On HeyGen's $29 Creator plan, 30 seconds of avatar costs $0.39 (Avatar IV from a photo) to $1.16 (Avatar V), the cheapest talking person in this comparison. An ad still needs a hook, your product in the shot, the static versions and the upload, and that's the part AdMakeAI makes. If your job is training, translation or a spokesperson in 20 languages, jump to the pick by job.
Three Sharp first takes from one product photo, and one ad at Max
“Exposed my morning secret because strangers keep stopping me on the street.”
Hook-first angle, a first take at Sharp: 12 seconds, 15 credits ($1.17).
“Unpopular opinion: your twelve step morning routine is completely ruining your skin barrier.”
Hot-take angle from the same request, same photo, same price.
“Look at my skin right now.”
Before-and-after angle from the same request.
“I told my daughter no grown man pays nine dollars a day to feed a dog.”
Our top tier (Max), from a hand-written brief: about $8.11 per 30 seconds. The staging borrows from a PetPlate ad that started July 1, 2025 and was still running on September 22, 2026.
HeyGen vs AdMakeAI: who wins each row
30 s of a talking person, entry plan, monthly
Script
Your product in the person's hand
Person, room and voice
Languages
Your own digital twin or cloned voice
Formats
Static ads from the same project
Competitor ad research
Into your ad account
Try before paying
Fixing one part
Swipe sideways to see every column
| Feature | AdMakeAI | HeyGen |
|---|---|---|
| 30 s of a talking person, entry plan, monthly | $2.65 (two Sharp clips) on Starter $39 | $0.39 (Avatar IV photo) to $1.16 (Avatar V) on Creator $29 |
| Script | Built from your product page and the ads competitors keep running | Your script or prompt |
| Your product in the person's hand | Your photo composited into the first frame, every paid plan | Product Placement on Avatar IV; small handheld items work best |
| Person, room and voice | One render of person, room, product and voice | Presenter avatar; voice from its library or your clone |
| Languages | English scripts | 175+, lip-sync translation |
| Your own digital twin or cloned voice | No | Yes (Avatar V from a 15-second video; voice cloning) |
| Formats | 9:16 at 720p | Several aspect ratios (9:16 and 1:1 on its UGC tool), up to 4K on Pro |
| Static ads from the same project | Ad sets of 1-15, from $0.16 a Fast image | Image generation (2 credits); no ad-set workflow on its pricing page |
| Competitor ad research | Meta Ad Library tracking by brand and keyword | Not on its pricing page |
| Into your ad account | Paused draft in your Meta ad set after a preflight (3 credits) | Download the MP4 (Zapier, Make, n8n on Business) |
| Try before paying | 30 free credits to try it on your brand (static ads); video needs a plan | Free plan: up to 3 videos a month, evaluation only |
| Fixing one part | 2-credit still and free voice preview first; retakes re-render one clip | Reviews: paying again to re-generate (the top complaint) |
HeyGen facts from its pricing page, credits help article and Terms. We didn't buy a HeyGen plan, so quality lines come from its reviews.
What 30 seconds of AI UGC costs on HeyGen and the tools people switch to
AdMakeAI (ours)
One 30-second ad: $2.65 (Sharp, two 15 s clips joined)
- Entry plan, monthly
- Starter $39, 500 credits
- 30 s ads a month
- 14
- Your product in the person's hand
- Every paid plan: your photo in the first frame
- Free plan or trial
- 30 free credits to try it on your brand; video needs a plan
HeyGen
One 30-second ad: $0.39 (Avatar IV, photo) to $1.16 (Avatar V)
- Entry plan, monthly
- Creator $29, 600 credits
- 30 s ads a month
- 25 to 75
- Your product in the person's hand
- Product Placement (Avatar IV), small items best
- Free plan or trial
- Up to 3 videos a month, evaluation only
Arcads
One 30-second ad: ~$11.00 (reported)
- Entry plan, monthly
- Starter ~$110 (reported), 8,000 credits
- 30 s ads a month
- 10
- Your product in the person's hand
- Actor holding it, then talking; static face-cam
- Free plan or trial
- 72 hours, 1,000 credits (one video), card hold
Creatify
One 30-second ad: $2.73 ($1.96 on Pro)
- Entry plan, monthly
- Standard $15, 55 credits
- 30 s ads a month
- 5
- Your product in the person's hand
- From Pro ($55)
- Free plan or trial
- 10 credits a month, watermarked
MakeUGC
One 30-second ad: $11.80 ($5.80 yearly)
- Entry plan, monthly
- Starter $59 ($29 yearly), 500 credits
- 30 s ads a month
- 5
- Your product in the person's hand
- Every plan
- Free plan or trial
- $1 trial
TopView
One 30-second ad: $1.08 (yearly only)
- Entry plan, monthly
- Plus $36/mo, billed yearly ($432)
- 30 s ads a month
- 33
- Your product in the person's hand
- Product Avatar from one photo
- Free plan or trial
- 10 one-time credits; free use can't be commercial
Swipe sideways to see every column
| Tool | Entry plan, monthly | 30 s ads a month | Your product in the person's hand | Free plan or trial | One 30-second ad |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AdMakeAI (ours) | Starter $39, 500 credits | 14 | Every paid plan: your photo in the first frame | 30 free credits to try it on your brand; video needs a plan | $2.65 (Sharp, two 15 s clips joined) |
| HeyGen | Creator $29, 600 credits | 25 to 75 | Product Placement (Avatar IV), small items best | Up to 3 videos a month, evaluation only | $0.39 (Avatar IV, photo) to $1.16 (Avatar V) |
| Arcads | Starter ~$110 (reported), 8,000 credits | 10 | Actor holding it, then talking; static face-cam | 72 hours, 1,000 credits (one video), card hold | ~$11.00 (reported) |
| Creatify | Standard $15, 55 credits | 5 | From Pro ($55) | 10 credits a month, watermarked | $2.73 ($1.96 on Pro) |
| MakeUGC | Starter $59 ($29 yearly), 500 credits | 5 | Every plan | $1 trial | $11.80 ($5.80 yearly) |
| TopView | Plus $36/mo, billed yearly ($432) | 33 | Product Avatar from one photo | 10 one-time credits; free use can't be commercial | $1.08 (yearly only) |
Prices from each pricing page and help center, checked October 18, 2026, monthly billing unless marked. One single-person 30-second ad, no retakes. Arcads doesn't publish prices; its figure is the Starter price reviewers report after signup.
Every AI UGC tool priced per finished ad is in our AI UGC video tools comparison, and HeyGen's plans and credits in detail are in HeyGen pricing explained.
What an ad needs that a HeyGen avatar doesn't bring
You've paid for a render, watched the mouth go wrong and paid again. Here a wrong line costs one clip. You approve the still and play the voiceover for free first, and if a line is still off, the retake re-renders that clip only: 15 credits, about $1.17 on Sharp. Renders that fail refund on their own.
You open HeyGen with a blank script box. In AdMakeAI you start from the ads your competitors keep paying for, tracked by brand and keyword, and the Video Agent can take one of their video ads apart shot by shot before it writes yours. The dog-food ad in the strip borrows its staging the same way.
The ad has to show your product in a hand, in a room that looks lived in. Upload one product photo and it's composited into the person's first frame, then the person, the room, the movement and the voice come out of one render, like the serum takes above. HeyGen covers part of this: Product Placement on Avatar IV puts your product in the avatar's hand, and its own guide says small or handheld products work best while larger items "may be scaled down". The same tip holds here. Bottles, jars and tins read best, and for a real unboxing you should still pay a human.
The ad also isn't the whole campaign. The same project makes the static versions in Ad Set Studio, and the finished video goes to your Meta ad set as a paused draft (3 credits on paid plans), so nothing waits in a downloads folder. On Starter, 500 credits covers ten 30-second ads plus 80 Fast statics.
Why HeyGen users go looking
HeyGen has 4.2 stars from 4,598 reviews on Trustpilot, most of them invited. The 14% that are one-star are mostly about credits spent fixing a render.
"Users should not have to keep paying to fix errors created during previous generations."
"using all my credits to fix their own mistakes."
"the clearity is improved and the mouth looks super weird and fake"
"They keep chasing you with AI responses to refrain you from cancelling."
"The platform allowed me to create training videos in several different languages."
If you were planning to run ads from the free plan, HeyGen's Terms limit free-plan videos to "personal, non-commercial, and internal evaluation purposes" and rule out advertising.
AI spokesperson, translation or training: the right tool for each job
An AI spokesperson faces the camera in a clean frame and explains: explainers, onboarding, sales intros, the same video in 20 languages. A UGC-style ad is phone-shot in a kitchen or a car, with the product in hand and a script of a person talking about it.
Pick by the job you need done
Meta ads with my product in them
AdMakeAI(ours)
$2.65 per 30-second ad on Starter ($39)
Script from ads your competitors keep running, your product in the person's hand, statics and a paused Meta draft from the same project
Watch out: English scripts, 9:16 only
A presenter or my own twin, in many languages
Stay with HeyGen
From $0.39 per 30 seconds on Creator ($29)
175+ languages, a twin from a 15-second video, voice cloning
Watch out: Free-plan videos can't run as ads
Translate videos I already have
HeyGen or Rask
HeyGen lip-sync translation from 6 credits a minute; Rask from $39 a month for 25 minutes
Rask dubs into 135+ languages, lip-sync from $99
Training and onboarding courses
Synthesia or Colossyan
Synthesia from $29 a month (about 12 minutes); Colossyan $59 a month billed yearly
Colossyan exports SCORM for your LMS and has a free plan
Watch out: Synthesia's stock avatars can't run in paid social ads without its written consent
Real-actor faces for UGC ads
Arcads
About $11 per talking video (reported)
Actors based on real, paid people; 74 languages
Watch out: An actor can withdraw, and Arcads can ask you to pull the ad
What Arcads costs, and cheaper ways · HeyGen vs Arcads, head to head
For every job here except the first, HeyGen or the tool named beats us; AdMakeAI only makes ads. For a spokesperson at no cost, HeyGen Free gives you up to 3 videos a month for evaluation only, Synthesia Basic 10 minutes a month with a watermark, and Colossyan Starter is free with no card.
Stay with HeyGen or switch
Stay with HeyGen if you
- Need the same presenter in many languages: 175+, with lip-sync translation
- Want a twin of yourself from a 15-second video, or your own cloned voice
- Make training, onboarding or explainer videos rather than ads
- Need 16:9 or 4K exports
- Want the lowest price per second for a talking presenter
Switch to AdMakeAI if you
- Sell a product on Meta and want it in the person's hand, in a real room
- Want the script built from ads your competitors keep running
- Want to approve a 2-credit still and a free voice preview before paying for motion
- Want the static ads and a paused draft in your Meta ad set from the same project
- Are fine with English scripts and 9:16
HeyGen alternatives: questions people ask
What is the best HeyGen alternative for ads?
AdMakeAI, if you sell a product on Meta: the script comes from ads your competitors keep running, your product photo goes in the person's hand, and a 30-second ad costs about $2.65 on the $39 plan. If you want avatar ads at a lower entry price, Creatify Standard is $15 a month ($2.73 per 30 seconds), and TopView is $1.08 per 30 seconds if you pay a year up front.
Is there a free HeyGen alternative?
None of these free plans gives you an AI video ad you can run: HeyGen's Terms limit free videos to personal evaluation, TopView's free plan bars commercial use, and Creatify's free exports carry its watermark. AdMakeAI's 30 free credits let you try it on your own brand with static ads; video and commercial use start with the $39 plan.
What is cheaper than HeyGen?
Per second, almost nothing: Avatar IV from a photo is $0.39 for 30 seconds on Creator. AdMakeAI costs more ($2.65) because the hook, your product, the room and the voice are rendered together.
Can HeyGen avatars hold my product?
Yes, with Product Placement on Avatar IV. HeyGen says small or handheld products work best and larger items may be scaled down.
Can I use HeyGen videos in Facebook ads?
Yes on paid plans, where HeyGen's Terms say you own the output. Not on the free plan, which is for "internal evaluation" only.
What is the best AI spokesperson generator?
HeyGen for a presenter or your own twin in 175+ languages; Synthesia or Colossyan for training (Colossyan exports SCORM). Synthesia's stock avatars can't run in paid social ads without its written consent.
Does AdMakeAI translate videos like HeyGen?
No. Video scripts are English; only static ad images translate, into 34 languages. For video translation keep HeyGen (lip-sync translation from 6 credits a minute) or use Rask (135+ languages, from $39 a month).
Make a 30-second ad with your product in it
Upload one product photo, approve a 2-credit still, then render. Starter is $39 for 500 credits, and 30 free credits let you try static ads on your own brand before you pay.