HeyGen vs Synthesia vs D-ID vs Runway
A side-by-side look at scores, pricing and features — with RECATOOLS' ASEAN-aware verdict for each.
HeyGen
AI avatars and video translation
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Synthesia
Enterprise AI video creation with avatars
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D-ID
Talking-head video from a single still image
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Runway
AI video generation and editing — Gen-4.5 adds native audio
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| RECATOOLS Score | 8 / 10 | 8.3 / 10 | 7.4 / 10 | 7.6 / 10 |
| Capability | ||||
| Value for money | ||||
| Ease of use | ||||
| ASEAN readiness | ||||
| API quality | ||||
| Pricing | Freemium | Subscription | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free tier | 1 video per month up to 1 minute | Basic (free): 1,200 credits/month, up to 10 min video, 9 AI avatars, 160+ languages | 5 free video creation credits | 125 one-time credits for video generation |
| Paid from | $29/month (Creator) | $18/month (Starter, billed yearly) or $29/month (monthly) | ~$4.70/month (Lite, billed annually) | Free $0 (125 credits); Standard $12-15/mo; Pro $28-35/mo; Max $76-95/mo; Enterprise custom |
| Has API | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open source | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free to use | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Users | 31M+ registered users (100k+ paying business customers) | 60,000+ companies | 500k+ users | ~4M registered users (≈1.2M monthly active, 2025-2026) |
| Founded | 2020 | 2017 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Maker | Joshua Xu, Wayne Liang | Victor Riparbelli, Steffen Tjerrild, Matthias Niessner, Lourdes Agapito | Gil Perry, Sella Blondheim, Eliran Kuta | Cristobal Valenzuela, Alejandro Matamala, Anastasis Germanidis |
| Verdict | HeyGen turns a script into a polished talking-head video with photorealistic avatars, voice cloning, and lip-synced translation across 175+ languages, and it remains the reference product in its category for marketing, t... |
Synthesia turns scripts into presenter-led video without a camera or actor: pick from 240+ stock avatars (or clone your own), choose from 160+ languages and 1,000+ voices, and export in minutes. It's become the default f... |
D-ID is a leading AI avatar and talking-head video platform that animates a still photo or generates a presenter to deliver scripted speech, with multilingual TTS and a developer API. The March 2026 V4 Expressive Visual... |
Runway is one of the most established AI video platforms, pairing generative models with a real editing suite — inpainting, green-screen, motion tracking, frame interpolation. Gen-4.5 closed the category's oldest gap by... |
| Full review → | Full review → | Full review → | Full review → |
Comparisons cover up to 4 tools. Scores are RECATOOLS editorial assessments; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.