HeyGen
Script-to-video with stock or consent-verified custom AI avatars, voice cloning and lip-synced translation, billed in credits per minute of output.
AI avatar video generationResearched — not yet hand-checkedNot rated — no hands-on test
Sourced facts
- Free plan uses no credits but caps each video at 1 minute; monthly video count is disputed between HeyGen's own pages (pricing page says 3, help centre says 1–3 by region) — source
- Creator is $29/mo or $24/mo billed annually, with 600 credits per month — source
- Pro starts at $49/mo (about $41/mo annually) with 1,000 credits; the top Pro tier is $4,300/mo with 100,000 credits — source
- Business is $149/mo ($119/mo annually), +$20/mo per additional seat, with 1,500 shared credits — source
- Terms dated 2026-07-23: paid users own their outputs and may use them commercially; Free outputs are limited to personal, non-commercial evaluation — source
- You grant HeyGen a royalty-free, sublicensable, worldwide, irrevocable licence to your content, including for AI training — source
- Every video digital twin requires a consent video recorded from the person shown — source
- API is pay-as-you-go: Avatar IV twin $4.83/min, Avatar V $7.20/min, translation $0.81–1.50/min; credits expire after 12 months — source
- API limits: 10 concurrent workflows on pay-as-you-go (20 on Enterprise), 5,000 characters per script, 30 min per scene, 25 fps, 16:9 or 9:16 — source
Quick facts
- Pricing: US logged-out reference prices from heygen.com/pricing: Free $0 (no credits, 1 min per video, monthly count disputed — pricing page says 3, help centre says 1–3 by region); Creator $29/mo ($24/mo annual, 600 credits); Pro from $49/mo (1,000 credits); Business $149/mo ($119/mo annual, +$20/mo per extra seat, 1,500 shared credits); Enterprise on request. Logged-in prices, taxes and non-US pricing not verified.
- Best for: Solo creators and course or marketing teams who want a talking-head presenter or lip-synced translations without filming, and who check the per-minute credit cost before generating.
- Website: www.heygen.com
What it does well
- Free tier uses no credits: 1–3 videos depending on region, 1 minute each, 720p share link, plus 1 custom avatar and 1 voice clone to test with
- Paid users own their outputs and may use them commercially; the terms are dated and explicit about the Free-plan restriction
- API is transparent per-minute metering — Avatar IV twin $4.83/min, Avatar V $7.20/min, translation $0.81–1.50/min — so you can estimate cost before generating
- Consent verification is built in: every video digital twin needs a recorded consent video from the person shown
- Documented API limits are specific: 10 concurrent workflows pay-as-you-go, 5,000 characters per script, 30 min per scene, 25 fps, 16:9 or 9:16
Where it falls short
- Rates and limits vary by account type and region, and you are charged the cost shown in the app at generation time rather than a published rate
- Only Business can buy extra credit packs ($0.05/credit, sold in blocks of 100 for $5) — Creator and Pro cannot top up
- Credits are lost if you drop to Free; monthly plans carry unused credits for one extra cycle, annual plans accumulate until renewal
- API consent is recorded by webcam — pre-recorded or skipped consent is Enterprise-only, and photo avatars get no consent check
- HeyGen's own pages conflict on key numbers: Free video count, and Avatar III rate (blog says 3 credits/min, help centre says 7 or 4)
- The Digital Twin FAQ says outputs can be used commercially with no plan caveat, which conflicts with the Free-plan restriction in the Terms
- Moderation policy bans avatars of real people without consent and bans political content
- Refunds are generally not given — there is a case-by-case 15-day window that can be refused if many credits were used
- No hands-on test of output quality, render times or actual charged amounts, so the rating stays null
Verdict
Strong fit if you need a presenter on screen without filming, or want lip-synced translation of existing footage. Cost is per minute of output and varies by avatar generation version, so estimate with the API rates before committing. Read the Terms rather than the FAQ on commercial use for the Free plan — they disagree, and the Terms are the restrictive one.
What our judgement is based on
Plan names, US logged-out reference prices, credit amounts, the Free-plan video cap and the seat pricing were read from HeyGen's own pricing page. Ownership, commercial-use and licensing clauses were read from the Terms dated 2026-07-23. Consent requirements came from HeyGen's developer documentation on avatar consent, and the API per-minute rates and hard limits from its usage-limits documentation. We have not run a hands-on test, so quality, render times and real charges are unverified and the rating is null.