HeyGen and Synthesia are both AI video generation platforms using avatars, but serve slightly different needs for mid-sized businesses. HeyGen offers greater avatar flexibility and integration options, potentially at a better starting price point, making it good for custom needs and initial value. Synthesia provides a wider range of stock assets and better collaboration features, alongside superior customer service ratings, making it suitable for teams needing ready-made options, scalability, and reliable support.
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HeyGen is an AI-powered video generation platform that allows you to create professional-quality videos without cameras or actors. It uses realistic AI avatars that can speak in multiple languages with various voice options. HeyGen is particularly helpful for creating marketing materials, training videos, and other types of content that require a human presenter. You can easily edit the videos by changing the script, avatar, or background. HeyGen also offers features like video translation and personalized video messaging.
Synthesia is a web-based platform that lets you create videos using AI. It allows you to generate videos from text, choose from a library of AI avatars, and add voiceovers in over 140 languages. This can be useful for creating corporate training material, marketing content, and internal communications, without the cost of traditional video production.
Summary
Main difference
HeyGen stands out with more flexible avatar creation methods, including photo and generative options, and API access for integration. Synthesia excels with a larger library of stock avatars and languages, plus features geared towards team collaboration.
Relative strengths of HeyGen (compared to Synthesia)
More Flexible Avatar Creation: HeyGen allows creating unique avatars from photos or text prompts (Photo/Generative Avatars), offering more personalization beyond Synthesia's primarily stock avatar library.
API Access for Integration: HeyGen provides an API, enabling businesses to integrate AI video generation into their existing workflows or applications for greater efficiency.
Better Initial Value/Accessibility: With a functional free tier and a lower starting monthly price ($24/month) compared to Synthesia's annual-only entry plan ($264/year), HeyGen offers a more accessible entry point for businesses managing costs.
Relative weaknesses of HeyGen (compared to Synthesia)
Significantly Poorer Customer Service: HeyGen receives highly negative ratings for customer service, which is a considerable disadvantage compared to Synthesia's positive ratings, especially for businesses prioritizing support quality.
Fewer Stock Options & Languages: Synthesia provides a considerably larger selection of ready-to-use avatars (240+) and supported languages (140+), potentially making HeyGen less suitable for teams needing extensive off-the-shelf variety.
Lacks Built-in Real-time Collaboration: Unlike Synthesia, which offers a 'Live Collaboration' feature, HeyGen doesn't explicitly list tools for simultaneous team editing, potentially slowing down collaborative projects.
HeyGen seems like a great tool for teams, especially in marketing, sales, or training, who need to create videos featuring a presenter quickly. We hear users appreciate how easy it is to generate professional-looking videos with realistic AI avatars, even without technical skills. It's particularly handy for making marketing explainers, internal training materials, or personalized sales messages efficiently, saving time and resources compared to traditional video production.
Synthesia helps teams create professional-looking videos quickly using AI avatars, without needing cameras or studios. We find it's particularly handy for businesses needing training materials, marketing clips, or internal updates at scale. Users often praise its ease of use and the wide selection of avatars and voices, though some mention occasional lip-sync issues and that it can get pricey for smaller teams. It's a solid choice if you need lots of video content efficiently
While HeyGen supports businesses of all sizes, we find it particularly shines for medium-sized companies and large enterprises needing scalable video creation.
In our experience, HeyGen works well across many sectors, but it's especially popular with marketing and advertising teams creating promotional content.
We see Synthesia working best for medium to large companies that need to produce video content frequently and have the budget for it.
While useful across many sectors, we find Synthesia particularly shines in marketing, corporate training, and internal communications teams.
HeyGen and Synthesia features
Supported
Partially supported
Not supported
Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need
Stock Avatars
9
sources
Supported
HeyGen offers ready-to-use stock avatars for videos.
Supported
Synthesia offers ready-to-use stock avatars, eliminating the need for custom creation.
Video Avatars
10
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HeyGen allows creation of personalized video avatars, enhancing videos with a personal touch.
Supported
Synthesia offers pre-built and custom video avatars.
Text animations
10
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HeyGen supports text animations for videos, allowing users to animate text elements.
Supported
Synthesia supports the feature of providing pre-made or custom animations for text in videos.
AI Transcription
10
sources
Partially supported
HeyGen does not natively support AI transcription of audio from videos. However, it can be integrated with AWS Transcribe via a third-party workflow tool.
Partially supported
Synthesia does not explicitly support automatic transcription of audio from videos as a standalone feature, but it does offer related capabilities such as translating audio and generating transcripts as part of its translation features.
Text placement
10
sources
Not supported
HeyGen does not explicitly support the ability to drag, drop, and precisely position text elements within the video frame.
Supported
Synthesia supports the ability to drag, drop, and precisely position text elements within the video frame.
AI Subtitle Generation
10
sources
Supported
HeyGen supports AI subtitle generation, allowing users to automatically generate subtitles for videos using AI.
Supported
Synthesia supports the automatic generation of subtitles for videos using AI.
Browse all features
Qualities
Value and Pricing Transparency
-0.35
Rather negative sentiment
-0.13
Neutral sentiment
Customer Service
-0.07
Neutral sentiment
+0.78
Strongly positive sentiment
Ease of Use
+0.88
Strongly positive sentiment
+0.97
Strongly positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance
+0.7
Strongly positive sentiment
+0.53
Rather positive sentiment
Ease of Implementation
+0.83
Strongly positive sentiment
+0.83
Strongly positive sentiment
Scalability
+0.78
Strongly positive sentiment
+0.56
Rather positive sentiment
HeyGen and Synthesia Pricing
Plans
FreeFree
3 videos per month. Videos up to 3-mins. 720p video export. Standard video processing. 1 Custom Video Avatar. 500+ Stock Video Avatars. 30+ languages.
$24 per monthCreator
Unlimited videos. Videos up to 5-mins. 1080p video export. Fast video processing. 1+ Custom Video Avatar. 700+ Stock Video Avatars. Voice cloning. 175+ languages and dialects. Generate Looks. Look Packs. Watermark removal. Brand Kit.
$69 per seat/month/monthTeam
Unlimited videos. Videos up to 30-mins. 1080p video export. Faster video processing. 1 Custom Video Avatar/seat. 1 Custom Interactive Avatar/seat. Invites & team management. Collaborative workspace. Pay as you grow. Scale your brand and centralize assets.
CustomEnterprise
Unlimited videos. No video duration max. 4k video export. Fastest video processing. Manage roles and access. Translation Proofread. SAML/SSO. Enterprise security & privacy. Commercial terms. Priority customer support. Dedicated customer success manager.
Synthesia is an AI video creation platform offering various pricing plans. The Starter and Creator plans cater to individual users, while the Enterprise plan is tailored for businesses seeking custom solutions. All plans provide access to AI avatars, templates, and various features, with usage limits based on video minutes. Enterprise users enjoy unlimited video minutes and priority support.
Plans
$264/yearStarter
Includes 1 editor & 3 guests, 125+ AI avatars, 3 personal avatars, and 120 minutes of video/year. Includes essential features like avatar builder and AI video assistant.
$804/yearCreator
Includes 1 editor & 5 guests, 180+ AI avatars, 5 personal avatars, and 360 minutes of video/year. Includes everything in Starter, plus custom fonts, branded video page, and CTA on video page.
CustomEnterprise
Includes custom number of editors & guests, 230+ AI avatars, unlimited personal avatars, and unlimited minutes of video. Includes everything in Creator, plus teams & collaboration, 1-click translations, and priority support.
User-friendly interface and easy video creation process
Multilingual support with accurate lip-syncing
Wide variety of templates and customization options
Fast video generation for short videos
User-friendly interface and easy to use
Vast selection of avatars and voices
Realistic and high-quality videos
Regular updates and improvements
Users dislike
Occasional glitches or bugs reported during video generation
Limited control over avatar gestures and expressions
Pricing can be prohibitive for some users, especially for longer videos
Some users report slow rendering times, particularly with longer videos or free accounts
Limited avatar customization options, especially for free accounts
Lip syncing can be off, especially with certain accents
Limited control over avatar expressions and gestures
Video generation times can be long
Pricing plans can be expensive, especially for smaller businesses
HeyGen and Synthesia Ratings
G2
4.8/5
(690)
Capterra
4.8/5
(277)
G2
4.7/5
(1436)
Glassdoor
4.8/5
(81)
Company health
Employee growth
200% increase in the last year
37% increase in the last year
Web traffic
6% increase in the last quarter
18% increase in the last quarter
Financing
December 2023 - $9M
July 2024 - $337M
How do HeyGen's generative avatars compare to Synthesia's avatar selection?
HeyGen provides generative avatars, allowing users to create unique avatars using AI from text prompts for a high degree of customization. Synthesia, on the other hand, emphasizes its extensive library of over 240 diverse, pre-built stock avatars. While both platforms offer ways to represent presenters, HeyGen's generative feature provides a different type of customization compared to Synthesia's large selection of existing avatars.
Which platform provides better multilingual support for diverse accents?
Both platforms provide multilingual features, with Synthesia explicitly mentioning support for over 140 languages and a vast selection of voices, suggesting broad coverage. However, user feedback indicates that Synthesia's lip-syncing quality can suffer, particularly with certain accents. HeyGen is generally praised for its multilingual support and accurate lip-syncing, without specific user complaints noted regarding accent handling in the provided text. Based on this information, HeyGen appears to offer more consistent quality across different accents, suggesting better overall support in that specific area.
What are the advantages of HeyGen?
HeyGen stands out with its highly realistic AI avatars, natural-sounding voices, and accurate lip-syncing, as highlighted by user feedback. It offers versatile avatar creation options, including stock avatars, personal video uploads (Video Avatars), photo uploads (Photo Avatars), and unique generative AI avatars. HeyGen also provides an API and app integrations for enhanced workflow automation, features video translation capabilities, and offers a free plan, making it accessible for initial use or smaller projects. Users also note its generally fast generation times, particularly for shorter videos.
What are the disadvantages of HeyGen?
HeyGen users report several disadvantages, including occasional glitches or bugs during video generation and slow rendering times, particularly for longer videos or free accounts. There is limited control over avatar gestures and expressions, and customization options are considered restricted, especially on free plans. Furthermore, the pricing structure is viewed as potentially prohibitive and lacking transparency, and customer service receives highly negative feedback.
Is HeyGen cheaper than Synthesia?
Based on the available pricing information, HeyGen offers a free tier, which Synthesia does not, making HeyGen cheaper for users who can utilize the free plan. Comparing the lowest paid tiers, Synthesia's Starter plan is $264/year (equivalent to $22/month), while HeyGen's Creator plan is $24/month. Therefore, Synthesia's entry-level paid plan is slightly cheaper if paying annually, but HeyGen provides a completely free option and a lower monthly cost for its individual Creator plan compared to Synthesia's Creator plan ($804/year or $67/month). Both platforms have custom Enterprise pricing. Overall, HeyGen has more accessible starting price points.
Alternatives to HeyGen and Synthesia
Colossyan Creator
Generate training & communication videos from text with AI.
Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT
management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs
of any business and find solutions to its problems.
TT
Tymon Terlikiewicz
CTO at Gralio
Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech
department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX,
HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.
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