Hedra vs HeyGen Pricing and Cost Per Video Ad in 2026

Hedra is cheaper to start and HeyGen is cheaper to use. Hedra's entry plan is $20 a month against $29 for HeyGen Creator, or $24 billed yearly. But HeyGen's 600 monthly credits buy about 37 minutes of a photo avatar on Avatar IV, while Hedra Basic's 2,000 credits buy roughly five and a half minutes of Character-3 at 720p. Per minute of talking avatar video, HeyGen Creator costs about $0.78 and Hedra between $2.00 and $3.60 depending on the plan. Hedra earns its price on expressive, custom characters; HeyGen on volume. Both price lists below were read on each vendor's own pricing page.

Hedra vs HeyGen pricing at a glance

Hedra raised and renamed its plans this autumn. The old $15, $30 and $75 ladder is gone, so any comparison still quoting it is out of date. As read from hedra.com/pricing on 2 October 2026, every Hedra plan is billed monthly and every paid tier includes commercial use. HeyGen's list was read from heygen.com/pricing on 1 October 2026.

Two things jump out. Hedra's Business Teams plan is cheaper than Ultra while carrying 14,400 credits, so a team of two or more usually lands there rather than on Ultra. And HeyGen offers an annual discount of about 17 percent that Hedra simply does not show. For the full HeyGen credit table, including Avatar V and Video Agent rates, see our HeyGen pricing breakdown.

Which is cheaper per minute, Hedra or HeyGen?

HeyGen, by a wide margin. HeyGen's help center lists Avatar IV at 16 credits per minute for a Photo Look and 31 for a Video Look. On Creator that is about 37 minutes of photo avatar or 19 minutes of video avatar for $29, so roughly $0.78 or $1.53 a minute.

Hedra does not publish a per-model credit table on its pricing page, so any per-minute Hedra figure is an estimate. Using the roughly 6 credits a second that Character-3 draws at 720p, one minute costs 360 credits. That puts Hedra at about $3.60 a minute on Basic, $2.50 on Pro, $2.00 on Ultra and $1.88 on Business Teams. Halve those figures if you render at 540p.

So for the same $50 a month, HeyGen Pro gives you about 62 photo-avatar minutes and Hedra Pro about 20. If minutes of presenter footage is the thing you are buying, HeyGen wins this comparison outright.

Is Hedra better than HeyGen for UGC ads?

For a single hero ad with a character that has to feel alive, often yes. Hedra is built around a character you design: upload any image, a product mascot, a stylized founder, a pet, and Character-3 animates it with expressive faces and natural head movement. That is hard to fake with a stock presenter, and on a scroll-stopping first frame it can matter more than the price per minute.

For a testing program, usually no. A paid social test is not one clip. It is a script, four or five hook takes, the takes you throw away, and the winner recut for 9:16, 1:1 and 4:5. At $1.25 a 30 second clip on Hedra Pro against $0.39 to $0.75 on HeyGen Creator, the gap compounds fast. Twenty test clips a month costs about $25 of Hedra Pro credits and about $8 to $15 of HeyGen's, and Hedra Pro's 7,200 credits cover only 40 such clips.

HeyGen is the like-for-like choice if you want a realistic human presenter, many languages and a large stock avatar library. It also offers a digital twin of a real person, which is a face and voice, not a mind. If what you actually want is an AI clone of your own expertise that answers questions from your documents, that is a different kind of product entirely.

What each plan does not include

Neither tool writes your ad. You bring the script, the hook, the product angle, the captions and the edit. For an ecommerce team that is most of the work. Both sell minutes of a face talking, and the cost per finished ad is the minutes plus the hours someone spends turning them into something you can run.

• API costs extra on both. HeyGen bills its API separately with a $5 pay-as-you-go minimum. Hedra's API runs on a separate US dollar wallet that a Studio subscription does not fund, with auto top-up thresholds of at least $10 and $35.
• Rollover differs. HeyGen monthly credits roll over one extra cycle and yearly credits accumulate until renewal. Check Hedra's pricing FAQ before you assume yours carry over.
• Seats. HeyGen Business adds $20 a seat on top of $149. Hedra's team access sits on the $75 Business Teams plan.

Our Hedra pricing article covers the credit model, the API wallet and the cancellation terms in more detail, and the D-ID alternatives comparison lines both tools up against D-ID, Synthesia and JoggAI on the first plan without a watermark.

Hedra vs HeyGen, which should you buy?

Buy HeyGen if you need many minutes of a realistic presenter, translation into several languages, or an avatar of yourself, and you want the lowest cost per minute. Creator at $29, or $24 billed yearly, covers most small brands. Buy Hedra if you need a custom or stylized character that a stock presenter cannot replace and you make a handful of hero clips a month. Pro at $50 is the realistic starting point once you count retakes.

Buy neither if what you need is a stream of finished ads rather than raw avatar footage. That is the job UGCGen is built for: paste a product URL, pick an AI creator, and it writes the script, generates five hook variations and burns in captions in 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9. On raw minutes, HeyGen and Hedra are cheaper than we are, and we will not pretend otherwise. On Plus, $149 a month covers 26 finished ads, roughly $5.75 each or about $2.85 billed yearly, and the first purchase has a 14 day money-back guarantee. Starter is $49 a month for one short ad plus 2 extra hook angles. Compare every plan on the UGCGen pricing page, or see how the whole category prices out on our AI UGC pricing guide.

Hedra vs HeyGen pricing questions

Is Hedra cheaper than HeyGen?

Only at the entry price. Hedra Basic is $20 a month against $29 for HeyGen Creator, but HeyGen's credits buy far more video. HeyGen Creator covers about 37 minutes of a photo avatar, while Hedra Basic covers roughly five and a half minutes of Character-3 at 720p. Per minute of photo avatar, HeyGen is roughly two to four times cheaper.

Does Hedra have an annual plan?

Not on its public pricing page. As of 2 October 2026 every Hedra plan, Basic $20, Pro $50, Ultra $100 and Business Teams $75, is shown as billed monthly, and enterprise volumes are priced on request. HeyGen does offer annual billing, at $24 a month for Creator and $41 for Pro, about 17 percent off.

Can I use Hedra and HeyGen videos in paid ads?

Yes on paid plans. Hedra lists commercial use on Basic, Pro, Ultra and Business Teams. HeyGen includes watermark removal from Creator up, which is what you need for a clean paid placement. Free use on either tool is watermarked and not meant for ads.

Is HeyGen worth it compared with Hedra?

For volume, yes. If you test many hooks a month, HeyGen's cost per minute is far lower and its annual discount lowers it again. Hedra is worth paying more for when the character itself is the creative idea, such as a mascot or a stylized spokesperson that has to emote.