{"path":"/compare/heygen-vs-synthesia","title":"HeyGen vs Synthesia (and is HeyGen free?): pricing, free limits & avatar tests | Fourth Feed","description":"What HeyGen’s $0 Free and $29 Creator plans include vs Synthesia’s Free and $19 Starter tiers, plus how HeyGen Avatar IV compares with Kling Avatar and VEED.","as_of":"2026-11-13","kind":"compare","content":{"compare":{"slug":"heygen-vs-synthesia","title":"HeyGen vs Synthesia (and is HeyGen free?): pricing, free limits & avatar tests","description":"What HeyGen’s $0 Free and $29 Creator plans include vs Synthesia’s Free and $19 Starter tiers, plus how HeyGen Avatar IV compares with Kling Avatar and VEED.","query":"heygen vs synthesia","asOf":"2026-11-13","intro":"Both HeyGen and Synthesia have real free plans, and both put a watermark on every free export so you cannot publish client or ad videos without paying. On HeyGen’s $0/month Free plan (checked against heygen.com/pricing), you get 3 watermarked videos a month of up to 1 minute each, access to Avatar IV and Video Agent, 1 Custom Video Avatar, 500+ stock presenters and 30+ languages; removing the watermark and exporting at 1080p starts on Creator at $29/month (600 credits, videos up to 30 minutes on Pro, 175+ languages and dialects, 1-month credit rollover), while 4K export and Seedance 2.5 / Veo 3.1 access require Pro at $49/month (1,000 credits). Synthesia’s Free plan gives 1 watermarked video plus 10 minutes of AI dubbing a month across 70+ languages; paid Starter begins lower than HeyGen at $19/month ($9 first month promo) for roughly 2 unwatermarked 1080p videos and up to 16 minutes of dubbing a month, scaling to ~7 videos/month on the next tier (note that enabling lip-sync on Synthesia dubbing consumes 2x credits). In plain terms: Synthesia is built around structured business training decks, SCORM LMS exports, PowerPoint imports and team brand kits, whereas HeyGen is faster for creator-style talking avatars, UGC ads and expressive single-photo animation. When we ran HeyGen’s Avatar IV API on 2026-11-08 against Kling AI Avatar v2 and VEED Fabric on the same 5-second vocal track and portrait, HeyGen finished in 33–35 seconds at the lowest per-clip API cost of our six-model test — just watch your input photo’s resting expression, because a half-smiling photo made Avatar IV smile before the first word until we swapped in a neutral closed-mouth image.","ai":[],"ours":{"name":"KeelRouter","url":"https://keelrouter.com","text":"If you are generating video clips from code via Kling, Seedance, Veo or Sora APIs instead of a slide editor: KeelRouter routes each call through one pay-as-you-go API key ($0.10 free trial, top up from $5)."},"author":"leo-chen","sponsored":false,"tools":["heygen.com","synthesia.io","kling.ai","veed.io"],"tested":{"heygen.com":{"result":"Avatar IV via HeyGen’s API with one portrait and a 5-second vocal track (2026-11-08): finished in ~35 seconds, cheapest of six models tested, clean mouth shapes close to Kling’s. Resting expression follows the input photo — use a neutral closed-mouth portrait when you do not want an early smile.","checkedAt":"2026-11-08"},"kling.ai":{"result":"Kling AI Avatar v2 Standard on the same 5-second portrait test (2026-11-08): ~3.5 minutes render, sharpest lip shapes and steadiest face identity; text prompt controls facial expression.","checkedAt":"2026-11-08"},"veed.io":{"result":"VEED Fabric 1.0 at 480p on the same 5-second track (2026-11-08): fastest render at 26 seconds, though mouth opening was subtle on sung lines.","checkedAt":"2026-11-08"}}},"author":{"id":"leo-chen","name":"Leo Chen","bio":"Leo works on KeelRouter, one API key for video, image and audio models that sends each request to the cheapest supplier that supports it.","product":{"name":"KeelRouter","url":"https://keelrouter.com"}},"rows":[{"tool":{"domain":"heygen.com","name":"HeyGen","url":"https://heygen.com/","summary":"Creates videos with AI avatars, including a personal avatar of you, plus video translation with lip sync.","category":["avatars-lipsync","dubbing-translation"],"tags":["talking-avatar","video-translation"],"logo":{"file":"/logos/heygen.com.webp","fetchedAt":"2026-11-08"},"source":["seektool-category:2026-09"],"site":{"title":"HeyGen: Create AI Videos with Your Personal Avatar","description":"Be your best self, every time. Create clear, confident AI videos with your Personal Avatar—your face and voice, without filming every video. Try it free.","llmsTxt":true,"checkedAt":"2026-11-02","alive":true},"pricing":{"model":"freemium","freeTier":"3 watermarked videos/month up to 1 min","from":"$29/month"},"agentReady":{"llmsTxt":true,"mcpRegistry":null},"traffic":{"monthlyVisits":8700000,"month":"2026-09","source":"seektool.ai category pages (Similarweb estimate), read 2026-11-02"},"firstSeen":"2026-11-02"},"categoryNames":["Avatars and lip sync","Dubbing and translation"],"hasPage":true},{"tool":{"domain":"synthesia.io","name":"Synthesia","url":"https://synthesia.io/","summary":"Makes business and training videos presented by AI avatars in many languages.","category":["avatars-lipsync","dubbing-translation","faceless-shorts"],"tags":["talking-avatar","ai-dubbing"],"logo":{"file":"/logos/synthesia.io.webp","fetchedAt":"2026-11-08"},"source":["seektool-category:2026-09"],"site":{"title":"Synthesia: #1 AI Video Platform for Business","description":"Official Synthesia site. The AI video platform trusted by 90%+ of the Fortune 100 to communicate, train, and upskill teams in 140+ languages.","llmsTxt":true,"checkedAt":"2026-11-02","alive":true},"pricing":{"model":"freemium","freeTier":"1 watermarked video, 10 min dubbing/month","from":"$19/month ($9 first month)"},"agentReady":{"llmsTxt":true,"mcpRegistry":null},"traffic":{"monthlyVisits":1700000,"month":"2026-09","source":"seektool.ai category pages (Similarweb estimate), read 2026-11-02"},"firstSeen":"2026-11-02"},"categoryNames":["Avatars and lip sync","Dubbing and translation","Faceless shorts and auto-posting"],"hasPage":true},{"tool":{"domain":"kling.ai","name":"Kling AI","url":"https://kling.ai/","summary":"Generates videos and images from text, images and references with Kuaishou’s Kling models.","category":["text-to-video"],"tags":["image-to-video"],"logo":{"file":"/logos/kling.ai.webp","fetchedAt":"2026-11-08"},"source":["research:sitedata-2026-10-18"],"site":{"title":"Kling AI: Next-Gen AI Video & Image Generator","description":"Create high-quality AI videos and images with Kling AI. Turn text, images, and references into multimodal creative content in one studio.","llmsTxt":true,"checkedAt":"2026-10-29","alive":true},"pricing":{"model":"freemium","freeTier":"Basic free account (evaluation only, no monthly credit renewal)","from":"$10/month ($6.99 first month, $8.80/month renewal)"},"agentReady":{"llmsTxt":true,"mcpRegistry":null},"traffic":{"monthlyVisits":11881327,"month":"2026-09","source":"sitedata.dev traffic ranking, 2026-10-18"},"domainCreated":"2025-02-24","firstSeen":"2026-10-29","referral":{"code":"7BEJKDCT48ZU","youGet":"10% bonus credits on your first individual monthly, quarterly or annual plan, up to 1,500 credits. The 7-day trial does not count.","weGet":"200 credits when you buy your first individual plan with the code.","terms":"https://kling.ai/app/invitation","checkedAt":"2026-11-08"}},"categoryNames":["Text and image to video"],"hasPage":true},{"tool":{"domain":"veed.io","name":"VEED","url":"https://veed.io/","summary":"Online video editor with subtitles, templates and AI tools, including a lyric video page built on auto-subtitles.","category":["editing-clips"],"tags":["ai-video-editor","subtitles"],"logo":{"file":"/logos/veed.io.webp","fetchedAt":"2026-11-08"},"source":["research:apps/lyricsmove/docs/竞品.md"],"site":{"title":"VEED – AI Video Creation Platform | Idea to Video Workflow","description":"Generate and edit in one workflow. Create talking heads, edit with AI, dub videos, and add subtitles — all in VEED. Built for marketers and solopreneurs","llmsTxt":true,"checkedAt":"2026-10-29","alive":true},"pricing":{"model":"freemium","from":"$10/user/month billed yearly"},"agentReady":{"llmsTxt":true,"mcpRegistry":"io.veed/fabric-mcp"},"traffic":{"monthlyVisits":7873551,"month":"2026-09","source":"seo.web.cafe/worth (Sep 2026 estimate)"},"domainCreated":"2017-08-03","firstSeen":"2026-10-29","notes":"General editor. Its lyric video page tells users to add lyrics with the auto-subtitle tool or paste them by hand. Creator plan: no watermark, 1080p.","referral":{"url":"https://veed.cello.so/fYfHMDzq91N","youGet":"50% off your first 3 months on a Lite or Pro plan after you create a free account through the link. Not available in India.","weGet":"40% of what you pay, up to $50, paid in cash.","terms":"https://support.veed.io/en/articles/10098098-how-does-veeds-referral-program-work","checkedAt":"2026-11-10"}},"categoryNames":["Editing, clips and captions"],"hasPage":true}]}}