# HeyGen vs Captions (2026): Price per Ad, Features & Verdict

> HeyGen vs Captions compared on price per video ad, features and who each one suits. List prices checked October 2026.

Canonical: https://use-addy.site/compare/heygen-vs-captions
Last updated: 2026-10-26

On list prices checked October 2026, Captions is the cheaper of the two per video ad (about $0.75 versus about $0.97 on HeyGen's best-value plan). HeyGen: AI avatar video platform with digital twins, translation and a prompt-to-video agent. Captions: AI video editor with AI creators, AI Twin and a product-URL-to-ad tool (AI Ads). If you want the ads written, rendered and posted for you, Addy is a third option at about $0.95 per 15-second ad.

## Price per video ad

Monthly list prices. One finished video ad is the unit.

| Tool | Plan | Price / mo | Video ads / mo | Per video ad | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HeyGen | Creator | $29 | 30 | 97¢ | 600 credits; Video Agent is 80 credits/min, so 20 credits per 15-second ad. Plain Avatar IV talking heads would be ~77. $24/mo billed yearly |
| HeyGen | Pro | $49 | 50 | 98¢ | 1,000 credits at 20 credits per 15-second Video Agent ad; ~129 plain Avatar IV clips |
| HeyGen | Business | $149 | 75 | $1.99 | 1,500 credits at 20 credits per 15-second Video Agent ad; +$20 per extra seat |
| Captions | Max | $24.99 | 33 | 76¢ | 500 credits; AI Ads costs 1 credit per second, so 15 credits per 15-second ad. Credits are shared with all AI features |
| Captions | Frontier | $69.99 | 93 | 75¢ | 1,400 credits at 15 credits per 15-second AI ad |
| Captions | Frontier 2x | $139.99 | 186 | 75¢ | 2,800 credits at 15 credits per 15-second AI ad |

## Feature by feature

| Feature | HeyGen | Captions |
|---|---|---|
| Portrait 9:16 video ads | Yes | Yes |
| Learns brand from URL | URL to video | Product URL to ad |
| Competitor + Reddit research | No | No |
| Multiple ad formats (16) | Partial | Partial |
| AI creators that post daily | No | No |
| Reels / TikTok / Shorts scheduler | No | — |
| Launches Meta ads | — | — |
| Winner / loser learning loop | No | — |
| API + MCP | Yes | — |
| Free trial without card | Free plan | Free plan, one-time credits |
| Photoreal AI actor library | 700+ stock avatars | Yes |
| Your own face in ads | Yes | AI Twin |
| Remix any winning ad from a link | — | — |
| Never trains on your data | — | — |

## Which should you pick?

Pick HeyGen if you want: Very realistic avatars and digital twins; Translation with lip-sync in 175+ languages; Free plan (3 watermarked videos a month) and a public API.

Pick Captions if you want: About 75¢ per 15-second AI ad on Max; Paste a product URL and get a UGC-style ad; Strong mobile editor with an AI Twin of yourself.

HeyGen is the strongest avatar studio here: realistic digital twins, long videos and translation into 175+ languages. Its Video Agent costs about the same per 15-second clip as Addy on the Creator and Pro plans (about $1), and plain avatar talking heads cost less. What HeyGen does not do is plan the ads from your site, render 16 ad formats or post to Reels, TikTok and Shorts. Pick HeyGen for multilingual or explainer videos with a lifelike twin; pick Addy if you want ads written, rendered and posted for you.

## How we compared

- Prices are each vendor's public monthly list price in US dollars, last checked October 26, 2026. Yearly-billing discounts are noted next to the plan where the vendor publishes them.
- Cost per video ad is the monthly price divided by how many short portrait video ads the plan buys. When a vendor sells credits or minutes, we convert at its published rate; when it publishes no rate, we use third-party reports and label the figure as reported.
- Features come from each vendor's own site and docs. A dash means we could not confirm a feature, not that it is missing.
- Addy is our product. To keep that from tilting the page, tools are listed alphabetically, Addy is scored on the same criteria, and its limits are published on the [facts page](https://use-addy.site/facts).
- Something out of date? Tell us on the [contact page](https://use-addy.site/contact) and we will correct the page and its date.

## Sources

- [HeyGen](https://www.heygen.com): official pricing page, checked October 2026 (prices from vendor pricing page; credit rates from HeyGen help center).
- [Captions](https://www.captions.ai): official pricing page, checked October 2026 (vendor pricing page shows iOS prices; AI Ads rate from Captions help docs).
- [Addy pricing](https://use-addy.site/pricing): our own plans.

## Questions

### Is HeyGen or Captions cheaper?

Captions, on list prices checked October 2026: about $0.75 per video ad on its best-value plan versus about $0.97 on HeyGen. Check what each counts as one video before comparing; some tools count statics or slideshows.

### What is the main difference between HeyGen and Captions?

HeyGen: AI avatar video platform with digital twins, translation and a prompt-to-video agent. Captions: AI video editor with AI creators, AI Twin and a product-URL-to-ad tool (AI Ads).

### Is there an alternative to both HeyGen and Captions?

Addy learns your brand from your website, writes hooks you approve, renders 15-second portrait video ads from 99¢ and posts them to Reels, TikTok and Shorts. The first ad is free, no card.

### Where do these numbers come from?

Each vendor's own pricing page or, where a vendor does not publish one, third-party reports, checked October 2026. Email hello@use-addy.site if something is out of date.

## Related

- [Addy vs HeyGen](https://use-addy.site/compare/addy-vs-heygen)
- [Addy vs Captions](https://use-addy.site/compare/addy-vs-captions)
- [2026 pricing guide](https://use-addy.site/compare/pricing)