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Facts checked against both vendors on September 28, 2026.
Synthesia is the stronger choice for training, onboarding and internal communications teams that want minute-based plans, SCORM export, interactive quizzes and strict content controls. HeyGen is the stronger choice for marketers and creators who want the most lifelike avatars, video translation across 175 languages, and a credit system that lets them mix avatar video, translation and an agent-driven generator. Synthesia is easier to budget; HeyGen gives you more to do with each dollar if you are willing to track credits.
Synthesia and HeyGen both turn a script into a video of a digital presenter, and both let you clone yourself as an avatar. The difference is in who they are built for. Synthesia has grown into a corporate learning and communications platform with enterprise controls and a compliance-minded posture. HeyGen has pushed harder on avatar realism, translation and generative video, and prices everything in one credit currency.
Both vendors publish their plans and, in HeyGen's case, a per-feature credit table. The figures below come from those pages as of September 2026.
Synthesia is a browser-based video platform where you write a script, pick an avatar and voice, and generate a presenter-led video. The avatar library has 240 or more stock avatars with what the vendor calls natural gestures and expressions, plus expressive avatars that match lip-sync and expression to the script. Personal avatars come in two forms: a webcam or photo version with optional voice cloning, and Studio avatars filmed in a professional session for executives and spokespeople. Every personal avatar requires a live on-camera consent recording; you cannot upload one on someone else's behalf. The platform supports 160 or more languages, translates a finished video into 80 or more languages in one click while preserving the speaker's voice, exports SCORM for learning management systems, and adds interactive quizzes, calls to action, branching scenarios, roleplay sessions and view analytics. An AI Playground inside the product uses third-party models such as Veo 3.1 and FLUX.2 for generative footage. Synthesia states that scripts must stay professional and business-related, and it does not allow political, sexual, personal, criminal or discriminatory content.
HeyGen is a video generator built around what it calls the most lifelike avatars in AI video, currently Avatar V, with custom avatars created from a reference image or a video upload. It generates from text, from an image, from an audio file such as a podcast, and from a PowerPoint or PDF. Video translation preserves tone and syncs lips across 175 or more languages and dialects. A Video Agent produces a finished video from a prompt, and an AI Studio editor lets you adjust tone, delivery, gestures and emotion in text. HeyGen sells everything in credits, its single currency across features.
Synthesia bills in minutes of video. Basic is free with 10 minutes a month, 9 avatars and one editor seat. Starter is $29 a month or $18 a month billed yearly, with 10 minutes a month (120 minutes a year on the annual plan), 125 or more avatars, 3 personal avatars, one editor and three guests, video download, AI dubbing and logo removal. Creator is $89 a month or $64 a month billed yearly, with 30 minutes a month (360 a year), 180 or more avatars, 5 personal avatars, one editor and five guests, API access, branded video pages, interactive videos and priority support. Enterprise is custom, with unlimited minutes, 240 or more avatars, unlimited personal avatars, SAML SSO, a dedicated customer success manager, implementation services, SCORM export and brand kits.
HeyGen bills in credits. Free is $0 for three videos a month of up to one minute, one custom avatar and translation in 30 or more languages. Creator is $29 a month or $24 a month paid yearly, with 600 credits a month, videos up to 30 minutes and translation across 175 or more languages. Pro is $49 a month with 1,000 credits. Business is $149 a month plus $20 per additional seat, with 1,500 credits, videos up to 60 minutes, five or more custom avatars, SAML SSO, centralized billing and integrations with n8n, Make, HubSpot and Zapier. Enterprise is sales-led with flexible credits, no duration cap, ten or more custom avatars, API access, SCIM and a dedicated success manager.
HeyGen's help center says what a credit buys. Avatar V costs 48 credits per minute of output. Avatar IV costs 16 credits a minute with a photo look or 31 with a video look. Avatar III costs 4 credits a minute with a video look. The Video Agent costs 40 credits a minute in standard mode or 120 in Seedance mode. Translation is 6 credits a minute in speed mode, 10 in precision mode, or 4 without lip-sync. So the 600-credit Creator plan is about 12 minutes of Avatar V, 37 minutes of Avatar IV photo-look video, or 100 minutes of speed-mode translation. Unused monthly credits roll over for one extra billing cycle; annual subscribers can use their allocation across the whole year.
Learning and compliance workflows. SCORM export, interactive quizzes, branching, roleplay sessions and analytics are built for training teams, and the Enterprise tier adds SAML SSO, implementation services and a dedicated success manager. HeyGen's SSO and SCIM arrive at Business and Enterprise but it does not list SCORM.
Simpler budgeting. A minute is a minute. Starter's 10 minutes and Creator's 30 minutes a month do not change depending on which avatar model you pick, whereas the same HeyGen plan yields 12 minutes with Avatar V or 37 with Avatar IV.
More included personal avatars at the entry tiers. Starter includes 3 personal avatars and Creator 5, against HeyGen's one on Creator and Pro. Studio-filmed avatars are an option for executives who need the highest realism.
A governance posture. Mandatory live consent recordings and a business-only content policy make Synthesia easier to approve in regulated or brand-sensitive organizations.
Avatar realism and range. Avatar V is HeyGen's headline, custom avatars can be built from a single reference image, and the AI Studio lets you direct gestures and emotion in text. Synthesia's expressive avatars are strong, but HeyGen puts more of its product weight here.
Translation as a core product. 175 or more languages and dialects with lip-sync, priced at 4 to 10 credits a minute, make HeyGen the cheaper way to localize existing footage. Synthesia's one-click translation covers 80 or more languages and is bundled into minutes.
More input types. Image-to-video, audio-to-video from a podcast file, PowerPoint and PDF to video, and a prompt-driven Video Agent give HeyGen more ways to start than a script.
Flexible spend. One credit pool covers avatars, translation and the agent, credits roll over for a cycle, and Business seats are $20 each rather than a new plan. Synthesia's minutes are fixed per plan and guests are view-only.
Pick Synthesia if you are a learning and development, HR, or internal communications team that needs SCORM, interactivity, brand control and predictable minutes, or an enterprise that wants SSO and a compliance story it can defend. Creator at $64 a month billed yearly is the practical starting point for a team that needs API access and interactive videos.
Pick HeyGen if you are a marketer, creator or agency that wants the most realistic avatar, needs to translate content into many languages, or wants to generate from images, audio and decks. Creator at $24 a month billed yearly with 600 credits is enough for a few minutes of Avatar V or a lot of Avatar IV, and Business at $149 plus $20 a seat is where teams, SSO and integrations arrive.
Built from each tool's listing. Vendors can update their own listing after claiming it.
Basic is free with 10 minutes a month. Starter is $29 a month or $18 a month billed yearly with 10 minutes a month and 3 personal avatars. Creator is $89 a month or $64 a month billed yearly with 30 minutes a month, 5 personal avatars and API access. Enterprise is custom with unlimited minutes, SAML SSO and SCORM export.
Free is $0 for three one-minute videos a month. Creator is $29 a month or $24 a month billed yearly with 600 credits. Pro is $49 a month with 1,000 credits. Business is $149 a month plus $20 per seat with 1,500 credits, 60-minute videos and SAML SSO. Enterprise is custom. Avatar V costs 48 credits a minute, Avatar IV 16 to 31, translation 4 to 10.
