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HeyGen is the reference for AI avatars, digital twins and lip-synced translation. ShortFast does something else: faceless short videos in 27 styles, posted to TikTok, Reels and Shorts every day without a presenter on screen.
People often reach for HeyGen when they want AI video for social media, and then find that a talking avatar is not the format they need. HeyGen is built around a person on screen: stock avatars, a digital twin of you, and translation that re-voices and lip-syncs a video into 175+ languages. ShortFast is built around videos with no presenter at all, from documentary stock footage to stick figures, anime or claymation, and around posting them automatically.
HeyGen is the better pick if you want a presenter, your own digital twin, multilingual versions of the same video, training or sales videos, or videos up to 30 or 60 minutes. ShortFast is the better pick if you want a faceless channel: a script written from a topic, visuals in one consistent style, and a new short published every day to TikTok, Reels and Shorts without opening an editor.
On price the entry plans are close, HeyGen's Creator at $29 a month and ShortFast's Starter at $19, and HeyGen has a free plan with three watermarked videos a month. The bigger difference is what happens after the render: HeyGen ends with a file you upload yourself, and ShortFast ends with the video already posted.
Side by side
| Dimension | ShortFast | HeyGen |
|---|---|---|
| Core job | Faceless short videos from a topic, published on a schedule. | Avatar and talking-head videos, digital twins, translation, and a prompt-to-video Video Agent. |
| On screen | No presenter: stock footage, AI video, or AI images in one of 27 styles. AI actors for UGC-style video. | 700+ stock avatars on Creator, custom avatars and digital twins; also text, image and slide-deck to video. |
| Languages | 40+ narration voices. | 175+ languages and dialects on paid plans, voice cloning and lip-synced translation. |
| Video length | Short-form by default; up to 15 minutes on Advanced. | 1 minute on Free, 30 minutes on Creator and Pro, 60 on Business. |
| Publishing | Automatic daily posting to TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. | No scheduled auto-posting found on its site. You download and upload. |
| Pricing (checked Oct 22, 2026) | Starter $19, Pro $39, Advanced $99 a month. 20% off yearly. | Free $0 (3 videos), Creator $29 ($24 yearly), Pro $49, Business $149 + $20 per seat a month. |
| Credits | 1,000 / 5,000 / 10,000 a month. Typical faceless short: 12 to 25 credits; fully animated about 464. | 600 on Creator, 1,000 on Pro, 1,500 on Business. Monthly credits roll over one month. |
| Refunds | At ShortFast's discretion, per its terms; the $1 three-day trial lets you test first. | Non-refundable except where the law requires, per its terms. |
| Developer access | REST API, webhooks and an MCP server, on the same plan credits. | API with separate pay-as-you-go pricing, an MCP server, and a ChatGPT app. |
HeyGen changes its product and pricing independently of us. Check their site for current details before deciding, and tell us if anything here is out of date.
ShortFast and HeyGen plans
Prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked
| Plan | Monthly | Credits a month | Video length | Posts to social accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ShortFast Starter | $19 | 1,000 | Short-form | Yes, on a schedule |
| ShortFast Pro | $39 | 5,000 | Short-form | Yes, on a schedule |
| ShortFast Advanced | $99 | 10,000 | Up to 15 minutes | Yes, on a schedule |
| HeyGen Free | $0 | 3 videos, watermarked | 1 minute | No |
| HeyGen Creator | $29 ($24 billed yearly) | 600 | 30 minutes | No |
| HeyGen Pro | $49 | 1,000 | 30 minutes, 4K | No |
| HeyGen Business | $149 + $20 per seat | 1,500 | 60 minutes | No |
HeyGen's API is priced separately from these plans. ShortFast video counts are typical, not limits: about 12 credits for a stock-footage video, 25 for an AI art-style video and 464 for a fully animated one (October 2026 averages). Only credits are enforced.
Sources: ShortFast pricing · HeyGen pricing
HeyGen's strength is a believable person on screen. Its stock avatars, custom avatars and digital twins speak a script with matching lip movement, and its translation re-voices an existing video into another language with the lips re-synced. That is the right tool for a sales video, a course, a product walkthrough or a message from a founder who does not want to film every week.
Many short-form channels do not want a presenter. History, psychology, finance explainers, scary stories and kids content mostly run without a face, and viewers read an avatar on those channels as a template. ShortFast makes those videos: the script is written from the topic, every scene is drawn in one of 27 styles (licensed stock footage, AI video, or AI images such as stick figures, whiteboard, comic book, anime, 3D animation or claymation), and a voice and captions are added. When a product needs a person, ShortFast's UGC-style videos use AI actors instead.
Platform rules apply to both. YouTube treats mass-produced, repetitive uploads as inauthentic content, whatever made them, and both TikTok and YouTube ask creators to label realistic AI-generated people and scenes. An avatar or an AI actor that could be mistaken for a real person needs that label.
HeyGen ends at the render. You download the video, or share a link, and post it yourself or through a separate scheduler. Its pricing and product pages, read on October 22, 2026, list no scheduled publishing to TikTok, Instagram or YouTube.
ShortFast's automations cover the part after the render. You set a theme, a style and a schedule once, and each day it writes a new script on that theme, renders the video and publishes it to the TikTok, Instagram and YouTube accounts you connected, in the audience's timezone. Pro runs three automations with up to three posts a day each. For one high-stakes video a week HeyGen is worth the extra handling; for a video a day, the handling is what you are paying to remove.
HeyGen's Creator plan is $29 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly, with 600 credits, 1080p and videos up to 30 minutes. Pro is $49 with 1,000 credits and 4K, and Business is $149 plus $20 per seat with 1,500 credits and 60-minute videos. The free plan makes three watermarked videos of up to a minute each month. Its API is billed separately from these plans.
ShortFast's Starter is $19 a month with 1,000 credits, Pro $39 with 5,000 and Advanced $99 with 10,000, and 20% off billed yearly. A typical faceless short uses about 12 credits from stock footage or 25 in an AI art style, so Starter covers roughly 40 to 80 shorts a month. A fully animated AI video uses about 464, and an AI presenter about 260, so avatar-heavy work is not where ShortFast's credits go furthest.
FAQ
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Learn moreThree days of full access. If HeyGen suits you better, that's a useful thing to find out cheaply.