Our take

The fastest way to a polished talking-head video without a camera — avatars look and sound convincing.

What it is

HeyGen is an AI video platform that generates talking-head videos using customizable avatars and voice cloning. You script a video, pick an avatar (or your own cloned self), and get a polished video without filming. It is widely used for marketing, training, and social content.

Best for

Produce talking-head videos without filming
Localize videos with translated avatar dialogue
Scale personalized video outreach

Pros

Convincing avatars and lip sync
Personalized video at scale
Fast turnaround vs. traditional filming

Cons

Credits burn quickly on longer videos
Uncanny-valley risk on close inspection

Quick start

Sign up at heygen.com with Google/email — free trial grants ~1 credit + 1 stock avatar video.
Creator $24/mo (annual) / $29 month-to-month: 100 credits, 30+ languages, brand kit, custom avatar.
Pro $72/mo: 300 credits + team seats + custom avatar with your face (consent flow captured).
Enterprise: API access + SSO + custom SLAs.
Click "Create Video" → pick a workflow: Avatar Lite (no script), Avatar Pro (script + edit), or Templates.
Pick an Avatar (Stock, Photo, or your Avatar 2.0 — 2 minutes of phone-recorded footage) and type a script in any of 40+ languages.

Sample input / output

Input

Workflow: Avatar Pro
Avatar: stock "Ava-Relaxed" (calm female, business setting)
Script (English, 90s):

  "Welcome to Acme Bank's quarterly highlights. This quarter we shipped the new mobile deposit feature, cut mortgage processing time by 47%, and grew active users 18%. Next quarter, watch for our small-business checking launch. Thank you for banking with us."

Brand kit: logo + colors [Blue 1A2B4C / Accent 6FCE6F]
Output: 1920×1080 MP4, accent text overlays on key numbers

Output

Rendered 90s video in 5m 18s (Creator plan, stock avatar).
  - Lip sync: all numbers ("18%", "47%") aligned cleanly.
  - Custom brand overlay: rendered correctly with accent green.
  - Pronunciation: "Acme" verified correct; "mortgage" intonation perfect.
  - Final MP4: 18.4 MB, 1080p, H.264, ready for download.
Cost: 1 credit (~$0.30 in Creator plan; $0.20 in Pro at scale).

Benchmarks

Latest models Avatar 4 (Nov 2025), Photo Avatar 2 — HeyGen blog

Plans Free trial; Creator $24/mo; Pro $72/mo; Enterprise custom — HeyGen pricing 2026

Languages 40+ — HeyGen docs

Render time (90s) 5 min (Creator plan) — HeyGen user benchmarks

API Available on Enterprise (BYOK to your translate pipeline) — HeyGen Enterprise

Active users 40k+ (startups, educators, marketers) — HeyGen site 2026

Pricing

Free credits; Creator from $24/mo

Underlying models

HeyGen (proprietary)

Should you pick this?

Pick it if You want quick talking-head video without filming — testimonials, internal comms, marketing videos, sales outreach at scale. Lip sync quality is now genuinely believable.

Skip it if You need real human presence (live-action shoots with a real crew), or you're producing 30+ minute long-form video (cost climbs fast). For corporate L&D at scale with governance, Synthesia.

HeyGen