HeyGen vs Synthesia: HeyGen makes avatar video from about 64 cents a minute and dubs with lip sync. Synthesia costs about $1.80 a minute and suits training.
HeyGen and Synthesia sell the same basic trick: type a script and an AI presenter delivers it on video, in dozens of languages, without a camera or a studio. They split on who they build for. HeyGen chases creators, marketers and anyone translating video at volume, prices by credits and ships new avatar models quickly. Synthesia sells to companies producing training, onboarding and internal communications, prices by minutes and adds the controls those buyers ask for.
How we compared: both pricing pages and help centers checked on September 26, 2026, with per-minute costs calculated from the published credit and minute allowances. We have not produced the same video on both platforms side by side.
Marketing, social and sales videos: HeyGen. It is cheaper per minute, its Video Agent builds a whole video from a prompt, and newer avatar models such as Avatar IV and Avatar V move more naturally.
Translating videos you already have: HeyGen. Lip-synced translation costs about 40 cents a minute on Creator billed yearly, and credits roll over.
Company training and onboarding: Synthesia. Interactive video, SCORM export for your LMS, brand kits and SSO are built around learning teams.
Trying before paying: HeyGen for downloadable test videos, Synthesia for a longer look at its editor, since its free plan makes 10 minutes a month but cannot download them.
Both companies meter usage, in different units. HeyGen sells credits, and each avatar model burns a different number per minute. Synthesia sells minutes of avatar video a year, drawn from a credit pool that also pays for dubbing and generated assets.
| HeyGen | Synthesia | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 3 videos a month, 1 minute each | 10 minutes a month, no downloads |
| Entry plan | Creator: $29 a month, $24 billed yearly, 600 credits | Starter: $29 a month, $18 billed yearly, 120 minutes a year |
| Mid plan | Pro: from $49 a month, 1,000 credits, up to 100,000 | Creator: $89 a month, $64 billed yearly, 360 minutes a year |
| Team plan | Business: $149 a month plus $20 a seat, 1,500 credits | Enterprise: custom, unlimited minutes |
| Typical cost per minute | About 64 cents (Avatar IV from a photo, Creator yearly) | About $1.80 (Starter yearly) |
| Unused allowance | Rolls over a month, or to renewal on yearly plans | Expires |
The per-minute gap depends on the avatar model. At HeyGen's published rates, 600 Creator credits make about 150 minutes with an older Avatar III look, 37 minutes of Avatar IV from a photo, 19 minutes of Avatar IV from a video look, or 12 minutes of the newest Avatar V. With a credit worth 4 cents on Creator billed yearly, those work out to between about 16 cents and $1.92 a minute, all below Synthesia's $1.80 on Starter except the newest model.
Monthly billing narrows HeyGen's lead slightly and widens Synthesia's cost: month to month, Synthesia's plans work out to roughly $2.90 to $3.00 per minute. The larger difference is rollover. HeyGen keeps unused credits for another month, or until renewal on yearly plans, while Synthesia's unused minutes expire, which punishes teams whose production comes in bursts.
HeyGen moves faster on the models themselves. It runs three generations side by side, priced by capability: Avatar III at 4 to 7 credits a minute, Avatar IV at 16 credits from a photo or 31 from a video look, with expressive custom motion at 40 more, and Avatar V at 48 credits. The free plan includes 500+ stock avatars and one custom video avatar, and Pro unlocks 4K export and every advanced model.
Synthesia's approach is steadier and more controlled. Stock avatars cover the usual presenter styles, personal avatars of you or colleagues come in fixed numbers per plan (3 on Starter, 5 on Creator, unlimited on Enterprise), and studio avatars filmed in Synthesia's studio cost $1,000 a year on any plan. For a company putting its HR director on screen, that consent-driven process is part of what it buys.
Translation is HeyGen's strongest feature. Lip-synced translation costs 6 credits a minute in Speed mode and 10 in Precision mode, translation without lip sync 4 credits, and paid plans cover 175+ languages and dialects, with editing and proofreading of the translated script on Pro. A marketing team localizing a product video into ten languages pays a few dollars per language.
Synthesia covers 160+ languages and includes AI dubbing in the same credit pool as its avatar video. On Starter billed yearly, those credits stretch to about 580 minutes of dubbing, around 37 cents a minute, so the per-minute price is close to HeyGen's. The difference is in the workflow: HeyGen treats translation as a product of its own, while Synthesia treats it as one step in producing a multilingual training library.
This is where Synthesia earns its higher price. Creator adds interactive video and an API that can generate up to 360 minutes a year, while Enterprise adds SCORM export for learning management systems, brand kits, live collaboration, SSO and unlimited minutes. Learning teams publishing courses into an LMS need that export, and procurement teams need the security features before a pilot is approved.
HeyGen's Business plan covers collaboration and security for teams, and its API resells well enough that platforms such as Hedra build on HeyGen's avatar models. For a training department, though, Synthesia's product is closer to what it already runs, and the per-minute premium buys fewer workarounds.
HeyGen's free plan produces real, downloadable output: up to three videos a month of one minute each, with trial access to Avatar IV, the Video Agent and lip-synced translation. It is enough to judge whether an avatar of you looks convincing before paying.
Synthesia's Basic plan gives more minutes, 10 a month with 9 avatars, but locks downloads and logo removal behind Starter, along with most of the stock library. It is a way to try the editor and see whether the training templates suit your content, not a way to publish anything.
HeyGen's credit system takes arithmetic. The same 600 credits can mean 150 minutes or 12 depending on the model, extra credits are sold only on Business, and running out on Creator means upgrading to Pro. Teams that want a predictable monthly output have to plan around the model they use most.
Synthesia's weak points are price and rigidity. Its entry plan costs nearly three times as much per minute as HeyGen's Avatar IV videos from a photo, minutes do not roll over, and the features larger teams want, including SCORM, brand kits and SSO, start at Enterprise, where pricing is by quote.
For most buyers, HeyGen is the better value and the faster-moving product, which is why it takes the verdict. Synthesia is the better fit for one specific buyer: a learning or HR team building a training library at company scale. Buyers who want cinematic generated footage rather than a talking presenter should look at Runway or Kling AI instead, and those who need only a voice track can use ElevenLabs.
HeyGen, at the entry level. On Creator billed yearly, HeyGen's Avatar IV video from a photo costs about 64 cents a minute, and even its newest Avatar V model costs about $1.92. Synthesia's Starter plan billed yearly works out to about $1.80 a minute and Creator to about $2.13, and monthly billing pushes both to roughly $2.90 to $3.00.
Synthesia. It is built for learning and HR teams, with templates for training and onboarding, 160+ languages, interactive video on Creator and SCORM export for learning management systems on Enterprise, along with brand kits, live collaboration and SSO. HeyGen can make the same videos, but its plans are organized around creators and marketers rather than course libraries.
Yes. HeyGen charges 6 credits a minute for lip-synced translation in Speed mode and 10 in Precision mode, about 40 cents a minute on Creator billed yearly, across 175+ languages and dialects. Synthesia's AI dubbing draws from the same credit pool as its avatar video; Starter's yearly credits cover about 580 minutes of dubbing, roughly 37 cents a minute.
Both do, with different catches. HeyGen's free plan makes up to three videos a month of up to one minute each, with trial access to Avatar IV and translation. Synthesia's Basic plan makes up to 10 minutes a month with 9 avatars, but you cannot download the videos or remove the Synthesia logo until Starter.
Yes. HeyGen's free plan already includes one custom video avatar, and paid plans animate a photo or video of you with Avatar IV or Avatar V. Synthesia calls them personal avatars: Starter includes 3, Creator 5 and Enterprise an unlimited number, while studio-filmed avatars cost $1,000 a year extra on any plan.
On HeyGen, yes, within limits: monthly plans roll unused credits into the next month, and yearly plans accumulate them until renewal. On Synthesia, no: unused minutes expire at the end of the billing period, although yearly plans make the whole year's allowance available from the first day.