HeyGen turns a script into a person on camera. The person may be a stock avatar, a photo avatar, or a custom video avatar trained from footage of a real presenter. For YouTube, TikTok, and Shorts, that means a talking-head video without a shoot, plus translation that tries to keep the mouth in sync with the new language. It is an avatar product first and a general text-to-video model second. The docs also describe a Video Agent path that goes from a prompt to a finished piece, but the reason creators compare HeyGen with other names on this site is the face.

Prices below come from the public pricing page and the developer docs checked on 2026-10-16. Credit burn per second depends on the avatar engine, and this page does not invent a single "cost per minute" when the vendor uses more than one engine.

Who it's for

HeyGen is for people who need a presenter and do not want to film one. Solo educators posting a weekly explainer, founders recording a product update in their own cloned likeness, and marketers localizing one ad into many languages are the usual buyers. The Business plan is the team version: shared workspace, more custom video avatars, SSO, and learning-tool exports such as SCORM. The Free plan is a trial, not a publishing plan. The FAQ says it includes up to 3 videos a month and limited trial access to Avatar IV, Video Agent, and lip-sync translation, with no card required.

It is the wrong tool when the video should not have a face. A faceless montage of generated b-roll belongs on Kling, Runway, Higgsfield, or Seedance. It is the wrong tool when the only missing piece is the voice. Record or synthesize audio in ElevenLabs, then decide whether a face is even required. It is also a weaker default than Creatify when the input is a product URL and the output must look like a UGC ad with a specific actor library and an ad launcher. HeyGen can make ads. Creatify is organized around that job.

Creators who already appear on camera sometimes still use HeyGen for the languages they do not speak. That is the translation feature, not a reason to replace their real face on the primary channel.

What it does

You write or paste a script, choose an avatar and a voice, and render a video. The pricing comparison checked on 2026-10-16 lists an AI studio editor on every plan, stock video avatars (500+ on Free, 700+ on paid plans), photo avatars (up to 3 on Free, unlimited on paid plans), and more than 1,000 AI voices. Custom video avatars start at 1 on Free and scale to 5+ on Business and 10+ on Enterprise. Voice cloning is 1 clone on Free, with expanded or maximum usage on paid plans. The exact clone caps behind those words were not observed.

Duration and resolution are the practical gates. Free videos max out at 1 minute, and export resolution for Free was not stated as 1080p in the comparison row that showed 1080p starting at Creator. Creator and Pro list 30 minutes and up to 1080p on Creator, up to 4K on Pro. Business lists 60 minutes and 4K. Enterprise lists no video duration max. Avatar IV itself is capped at 1 minute on Free and 30 minutes on paid plans, including Enterprise, in that table. Translation follows the same duration caps and moves from 30+ languages on Free to 175 languages and dialects on paid plans.

Watermark removal, brand kit, and faster processing sit on paid plans. Interactive video, quizzes, SCORM, and LMS exports are Business and Enterprise features. None of that is required to post a Short. It matters when the same avatar system is also feeding a course.

The developer docs, checked the same day, describe Avatar IV as the default v3 engine and Avatar V as a higher-fidelity engine for Digital Twins. A Video Agent and a cinematic avatar mode also appear on the enterprise rate card. Those names are the underlying stack a buyer is actually choosing, even if the website just says "avatar."

Pricing tiers

Verified on 2026-10-16 against heygen.com/pricing. Dollar amounts below come from the FAQ. Credit grants come from the plan cards on the same page, which the FAQ does not always repeat.

Plan	Price observed	What was stated
Free	$0, no card	Up to 3 videos a month. 1 minute max. Limited trial of Avatar IV, Video Agent, and lip-sync translation.
Creator	$29 per month, or $24 per month if paid annually	Solo plan. The Creator card showed 600 credits. 30-minute videos in the comparison table. The FAQ states the dollar price and does not repeat the 600-credit grant.
Pro	Starts at $49 per month	Same features across Pro tiers. Only credits change. The FAQ says tiers run from 1,000 credits per month at $49 to 100,000 credits per month at $4,300.
Business	$149 per month, plus $20 per seat per month	The Business card showed 1,500 credits, videos up to 60 minutes, 4K, 5 custom video avatars, SSO, and workspace tools.
Enterprise	Contact sales	Custom credits, no stated duration max, highest concurrency, proofreader seats, SCIM, invoice billing.

Credits are the meter for video and assets. The FAQ says the number used varies by model, duration, and complexity. Monthly subscribers roll unused credits for one more month. Annual subscribers accumulate credits until renewal. Canceling drops unused credits. Creator and Pro add credits by moving tiers. Business can buy packs or turn on auto-reload.

The API is a second wallet. Developer docs checked on 2026-10-16 say enterprise API billing uses credits where 1 credit costs $0.50, and they publish per-second rates such as 0.1 credits per second for Avatar IV photo, digital twin, and studio avatars (the docs' own example equates 0.1 credits per second with $0.05 per second). A cinematic avatar video is listed at 7 credits per video. Prompt-to-video Video Agent is listed at 0.0667 credits per second. The public marketing page for API pricing says you can integrate through MCP, Skills, or the direct API, and that MCP draws the web plan's premium credits while Skills and the direct API draw the API balance. Those pools are independent. The developer site description, checked the same day, says pay-as-you-go starts from $5. That is a self-serve wallet minimum, not the enterprise rate where 1 credit costs $0.50.

Pros

The free tier is a real trial with a stated cap of 3 videos a month, so a creator can judge lip sync before paying.
Creator at $29 a month is a clear solo price, and Pro's ladder is spelled out from $49 to $4,300 instead of hidden behind "contact us" until you need Enterprise.
Translation to 175 languages and dialects on paid plans is the feature that makes one shoot, or one avatar, serve more than one country.
The API and the remote MCP are both official and documented, which lets an agent or a product render avatar video without pretending the website is an API.
Business seats at $20 are printed on the card, so a small team can estimate the second user without a sales call.

Cons

Credits per video are not a flat minute rate. Avatar IV and Avatar V do not cost the same. The Creator card shows 600 credits, and that grant still does not tell you how many minutes it buys until you are in the app.
Free videos stop at 1 minute and the comparison table does not show 1080p until Creator. A polished Short may require the paid plan even when the script is short.
MCP billing and API billing are different pools. An agent connected with OAuth spends the website plan. A script using an API key spends the API wallet. Mixing those up double-buys or unexpectedly drains one side.
v1 and v2 API endpoints carry a sunset of 2026-10-31 in the developer docs, with v3 recommended. Anything built on the old paths is on a clock.
Avatar video still looks like avatar video. For ads that must feel like a phone selfie of a specific creator style, Creatify or a real shoot can be the better picture even when HeyGen's lip sync is cleaner.

Usage flow

Paste a short script, pick a stock avatar or a photo avatar, and render one Free or Creator test at the length you actually post.
If the language slate is the point, run translation on that same video and check the mouth on the first line and the last line, not only the middle.
Export, then cut captions and the cover in CapCut. If the voice should be a cloned narrator instead of HeyGen's voice, render the face against an ElevenLabs track only after you confirm the product accepts external audio on your plan. Audio input was a row in the comparison table; which plans include it was not observed as a clear yes or no in the extract.

Workflow usage

On the avatar workflow (ai-avatar), HeyGen is the default presenter. A creator who does not want to be on camera still gets a face, a voice, and a vertical frame. Keep scripts inside the duration cap of the plan. A 30-minute Creator render is a long-form talking video, not a Short. For Shorts, write the 30 to 60 second version first so you are not paying Pro concurrency for a clip you will cut down anyway.

On UGC ads (ugc-ads), HeyGen works when the ad is a spokesperson explaining the product. It is less natural when the ad must look like an unpaid creator holding the product in a bedroom. Pair it with Creatify if you are testing both styles. Do not assume HeyGen's stock avatars are cleared for every paid-media claim. Commercial terms on Enterprise are called out separately from self-serve. Read the current terms before you put a custom likeness into ads.

On voice and publish (voice-publish), HeyGen is optional. If you already have a voice track, you may only need the avatar as a mouth. If you do not need a mouth, skip HeyGen and publish the ElevenLabs track under footage from CapCut.

Underlying models

HeyGen's own engines, as named in the developer docs on 2026-10-16, include Avatar IV (default v3), Avatar V (digital twins), a cinematic avatar mode, and Video Agent. Those are HeyGen models, not Kling or Seedance. Whether the prompt-to-video agent calls a third-party video model under the hood was not observed. Do not list Kling or Veo as "included in HeyGen" based on this check.

API and MCP

Verified on 2026-10-16.

The direct API is documented at developers.heygen.com. The quick start prints the base URL https://api.heygen.com and the header X-Api-Key. New work should target v3. The docs say v1 and v2 stay up through 2026-10-31 and then retire. There is also an official CLI (heygen) installed from HeyGen's script, for shell and CI use.

The official remote MCP endpoint is https://mcp.heygen.com/mcp/v1/. Setup guides for Claude, Cursor, and other clients tell you to add that URL and sign in with OAuth. No API key is required for MCP. The API pricing FAQ says MCP usage comes off the web plan's premium credits, while Skills and the direct API come off the API dashboard balance. A Creator plan or above is recommended in the Claude web guide. Domain allow-listing applies if you embed the MCP in your own agent host.

Similar tools

Creatify is the ad-specific neighbor: product URL in, UGC-style spots out, with its own API credit system. Use Creatify to iterate ads. Use HeyGen when the avatar, the translation, or the custom likeness is the asset you are keeping.
ElevenLabs is the voice layer HeyGen does not need to replace. Many stacks generate the read there and the face here, or skip the face.
CapCut is the editor for captions and the vertical cut after HeyGen exports a file.
Kling and Seedance generate shots, not spokespeople. They belong beside HeyGen in a faceless b-roll lane, not instead of it, when the script needs a human face.

FAQ

How many credits does the Creator plan include?

600, on the Creator plan card checked on 2026-10-16. The FAQ on the same page states the $29 monthly price and the $24 annual equivalent, states Pro's credit ladder, and shows 1,500 credits on the Business card. It does not repeat the Creator grant. Read the card, not a third-party roundup.

Does the MCP spend API credits?

No, according to HeyGen's API pricing FAQ. MCP spends the website plan. The API key spends a separate API balance. Connect the one you meant to pay.

Can I post a YouTube Short from the free plan?

You can render up to 3 videos a month, each up to 1 minute, which is inside a Short's length. Watermark removal and 1080p were not clearly included on Free in the comparison table. Watch the export before you promise a clean Short.

Which avatar engine should a new integration call?

The developer docs recommend v3 and describe Avatar IV as the default engine, with Avatar V for digital twins. Enterprise API rates checked the same day price several avatar types at 0.1 credits per second, with 1 credit defined as $0.50 on that enterprise card. Self-serve API prices can differ. Read the rate card in the account you will actually bill.

HeyGen