Wavemaker vs HeyGen
HeyGen compared with Wavemaker: avatar presenters and video translation against a production agent, with prices checked 2026-10-26.
Checked . Prices and features change often; each fact links to its source, so check there before you decide.
What HeyGen is
HeyGen makes presenter videos with AI avatars, including a personal avatar of you, and translates videos into more than 175 languages with voice cloning and lip sync.
Its Video Agent turns a prompt into a video with motion graphics and presenter footage; it also sells an API and an MCP server.
Side by side
| Topic | HeyGen | Wavemaker |
|---|---|---|
| How you direct it | Write a script in AI Studio or prompt the Video Agent. | A conversation with Wavemaker's agent in the web app, or your own agent (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and others) over MCP, the CLI or the HTTP API. The agent chooses the models and the method for each piece and keeps that method so you can run it again. |
| What it makes | Avatar presenter videos, translated videos, voice. | Stills, video with sound, voiceover, music, sound effects and HTML5 display ads, assembled into ads, UGC-style spots, short films, music videos and explainers. |
| Models | Its own avatar models (Avatar IV and V) and voice, with Seedance 2.0 integrated. | Self-hosted MiniMax H3 is the default for video, alongside LTX and SeedVR2 upscaling. Partner models include Kling, Seedance, Runway, Luma, Gemini image and video, OpenAI image, xAI image and video, Ideogram, and ElevenLabs voice and music. |
| Editing | A script-based editor with brand kits and auto captions. | The agent trims, crops, reframes, upscales, retimes, grades, mixes and captions, and can watch and listen to the result to check it. A simple timeline editor lets you trim and reorder clips yourself. There is no full multitrack editor. |
| Ads and UGC | Avatar-led videos, including UGC-style presenters. | Product ads, UGC-style creator spots, presenter ads and display sets from a brief, with placement specs for YouTube, TikTok, Meta, Pinterest, Reddit and CTV. Characters are made for each piece; there is no stock library of AI actors. Wavemaker does not publish ads or track their performance. |
| API, MCP and CLI | Pay-as-you-go API from $5 and an MCP server billed from the API balance. | Twelve tools over MCP with OAuth, the same tools over HTTP, a CLI and SDKs. Every surface spends the same credits. |
| Pricing | Creator $29 a month, Pro from $49, Business $149 plus $20 a seat. | Credit packs from $19.99 for 300 credits, with no subscription needed, and a Pro plan in four sizes from $49 a month. Pack credits never expire. Work on Wavemaker's own GPUs and servers is charged at twice its cost, and partner models and services at cost plus 10%. A fully animated, finished 1-minute video typically costs about $31 at pack prices. |
| Free use | Three videos a month, up to a minute, with a watermark. | 300 starter credits once, valid for 14 days. A video made before the workspace's first payment carries a small Wavemaker badge. |
Where HeyGen is stronger
- Personal avatars of you, and a large library of presenters.
- Video translation into more than 175 languages with lip sync.
- Enterprise compliance claims (SOC 2 Type II, GDPR) and team review features.
Where Wavemaker is different
- Wavemaker makes the whole piece around a presenter: scenes, product shots, music and edit.
- Presenters are generated for each piece or made from your photo and a voice recording; there is no avatar library.
- The agent picks among many video models for shots a presenter can't carry.
Which to choose
Choose HeyGen if you need talking-presenter videos at scale, a digital twin of yourself, or translation of existing videos.
Choose Wavemaker if you need an ad, film or explainer where the presenter is one part of a produced piece.
What reviewers say about HeyGen
- Trustpilot: 4.2 out of 5 from 4,857 reviews. Reviewers praise avatar quality and speed and complain about credit use and billing. Source
Wavemaker has no independent reviews yet.
Made with Wavemaker
One Degree at a Time
A 20-second vertical ad where an on-camera presenter speaks three product facts, with a product shot, captions and an end card.
The Narrator Speaks
A saved synthetic voice drives an H3 presenter: an original narrator speaks one new sentence on camera, then rests.
The Silver Desk
A 14-second news-desk segment: one original host delivers three exact lines to camera from a studio desk.
Try it
Make a 30-second presenter ad for [product]: a host at a desk explains [benefit] and cuts to two product shots.