HeyGen vs Submagic
These are sequential, not competing. HeyGen produces a video from a script; Submagic takes a finished video and makes it look native to the feed. If you have no footage and no avatar, Submagic has nothing to work on. If your clips look fine and you need a presenter, HeyGen is the one with the presenter.
Disclosure: this page is published by Kineo, which is not one of the two tools compared here and does not compete with either on the job they do. There is a short, clearly labelled note about Kineo at the bottom. Everything above it is written as if we had nothing at stake, because on this comparison we do not.
The verdict
The prerequisite question settles it in one line
Submagic needs a video you upload — its free plan is capped at 200MB and 1 minute 30 seconds per file. HeyGen needs a script and produces the video itself. Everything else on this page is downstream of which of those two things you currently have.
The quotas are shaped for different rhythms
Submagic counts whole videos: 15 a month up to 2 minutes each on Starter at $19/member/month, or $12 billed yearly; 40 up to 5 minutes on Pro at $39, or $23 yearly; 100 up to 30 minutes on Business + API at $69, or $41 yearly. HeyGen counts credits against rendering minutes: 600 on Creator at $29/month, at 20 credits a minute on Avatar IV/V or 3 on Avatar III. One is countable in advance and the other depends on a choice you make per video.
Both have real free tiers and neither is publishable
HeyGen Free gives 3 videos a month, 1 minute each, with 1 custom digital twin and 500+ stock avatars. Submagic Free gives 3 watermarked videos a month at 200MB and 1m30s. HeyGen lists watermark removal from Creator up; Submagic removes its watermark from Starter up. Neither free output is something to put on a monetised channel.
Stacking them is the answer more often than choosing
Render the presenter in HeyGen, then run the clip through Submagic for caption styling, hook titles and audio cleanup. HeyGen Creator at $29/month plus Submagic Starter at $12/member/month billed yearly is about $41 a month for the two halves. That is worth knowing before you buy one and expect it to do both.
Side by side
Every figure below was read off each vendor’s own pricing page on July 26, 2026. Where a tier table did not resolve to readable prices, the cell says so rather than guessing — a wrong competitor price is worse than no price at all.
| HeyGen | Submagic | |
|---|---|---|
| What it actually is | Puts a synthetic presenter on screen reading your script, with heavy investment in avatars, voice cloning and languages. | Takes a short video you already have and makes it look native to the feed — captions, b-roll, sound cleanup. |
| Needs an existing video? | No. You write a script, pick an avatar and it renders a talking-head clip. | Yes — you upload a finished video. It styles a clip, it does not create one. |
| Free tier | Free plan: $0, 3 videos per month up to 1 minute each, 1 custom digital twin, 30+ languages and 500+ stock avatars. | Free plan: $0, 3 videos per month carrying a Submagic watermark, capped at 200MB and 1 minute 30 seconds per video, with starter templates and free stock media. |
| Cheapest paid plan | Creator $29/month, or $24/month billed annually | Starter $19/member/month, or $12/member/month billed yearly |
| Full pricing | Free $0 (3 videos/mo, 1 min each) · Creator $29/mo, or $24/mo billed annually (600 credits/mo, videos up to 30 min, 1080p export, voice cloning, 175+ languages) · Pro $49/mo (1,000 credits/mo, 4K export) · Business $149/mo plus $20/seat/mo (1,500 credits/mo, videos up to 60 min, 4K, 5 custom digital twins) · Enterprise custom (no video duration maximum, 10+ custom digital twins). | Free $0 (3 videos/mo) · Starter $19/member/mo, or $12/member/mo billed yearly (15 videos/mo up to 2 min each, 3 AI credits, 1080p/30fps, API 10 min/mo) · Pro $39/mo, or $23/mo yearly (40 videos/mo up to 5 min, 6 AI credits, Storyblocks media, AI hook titles, audio cleanup, silence removal, caption translation, 1080p and 2K) · Business + API $69/mo, or $41/mo yearly (100 videos/mo up to 30 min, 15 AI credits, 4K/60fps, API 100 min/mo) · Custom on request. |
| Watermark | Watermark removal is included from the Creator tier up. | Watermarked on the free plan; removed from Starter up. |
| Aspect ratio | Multiple, including 9:16 vertical. | Short-form vertical, taken from the video you upload. |
| Voice / narration | A large built-in voice library plus voice cloning on paid plans; 175+ languages from Creator up. | Your source audio. No AI narration of a written script. |
| Where the visuals come from | Not the point of the product — the avatar is the shot. | Free b-roll and audio on paid plans; the Storyblocks library is added from Pro up. |
| Export & usage limits | Credit-metered. The pricing page lists Avatar IV/V at 20 credits per minute and Avatar III at 3 credits per minute. Unused credits roll over for paid subscribers. | 1080p/30fps from Starter, 1080p and 2K from Pro, 4K/60fps on Business. Quota is counted in videos per month, with a maximum duration per video that rises with the tier. |
| Verified | Verified July 26, 2026 — read from https://www.heygen.com/pricing | Verified July 26, 2026 — read from https://www.submagic.co/pricing |
Sources: HeyGen pricing · Submagic pricing — both checked on July 26, 2026. Vendors change tiers without notice, so confirm on their site before you pay. If you find something here that is out of date, we would rather fix it than keep the click.
Which one you should pick
Pick HeyGen if…
- You need a video to exist and you only have a script.
- A presenter on screen is the format — a spokesperson, a course, an announcement.
- You are localising: 175+ languages from Creator up, with voice cloning at the same tier.
- You need long single videos — up to 30 minutes on Creator, 60 on Business.
- You want 4K without a sales call: Pro at $49/month.
Pick Submagic if…
- You already have clips and they look unfinished next to what wins in your niche.
- Caption styling is the gap: 100+ templates, keyword highlighting, AI hook titles from Pro.
- You want audio cleanup, silence removal or caption translation — all at Pro, $39/month or $23 yearly.
- You want a countable quota you can plan a posting schedule against: 15, 40 or 100 videos a month.
- You need 4K at 60fps, which is Business + API at $69/month, or $41 yearly.
The differences that actually matter
Per member versus per account
Submagic quotes per member per month, so a second person is a second subscription. HeyGen quotes a plan price, with Business at $149/month plus $20 per seat per month — seats are priced, but the base plan is not multiplied. For a solo operator neither matters; for a two- or three-person team the arithmetic is genuinely different and worth doing before signing.
Where the b-roll comes from, if there is any
Submagic includes free b-roll and audio on paid plans and adds the Storyblocks library from Pro at $39/month. HeyGen’s pricing page does not sell a stock library — the avatar is the shot. If a video needs cutaways, Submagic is the side of this comparison that supplies them.
Rollover exists on one side only
HeyGen states that unused credits roll over for paid subscribers. Submagic’s quota is a monthly video count with no rollover stated on its pricing page in what we could read. If you publish in bursts, an unused HeyGen month is not fully wasted and an unused Submagic month probably is.
Neither one produces faceless narration over stock footage
HeyGen puts an avatar in frame. Submagic improves footage you filmed. A faceless Short — AI narration over cut b-roll with nobody on screen — is not what either is built to originate, and that is why some readers of this page will need a third answer rather than one of these two.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need both HeyGen and Submagic?
If your format is a presenter and you want feed-native captions, yes — that is a coherent stack at roughly $41/month with HeyGen Creator monthly and Submagic Starter billed yearly. If your captions are fine, HeyGen alone is enough. If you already film yourself, Submagic alone is enough.
Can Submagic generate a video from a script?
No. Submagic works on a video you upload; its free plan caps that upload at 200MB and 1 minute 30 seconds. It adds captions, b-roll, hook titles and audio cleanup. With only a script, there is nothing for it to act on.
Is HeyGen or Submagic cheaper?
Submagic at entry: $19/member/month, or $12/member/month billed yearly, against HeyGen Creator at $29/month, or $24 billed annually. Both read from their own pricing pages on July 26, 2026. They do different jobs, so cheaper is only meaningful once you know which job you need done.
Which one gives me captions?
Both, differently. Submagic is a captioning product first — 100+ templates, keyword highlighting, hook titles from Pro, caption translation from Pro. HeyGen produces the video itself; caption styling at that depth is not what its pricing page sells.
Can I put a HeyGen avatar video through Submagic?
Submagic works on video files you upload, and its per-tier duration caps apply — 1m30s on free, 2 minutes on Starter, 5 on Pro, 30 on Business. Nothing in either pricing page prevents it. Check the file size limit on the free tier: 200MB.
One disclosed third option
Disclosure: this page is published by Kineo, which is neither tool above. Kineo produces a faceless 9:16 Short from a typed topic — script, AI voiceover, matched footage, captions burned in — so it replaces the HeyGen step for people who do not want a presenter, and does its own captions rather than Submagic-grade styling. If you want the best captions available, Submagic is that and we are not pretending otherwise.
Make one free →Up to 3 watermarked Fast videos / 24h · No card · Starter $4.90 first month
Other comparisons
Looking to replace one of these rather than choose between them? HeyGen alternatives · Submagic alternatives
Prices, free-tier terms and limits on this page were verified on July 26, 2026 by reading each vendor’s own published pricing page, linked above. They change. Nothing here is an endorsement by, or affiliation with, HeyGen or Submagic, and no comparison on this site is paid for or sponsored. Kineo is a product of the same company that publishes this page, which is stated on every comparison whether or not Kineo is one of the tools being judged.