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HeyGen vs Runway
HeyGen scores higher overall (8.6 vs 8.5), but the right pick depends on what you need.
Choose HeyGen if…
Marketers and creators making talking-head, explainer and translated videos at scale
8.6/10★★★★★Full review →Choose Runway if…
Filmmakers and marketers who want fine creative control and editing, not just one-shot clips
8.5/10★★★★★Full review →Side by side
| HeyGen | Runway | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 8.6/10 | 8.5/10 |
| Rank in category | #3 of 11 | #4 of 11 |
| Price | Freemium · from $24/month | Freemium · from $12/month |
| Free version | 3 videos a month up to 1 minute each, 500+ stock avatars, 1 custom avatar | 125 one-time credits to test selected models, 5GB storage |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, API | Web, iOS, Android, API |
| Made by | HeyGen Technology Inc. | Runway AI, Inc. |
| Video quality | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| Ease of use | 9 | 8 |
| Features | 9 | 10 |
| Value for money | 7.5 | 7 |
| Platforms | 9.5 | 9.5 |
HeyGen: what the AI does
- Avatar V digital twins from a 15-second video
- Photo avatars
- Video translation with lip sync in 175+ languages
- Voice cloning
- Script-to-video with templates
- API and MCP server for developers
- Some of the most realistic avatars available
- Strong video translation and lip sync
- Apps on every platform plus an API
- Free plan to try it
- Avatar videos only; it isn't a general scene generator
- Entry plan credits run out quickly
- Lifelike avatars raise consent and deepfake concerns
Runway: what the AI does
- Gen-4.5 text-to-video and image-to-video
- Aleph video editing (relight, restyle, add or remove objects, new angles)
- Third-party models including Kling 3.0 and Seedance
- Agentic creative collaborator
- Music, voice and sound generation
- 4K upscaling
- Deepest editing toolset, led by Aleph
- Gen-4.5 is a strong in-house model, with partner models in the same workspace
- Apps on every major platform plus an API
- No watermark on paid plans
- Credits are expensive: Standard covers under a minute of Gen-4.5 video a month
- Free plan is a one-time 125 credits only
- Busy interface takes time to learn