are buying for
Solo marketer, a few presenter clips a month
D-ID Studio Pro
Fifteen commercial minutes for $191 a year is the lowest legitimate entry price in the category. If you mainly need 30 to 60 second spokesperson clips, that covers around twenty a month after rounding.
Training or onboarding library
HeyGen Creator, then Business
Avatar III at under 20 cents a minute makes long courses affordable, and Business adds SCORM, LMS integrations, SSO and seats when a second designer joins.
Personalized video inside your product
D-ID API Launch or Scale
The cheapest commercial minute on either public price list, plus streaming minutes for live agents and output to your own S3 bucket.
Sales team recording weekly updates
HeyGen Creator
Avatar IV Video Look at about $1.24 a minute with credits that survive an extra month, and Creator's 30 minute cap per video leaves room for longer updates.
Comparing a third option for training? Our HeyGen vs Synthesia comparison and Colossyan pricing per minute use the same method.
Where a clip generator fits next to HeyGen or D-ID
Plenty of people pricing avatar tools do not need a presenter reading a two minute script. They need the shots around one. Here is the honest split.
| HeyGen or D-ID | VideoMake | |
|---|---|---|
| Long scripted presenter video | Yes, minutes long, many languages, voice clones | No. Presenter clips are 4 or 8 seconds, up to 1,000 script characters |
| A product, a place or a scene with no person | Limited; HeyGen resells generation models by the video | Yes, that is the product: 4, 8 or 12 second clips from a prompt or a photo |
| Short lip synced hook for an ad | Yes | Yes, 15 stock presenters or your own from a photo with consent |
| Cost | Cents to about $2 per avatar minute | About $1 per second of 720p video on Plus; built for short clips, not minutes |
| Formats | Landscape and portrait | 9:16 and 16:9, up to 1080p on Pro |
If your deliverable is a presenter talking for minutes, buy HeyGen or D-ID; per minute they are much cheaper than us and we would tell you the same on a call. VideoMake earns its place when the avatar video needs cutaways, a product hero shot or a vertical ad opener that no avatar platform films. Studio on every plan then upscales, captions, adds a voiceover and joins the clips. Leaving an avatar tool entirely? See the HeyGen alternative guide.
Questions people ask about HeyGen vs D-ID
Which is cheaper, HeyGen or D-ID?
D-ID has the cheaper entry ticket: Studio Pro, its first commercially licensed plan, is $16 a month billed yearly against $24 for HeyGen Creator. Per finished minute it depends on the avatar. HeyGen's older Avatar III Video Look costs about $0.16 a minute on Creator, far below D-ID's $1.06, while HeyGen Avatar IV Video Look lands near $1.24, so the two are close.
Is HeyGen better than D-ID?
HeyGen is the stronger studio for marketing and training teams: more avatar models, 4K on Pro, a 30 minute cap per video on Creator, and SCORM export plus seats on Business. D-ID is the leaner buy for one person making short presenter clips and for developers, because its API is cheaper per commercial minute and shares one balance with Studio.
How much does HeyGen cost per minute?
HeyGen does not charge per minute on its studio plans; it sells credits. Creator is $29 a month for 600 credits, about 4.8 cents each, and Avatar IV Video Look uses 31 credits a minute, so about $1.50 a minute monthly or $1.24 on yearly billing. Avatar III Video Look uses 4 credits a minute, about 19 cents.
How much does D-ID cost per minute?
On annual billing D-ID Studio Pro is $16 a month for 15 minutes, about $1.06 a minute, and Advanced is $108 for 100 minutes, about $1.08. The API Launch tier works out near $0.78 a commercial minute and Scale near $0.69. D-ID rounds every clip up to the next 15 seconds, so short clips cost more than the headline rate.
Can I use D-ID videos commercially?
Only from Studio Pro upward. D-ID lists Trial, Lite and the API Build tier as personal use, and Lite renders carry a D-ID watermark. The commercial use license starts at Studio Pro, $191 a year, or API Launch, $420 a year. A video for an ad, a product page or a sales sequence needs one of those.
Does D-ID have an API?
Yes. D-ID sells API plans on their own pricing page: Build at $14.40, Launch at $35 and Scale at $138.60 a month billed annually, with 16, 45 and 200 video minutes plus streaming minutes for live agents. Studio and the API draw on the same pool of minutes, so one team can spend the other team's allowance.
Do HeyGen credits roll over?
Partly. On HeyGen's studio plans unused credits survive one extra billing cycle and then expire, so a quiet month helps the next one but not the one after. D-ID is stricter: minutes renew monthly and do not carry over at all. HeyGen API balance is different again and expires 12 months after purchase.
Which is better for training videos, HeyGen or D-ID?
HeyGen, for most corporate training teams. Business at $149 a month plus $20 per extra seat adds a team workspace, SAML single sign on, SCORM export and LMS integrations, and allows 60 minute videos. D-ID lists team collaboration under Enterprise only, so a training department that needs several editors and LMS delivery ends up on a sales quote.
Render the shots your avatar video cuts away to
Describe the scene or upload a still, pick 9:16 or 16:9 and 4, 8 or 12 seconds, and download an original clip with commercial rights.