Synthesia cut Starter to $19/mo in October 2026, but that plan still allows only 10 minutes of video a month, and Pro ($89/mo) stretches to about 60. The free tier gives 10 minutes you can't download, and the avatars can still read as slightly synthetic on camera.
HeyGen is the most direct alternative, with videos up to 30 minutes on Creator ($29/mo), voice cloning and 175+ languages. InVideo AI builds narrated videos from stock footage instead of an avatar. If your presenter is optional, ElevenLabs covers narration and dubbing from $6/mo.
| App | Free tier | Paid from | Top plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesia | Yes | $19/mo | $89/mo | L&D and corporate comms teams producing talking-head training and explainer videos at scale |
| HeyGen | Yes | $29/mo | $149/mo | Marketers and solo creators who need talking-avatar videos and multilingual dubbing without a camera crew |
| InVideo AI | No | $20/mo | $250/mo | Marketers, YouTubers, and small teams producing scripted, voiced videos at scale without a dedicated editor |
| Captions | Yes | $24.99/mo | $279.99/mo | Solo creators and marketers who want auto-captioning plus an AI avatar of themselves for talking-head videos, without a studio |
| ElevenLabs | Yes | $6/mo | $990/mo | Developers and studios needing voice cloning, dubbing and TTS, with music as a bonus feature |
Monthly prices in US dollars before tax, from each vendor's official pricing (US list price; weekly-billed plans converted to a monthly figure). Updated November 2, 2026
HeyGen is built for marketers who need talking-avatar video and multilingual dubbing. Creator ($29/mo) includes 600 credits a month, videos up to 30 minutes, 1080p export, voice cloning, 175+ languages and credit rollover.
Pick it if: you want photoreal digital twins and are paying Synthesia mainly for avatars.
Where it falls short: Higher-fidelity avatars burn credits much faster, so the monthly allowance can run out early.
Full HeyGen pricing →InVideo AI is a prompt-to-video agent: it writes the script, adds a voice, sources footage and edits a publish-ready video. Starter ($20/mo) includes 400 credits a month, 100 premium stock items and up to 5 multiplayer editing seats.
Pick it if: your training or explainer videos work with b-roll and voiceover instead of a presenter.
Where it falls short: There is no free tier, and the credit cost per finished video varies widely by model and quality.
Full InVideo AI pricing →Captions' Max plan ($24.99/mo) includes a Digital Twin AI avatar of you, a chat-based editor and batch clip creation, alongside the auto-captioning it started with.
Pick it if: the presenter should be you, not a stock avatar, and the output is short-form social video.
Where it falls short: Credits burn fast on the higher Frontier tiers, which run up to $279.99/mo.
Full Captions pricing →ElevenLabs Starter ($6/mo) includes a commercial license, instant voice cloning and a dubbing studio, and Creator adds professional voice cloning.
Pick it if: you can pair a voiceover with slides or screen recordings and don't need an on-screen presenter.
Where it falls short: It produces audio only, so you still need a separate video editor.
Full ElevenLabs pricing →Synthesia sells finished minutes: 10 on Starter, about 60 on Pro, unlimited only on Enterprise. HeyGen and InVideo sell credits instead, so a minute's cost depends on the avatar or model you choose. Add up how many minutes of finished video you publish each month, then test one representative video on each tool to see what it consumes.
HeyGen moves faster on photoreal digital twins and allows longer videos on its entry plan. Synthesia is the more focused choice for L&D teams, with 125+ avatars on Starter and SAML/SSO and 80+ language translation on Enterprise.
HeyGen Free gives 3 videos a month, up to 1 minute each, with 1 custom digital twin and 500+ stock avatars. Synthesia's own free tier gives 10 minutes a month, but you can't download the videos.
How we choose: prices come from each vendor's official pricing page and are re-checked every week. We take no affiliate fees, so rankings aren't for sale.