Google Vids vs HeyGen vs Synthesia: 2026 Prices and Limits

TL;DR: For a solo faceless creator, Google Vids fits if you live in the US, pay $19.99 a month for Google AI Pro and want short English clips of yourself. Otherwise try HeyGen first: its free plan lists one custom avatar, and Creator is $29 a month billed monthly. Synthesia Starter also costs $29, on a pricing page written for companies.

You want a talking head on your channel without ever turning on a camera: a face that reads the script, so viewers hear a person instead of stock B-roll and a robot voice.

So you open three pricing pages. Google's allowance is in seconds of video a month, HeyGen's is in credits, and Synthesia's is in credits that it converts to minutes. None of the three pages tells you what one Short will cost.

On July 16, Google shipped personal avatars in Google Vids for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers and for Workspace business customers (Google(opens in new tab)). That put a Google subscription next to HeyGen and Synthesia, and the three price pages do not line up.

Below is what Google Vids, HeyGen and Synthesia each cost and where each one stops, for one person and not a marketing department. Every figure comes from the vendor's own pages, linked below and read on October 9, 2026. We have not tested any of the three, so nothing here ranks how the avatars look or sound.

Correction, October 9, 2026. The earlier version of this post put Google Vids personal avatars on Google AI Plus at about $10 a month and Synthesia Starter at about $89 a month, and quoted no HeyGen price. Personal avatars are on Google AI Pro and Ultra, and the $89 is Synthesia's Pro price, not Starter's. It also said Vids had no script editor and no multi-scene timeline; Google's help pages describe a script, scenes and a timeline track. We rewrote the whole post from the vendors' own pages, and the old advice to make Google Vids the default no longer holds.

The short version

The three paid entry prices sit within ten dollars of each other. The tools differ in where they work, which languages they cover and how they count what you make.

Comparison table

Prices are in US dollars. Sources: Google's US plans page(opens in new tab), Google's limits for Vids(opens in new tab), HeyGen pricing(opens in new tab), HeyGen's plan guide(opens in new tab), HeyGen's credit rates(opens in new tab) and Synthesia pricing(opens in new tab).

Google Vids: an avatar of you, if you are in the US on Google AI Pro

Google Vids makes sense when you already qualify for it. A personal avatar is a digital copy of your face and voice. You record both on a phone by following the prompts on screen, then pick the avatar as a character when you generate a clip in Vids (Google Help(opens in new tab)).

Consumers get it on Google AI Pro and Ultra, and only in the US (Google Help(opens in new tab)). AI Pro is $19.99 a month on Google's US plans page(opens in new tab).

Workspace Business Starter, Standard and Plus include it too. Personal avatars work in English only, for users 18 and older, and are not available in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the United Kingdom (Google Workspace Updates(opens in new tab)).

Each generated clip runs 3 to 10 seconds, in landscape or portrait. You can add a script, extend a clip with a follow-up prompt, insert it into a scene and move it on its own timeline track (Google Help on AI clips(opens in new tab), Google Help on personal avatars(opens in new tab)).

AI Pro allows 500 seconds of AI video clips a month, and Business Starter 200 (Google's limits for Vids(opens in new tab)). On AI Pro that is a little over eight minutes of footage. At 10 seconds a clip, it is at most 50 clips a month.

Vids also has preset AI avatars, which are stock presenters and not you. A personal Google account gets 6 generations a month, shared between preset avatars and video clips, and Google AI Plus gets the same 6 (Google's limits for Vids(opens in new tab)).

A preset-avatar video runs up to 60 seconds, and the help page lists 23 script languages (Google Help(opens in new tab)). Google's June 18 post said anyone with a US Google account could try these at no cost, with other regions to follow (Google Workspace(opens in new tab)).

Google links a personal avatar to your Google Account and restricts it to the account holder's likeness, and every generated clip carries an invisible SynthID watermark (Google(opens in new tab)).

Verdict: Google Vids fits a solo creator who is 18 or older, works in English and either pays for Google AI Pro in the US or has a Workspace business plan outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. A Short would be built from portrait clips of up to 10 seconds, assembled in Vids. Google's help page says generated videos "are for use only within Vids" (Google Help(opens in new tab)). Outside those conditions Google does not list the personal avatar, and what is left is the preset avatars.

HeyGen: a free plan that lists one avatar of you

HeyGen is the one to open first when Google's conditions rule you out. Its Free plan allows up to 3 videos a month of up to 1 minute each, with 500+ stock video avatars and 1 custom video avatar (HeyGen pricing(opens in new tab)). HeyGen's help center puts the free allowance at 1 to 3 videos, depending on your region, and describes a 720p sharing link (HeyGen Help(opens in new tab)).

On the pricing page, 1080p export and watermark removal start on Creator. HeyGen's avatar page describes the choice as stock options or "clone yourself" (HeyGen(opens in new tab)).

The Creator plan costs $29 a month billed monthly, or $24 a month billed yearly. It carries 600 credits, allows videos up to 30 minutes, exports at 1080p, removes the watermark, raises voice cloning from 1 clone to up to 40 and adds 175+ languages and dialects (HeyGen pricing(opens in new tab), HeyGen Help(opens in new tab)).

Credits are the part to read twice. HeyGen says the number a video uses "can vary based on which AI model is used, video duration, and the complexity of the generation" (HeyGen pricing(opens in new tab)). The pricing page stops at the count of credits.

The rates are in HeyGen's help center: one minute with a video avatar costs 4 credits on Avatar III, 31 on Avatar IV and 48 on Avatar V (HeyGen Help(opens in new tab)). At those rates 600 credits make 150 minutes, about 19 minutes or 12.5 minutes. HeyGen adds that rates can differ by account and region, and that the cost shown before you generate is the one it charges.

Above Creator, Pro starts at $49 a month and Business at $149 a month plus $20 a seat. SAML/SSO sits on Business (HeyGen pricing(opens in new tab)).

Verdict: HeyGen is the one to try first if you fail one of Google's conditions or want takes longer than 10 seconds. Entry is free, a custom video avatar is on the Free plan's feature list, and the first paid step is $29 a month. How far 600 credits go depends on the avatar model: HeyGen's help center lists 4 to 48 credits for a minute with a video avatar.

Synthesia: the same $29, counted in minutes

Synthesia's entry price matches HeyGen's, and it counts differently. The Basic plan is free: 10 minutes of video and 500 credits a month, 9 AI avatars and a Synthesia watermark. Downloading your video starts on Starter (Synthesia pricing(opens in new tab)).

Starter costs $29 a month billed monthly, or $18 a month billed yearly. It adds 1,250 credits a month, which Synthesia puts at roughly 12 more minutes of typical video, about 22 minutes a month in total. You get 125+ stock avatars, 3 personal avatars, no watermark and 140+ languages and voices. Pro is $89 a month billed monthly, with 180+ avatars and 5 personal avatars (Synthesia pricing(opens in new tab)).

The rest of the page is written for companies. It sells roleplay training at $29 per learner a month billed monthly, or $25 billed yearly, lists SCORM export and SAML/SSO on Enterprise, and calls itself "The #1 rated AI video platform for business" (Synthesia pricing(opens in new tab)). A solo creator can skip those lines. They still show who the product is built around.

Verdict: Synthesia fits when the videos are training or internal communication for a company. For a solo creator it is a fair second test after HeyGen. Basic gives 10 minutes a month with a watermark, and Synthesia puts Starter at about 22 minutes a month without one.

That figure is for what it calls typical video, and the same page says a minute costs more credits when the avatar is on screen throughout. If you post a talking-head Short every day, expect fewer than 22 minutes and check your schedule before you pay.

Where the avatar actually fits your channel

An avatar solves one narrow problem: viewers see a face instead of stock footage. It does not, on its own, make your channel feel like one authored thing. We think recognition comes less from the face than from everything around it, the voice above all. That is our opinion, not a measurement, and our guide to an AI voiceover that doesn't sound like slop covers that side.

There's also a line worth knowing before you put a synthetic face on screen giving advice. As we covered in our post on the AI personas rule, YouTube's policy says channels that use AI-generated personas to deliver information on sensitive topics such as health, money, or law will not be allowed to monetize. The policy never defines a persona. It does say the rule "includes any content that presents itself as a human expert providing advice to viewers," so an avatar that plays the expert is the riskier move.

ViralFaceless(opens in new tab) has no avatar: it makes Shorts from generated still images with a voice and captions. A channel saves a default image style, voice and caption mode, and every video starts from them. If those shared defaults are what you wanted an avatar for, start free(opens in new tab). If you would rather skip the on-screen face, growing a faceless YouTube channel without filming covers how.

FAQ

Which AI avatar tool is cheapest for a solo creator?

All three have a free tier, so the cheapest way in costs nothing: HeyGen Free (up to 3 videos a month, 1 custom video avatar), Synthesia Basic (10 minutes a month, watermarked) or preset avatars in Google Vids (6 generations a month on a personal account). On paid plans, Google AI Pro is $19.99 a month in the US, and HeyGen Creator and Synthesia Starter are each $29 a month billed monthly. Billed yearly, Synthesia Starter drops to $18 a month and HeyGen Creator to $24. Sources: Google(opens in new tab), HeyGen(opens in new tab), Synthesia(opens in new tab).

Can I make long videos with Google Vids avatars?

Not in one take: a generated clip with your personal avatar runs 3 to 10 seconds. You can extend it with another prompt and line clips up on the Vids timeline, and Google AI Pro allows 500 seconds of AI video clips a month (Google Help(opens in new tab), Google's limits for Vids(opens in new tab)). A preset AI avatar can read a script for up to 60 seconds (Google Help(opens in new tab)). For longer takes, HeyGen's Creator plan allows videos up to 30 minutes (HeyGen pricing(opens in new tab)).

Is it safe to use an AI avatar of myself?

Google links a personal avatar to your Google Account and restricts it to the account holder's likeness. It is limited to users 18 or older, every generated clip carries an invisible SynthID watermark, and you can retake or delete the avatar data at any time (Google(opens in new tab), Google Help(opens in new tab)). The bigger risk is editorial: having an AI avatar pose as a human expert on sensitive topics can get a channel demonetized.

Do I even need an avatar to run a faceless channel?

No. A faceless channel can run on voiceover and visuals alone. An avatar just adds a face for viewers to connect with. If you want to skip it, our guide on how to grow a faceless YouTube channel without filming covers the formats that work without any on-screen presence at all.

Your next 10 minutes

Take the first 30 seconds of your next script and run it through a free tier before you pay anyone. In the US that can be a preset avatar in Google Vids, which costs nothing on a personal account, and elsewhere HeyGen Free (up to 3 videos a month) or Synthesia Basic (10 minutes a month). Preset avatars are stock presenters, so this tests how an avatar looks, not the personal one.

Watch the result on your phone, held upright, and decide whether you would post it. If the answer is no on every free tier, you do not need to pay for one.