HeyGen vs. Hour One

HeyGen vs. Hour One: Which one has better AI avatars? Find out as well as dive into the best AI avatar generator.

HeyGen and Hour One both specialize in AI avatar generation and advanced video editing capabilities. Today, we’ll delve into their shared and distinct functionalities to see which one reigns supreme and discuss a game-changing alternative for content creators looking to improve their workflows.

HeyGen vs. Hour One: A brief overview

• Best overall: Hour One ↓ Jump to review
• Best pricing: Hour One ↓ Jump to review
• Best avatars: HeyGen ↓ Jump to review
• Best voices: Hour One ↓ Jump to review
• Best languages & accents: Hour One ↓ Jump to review
• Best customizations: HeyGen ↓ Jump to review
• Best customer support: Hour One ↓ Jump to review
• Best alternative: Speechify AI Video Generator ↓ Jump to review

What is HeyGen?

HeyGen is an AI video creation platform and video editor dedicated to AI avatars. This technology utilizes the capabilities of artificial intelligence to enhance video content creation, particularly within the domain of AI-generated avatars. HeyGen employs sophisticated algorithms and automation to effortlessly convert text into professional videos featuring AI avatars, thereby eliminating the necessity to hire a spokesperson for short-form video content such as social media videos.

What is Hour One?

Hour One is a sophisticated AI video generator and video-making platform strategically crafted to empower businesses in effortlessly creating polished explainer videos and presentations, eliminating the necessity for intricate design or editing skills. Leveraging the prowess of text-to-video technology, Hour One's AI video tool showcases top-notch AI avatar presenters with proficiency in over 100 languages, providing a diverse range of voices and accents to cater to a variety of communication needs.

HeyGen history

HeyGen, initially established in China under the names Surreal and Movio, has undergone a transformative journey to become a prominent player in the AI video creation landscape.

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Founder and CEO Josh Xu, a former Snapchat engineer, along with co-founder and CPO, Wayne Liang, who brings valuable experience from ByteDance and Smule, founded HeyGen in November 2020 with the mission to simplify video creation for businesses.

After securing substantial funding in 2022, totaling $9 million from investors such as IDG, Sequoia Capital China, and Baidu, the company, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, announced it received an additional $5.6 million in venture capital funding led by Sarah Guo's Conviction Partners, valuing HeyGen at an impressive $75 million.

Hour One history

Founded in 2019 by Oren Aharon, who currently serves as its CEO, Hour One has rapidly emerged as a pioneering force in the domain of virtual humans and AI video technology. Oren Aharon, with prior experience co-founding two startups and a background as a deep tech investor, joined forces with Hour One’s CTO Lior Hakim to establish Hour One's presence in the industry. Headquartered strategically in Tel Aviv and New York City, Hour One AI has become synonymous with expertise in crafting lifelike virtual humans tailored for professional video communications.

In April 2022 Hour One secured a $20 million Series A funding round. Led by Insight Partners and featuring participation from notable entities such as Galaxy Interactive, Remagine Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Semble Ventures, Cerca Partners, Digital-Horizon, and Eynat Guez, this funding positions Hour One to expand its impact by integrating more virtual humans into the virtual workplace.

How HeyGen works

HeyGen transforms text into videos through automation, machine learning algorithms, and advanced AI technology, ensuring seamless video content creation without requiring prior knowledge of video editing. Users can effortlessly produce engaging films using HeyGen's generative AI video generator by inputting their desired text or choosing from an extensive range of pre-designed templates and AI presenters or avatars.

How Hour One works

Hour One stands out in creating virtual humans tailored for professional video communications, employing realistic characters modeled after actual individuals. These AI-driven characters effectively communicate human-like expressiveness, enabling businesses to seamlessly harness state-of-the-art AI technology. This results in the efficient production of fully-realized videos at scale within minutes, all achieved without the need for paid talent.

Pricing

HeyGen offers three plans, including its Free Plan, Creator Plan ($288/yearly), Business Plan ($864/yearly), and Enterprise Plan (Custom pricing). Its Free Plan comes with the ability to create a 1-minute test video, and its Creator Plan allows users to create 15 five-minute videos, while its Business plan supports 30 twenty-minute videos, and its Enterprise plan allows unlimited videos.

Hour One offers 4 plans, including its Free Plan, Lite Plan ($300/yearly), Business Plan ($1140/yearly), and Enterprise (Custom pricing). Hour One’s Free plan allows 3 minutes of video, and Lite Plan supports 120 min per year while its Business Plan offers 240 min per year, and its Enterprise Plan offers unlimited minutes.

According to their plans, HeyGen offers a slightly better deal when it comes to video usage limits.

Free trial

HeyGen offers users a glimpse into its capabilities through a free plan, enabling them to create a 1-minute test video without any charges. This allows users to explore and experience HeyGen's features before committing to a subscription. On the other hand, Hour One provides a free plan, granting users a complimentary experience with 3 minutes video. Both platforms offer users the opportunity to test and familiarize themselves with the tools and features before deciding on a paid subscription, enhancing accessibility for those exploring content creation options.

Avatars

Both HeyGen and Hour One take pride in its extensive array of creative possibilities, featuring an impressive collection of 100+ AI avatars. These avatars offer users diverse options to infuse personality and uniqueness into their content. Both platforms ensure a rich variety of avatars to cater to different preferences and enhance the visual appeal of the content created by their users.

Natural-sounding voices

HeyGen enhances its user experience by providing access to a comprehensive collection of over 300 high-quality AI voice over options, allowing users to select from a diverse range of options for natural-sounding voices. In comparison, Hour One takes this a step further by offering an even more extensive selection, with over 570 accents and voices for users to choose from.

Languages and accents

HeyGen extends language diversity to users by offering AI voices in over 40 different languages, accompanied by a range of accents. However, Hour One provides users with even more extensive language options, allowing them to choose from 60+ languages, complemented by a diverse selection of 200+ accents.

Voice cloning capabilities

HeyGen streamlines the voice cloning process by enabling users to achieve it with just 2 minutes of video footage. The platform supports a diverse range of 25+ voices, accessible through an add-on feature. In contrast, Hour One confines the voice cloning capability to its enterprise users, making it an exclusive feature for those subscribed to the enterprise plan.

Video templates

HeyGen and Hour One each boast an expansive array of over 100+ video templates, providing users with a diverse selection to enhance their creative projects. Whether you're a social media enthusiast, a business professional, or a content creator, the wealth of templates available on both platforms ensures versatility and flexibility. These templates cover various themes, styles, and purposes.

Customization controls

HeyGen offers generative AI outfits, studio-grade background matting for studio avatars, elevated avatar quality, enhanced lip sync, AI matting effects, and custom avatars all accessible through additional charges, allowing users to enhance their content with advanced features. In contrast, Hour One presents more restricted customization options, offering users fewer controls over personalized elements in comparison to HeyGen.

Commercial usage

HeyGen accommodates commercial usage and provides users the option to generate custom avatars, albeit with an additional fee. However, users must adhere to HeyGen's content policies, which explicitly forbid the creation of content involving violence, hate speech, discrimination, illegal activities, spam, or fraudulent content. Hour One also requires users planning to utilize the platform for commercial purposes to engage in a separate agreement with the platform, outlining specific terms and conditions related to commercial usage of content and services.

Support

HeyGen, though without live chat support, provides users with the alternative of contacting them through email at [email protected]. While response times may extend to a few hours, HeyGen compensates by offering a self-serve help center equipped with tutorials to assist users with common queries and concerns.

Hour One, on the other hand, tailors its support offerings based on subscription plans. The lite plan grants users access to the Help Center and the ability to submit requests, while the business plan extends support to include email assistance, and the enterprise plan provides priority assistance and assigns a dedicated success manager to address their needs.

Comparing HeyGen vs. Hour One side-by-side

HeyGen pros

Utilizing HeyGen offers numerous benefits, including:

• Personalization: HeyGen's AI-generated video custom avatars and voice cloning guarantee a personalized touch to each video, enhancing content uniqueness and boosting viewer engagement.
• User-friendly experience: With pre-designed video templates and easy-to-use editing tools, even those new to video editing can produce videos of professional quality.
• Global accessibility: The auto-translation feature ensures that content reaches a global audience by overcoming language barriers.

HeyGen cons

Despite the numerous advantages HeyGen offers, let's examine some of the key issues raised by users:

• Delayed customer service: HeyGen users have raised issues regarding the platform's sluggish response times in customer service.
• TalkingPhoto quality issues: The TalkingPhoto feature, designed to animate photos by incorporating a speaking element, has failed to meet expectations for certain users. The output quality is reportedly below par, resulting in dissatisfaction.
• Rapid expiration of credits: For video creators who buy credits in bulk with the intention of using them over an extended period, the swift expiration may give the impression of receiving less value for their money.

Hour One pros

Hour One stands out in various aspects, such as:

• User-friendly interface: Hour One excels in providing an easy-to-navigate interface that streamlines the video creation process.
• Authentic virtual avatars: The virtual avatars closely replicate real individuals, elevating the authenticity of the created content.
• Precise language capabilities: Hour One showcases precise AI voice translations spanning a diverse range of accents and languages for users to select from.

Hour One cons

While Hour One offers many benefits, it also has some downsides, such as:

• Delayed rendering: Hour One users have expressed worries about the prolonged rendering times, impacting the speed of video creation.
• Restricted customization options: Users wish for increased control over the intricate details of their virtual characters.
• Inability to incorporate personal music: Hour One lacks the feature that enables users to add their own music, confining them to using stock music exclusively from its media library for video content creation.

Speechify AI Video Generator – The best AI video avatar platform

Speechify AI Video Generator is the #1 AI avatar and video production platform. The cutting-edge platform offers AI tools and 100s of AI-powered avatars, allowing users to include multiple avatars in video projects at no additional cost. Additionally, Speechify AI Video Generator provides users complete control over the AI voice, tone, emotion, and more. Users can even craft a custom character from scratch. Explore the most lifelike text to speech voices on the market across various languages and accents, effortlessly add transitions, AI effects, and animations as well as translate your videos to any language with 1-click dubbing and try Speechify AI Video Generator for free today to level up your content creation, whether you’re creating training videos, YouTube videos, e-learning videos, or other engaging videos.

FAQ

What is the best video maker for AI avatars?

While there are multiple options, including DeepBrain AI, Elai.io, Colossyan, D-ID, and Synthesia, Speechify AI Video Generator offers the best AI avatar features at the most affordable price.

What is the use case for AI video avatars?

The use case for AI video avatars lies in their ability to enhance and streamline content creation by providing virtual, customizable characters that can effectively convey information, narratives, or messages through lifelike expressions and speech, catering to diverse applications such as marketing, education, and entertainment.