HeyGen or Synthesia: which one to choose for your videos?

What they both do

HeyGenA virtual presenter reads your script. No camera

Free plan

Yes

Recommended plan

Creator, $29 per month ($24 per month if billed yearly)

Page checked on

October 19, 2026

HR, training, marketing, and sales teams that want explainer videos without a shoot.

See the HeyGen page

vs

SynthesiaA training video with a presenter, with no camera and no shoot

Free plan

Yes

Recommended plan

Basic, $0

Page checked on

October 12, 2026

Training, HR, and internal communications teams, and anyone who has to explain the same thing to a lot of people.

See the Synthesia page

HeyGen, made in the United States, and Synthesia, made in the United Kingdom, produce the same thing: a video where a virtual presenter, called an avatar, speaks your script to the camera. You write, you pick a face and a voice, and the video is made for you. Both run in the browser.

• Have a presenter speak a script, scene by scene, like a slideshow.
• Turn a PowerPoint presentation into a narrated video.
• Create a presenter that looks like you, after a consent video recorded by the person filmed.
• Remake an existing video in another language.
• Prepare a video from a description and an attached document, with an assistant.

To fix a sentence, you edit the script and run it again. Nobody goes back to the studio. That is what makes these tools useful for a process that changes or an onboarding that gets updated.

What sets them apart

The differences come down to the free plan, the cost of a minute of video, translation, and what happens to your data. Prices and plans checked on October 12, 2026 in Nova’s tool pages, based on the vendors’ pages.

Both vendors publish their prices in dollars. On the French App Store, we recorded €35 per month for HeyGen Creator. The exact price is shown at checkout.

Which one for which use

Neither one wins across the board. The right choice depends on who watches your videos and what you do with them.

• You train teams (onboarding, procedures, how-tos): Synthesia. It imports a PowerPoint of up to 150 slides, records your screen with a Chrome or Edge extension, and keeps your data in Europe. See AI training for training managers and AI training for corporate trainers.
• You talk to customers in several languages: HeyGen. Its translation remakes the video with a voice close to the original and lips that follow. See AI training for marketing managers.
• You send one video per person (a first name, a company): HeyGen. A template linked to a spreadsheet produces one video per row, with Google Sheets and Zapier or with HubSpot.
• You welcome new hires: both do it well. Synthesia if company policy requires data in Europe, HeyGen if you want to start the video from your phone. See AI training for HR managers.
• You help a team practice speaking: Synthesia. Its “Roleplay Sessions” have a presenter play a customer or a candidate, out loud.

If a voiceover is enough, with no face on screen, ElevenLabs does the job. If you would rather film yourself for real, Descript edits the video by editing the text.

Before you publish: faces, voices, and data

A video with a presenter commits you more than a text does. Three things to settle before the first release, in both tools.

1. Consent. A presenter that looks like a real person requires a consent video, recorded by that person. For a coworker’s avatar, they record it, not you.
2. Transparency. Under the EU AI Act, a video made with AI must be disclosed to its audience. Say so at the start of the video or in the message that goes with it.
3. Data. With HeyGen, opt out of training by writing to the address given in its privacy policy. With Synthesia, your scripts and videos are not used for it.

Synthesia checks every video before making it. Some topics are restricted (politics, current events, and medical, legal, or financial advice): the video can then be delayed or rejected. Before you put an internal procedure or a customer file into either one, read what not to share with AI at work.

The test to run before you pay

The two free plans are enough to form an opinion. Take a script you actually need to publish, and give it to both.

1. Choose a script with no sensitive data that reads in under a minute, the HeyGen free limit: a welcome message, one step of a procedure.
2. Rewrite it to be spoken: short sentences, one idea per scene. A text written to be read sounds wrong when it is spoken.
3. In HeyGen, open “AI Studio,” pick an avatar and a voice, listen to it with the play button, then start the video.
4. In Synthesia, click “Create video,” pick a template, paste the script, pick a voice, then click “Generate.”
5. Compare: how names are pronounced, how natural the presenter looks, how long you spend on fixes. Show both videos to a coworker without saying which is which.
6. Pay only the day you need to remove the logo, download the file, or go past the free limit.

To start from an existing deck, both turn a PowerPoint into a video. Prepare it first: see create a presentation with AI. Animations are not carried over on import into Synthesia.

What Nova brings

Nova is subscription software that shows what these tools can do in your job. You will find the up-to-date pages for HeyGen and Synthesia (plans, prices, check date), demos to recreate step by step with the prompt ready, and use cases by job, from communications manager to training manager. For a whole team, see AI training for companies. Try the interactive demo.

Frequently asked questions

HeyGen or Synthesia: which one is free?

Both have a free plan, with their logo on the videos. HeyGen gives 3 videos per month, one minute at most. Synthesia gives 10 minutes per month, but the video can only be shared by link: downloading requires a paid plan.

Which one handles more languages?

Synthesia’s presenters and voices speak more than 160 languages, and its dubbing covers 134. HeyGen’s free plan offers more than 30 languages, and Creator more than 175 languages and dialects. The safest approach is still to give them the same script and listen: how names are pronounced often makes the difference.

How many minutes of video for $29 per month?

With HeyGen, Creator gives 600 credits: 12 and a half minutes with the most realistic presenter, more with a simpler one. With Synthesia, Starter adds up to 12 minutes to the 10 minutes of the free plan. Prices checked on October 12, 2026.

Which one for modules tracked in a learning platform?

You need SCORM export, the format learning platforms read. HeyGen offers it with Business, at $149 per month. Synthesia reserves it for Enterprise, with custom pricing. Synthesia offers interactive videos starting with Pro, at $89 per month.

Are my videos used to train the AI?

With Synthesia, no: the vendor says it does not use your scripts or your videos to train its systems, and it stores the data in Ireland. With HeyGen, the privacy policy provides for it, and you can object by writing to the address it gives.

Sources

• HeyGen pricing, HeyGen
• Plans and credits, HeyGen, help center
• Video translation, HeyGen, help center
• Privacy policy, HeyGen
• Synthesia pricing, Synthesia
• Dub a video, Synthesia, help center
• Security practices, Synthesia

Go further

• HeyGen: the full tool page, plans, and prices
• Synthesia: the full tool page, plans, and prices
• ElevenLabs, for a voiceover with no face
• Descript, to edit a real video through its text
• Create a presentation with AI, step by step
• What not to share with AI at work
• AI training for training managers
• AI training for corporate trainers
• AI training for HR managers
• AI training for marketing managers
• AI training for communications managers
• AI training for companies: train your teams