Buyer comparison, updated September 2026
HeyGen vs Synthesia: Pricing, Avatars and Which One to Buy
Verified 2026 plan prices, minute and credit allowances, and the job each platform is genuinely built for. Plus the case where neither is the right purchase, and what to run instead.
- HeyGen from
- $29
- Synthesia from
- $18
- VideoMake from
- $24
Need generated footage rather than a talking head? Try it in the panel here, no card needed to see output.
The short answer
Buy HeyGen if your videos are marketing, sales or social content and you want the avatar to look like a real person on camera. Buy Synthesia if your videos are training and compliance material that has to land in an LMS, because SCORM export, SAML single sign on and minute based billing are built in. Entry pricing is level at $29 per month each, and Synthesia drops to $18 per month billed yearly. Above entry, HeyGen is the cheaper of the two: Pro is $49 per month against Synthesia Creator at $89.
There is a third case both tools fail. If the video you actually need has no presenter in it, a product turning on a table, a kitchen at golden hour, a drone pass over a job site, an avatar platform cannot render it. You need a generative video model instead.
Last updated September 2026. Prices checked against the published HeyGen and Synthesia plan pages.
HeyGen vs Synthesia: side by side
Every figure below comes from the vendors' own published plan pages in September 2026. Both companies change plans often, so re-check before you sign an annual contract.
| What you are comparing | HeyGen | Synthesia | VideoMake |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it produces | An AI avatar delivering your script | An AI avatar delivering your script | Original generated footage, no presenter |
| Best for | Marketing, sales, social, localization | Training, onboarding, compliance, L and D | Ads, product video, b-roll, short form |
| Free tier | $0, 3 videos a month, 1 minute each | $0, 1,200 credits a month, about 10 minutes | Trial generation, then a paid plan |
| Entry paid plan | Creator, $29 a month, 600 credits | Starter, $29 a month or $18 billed yearly | Plus, $49 a month or $24 billed yearly |
| Mid plan | Pro, $49 a month, 1,000 credits | Creator, $89 a month or $64 billed yearly | Pro, $149 a month or $74 billed yearly |
| Team plan | Business, $149 a month, extra seats $20 each | Enterprise, custom, unlimited minutes | Business, $499 a month or $249 billed yearly |
| Stock avatars | Large library, leads on realism | 9 free, 125+ Starter, 180+ Creator, 240+ Enterprise | None, this is not an avatar tool |
| Personal avatar of you | Yes, plus voice cloning | 3 on Starter, 5 on Creator, unlimited Enterprise | No |
| Languages | 175+ claimed, strong translation and dubbing | 160+ languages and voices | Prompt in English, output has no spoken script |
| Max export | Up to 4K on Creator and above | 1080p on standard plans | 1080p |
| Clip or video length | 30 min on Creator and Pro, 60 min on Business | Billed by minutes drawn from credits | 4, 8 or 12 second clips you cut together |
| LMS and SCORM | No native SCORM export | SCORM export on Enterprise | No |
| SSO for IT review | Enterprise tier | SAML SSO on Enterprise | Not currently |
| API access | Yes, metered from the same credits | Yes, from Creator at $89 a month | Yes, see the API page |
| Vertical 9:16 output | Yes | Yes | Native 9:16, composed for the frame |
HeyGen and Synthesia are trademarks of their respective owners. VideoMake is not affiliated with either company. This page exists because buyers ask for the comparison.
Which one should you actually buy?
Buy HeyGen if
- The videos go out to customers or prospects, not to employees, so the avatar has to survive scrutiny on a landing page.
- You want your own face and voice on camera at scale, with cloning good enough that sales reps will actually use it.
- You localize one script into a dozen markets and care more about lip sync quality than about LMS plumbing.
- Your budget sits between $29 and $149 a month and you want 4K export without an enterprise conversation.
Buy Synthesia if
- Finance wants a predictable line item. Minutes are easier to forecast than a credit pool that drains faster on higher quality renders.
- The video has to be tracked. SCORM export means completion data flows into the LMS instead of dying in a Drive folder.
- IT will run a security review and will ask about SAML single sign on before anyone signs anything.
- You are producing structured course material where a consistent template matters more than a photoreal presenter.
Buy neither if
- There is no presenter in the video you are picturing. Avatar tools cannot render a product, a location or a scene.
- You need ad creative and short form cutdowns where the hook is a visual, not a person talking to camera.
- Your stock library keeps failing you and you need the specific shot rather than the closest match.
- You want to test twenty visual hooks this week, which is a rendering problem, not a scripting one.
HeyGen pricing vs Synthesia pricing, without the marketing
The sticker prices look close and the real costs are not. HeyGen sells credits: Creator is $29 a month for 600, Pro is $49 for 1,000, Business is $149 for 1,500 with extra seats at $20 each. Synthesia sells minutes dressed as credits: Basic gives 1,200 a month, roughly 10 minutes of finished video, Starter matches that allowance at $29 a month or $18 billed yearly, and Creator triples it to 3,600 a month at $89, or $64 billed yearly.
The number that catches teams out is burn rate, not headline price. HeyGen's most realistic avatar models consume around 20 credits per rendered minute, so a Creator plan at 600 credits is closer to 30 minutes of premium output than to some unlimited allowance, and it falls further if you re-render takes. Synthesia is more predictable in that respect, which is exactly why finance departments tend to prefer it and why marketing teams find it expensive per video.
Annual commitment changes the ranking. Synthesia Starter at $18 a month billed yearly is the cheapest way into either platform, saving 38 percent against month to month. HeyGen discounts annually too. If you are comparing on cost alone, compare annual against annual, because month to month pricing flatters HeyGen and annual pricing flatters Synthesia.
For context on the third option: VideoMake is $49 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly, on the Plus plan, and $149 a month, or $74 billed yearly, on Pro, which is what unlocks 1080p output. It buys a different thing entirely. You get generated footage rather than presenter minutes, so the comparison is only useful if the video you need has no person in it.
Where each platform disappoints buyers
HeyGen
The credit system is the recurring complaint. Quality tiers cost different amounts, so two people on the same plan get very different output volumes, and it is hard to budget a quarter in advance. There is also no native SCORM export, which stalls the purchase the moment a learning team gets involved.
Synthesia
Cost per finished minute is high once you move past Starter, and the avatars, while professional, still read as corporate presenters rather than people. Teams making customer facing content often try it, ship two videos, and quietly move the work elsewhere. The features that justify the price sit on Enterprise.
Both of them
Neither renders a scene. Every output is a person on a background, so the moment your storyboard calls for the product itself, a location, a process shot or an abstract visual, you are back in a stock library hunting for something close. That gap is the single most common reason buyers end up running two tools.
If you land on that last point, the practical setup most teams settle into is one avatar tool for anything with a script and a face, plus a generative tool for everything else. Our HeyGen alternative and Synthesia alternative pages go into where that split makes sense and where it is overkill.
Questions buyers ask before choosing
Which is better, HeyGen or Synthesia?
Neither wins outright. HeyGen is better for marketing and social video, because its avatars look more natural on camera and its voice cloning and translation are stronger. Synthesia is better for corporate training, because it exports SCORM for an LMS, has SAML single sign on, and bills in predictable minutes instead of a credit pool that drains at different rates.
Is HeyGen cheaper than Synthesia?
At the entry tier they are level: HeyGen Creator is $29 a month and Synthesia Starter is $29, or $18 billed yearly. Above that HeyGen is cheaper. HeyGen Pro is $49 a month with 1,000 credits, while Synthesia Creator is $89 with 3,600 credits, about 30 minutes of video.
Does Synthesia have a free plan?
Yes. Synthesia Basic is $0 a month with 1,200 credits, roughly 10 minutes of video, and access to 9 AI avatars, with no personal avatars. HeyGen also has a $0 tier, capped at 3 videos a month and 1 minute per video, with export up to 1080p. Both are sized for evaluation, not for production.
Can HeyGen or Synthesia generate video without a presenter?
No, not in the way most marketers mean. Both are avatar platforms, so the output is a person delivering a script over slides or a background. Neither renders original footage such as a product on a table, a drone pass or a street scene. That is a different category of tool, and it is the one this site is built on.
How many avatars do HeyGen and Synthesia have?
Synthesia publishes 9 avatars on Basic, 125 or more on Starter, 180 or more on Creator and 240 or more on Enterprise, with 3, 5 or unlimited personal avatars by tier. HeyGen does not gate its stock library by tier in the same way and competes on realism instead, with its newest avatar models consuming about 20 credits per rendered minute.
Which one is better for corporate training videos?
Synthesia, clearly. SCORM export drops a finished video straight into an LMS with completion tracking, and SAML single sign on plus brand kits satisfy most IT reviews. HeyGen can produce the same video, but you hand the learning team an MP4 and let them wire up tracking themselves, which usually means the tracking never happens.
Do HeyGen and Synthesia offer an API?
Both do. Synthesia includes API access from the Creator plan at $89 a month. HeyGen exposes an API and meters it from the same credit pool as the studio, so a batch job and a manual render draw on one allowance. Price either by expected minutes rather than by seat count, or the first month will surprise you. We publish an AI video generator API for generated footage as well.
Can I use HeyGen or Synthesia videos commercially?
Yes on paid plans for both, subject to each vendor's terms, and both restrict certain uses of stock avatars in political or sensitive content. Free tiers watermark or cap output in ways that make them unsuitable for client work. Read the license section before a paid deliverable goes out, because the rules differ on personal avatars in particular.
Should I run both tools?
Rarely. Running both avatar platforms duplicates the same capability and doubles the bill. The split that does pay off is one avatar tool plus one generative tool, because they cover genuinely different shots. Teams that publish weekly usually end up there within a quarter.
What do HeyGen and Synthesia cost per video?
Work it out from your own output, not from the plan page. Take the monthly price, divide by the minutes you realistically ship, and add the re-renders. A team producing four 3 minute videos a month on Synthesia Creator pays about $7 per finished minute at the annual rate. The same math on HeyGen Pro depends entirely on which avatar quality you pick.
If the shot has no presenter in it, generate it instead
Describe the scene and get a finished 4 to 12 second clip back in minutes, natively vertical or wide, up to 1080p. Plans from $24 a month billed yearly.