HeyGen vs Synthesia: Which Should You Pick?
heygen.com · synthesia.ioPrices verified Sep 2026
Our verdict
For UGC-style marketing, pick HeyGen: comparable realism (both 4.7-4.8 on G2 with ~2,000+ reviews), more languages (175+ vs 140+), a better free plan, and no moderation pipeline delaying your ads. Synthesia's aggressive content screening — users report ordinary business videos blocked or delayed 12-24 hours, including a customer who paid $11,000 for a custom avatar of themselves — makes it wrong for performance marketing, but right for enterprise L&D and compliance-heavy training at $18/mo entry. Cost-per-minute cuts against Synthesia too: ~$29/mo buys only about 10 minutes of output.
HeyGen vs Synthesia at a glance
Scroll the table sideways to see both columns.
| Dimension | HeyGen | Synthesia |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $24/mo annual; free plan with 3 one-minute videos/monthWinner | $18/mo annual (Starter); free plan can't download videos |
| Avatar realism | G2 '#1 most realistic avatars', 4.8/5 (~1,900 reviews) | Best-in-class realism and voice, G2 4.7/5 (2,375 reviews) |
| Turnaround | Minutes for standard avatar videosWinner | Minutes to render, but moderation can add 12-24h manual review |
| Languages | 175+ with lip-synced translationWinner | 140+ |
| Usage rights | Commercial use on paid plansWinner | Commercial use on paid plans, subject to content-moderation policies that can block business content |
| Credit economics | Credit-accounting complaints on TrustpilotWinner | ~10 min of video per $29/mo; unused credits expire; leftover balances too small to render |
| Enterprise fit | Strong, with custom avatars and API | The enterprise standard for L&D — update a video by editing the script and re-renderingWinner |
| Best for | Marketing and UGC-style ad content in many languages | Enterprise training, onboarding, and internal comms |
Quick facts about HeyGen
- Pricing model
- Subscription
- Starting price
- $24/mo(Creator plan, billed annually; $29 month-to-month)
- Free trial
- Yes
- Minimum spend
- $0 (free plan); $24/mo for paid entry (Creator, annual billing)
- Turnaround
- Minutes for standard avatar videos (self-serve generation); custom avatar training takes longer
- Usage rights
- Videos generated on paid plans are usable commercially as part of the subscription; no separate per-video usage-rights fees like creator marketplaces. Custom avatars/voices are built from your own likeness with your consent.
- Founded
- 2020
- Headquarters
- Los Angeles, USA
- Ratings
- 4.8(1,924)on G24.7(319)on Capterra3.7(3,088)on Trustpilot
Pricing verified 2026-09-02 — may change.View official pricing
Quick facts about Synthesia
- Pricing model
- Subscription
- Starting price
- $18/mo(Starter, billed annually; $29 month-to-month)
- Free trial
- Yes
- Minimum spend
- $0 (free plan, no downloads); $216/yr for the cheapest downloadable-video plan (Starter annual)
- Turnaround
- Minutes to render most videos; content moderation can add 12-24 hours of manual review, and custom avatar creation takes days
- Usage rights
- Commercial use of generated videos is included on paid plans, subject to Synthesia's content moderation and ethics policies (every video is screened; some business content gets blocked or delayed)
- Founded
- 2017
- Headquarters
- London, United Kingdom
- Ratings
- 4.7(2,375)on G24.6(314)on Capterra3.9(1,820)on Trustpilot3.9(24)on ProductHunt
Pricing verified 2026-09-02 — may change.View official pricing
Frequently asked questions
Yes, HeyGen has a free plan with no credit card required that includes 3 videos per month up to 1 minute each, 1 custom video avatar, and 500+ stock avatars. Paid plans start at $24/month (Creator, billed annually) for 600 credits, longer videos, and voice cloning.
Creator is $29/month ($24 annual), Pro is $49/month, and Business is $149/month plus $20 per seat, with Enterprise custom-priced. All paid plans use a monthly credit allowance that rolls over while you stay subscribed.
Yes — HeyGen's avatars and Video Agent can generate UGC-ad-style talking-head videos from a prompt or script, including in 175+ languages. The output is AI-generated rather than filmed by real creators, so test whether it reads as authentic enough for your audience.
Synthesia has a free Basic plan (about 10 minutes of video per month, no downloads), a Starter plan at $18/mo billed annually ($29 month-to-month) with roughly 120 minutes per year, a Creator plan at $64/mo annually with about 360 minutes per year plus API access, and custom-priced Enterprise plans with unlimited minutes.
Not really — Synthesia is optimized for polished, presenter-style corporate video (training, explainers, comms), not the casual selfie-style creative that performs in paid social. For UGC-style AI ad creative, tools like Arcads, Captions/Mirage, or TopView are a better fit, or hire real creators via a marketplace.
Yes. The Creator plan includes 5 personal avatars (webcam-based), and Enterprise plans offer unlimited studio-quality custom avatars. Custom avatar creation takes days, and all videos made with any avatar still pass Synthesia's content moderation.