Quick Answer
Compare these plans by what they buy rather than by their monthly number, because they sell different things. For a talking avatar of you, Percify starts free with 10 credits and charges 2 credits a second, about $2.53 a minute on its $26 Creator plan. For stock presenters, Synthesia's Starter is €26 a month, or €16 billed yearly, and HeyGen's Creator is $29. For generative shots, Runway's $15 Standard plan includes 625 credits, which its own page equates to 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 video. For editing footage you filmed, Descript's Hobbyist plan is $16 billed yearly. Free tiers exist almost everywhere, and each withholds something different.
AI video plans compared by job, with every price read on the maker's own page: entry points, per second costs where published, what each free tier withholds, and where annual billing saves. Checked 15 September 2026.
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Monthly prices are not comparable across these tools, because a $15 plan for generative shots and a $29 plan for stock presenters are not competing for the same job. What follows is grouped by the job, with every price read on the maker's own page.
Percify is ours. Prices marked 16 September 2026 were fetched that day; the rest were read on 15 September 2026. Tools we could not read are not listed, which is why some names you may expect are absent.
The cheapest real entry point, by job
| The job | Tool | Entry price | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| A talking avatar of you | Percify | $6.99 a month for 425 credits, or packs from $5 for 200 | 10 credits, no card, no watermark |
| Lip sync by the second | Sync.so | $5 Hobbyist plus $0.05 a second | Not listed |
| A photo that talks | D-ID | $4.70 Lite, billed yearly | 14 day trial, 3 minutes, watermarked |
| Stock presenters | Synthesia | €26 Starter, or €16 billed yearly | Basic, 1,200 credits, no downloads |
| Stock presenters at volume | HeyGen, Vidnoz | $29 Creator; $26.99, or $19.99 billed yearly | 3 videos a month; 30 credits a day at 720p |
| Generative shots | Runway ↗ | $15 Standard, or $12 billed annually | $0 with 125 one time credits |
| Text to video from articles | Pictory ↗ | $29 Starter, or $25 billed annually | Free trial offered |
| Editing your own footage | Descript | $16 billed yearly, $24 monthly | Not read on this date |
| A voice | ElevenLabs | $6 Starter, with cloning and a commercial licence | Free plan without cloning |
| AI actor ads | Creatify, MakeUGC | From $39; from $59 for 500 credits | None listed |
| Templates and layout | Canva, Kapwing | US$144 a year; $16 a month billed annually | Canva $0; Kapwing free with watermarked exports |
| A professional editor | Adobe Premiere Pro | 26,86 euros a month including VAT | 14 days for a full refund |
Where a per second price exists, compare that
Most plans hide the unit cost. Three do not:
- Percify: 2 credits a second on InfiniteTalk Fast ↗, so a minute is 120 credits, about $2.53 on the Creator plan ($26 for 1,233 credits).
- Sync.so: $0.05 a second on Hobbyist, which is $3.00 a minute.
- Runway: its Standard plan's 625 monthly credits are equated on its own page to 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 video, so $15 a month buys roughly a minute of that model's output.
Those three are not the same product, which is the point: lip syncing a face you supply is cheap per second, and generating a whole scene is not. Decide which one your video actually needs before comparing the numbers.
What each free tier withholds
- Percify: nothing is withheld beyond the credits themselves. No watermark on any plan, and commercial rights throughout.
- Synthesia: 1,200 credits a month, but downloads and logo removal start on Starter.
- HeyGen: 3 videos a month, up to a minute each.
- Vidnoz: 30 credits a day, about 60 seconds, at 720p with a watermark.
- D-ID: a 14 day trial of 3 minutes, with a full screen watermark, for personal use.
- Runway: 125 one time credits rather than a monthly allowance.
- Kapwing: unlimited exports that carry a watermark.
The pattern worth noticing: most free tiers let you make the video and then withhold the file, through a watermark or a missing download. That is the thing to check before you invest an afternoon.
Annual billing, where it actually saves
Synthesia €26 to €16, Runway $15 to $12, Pictory $29 to $25, Descript $24 to $16, Kapwing $24 to $16, Jasper $69 to $59 per seat, Copy.ai $29 to $24, Vidnoz $26.99 to $19.99. D-ID's Lite and Pro prices, $4.70 and $16, are the yearly billed figures.
Percify has no annual discount because it sells credits: packs are $5 for 200, $10 for 400, $20 for 800 and $50 for 2,100, with no subscription, which suits irregular work better than a yearly commitment. Plans and packs are on pricing.
For which category you actually need, see what is an AI video creator; for tools by job across writing and voices too, which tool for which job; for avatar tools specifically, the best AI avatar generators compared.
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Frequently asked
It depends on the job, and the cheapest entry points differ: Percify from $6.99 a month or packs from $5 with no subscription, D-ID's Lite at $4.70 billed yearly, Sync.so's Hobbyist at $5 plus $0.05 a second, ElevenLabs at $6 for voice, Runway at $15, Descript at $16 billed yearly. Read on 15 September 2026 and 16 September 2026.
Where a unit price is published: Percify is 2 credits a second, about $2.53 a minute on the Creator plan; Sync.so is $0.05 a second, which is $3.00 a minute; Runway's Standard plan equates its 625 monthly credits to 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 video. Subscription tools with stock presenters price by plan rather than by second.
Most, with different catches: Percify gives 10 credits with no card and no watermark on any plan; Synthesia's Basic gives 1,200 credits but no downloads; HeyGen allows 3 videos a month up to a minute; Vidnoz gives 30 credits a day at 720p with a watermark; D-ID offers a 14 day trial of 3 minutes, watermarked; Runway gives 125 one time credits; Kapwing exports carry a watermark.
It is where the discount is real and your use is steady: Synthesia €26 to €16, Runway $15 to $12, Descript $24 to $16, Kapwing $24 to $16, Pictory $29 to $25, Vidnoz $26.99 to $19.99. For irregular work, credit packs with no subscription avoid paying for months you do not use.
Because the cost follows the seconds rendered rather than a monthly allowance: 2 credits a second for talking video, 1 credit a second for captions, 5 credits each for a face and a voice clone, once. A 30 second captioned video is 90 credits, about $1.90 on the Creator plan.
