At HeyGen, we take user feedback to heart, and we're excited to introduce a new option based on your requests: API plans available for all users!

​These new API plans are standalone plans and serve as a separate subscription from our standard HeyGen plans and tiers. That means you can subscribe to an API plan regardless of whether you're on the Free, Creator, Team, or Enterprise tier – giving you flexibility to choose the best options for your unique needs.
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Our latest API plans provide access to both API for Videos, Avatar creation and API for Interactive Avatars, designed to suit a variety of user needs. Here’s an overview of the key details for these new plans.

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a tool that lets different apps or software talk to each other seamlessly. It allows you to connect HeyGen's features directly with your own systems or applications, making it easy to create and automate even more!

This means that you can create Videos, Translations, or Avatars using your own software without ever using HeyGen's platform. You can also use API and API credits to connect our interactive avatars to stream on your own websites or Zoom calls. By connecting HeyGen's features directly with your own systems or applications, you can automate tasks and streamline workflows – saving you time and reducing manual effort!

HeyGen’s API plans offer flexible, stand-alone subscriptions, independent of regular HeyGen video plans. This means any user, including free users, can access powerful avatar and video features through an API subscription – ideal for those who need capabilities beyond the HeyGen platform. The new plans include Free, Pro, Scale, and Enterprise, with full a breakdown for each below.
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Yes! If you have an API plan but no HeyGen subscription, you can still create unlimited videos—but only via the API.
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Keep in mind, Creator and Team limits still apply based on the Pro or Scale plan structures:

You won’t have access to HeyGen’s web app features without a standard HeyGen plan, but you’ll still get full API functionality based on your plan level.

API Free Plan: All HeyGen users by default are entitled to the free API plan of 10 monthly API credits. These credits are equivalent to 50 minutes of interactive avatar streaming outside HeyGen (you can now enjoy unlimited streaming inside HeyGen platform). Treat this as a Sandbox environment for testing API integrations.

Features Included:

API Pro Plan Pricing: 100 credits for $99/month (equivalent to 500 minutes of avatar streaming outside HeyGen; unlimited inside HeyGen)

What’s Included: Everything in the Free plan, plus no watermarks (except during zoom calls due to Zoom's security requirement).

Credit Usage:

Measured in 30 seconds increments.

Measured in 30 seconds increments.

Minimum of 30 seconds, then measured per second.

API Scale Plan Pricing: 660 credits for $330/month (equivalent to 3,300 minutes of avatar streaming outside HeyGen; unlimited inside HeyGen).

What’s Included: Everything in Pro, plus access to the Video Translation API.

Credit Usage:

Measured in 30 second increments.

API Enterprise Plan Pricing: Custom

What’s Included: Everything in Scale, plus customized scalability and access to dedicated developer support. Please contact our team at [email protected] to discuss this plan further.

In line with HeyGen’s approach to updates, any existing API subscriptions, such as Interactive Avatar ($49 monthly for a custom Interactive Avatar) or Streaming Credits subscriptions ($100 for monthly 1K streaming API credits) will remain active for current users until they choose to cancel or miss a payment.

To clarify, once users leave these legacy plans, even in cases like accidental credit card issues, they won’t be able to re-enroll in them. Going forward, only the new API plans will be available, providing more value at the same price point as the previous plans.

If you're noticing unexpected API credit drainage on your subscription, it’s often due to open sessions that haven’t been properly closed. Before we assist with recharging your API credits, please check for the following common issues.

API credits can be drained by sessions that remain in a "connecting," "connected," or "closing" state. To resolve this:

If you've disabled our default two-minute session timeout (disableIdleTimeout: true), you must implement your own timeout logic. Without it, inactive sessions may stay open indefinitely, consuming credits.

Once these issues are addressed, we can proceed with recharging your API credits. Please reach out to [email protected] for assistance with this.

Do API credits expire?

Yes, API credits expire 30 days after they’re issued, so be sure to use them within that time. If you do not think you'll have high usage at the start, we recommend testing the free version with 10 monthly credits until you have consistent usage.

I ran out of API credits this month! What do I do?

If you run out of API credits, we can cancel your current plan so you can repurchase and reload your credits. Please reach out to [email protected] for assistance.

If you're on the Scale plan, you also have the option to enable auto-renew. With auto-renew, once you use 90% or more of your monthly credits, HeyGen will automatically renew your plan, cancel the old one, and refill your credits to 100%. You can access this in your HeyGen API Subscription tab.

For example, if you use 594 out of 660 credits, your current plan will be canceled, a new plan will start, and you'll receive 660 credits—plus any remaining credits from your previous plan.

​How do you measure streaming credit usage?
When streaming an interactive avatar, 1 API credit equals 5 minutes of streaming. Credits are measured in 1 second increments with a minimum of 30 seconds per session. For example:

It's essential to set an appropriate TIMEOUT limit for your users when embedding the avatar into your site. The default TIMEOUT logic is 2 minutes, meaning if a session starts and isn't manually closed, it will default to 2 minutes, using 0.4 API credit.
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Can I subscribe to an API plan without a standard HeyGen paid plan?

Yes! HeyGen API plans are standalone subscriptions. You can subscribe to an API plan even if you’re on a free HeyGen plan. This use case is mostly if you're only looking to use public interactive avatars for your website and need streaming credits.

How many free API credits do I get each month?

Free users receive 10 API credits per month, which provides up to 50 minutes of avatar streaming outside HeyGen (unlimited inside HeyGen).

What happens if I have old API credits?

Legacy streaming credits can still be used but only with the original streaming endpoint they were intended for. They can’t be used with new API features like video avatar creation or translations. If you need full access to new API features, consider upgrading to a current API plan.

Do Interactive Avatar Zoom sessions use up my API credits?

Nope! All users, even those on the Free plan, get unlimited Zoom Interactive Avatar sessions with no credit or time limits – enjoy as many as you like, completely separate from your API credits!

*Last updated on January 23, 2025.