HeyGen
Tool · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
HeyGen is a tool for creating videos with AI avatars. It relates to social networks indirectly: it makes the material that is then published by other means.
Programmatic access is described in the documentation: the key is created in the settings and passed in the X-Api-Key header, the base address is api.heygen.com.
The tool keeps the index llms.txt on the site for reading by programs (8658 characters on the date of the check — this is our own measurement of the file, not a claim by the tool); it has a section "Instructions for AI assistants".
The interface language of the homepage is en-US, but the hreflang markup on the site announces nineteen language versions: ar, de, en, es, fr, he, id, it, ja, ko, nl, pl, pt, sv, th, tr, uk, vi, zh. This is the widest set among the tools that have come into the deep dives.
Which platforms it works with
There are no social platforms for publishing in the catalogue of integrations. On the integrations page only two entries resembling platforms were found — Discord and Telegram, and both with reservations: they are marked "Coming soon" and assigned to the AI Workflows (MCP) section, not to publishing.
Put another way, the finished video will have to be put out by yourself or through another tool.
Pricing
All the prices are from the pricing page. The plans are divided into "for individuals" and "for business": Free 0, Creator 29, Pro 49, Business 149 USD a month, Enterprise — on request. The minimum paid price is 29 USD a month (Creator, 600 credits).
The Business plan is arranged in a mixed way: 149 USD a month plus 20 USD per seat a month. That is, the fixed fee and the payment per person add up, they do not replace each other.
The charging runs in credits, and the number of credits by itself says little: the spending depends on the function. Avatar III — 3 credits a minute, Avatar IV and V — 20, translating a video — from 2 to 5. The same 600 credits of the Creator plan give 200 minutes on one function and 30 minutes on another. What has to be counted is not credits but minutes of the function you need.
What is free
There is a free plan: up to three videos a month of up to one minute in length, a card is not required (pricing). Access to premium capabilities on it is limited — how exactly the page does not spell out.
Restrictions
The free plan is limited to three videos a month of up to a minute each.
The paid plans are limited by a monthly stock of credits, and this stock is shared: it is spent on all the capabilities at once (pricing). Because of the different price of the functions the real limit in minutes on one and the same plan differs many times over — from 30 to 200 minutes on 600 credits.
On the Business plan 20 USD for each seat is added to the monthly fee.
The source names no daily limits and no restrictions on the length of a single video on the paid plans.
Rights to the output
The difference by plan here is a sharp one, and it has to be known before you take what you have made to a client.
The paid plans. The terms say directly: "you own all rights in your User Input or User Output", and separately "HeyGen does not claim to own any of Your Content". Commercial use is permitted.
The free plan. Instead of ownership there is a "limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license" for personal non-commercial use, and then, word for word: "User Output generated under a Free Plan may not be sold, sublicensed, redistributed, monetized, or used in connection with commercial activities".
The list in that sentence closes more than a sale: sub-licensing, redistribution, any monetisation and use in connection with commercial activities at all fall under the ban. Three free clips a month are a trial, not a foundation for work: what is made on them may not be put into use under the terms, and paying for a subscription later does not mend that. The clip will have to be made again on a paid plan.
Do they train on your data
They do train — on what is entered and on what is created. The consent is built into the terms: the user gives the tool a licence "to access, use, host, cache, store, reproduce, transmit, display, publish, distribute, and modify Your Content to operate, improve, promote and provide the Services and to develop new services and products, including to train or otherwise improve or modify our artificial intelligence and machine learning models".
The word "train" stands in the text directly, and it relates to "Your Content" as a whole — that is, to the script you enter, to the finished clip, and to the material uploaded for your own digital twin.
A mechanism of opting out the terms do not describe. Training here is part of the licence granted, and a way of excluding it from that licence the document does not name: neither a setting, nor a reservation for particular plans, nor a request to support. The terms have been read in full and there is no answer in them. This is not the statement that opting out is impossible — it is that opting out is not spoken of.
For a tool that makes a face and a voice speak the question is not an abstract one: the same licence covers the material out of which your digital twin is assembled.
How you earn with it
The programme is announced — the HeyGen Social Creator Program (programme page); the "Affiliate Program" link in the footer and the addresses /affiliate and /affiliate-program lead there as well.
The commission — the wording of the page: "35% commission recurring for 3 months on every subscription you drive". That is, the crediting is recurring, but for exactly three months of the referred user's subscription, no longer. Separately a temporarily raised rate of 50% is announced from 1 August to 31 October; the year this promotion applies to is not given on the page, and it is worth checking it on the page itself.
The lifetime of the click tag is 30 days ("30-day tracking window"). The minimum payout is 100 USD, before the payout a 60-day verification period applies. They pay through PayPal in the first three days of each month.
The entry threshold here is higher than with ordinary affiliate programmes: an audience from 5000 subscribers on at least one platform is needed — Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Udemy or Skillshare. Admission is by application. Original videos are required; promotion only through a blog or search engine optimisation, paid search and self-referral are forbidden.
What it will not do
The tool will not help publish the finished video into a social network: there are no platforms for publishing in the catalogue of integrations, and Discord and Telegram are listed there as "Coming soon" and relate to AI workflows, not to putting content out.
Making more than three videos a month for free will not work out, and each one is no longer than a minute.
Earning in the affiliate programme without an audience will not work: no less than 5000 subscribers on at least one of the five platforms named is required. Promotion only through a blog or search engine optimisation is not accepted by the programme. The recurring commission is not endless — three months, and that is all.
What the source does not report: there is no separate page with the terms of the programme, the full text of the rules cannot be got from the page. Nor is it spelled out which premium capabilities exactly are cut back on the free plan.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
video with a synthetic presenter: generating a clip from a script with a «digital twin». The free plan gives access to «500+ Stock Digital Twins» and «1 Custom Digital Twin» (verbatim from the pricing page); paid plans add 1080p and 4K export
The description is taken from the pricing page rather than the home page: the home page promises more.
source, checked 2026-08-07
the number of languages DIFFERS BY PLAN: the free plan — «30+ languages», Creator, Pro and Business — «175+ languages and dialects» (verbatim). There is no list by name on the pricing page, so support for Russian, Arabic, Hindi and Chinese cannot be confirmed from this source
The difference between plans is confirmed, the contents of the list are not. A round number without a list is not passed off here as a list.
source, checked 2026-08-07
Platforms
Discord, Telegram
Both catalogue entries are labelled «Coming soon» and are filed under AI Workflows (MCP) rather than publishing. There are no other social platforms in the catalogue
source, checked 2026-07-28
How the money works here
Affiliate programme. yes: HeyGen Social Creator Program
an Affiliate Program link in the footer, and /affiliate and /affiliate-program lead here
source, checked 2026-08-04
Commission. 35% commission recurring for 3 months on every subscription you drive; an increased rate of 50% has been announced temporarily from 1 August to 31 October
the year in which the increased rate applies is not stated on the page
source, checked 2026-08-04
One-off or recurring. recurring during 3 months of the subscription of the user brought in
the wording of the page
source, checked 2026-08-04
Click-tag lifetime. 30-day tracking window: a purchase within 30 days after the click is credited to the partner
the wording of the page
source, checked 2026-08-04
Payout minimum. minimum payout $100
a 60-day review period before payout
source, checked 2026-08-04
How they pay. PayPal; payouts in the first 3 days of each month
the wording of the page
source, checked 2026-08-04
Who is admitted. creators with an audience from 5000 subscribers on at least one platform (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Udemy, Skillshare); original videos only; promotion solely through a blog or SEO, paid search and self-referral are prohibited
admission by application
source, checked 2026-08-04
Pricing
Free 0; Creator 29; Pro 49; Business 149 USD/month; Enterprise on request
The plans are split into «for individuals» and «for business»
source, checked 2026-07-27
by credits; usage depends on the feature: Avatar III — 3 credits/min, Avatar IV/V — 20, video translation — 2–5
«600 credits» = 200 minutes or 30 minutes depending on the feature — the number on its own means nothing
source, checked 2026-07-27
20 USD per seat a month (the Business plan)
source, checked 2026-07-27
Free — «$0/mo»; verbatim: «3 videos per month», «Videos up to 1 min», «1 Custom Digital Twin», «30+ languages», «500+ Stock Digital Twins». There is a watermark on the free plan, and its removal is listed as a feature of the paid plans
source, checked 2026-08-07
Creator — «$29/mo» ($24/month paid yearly); Pro — «$49/mo» ($40/month yearly); Business — «$149/mo» ($120/month yearly), a team seat «$20/seat/month»; Enterprise — on request
The monthly prices are taken; the yearly ones are given alongside.
source, checked 2026-08-07
29 USD a month (the Creator plan); paid yearly 24 USD a month
source, checked 2026-08-07
Limits and restrictions
the free plan — up to 3 videos a month, no card; limited access to premium features
source, checked 2026-07-28
the paid plans include a monthly allowance of credits, spent across all the features at once
source, checked 2026-07-28
the Business plan — 149 dollars a month PLUS 20 dollars per seat a month
A mixed model: a fixed fee plus payment per seat
source, checked 2026-07-28
Free — 3 clips a month, up to 1 minute long; Creator — «600 credits», up to 30 minutes; Pro — «1,000 credits», up to 30 minutes, 4K export; Business — «1,500 credits», up to 60 minutes, «5 Custom Digital Twins»; Enterprise — «No video duration max» (verbatim)
source, checked 2026-08-07
Restrictions
WHOSE FACE MAY BE USED: only with the explicit consent of the person depicted — «you are required to obtain the explicit consent of the individual being represented (the «Actor»)», and the consent must cover the use itself: «you have the consent of the Actor for your use or sharing of the avatar and any content generated». Public figures are forbidden without permission: «Represent real individuals, including celebrities or public figures, without their explicit consent». Minors are forbidden altogether
The moderation rules say nothing separately ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE'S VOICE — only about the face. A gap in the source, not ours.
source, checked 2026-08-07
Legal
DIFFERS BY PLAN, and the difference is sharp. Paid: «you own all rights in your User Input or User Output», «HeyGen does not claim to own any of Your Content», commercial use expressly allowed. Free: only a «limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license» for personal non-commercial use, and verbatim «User Output generated under a Free Plan may not be sold, sublicensed, redistributed, monetized, or used in connection with commercial activities»
Someone who has tried it free cannot legally use what they made in their work.
source, checked 2026-08-07
they train on both the input and the output, and say so directly: the user grants a licence «to access, use, host, cache, store, reproduce, transmit, display, publish, distribute, and modify Your Content to operate, improve, promote and provide the Services and to develop new services and products, including to train or otherwise improve or modify our artificial intelligence and machine learning models» (verbatim)
source, checked 2026-08-07
there is a watermark on the free plan, and its removal is sold with the paid ones (pricing page). The terms themselves, however, say nothing about watermarks, metadata or C2PA, and the moderation rules require labelling only for 18+ content: «clearly labeled at the outset of the video as mature content»
The mark on the free plan is not AI labelling but a plan limitation. There is no duty to label synthetic origin in what was read.
source, checked 2026-08-07
API access
How it connects. the key is created in the settings and passed in the X-Api-Key header; the base address is api.heygen.com
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the interface language of the home page: en-us
The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang
source, checked 2026-07-28
ar,de,en,es,fr,he,id,it,ja,ko,nl,pl,pt,sv,th,tr,uk,vi,zh (19)
Source: the hreflang declaration on the service's website
source, checked 2026-07-27
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