How many credits does a HeyGen video cost?
It depends on the model: HeyGen charges 20 credits per minute of Avatar IV or V video, 3 credits per minute on the older Avatar III, 5 for video translation, and 20 for Video Agent runs — all from one shared pool. So a 5-minute Avatar-V video costs 100 credits (a sixth of Creator's monthly 600), while the same video on Avatar III costs 15. Verified on heygen.com/pricing, Jul 3, 2026.
The per-model spread is the entire budgeting game. Creator's 600 monthly credits at $29 buy about 30 minutes of flagship Avatar V — roughly $0.97 per finished minute — or 200 minutes of Avatar III. The working pattern that saves real money: draft and iterate on Avatar III at 3 credits a minute, then render the final take on V.
Remember the retake tax: every re-render bills its minutes again. Re-rendering a 5-minute Avatar-V video three times burns 300 credits — half a Creator month — which is why the most repeated pricing complaint in our G2/Trustpilot check is credit burn, not the sticker price.
Put the two together and the draft-cheap pattern is worth real money. A 5-minute explainer that takes three review passes before it ships costs 4 × 100 = 400 credits if every pass renders on Avatar V — two-thirds of a Creator month for one video. Draft the three passes on Avatar III (5 min × 3 credits = 15 each, so 45 total) and render only the approved take on V (100), and the identical finished video costs 145 credits. Same output, a quarter of the pool.
Convert any credit amount or plan pool into minutes by model in our HeyGen credits calculator, or see the full plan ladder in the HeyGen pricing breakdown.
What each HeyGen job costs, and what a Creator month buys
| What you're rendering | Credit rate | Creator's 600 credits buy | ≈ $ per finished minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avatar IV / V video | 20 credits / min | 30 minutes | $0.97 |
| Avatar III video (older model) | 3 credits / min | 200 minutes | $0.15 |
| Video translation with lip sync | 5 credits / min | 120 minutes | $0.24 |
| Video Agent run | 20 credits / run | 30 runs | n/a — billed per run |
Credit rates verified on heygen.com/pricing, Jul 3, 2026. The minutes and per-minute dollar figures are arithmetic on Creator's 600 monthly credits at $29 — one shared pool, so spending it on one row leaves nothing for the others. Every re-render bills its minutes again.
Sources checked
Official vendor pages used for pricing, rights and feature claims.
- HeyGen pricing - free-tier limits, credit allowances and watermark-removal tier
Sizing a HeyGen plan from that rate
The model you use moves the cost by almost 7× — a five-minute video is 100 credits on Avatar V and 15 on Avatar III, against Creator’s 600 a month. Work out your monthly minutes on the model you will actually use before picking a tier.
Keep going
- HeyGen credits calculator — Credits → minutes on Avatar V, Avatar III and translation.
- HeyGen pricing (2026) — The full plan ladder, rollover rules and the retake tax.
- HeyGen review — Verified profile: where it wins, where it wobbles.