Synthesia vs HeyGen
Two avatar video tools for teams that do not want a studio. Which one holds up?
Last revised 2026-09-17
Our pick
Synthesia, for corporate training
Synthesia is the one that works at organisational scale, with thousands of reviewers behind it and the language coverage that training teams actually need. HeyGen's avatars and translation are excellent and its consumer billing record is not: double charges on annual upgrades, accounts and videos going missing, and support that does not respond. Buy Synthesia for L&D, buy HeyGen monthly or not at all.
Side by side
| Synthesia AI Video Our pick | HeyGen AI Video | |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 4 cydersWorth pouring | 3 cydersDrinkable |
| Starting price | $19/mo | $29/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes1 free credit, 3 mins of video |
| What the paid plans are | Self-serve plans converted from video minutes to a shared credit currency at 2 credits per second, about 120 credits per minute of video, consumed by generation and dubbing alike. | Creator at $24/mo, Business at $120/mo |
| Best for | Training TeamsL&D ProfessionalsCorporate Communications | Marketing TeamsContent CreatorsTraining Departments |
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| Price checked | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Visit | Synthesia → | HeyGen → |
What they are both for
A talking head reading a script, in many languages, without a camera, a studio or a presenter who leaves the company six months later. For onboarding, compliance and product training, that is a genuinely useful thing to be able to produce on a Tuesday afternoon.
Both do it. Neither produces something you would put in a brand campaign, and anyone telling you the avatars are indistinguishable from a person has not watched one for three minutes.
Synthesia's case
Scale and evidence. Around 2,800 G2 reviews, forty-plus languages, and a workflow built for teams producing many similar videos. It is expensive, video length is capped in ways that force awkward splitting, and the avatars are stiff outside explainer content. For corporate learning and development that is priced fairly; for a solo creator it is not.
Two things to know. Synthesia converted its self-serve plans from minute allowances to a shared credit currency consumed by generation and dubbing alike, at roughly 120 credits per minute of video, so what your plan buys is no longer measured in the unit you think in. And a Guardian investigation documented its avatar technology being used to produce deepfake propaganda for authoritarian regimes using paid models' likenesses without their agreement. Synthesia has since tightened controls, but if you are licensing your own face to a platform, read how that is governed.
HeyGen's case
The avatars and the translation are among the best available, and the B2B reviews reflect that. As a product it is often the more impressive demo.
The consumer picture is where it falls down: double charges on annual upgrades, accounts and generated videos disappearing, support that does not respond, and credits burning faster than the plan implies. That is a pattern of complaints about money and access, which is a different category of problem from a feature being weak.
How we would buy it
- •Training, onboarding, compliance video at company scale: Synthesia.
- •A creator or small team testing avatar video: HeyGen, monthly, with nothing important stored only inside it.
- •Multilingual dubbing of existing footage: both do it, and check the credit maths against your actual minute count before committing to either.
- •Putting your own likeness on a platform: read the licence terms on both. This is the one decision in this comparison you cannot undo.
Synthesia
4.0Worth pouringIf you need a talking-head training video in forty languages without a studio, this is the one that works, and 2,800 G2 reviewers agree. It is expensive, video length is capped in ways that force awkward splitting, and the avatars still read as stiff for anything other than explainer content. Priced fairly for corporate L&D, badly for everyone else.
Full Synthesia reviewHeyGen
3.0DrinkableThe avatars and translation are among the best available and the B2B scores reflect that. The consumer picture is worse: double charges on annual upgrades, accounts and videos going missing, support that does not respond, and credits that burn faster than expected. Buy monthly until it has earned more trust.
Full HeyGen reviewScores are our own editorial verdicts in cyders out of 5, not an average of other people's ratings. How we score. Prices come from each vendor's own pricing page on the date shown above, and vendors change plans often, so confirm before you buy.
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