Synthesia vs HeyGen: AI Avatar Video Creation

At a glance

Synthesia and HeyGen both offer credit-based pricing for AI avatar video creation, with free tiers and paid plans starting at $29 per month. Synthesia positions itself for enterprise workflows with emphasis on compliance, team collaboration, and structured governance. HeyGen targets individual creators and small teams with flexible credit tiers and wide language support from entry level. Your choice depends on team size, budget, and whether you prioritize enterprise features or creative flexibility.

	Synthesia	HeyGen
Best for	Enterprise teams, training, multilingual content	Individual creators, small teams, marketing
Free plan	Yes, 500 credits/month (10 min video)	Yes, 1-3 videos/month (1 min each, watermarked)
Starting paid price	$29/month (Starter)	$29/month (Creator)
Max languages	140+ (Enterprise)	175+ (all plans)
Video length	Up to 60 min (Pro tier)	Up to 30 min (Creator and Pro)
Avatars	180+ stock (Pro tier)	700+ stock (Creator+)
Team seats	Paid add-ons	Paid add-ons (Business plan)
Integrations	API available	API available

Synthesia: strengths and limits

Synthesia emphasizes enterprise-grade security and compliance. The platform holds SOC2, GDPR, and ISO42001 certifications. It includes SAML/SSO and live team collaboration features on Enterprise plans, which support organizations with strict governance requirements.

The video studio operates on a shared credit pool covering video creation, dubbing, and surveys. Interactive features include roleplay sessions, survey sessions, and branching scenarios for training and assessment. Translations into 140+ languages are available exclusively on Enterprise plans.

Synthesia’s free Basic plan offers 500 credits monthly with no credit card required, sufficient for approximately 10 minutes of video or dubbing. The Starter plan at $29 per month provides 1,250 credits, video download, and logo removal. The Pro plan at $89 per month delivers 6,000 credits with branded video pages and access to 180+ stock avatars.

The platform estimates 100 credits per minute for video creation, though credits vary depending on avatar selection, B-roll, motion graphics, and dubbing usage. A practical limitation is that translation into 140+ languages requires Enterprise tier subscription, making multilingual workflows more expensive for smaller teams. Additionally, learner seats for roleplay and survey features cost $29 per learner per month.

HeyGen: strengths and limits

HeyGen emphasizes creative flexibility and accessibility for individuals and small teams. The platform supports 175+ languages and dialects across all paid tiers, enabling multilingual content creation from the entry level without additional tier upgrades.

The free plan provides 1 to 3 watermarked videos per month, each up to 1 minute in duration, depending on region. The Creator plan at $29 per month includes 600 credits, 1080p export, and 1 to 5 custom digital twin slots. The Pro plan starts at $49 per month with 1,000 credits and scales to 100,000 credits per month, allowing flexibility to select credit tiers matching actual usage without rigid boundaries.

HeyGen offers 700+ stock avatars starting in the Creator plan. Additional tools include Photo Looks generation, voice cloning up to 40 clones on Creator and 70 on Pro, and access to the Seedance 2.0 engine for features like Cinematic Mode and Video Agent. The Business plan at $149 per month covers the first seat with 1,500 credits monthly; additional seats cost $20 per seat per month.

A practical limitation is that HeyGen’s free plan restricts users to shorter videos and fewer monthly allowances than Synthesia’s free tier. Creator plan users cannot purchase one-time credits if they exhaust monthly allotments; they must upgrade to Pro. Similarly, Pro plan users cannot purchase additional credits and must select a higher tier.

Price and plans

Both platforms use monthly credit systems with different structural approaches.

Synthesia’s free Basic plan provides 500 credits monthly. Starter at $29 per month offers 1,250 credits. Pro at $89 per month delivers 6,000 credits. Enterprise pricing is custom. Using Synthesia’s 100-credit-per-minute estimate for video, the Pro tier approximates 60 minutes of monthly video creation. Learner seats for roleplay and survey features cost $29 per learner per month on any plan.

HeyGen’s free plan allows 1 to 3 one-minute watermarked videos per month depending on region. Creator costs $29 per month for 600 credits. Pro starts at $49 per month for 1,000 credits with flexible scaling up to 100,000 credits monthly at higher tiers. Business plan costs $149 per month for the first seat with 1,500 credits; additional seats are $20 per seat per month.

At the $29 entry point, Synthesia’s Starter includes more credits (1,250 versus 600), but HeyGen’s Creator plan includes more stock avatars (700+ versus 180+ available on Synthesia’s Pro tier) and wider language support (175+ versus 140+ on Synthesia Enterprise only).

Which one should you choose

Choose Synthesia if you are managing a large organization, operating across multiple teams, requiring strict security and compliance certifications, or planning to translate content into 140+ languages at enterprise scale. Synthesia’s focus on governance, SAML/SSO, and dedicated customer success aligns with companies managing training programs or global internal communications across multiple offices.

Choose HeyGen if you are an individual creator, small marketing team, or organization prioritizing creative flexibility and avatar variety. HeyGen’s wider language support (175+) from entry level, larger avatar library (700+), and flexible Pro tiers make it more accessible for marketing campaigns, short-form content, and rapid iteration. HeyGen is better suited if you need to generate videos under 30 minutes without committing to enterprise-level pricing.

Neither platform may suit you if you need video generation exceeding 60 minutes, require deep API integration for custom workflows, or prefer transparent, pay-as-you-go pricing without tier commitments. Both platforms use credit pools that require understanding different feature costs.

Common questions

Which is cheaper, Synthesia or HeyGen at entry level?

Both cost $29 per month at entry. Synthesia’s Starter includes 1,250 credits per month, while HeyGen’s Creator includes 600 credits. Synthesia offers more monthly credits, but HeyGen provides more stock avatars (700+ versus 180+) and more languages (175+ versus 140+ on Synthesia Enterprise). Actual cost depends on your feature priorities.

What languages do they support?

Synthesia supports translations into 140+ languages on Enterprise plans only. HeyGen supports 175+ languages and dialects across all paid plans, beginning with the Creator tier at $29 per month. If multilingual content is a priority for smaller teams, HeyGen provides better accessibility.

Can I use these platforms for team collaboration?

Synthesia includes live team collaboration and SAML/SSO on Enterprise plans, plus branded video pages on Pro. HeyGen’s Business plan at $149 per month for the first seat offers advanced collaboration features, with additional seats at $20 per seat per month. Both require higher-tier subscriptions for robust team workflows.

Do they offer free plans?

Yes. Synthesia’s free Basic plan includes 500 credits per month for approximately 10 minutes of video with no watermark. HeyGen’s free plan includes 1 to 3 watermarked one-minute videos per month depending on region. Synthesia’s free tier is more generous for users creating longer content.

The conclusion

Synthesia and HeyGen serve overlapping but distinct use cases. Synthesia works best for enterprises managing large training programs, global communications, and multilingual content at scale. HeyGen suits smaller teams and creators who value language support from entry level, avatar variety, and straightforward per-seat team pricing.

Neither platform is objectively superior; the decision depends on your organization’s size, security requirements, and content strategy. Both free plans allow you to create sample videos and evaluate quality before committing to paid tiers.

For teams managing business video at modest scale without strict compliance needs, HeyGen’s lower barrier to multilingual content from entry level may reduce costs. For organizations managing enterprise training, internal communications, and governance at scale, Synthesia’s compliance certifications, team features, and structured workflows may justify higher pricing.

Start with both free plans to assess which interface and avatar quality align with your workflow. Then evaluate whether you need Synthesia’s enterprise governance or HeyGen’s creative flexibility and language reach.

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