HeyGen

HeyGen makes videos with AI presenters. You write a script, choose a stock avatar or one built from your own footage, and HeyGen renders a talking-head video with matching lip movement and voice. HeyGen's own use-case pages cover social content, online courses, legal, finance and real estate: the kind of work where filming someone every week isn't practical.

Its current avatar model, Avatar V, is trained on a recording of you and is meant to keep the same face and mannerisms across wide, medium and close-up shots. Around that sit three main tools:

• AI Studio, a script-based editor that works a bit like a document. You control tone, gestures and pacing from the text, and add captions, B-roll and a brand kit.
• Video Agent, which turns a single prompt into a finished video with presenter footage, motion graphics and overlays you can edit afterwards.
• Video Translation, where you upload a file or paste a YouTube link and get a dubbed version with cloned voice and re-synced lips in 175+ languages and dialects.

Business adds integrations with Zapier, Make, n8n and HubSpot, plus SCORM export for learning platforms.

Pricing, checked October 2026

The Free plan gives you 3 videos a month, each up to 1 minute, with 500+ stock avatars and one custom avatar. Paid plans run on monthly credits, and how many credits a video uses depends on the model and length.

• Creator: $29/month, or $24/month paid annually. 600 credits, videos up to 30 minutes, 1080p, no watermark, voice cloning.
• Pro: from $49/month for 1,000 credits, with 4K export. Higher Pro tiers scale up to 100,000 credits for $4,300/month.
• Business: $149/month plus $20 per extra seat. 1,500 credits, 60-minute videos, SSO, team workspace.
• Enterprise: custom.

Unused credits on monthly plans roll over for one extra month; on annual plans they build up until renewal.

Strengths and weak spots

The language coverage is the standout. Turning one recorded video into Spanish, German or Korean versions without a reshoot is one of the features HeyGen puts front and centre. The free tier is enough to see whether your avatar looks right before paying.

On the other side, the credit model makes cost harder to estimate than a flat per-minute price, the free plan's one-minute cap is tight, and whether viewers accept an AI presenter depends a lot on your audience, so test before you commit. Creating an avatar of yourself also means handing over footage of your face and voice, so read the data terms first.

Alternatives

Synthesia is the closest competitor and is popular with corporate training teams. Colossyan also targets L&D, while D-ID focuses on talking photos and interactive agents.