In this comprehensive HeyGen review, we will explore the features and benefits of this cutting-edge tool for creating professional-looking videos featuring human avatars.
With HeyGen, you can easily create videos and talking photos without technical skills or editing experience.
We tested the product to give you a detailed and accurate review, user opinions, and a final verdict on this platform. Read on to learn more.
What is HeyGen?
HeyGen is a cloud-based platform for creating professional-looking videos from text input. This AI-based text-to-video generator provides realistic avatars you can use to make a video.
HeyGen (formerly Movio) started as a tool for creating spokesperson videos and rolled out of beta on July 29th, 2022. Since then, this company has produced over 32 version updates and added more than 100 new features.
This resulted in adding new features like Talking Photos, Face Swap, AI Outfit, and Custom Avatars Pro and Lite to satisfy almost every need about online video creation.
On April 1st, 2023, Movio was rebranded to HeyGen, with new elements like GPT4 integration and the ability to create a video from a url.
What sets HeyGen apart from traditional video creation?
- There is no need for cameras, microphones, or actors: The platform already has virtual actors (named avatars) that mimic human behavior with gestures and lip-synching according to speech.
- You don’t need complex editing tools or equipment: The system has an editing dashboard, and you can add image and video backgrounds, texts, sound, and music.
- There are no localization costs: A single video can be shared among different viewers only by changing the spoken language with a pair of clicks.
- Incredibly low video production costs: Production costs equal to a monthly pricing plan currently starting at $29/month.
- You don’t need any previous experience: HeyGen features an intuitive dashboard to create a video in minutes.
Getting started with HeyGen
All you need to create a video with HeyGen is a web browser and an internet connection. The software offers pre-made templates, various diverse avatars, and many editing features to help you create a video in just minutes.
Using HeyGen, you can create any video:
- Social media videos.
- Learning and courses videos
- Video presentations.
- YouTube videos.
- Product demos and reviews
- Training videos.
- How-to guides
- Onboarding videos.
- Marketing videos.
- Tutorial videos.
- Headline-grabbing news videos.
How to create a video with HeyGen
1-Once you log in to the platform, choose start with a template, start with an avatar, or url to video.
2-Select vertical or horizontal template from 100+ available; explainer video, social media, learning and development, and more categories. You can click on the template to play a preview video:
The template includes an avatar, but you can change it and choose close-up, half-body, circle view, left, center, or right screen position.
3-There is a massive library of 132+ avatars with many ethnicities, genders, and outfits.
4-You can paste your script on the text box or add an audio script. The audio script can be uploaded from a file or recorded from your PC microphone.
5-Chose your preferred language (there are more than 40 available) and voice (more than 300 available)
HeyGen features Chat-GPT integration so that you can get your script in a snap.
6-Add elements like images, icons, videos, shapes, and music.
You can upload your assets to match branding or a specific theme.
6-Preview your video.
Once you have your video ready, you can go ahead and preview it before submitting it. In this stage, the avatar is fixed with no animation (this is a standard behavior in this type of platforms) Click submit, and you get the video in your email some minutes later.
In our experience, rendering worked fast; a 1-minute video took 4 minutes to render.
What sets HeyGen apart from its competitors
Huge avatar library
HeyGen has a vast library of 120+ diverse avatars, which you won´t find in any other app.
Create Amazon product videos with a single click
Pasting the product URL from Amazon creates a professional-looking video in a minute. You can edit it later within the app.
Face-swap videos
Upload your photo and swap your face onto the AI avatar. This is a feature only available at present in HeyGen and DeepBrain.
Talking photos
You can upload a photo and make it live with 300+ authentic human voices in 40+ languages and lip-synching. You can also find this feature in Yepic, but no other competitor offers this feature.
Flexible custom avatar creation
HeyGen offers two methods for creating custom avatar; check them out:
Creating a custom avatar from a smartphone or web camera is also available on Elai. They charge $259/annually for a selfie avatar and $500/yearly for a custom professional-looking avatar.
Generative outfit
A unique and amazing HeyGen feature. You can use simple prompts to generate endless styles for your avatars. Just select an avatar and describe the outfit you want, HeyGen AI will generate unique outfits for your avatar.
Flexible Pricing Plans
HeyGen offers one of the best pricing plan options, ranging from 10 min/per month to 240 min/per month. They also provide customized enterprise plans to suit specific needs.
Continuous product updates
HeyGen adds new features regularly and is quickly growing its market share.
HeyGen pricing
HeyGen offers a flexible pricing scheme. You can try the platform for free with a 1-minute video, and the next paid plan is $24/month (billed annually) for 10 minutes of video creation.
This basic plan includes 120+ human avatars, 40+ languages, 300+ templates, face swap, a branding kit, and almost every feature.
You can choose your preferred plan on a minute monthly basis, and prices per minute get lower as you sign up for more minutes.
HeyGen prices are not the cheapest you can find. Elai.io offers 15 minutes of video per month for $23/month billed annually, which is 50% more minutes for the same money. This price relationship reflects on higher plans too.
How we would like HeyGen to improve
Onboarding and tutorials
You have access to “mini-lessons” or tutorials. Although this platform is intuitive and easy to use, we would like to see more videos and beginner’s resources.
Integrations
HeyGen provides a proprietary API and integrates only with Zapier. If you need to incorporate this tool into your current workflow, go for Elai.io, which integrates with Zapier and many other software. Hourone also offers many interesting social media integrations.
Workspaces and collaboration
This is crucial if you work with team members to avoid sending files back and forth. Once again, Elai.io and Hourone offer to manage users and workspaces depending on pricing plans.
Avatar gestures
There are no avatar gestures, an exciting feature Synthesia has recently added. Furthermore, Colossyan Creator is the only platform that lets you adjust AI avatars’ ages, emotions, and expressions.
HeyGen reviews and support
Support is handled via chat, and currently, customer service answers your queries within three hours. Not bad, but when you have an issue, you need to solve it as soon as possible.
G2 shows 316+ ratings and reviews with a 4.8/5 score, an excellent ratio that shows how the platform works from the user’s side.
HeyGen Review: Our opinion
This HeyGen review showed how AI development leads to offering a complete suite of products featuring human avatars. Looking at their recent roadmap, it is clear that this product has immense potential to fill a gap in the video creation business.
Although Synthesia is the leading AI video creation company, we are sure HeyGen is becoming a strong contender. The platform shows many improvements and regularly rolls out new features and related products.
Of course, you can’t compare HeyGen against a professional video editings platform like Filmora or Adobe. Still, this software is not intended to replace those since it is designed for users with different needs.
Whether you need to create a video for training, social media, or any other use case, HeyGen deserves a try with all these features.
