Dzine vs HeyGen: Talking Photos Priced per Clip or per Minute?
Both can make one portrait speak. Dzine is an image and video studio that prices lip sync per 5-second clip, by model. HeyGen is an avatar video studio that prices each minute of presenter video, by avatar model, and adds a script editor, translation and slides. This page counts the same monthly clips in each tool’s credits and sets out what each Free plan allows.
By Elias Brandt · Updated 9 Oct 2026 · About 9 min read · Plan terms taken from each tool profile
The short answer
Both can turn one portrait and your own recording into a talking video. Choose Dzine if the clip is part of an image-heavy workflow and a 720p lip-sync mode is enough. Choose HeyGen if you want an avatar you can reuse in an editor with 1080p or 4K export. Free output on either is limited to personal or evaluation use.
Dzine or HeyGen: which one, when?
Pick by where the portrait comes from and where the video goes
In shortA portrait you are still generating or editing points to Dzine; a presenter you script again and again, translate or put in front of slides points to HeyGen.
Dzine for a clip inside an image workflow
Useful when the portrait is generated or edited in the same app, several faces share one frame, and a 720p talking clip is the whole deliverable.
HeyGen for a reusable presenter
Better suited when the photo should become an avatar you keep, script repeatedly and publish in 1080p or higher from the Creator plan up.
Settle rights before price
Both free tiers exclude commercial use, and both require permission from the person whose face and voice you animate.
Five everyday jobs, side by side
| If the job is… | Dzine | HeyGen |
|---|---|---|
| Animate one portrait with your own recording | Lip Sync tool with image plus uploaded audio; Lipsync Pro quoted at 36 credits per 5 s | Avatar IV Photo Look with photo plus audio or script; 16 credits per minute on paid plans |
| Publish for a client | Any paid plan allows commercial use | A paid plan is needed; the Free Plan licence excludes client work |
| Remove the watermark | Free behaviour not stated; check the downloaded file | Toggle off at submit on any paid plan |
| Export resolution | Lipsync Pro listed at 720p; upscaling to 1080p on paid plans | 1080p on Creator; 4K on Pro and above |
| Buy more credits mid-month | Top-ups from Creator upward, $10 for 2,000 credits; none on Beginner | No packs on Creator; move up a Pro tier, or buy Business packs at $5 per 100 |
The basics
In shortRead live from each profile.
| What do you need? | Dzine | HeyGen |
|---|---|---|
| In short | Match the creative task to its export conditions | Create avatar-presented videos from a script and translate videos with lip-sync. |
| Free access | Free access available | Free access available |
| Plans |
|
|
| Price check | Prices confirmed · Oct 1, 2026 | Prices confirmed · Oct 11, 2026 |
| Full profile | Dzine profile | HeyGen profile |
Values come from each tool’s profile and update with it, in the currency each vendor shows.
Visit Dzine (opens in a new tab) Visit HeyGen (opens in a new tab)
What does each one make besides a talking photo?
In shortDzine centres on the image; HeyGen centres on the presenter.
Six differences that decide it
- Input for the clip
- Dzine accepts an image or video plus audio or a script, with up to 4 faces and 5-minute clips listed; HeyGen Avatar IV animates one photo from a script or recording, with gestures. Source: dzine.ai
- Free output rights
- Dzine limits Free output to personal projects; HeyGen's Free Plan licence covers personal, non-commercial and internal evaluation use and excludes advertising and client work. Source: heygen.com
- Credit rate for this job
- Dzine prices Lipsync Pro 720p at 36 credits per 5 seconds; HeyGen prices Avatar IV Photo Look at 16 credits per minute, in a separate credit system. Source: help.heygen.com
- Entry paid plan
- Dzine Beginner is $8.99 billed monthly for 1,000 credits without top-ups; HeyGen Creator is $29 billed monthly for 600 credits with 1080p export. Source: dzine.ai
- Watermark on Free
- HeyGen marks every Free video with its logo and offers no removal; Dzine's pricing and FAQ pages say nothing about a watermark on Free lip-sync exports. Source: help.heygen.com
- Consent rules
- HeyGen's moderation policy requires consent from the person in a photo avatar; Dzine's terms make you warrant rights, publicity rights included, in each uploaded image. Source: heygen.com
Feature matrix
In shortNineteen capabilities marked from the two profiles. A dash means the profile does not cover it, not that the tool lacks it.
| Capability |  Dzine |  HeyGen |
|---|---|---|
| Images and video | ||
| Generate or edit images | Offeredimage-to-image and editing tools; access varies by plan | Not listednot covered in the sources checked |
| Make one portrait speak | Offeredimage plus uploaded audio or typed text | OfferedAvatar IV photo look, 16 credits a minute |
| Lip sync onto existing video | OfferedVideo to Lip-Sync, 6 credits per 5 seconds | Partlyonly when translating a video, on paid plans |
| Video from a prompt | Partlyvideo generation is listed; prompt rates not covered in the sources checked | OfferedVideo Agent, 40 credits a minute in standard mode |
| Stock presenters | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | Offered500+ stock avatars |
| Voice and language | ||
| Speech from a typed script | Offeredtext for speech-driven video | OfferedAI Studio builds videos from a script |
| Voice cloning | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | OfferedCreator and up |
| Translate an existing video with lip sync | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | Offered175+ languages and dialects on paid plans |
| Editing and delivery | ||
| Script editor with captions and B-roll | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | OfferedAI Studio |
| PowerPoint or PDF to video | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | Offered50 MB files, first 50 slides |
| 1080p download | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | OfferedCreator and up |
| 4K download | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | PartlyPro and up, with 4K avatar footage |
| Audio-only and SRT captions export | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | OfferedStudio export |
| SCORM package for e-learning | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | PartlyBusiness and Enterprise |
| Brand kit | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | Offeredall paid plans |
| Access | ||
| Developer API | Offeredseparate paid API plans | Offeredpriced separately |
| Phone apps | Not listedweb only on the profile | OfferediOS and Android |
| Automation connectors | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | PartlyBusiness: Zapier, Make, n8n, HubSpot |
| Shared team credit pool | Not listednot covered in the sources checked | PartlyBusiness: 1,500 credits shared by the workspace |
offered partly or with limits not listed on the profile.
Where the finished clip goes
HeyGen hands a video over at 720p, 1080p or 4K, as audio only, with an SRT caption file, as a SCORM package on Business, or on a share page that shows completion rates; comments on that page cannot be switched off, and password protection is documented only for Enterprise. Dzine’s profile sources list no export formats or resolutions for lip sync, so confirm the model, export setting and plan before a Dzine clip is quoted to a client. On a phone, HeyGen’s app plans carry credits that expire after 30 days without rollover.
Sources: Dzine Lip Sync, HeyGen download and export, HeyGen sharing, HeyGen PPT/PDF to Video.
What does a month of talking clips use in each tool’s credits?
In shortDzine charges per 5 seconds of lip sync, HeyGen per minute of avatar video; both rates depend on the model, and the two credits are separate currencies.
One minute of talking video, model by model
| Model | Credits per minute of output | Price per minute, first paid plan | Price per minute, next plan up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dzine Image or Video to Lip-Sync | 72 (6 per 5 seconds × 12) | About USD 0.65 on Beginner | About USD 0.30 on Creator |
| Dzine PixVerse Lipsync | 720 (60 × 12) | About USD 6.47 on Beginner | About USD 3.00 on Creator |
| Dzine Kling AI Avatar v2 Pro | 1,020 (85 × 12) | One minute needs more than Beginner’s 1,000 credits | About USD 4.25 on Creator |
| Dzine Seedance 2.0 | 2,640 (220 × 12) | One minute needs more than Beginner’s 1,000 credits | About USD 11.00 on Creator |
| HeyGen Avatar IV, photo look | 16 | About USD 0.77 on Creator | About USD 0.78 on Pro’s entry tier |
| HeyGen Avatar IV, video look | 31 | About USD 1.50 on Creator | About USD 1.52 on Pro’s entry tier |
| HeyGen Avatar V | 48 | About USD 2.32 on Creator | About USD 2.35 on Pro’s entry tier |
Arithmetic on monthly-billing prices and allowances from each profile: Dzine Beginner USD 8.99 for 1,000 credits and Creator USD 24.99 for 6,000; HeyGen Creator USD 29 for 600 and Pro’s entry tier USD 49 for 1,000. Each price assumes the whole allowance goes to that one model; yearly billing lowers all of them.
The cheapest rate on each side sits close: basic Dzine lip sync on Creator and a HeyGen photo look both cost well under a dollar a minute. The spread inside Dzine is far wider than the gap between the tools, so the model you pick in Dzine moves the bill more than the choice of vendor does.
Sources: Dzine FAQ credit table, Dzine pricing, HeyGen credit rates, HeyGen pricing.
Four monthly loads, counted
In shortClip lengths and retake counts are assumptions; change them to yours.
| Load | Dzine credits | HeyGen credits |
|---|---|---|
| One 30-second clip a week: 2 minutes a month, 24 five-second units | 144 with basic lip sync (24 × 6): inside Beginner’s 1,000. 2,040 on Kling (24 × 85) or 5,280 on Seedance 2.0 (24 × 220): both need Creator’s 6,000 | 32 on Avatar IV photo look (2 × 16) or 96 on Avatar V (2 × 48): inside Creator’s 600. Free’s monthly video count, 3 at most, holds three of the four clips |
| One 3-minute explainer a week: 12 minutes a month | 864 with basic lip sync (12 × 72): inside Beginner with 136 to spare. 12,240 on Kling (12 × 1,020): over Master’s 9,000, inside Master Pro’s 30,000. 31,680 on Seedance 2.0 (12 × 2,640): over Master Pro | 192 on photo look (12 × 16), 372 on video look (12 × 31) or 576 on Avatar V (12 × 48): all inside Creator’s 600. Free caps each video at 1 minute |
| The same 12 minutes with one full retake of every clip | 1,728 with basic lip sync (2 × 864): over Beginner, inside Creator | 384 on photo look (2 × 192): inside Creator. 1,152 on Avatar V (2 × 576): over Pro’s 1,000-credit entry tier, inside Business’s 1,500 |
| The weekly 30-second clips also translated into two languages: 4 translated minutes | Translation is not covered in the sources checked | 24 credits in Speed mode (4 × 6) or 40 in Precision mode (4 × 10) on top of the clips |
Arithmetic on the per-clip and per-minute rates on each profile. Dzine’s profile sources do not give a maximum clip length for each lip-sync model, so check that a 3-minute clip runs in the model you choose.
On Dzine, a basic-model month that outgrows Beginner moves to Creator, which also unlocks top-ups. On HeyGen web plans, Creator and Pro cannot buy extra credits, so an Avatar V month with retakes is a plan change: the next Pro tier or Business.
What each plan holds, in minutes of talking video
| Plan | Monthly allowance | At the lowest listed rate | At the highest listed rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dzine Free | 100 signup credits, once, valid 12 months | 80 seconds of basic lip sync (16 × 5 s) | No Seedance 2.0 clip: one costs 220 |
| Dzine Beginner | 1,000 credits | About 13.8 minutes (166 clips) | 20 seconds on Seedance 2.0 (4 clips) |
| Dzine Creator | 6,000 credits | About 83 minutes (1,000 clips) | About 2 minutes 15 seconds (27 clips) |
| Dzine Master | 9,000 credits | 125 minutes (1,500 clips) | About 3 minutes 20 seconds (40 clips) |
| Dzine Master Pro | 30,000 credits | About 417 minutes (5,000 clips) | About 11 minutes 20 seconds (136 clips) |
| HeyGen Free | No credits; 3 videos a month on the pricing page, 1 to 3 by region in the help center | Up to 1 minute per video | Up to 1 minute per video |
| HeyGen Creator | 600 credits | 37.5 minutes of Avatar IV photo look (600 / 16) | 12.5 minutes of Avatar V (600 / 48) |
| HeyGen Pro, entry tier | 1,000 credits | 62.5 minutes (1,000 / 16) | About 21 minutes (1,000 / 48) |
| HeyGen Business | 1,500 credits shared by the workspace | About 94 minutes (1,500 / 16) | About 31 minutes (1,500 / 48) |
Price per month on yearly billing, from the HeyGen profile. Bars compare plans of this tool only.
The HeyGen chart shows the yearly-billing monthly equivalent, the price its profile lists first. Pro is left out because its price runs from USD 41 a month on yearly billing up through larger credit tiers. In the live table at the top, HeyGen prices are yearly-billing equivalents.
Sources: Dzine pricing, HeyGen credit-based plans.
What do the Free plans allow, and what does paying add?
In shortDzine Free is a one-off credit balance for personal projects. HeyGen Free is a small monthly count of short, watermarked videos.
Free and paid limits, plan by plan
| Dzine | HeyGen | |
|---|---|---|
| What Free gives | 100 signup credits for new users, valid for 12 months; the older daily reset to 32 credits has ended | 3 videos a month on the pricing page, 1 to 3 by region in the help center; each up to 1 minute; no credits |
| Use of Free output | Personal projects only | Free-plan terms are in the differences list above |
| Watermark on Free | not covered in the sources checked; confirm it for the feature you pick | On every Free video, with no way to remove it |
| Card at signup | not covered in the sources checked | Not required |
| First paid plan | Beginner, USD 8.99 billed monthly: 1,000 credits a month under paid commercial-use terms | Creator, USD 29 billed monthly: 600 credits, 1080p export, watermark removal, videos up to 30 minutes, voice cloning |
| Buying extra credits | From Creator upward; not on Free or Beginner | On web, Business only, at USD 5 per 100; Creator can buy one-time top-ups in the phone app |
| Unused credits | Roll over for up to 3 months on Creator, Master and Master Pro | Monthly web plans keep them one extra cycle, yearly plans until renewal; pausing expires them and cancelling loses them |
| Refunds | not covered in the sources checked | Generally none; web purchases reviewed case by case within 15 days |
Sources: Dzine pricing, Dzine FAQ, HeyGen watermark, HeyGen cancel or pause, HeyGen refunds.
Whose face you may use
A HeyGen Digital Twin built from video footage needs a consent video from the person on camera, under 30 seconds; screen recordings are rejected. Dzine ties its paid commercial rights to applicable law and to your rights in the image and audio you upload, so a client clip of someone else’s face needs their release before it is generated, not after.
Sources: HeyGen consent video, Dzine FAQ.
Videos, questions and what this page does not judge
Official videos
In shortFrom each vendor’s YouTube channel. They load only when you press play.
Common questions
Can I animate a photo of a colleague or a hired model?
Only with their permission, and ideally in writing. HeyGen requires consent from anyone shown in a photo avatar, and a model's release should name AI-generated speech explicitly. Dzine asks you to warrant publicity rights in the image. Keep the signed release with the project files so a later client or platform can see it.
Do I have to label the clip as AI-generated?
HeyGen's terms say you must not present output as entirely human-made and must disclose AI use where the law requires it. Dzine's terms bar intentionally misleading content. Several platforms and jurisdictions ask for a label on synthetic faces or voices, so add a short on-screen or caption disclosure unless you have checked it is unnecessary.
Can I animate a mascot, pet or drawing instead of a person?
Yes. Dzine's lip-sync page shows pets, toys and cartoon characters, and HeyGen's Avatar IV page lists anime, animal and hand-drawn styles. That removes the likeness question for a real person, but not copyright: a licensed character or a brand mascot still needs permission from whoever owns it before you publish the clip.
What if my recording is longer than the free limit?
HeyGen Free caps each video at 1 minute, so trim the audio or split it into scenes. Dzine's 100 signup credits limit you by credit cost rather than a stated duration. A 20-second test fits both, while a 3-minute script is better tested in short sections before a paid plan is chosen.
Does language support matter if I upload my own recording?
Less than it seems. With your own audio, both tools only match the mouth to sounds you supply. Language lists matter when you type a script instead: Dzine then uses its built-in text-to-speech, while HeyGen lists 30+ languages on Free and 175+ languages and dialects on paid plans for generated voices.
What this page does not judge
How closely the mouth follows the audio, how real the face looks, how long a render takes and which editor is easier to learn are what most reviews rank on, but neither profile documents them in a way we can check. We have not animated the same portrait in both; the check below compares them on your own.
Take a portrait of yourself and a 20-second recording of your own voice. On Dzine Free, run Image to Lip-Sync, which the credit table prices at 6 credits per 5 seconds, so expect 24 of the 100 signup credits (4 × 6), and note what is actually deducted. On HeyGen Free, make one Avatar IV video from the same photo, using the recording if your account offers audio upload; it uses one of the month’s Free videos rather than credits. Download both and note the resolution and whether a watermark appears. Keep both results personal.
How this comparison was made
Plans, credit rates and limits come from the Dzine and HeyGen profiles on this site, which cite the vendors’ pricing, FAQ and help pages and carry their own check dates; tables marked as live are read from those profiles each time the page loads. Sections follow the topics the pages ranking for this search cover, limited to what the vendors document. No rating is given. For the question searchers often ask next, see Synthesia vs HeyGen. See our editorial policy.
