How many stock avatars does HeyGen have? See counts by plan, styles, and languages, plus a 5-step way to cast the right presenter. Start free today.
TL;DR: The fastest path is casting a presenter from HeyGen's stock library, because paid plans include 700+ stock video avatars that speak your script in 177+ languages with no recording session. Free accounts get 500+ avatars and 30+ languages to test with.
- Synthesia's stock library is the better fit for teams already standardized on its slide-style editor and templates.
- Hiring a real presenter still wins when the face itself is the brand, such as a founder story or a customer testimonial.
- Stock footage with a voiceover in Canva is the cheaper route for mood-driven montage clips that need no speaking presenter.
HeyGen's stock library holds 500+ video avatars on the Free plan and 700+ on paid plans, and its avatar page counts 1,100+ presenters in total. That answers "how many," but it creates a new problem: twenty minutes of scrolling business-casual faces until they blur together.
This guide covers what the HeyGen stock avatars library contains by plan, which styles and languages you can use, and a five-step way to cast a presenter in under 15 minutes.
The platform holds a 4.8/5 rating on G2 from 1,901 reviews, and G2 ranks it #1 for most realistic avatars. Here's how to pick from that library without the scroll fatigue.
How to Choose Stock Avatars with HeyGen
1. Open the library and filter before you scroll
Log in, click Avatars, and switch to the public stock library rather than your own avatars. Apply filters before browsing: style (formal or casual) and setting (indoor or outdoor) cut the list fastest.
This step takes about 2 minutes. The full set of AI avatars runs from studio presenters to selfie-style UGC creators, and every stock avatar is cleared for commercial use on eligible paid plans.
2. Shortlist three presenters by audience
Pick three candidates who match the people watching, not the ones you find most striking. A compliance module for warehouse staff calls for a different presenter than a skincare ad for Gen Z buyers.
Open each candidate's Looks to see the outfits and backgrounds available, because a presenter with several looks can carry a whole series. Budget 5 minutes, and resist adding a fourth option.
3. Match a voice to every language you need
Click the voice selector and filter by language. The pricing table lists 1,000+ AI voices; Free covers 30+ languages, and paid plans cover 177+ languages and dialects.
Choose a native-accent voice for each market rather than one voice stretched across all of them. If one video will ship in several markets, render the English master first and send it through the video translator, which re-syncs the presenter's lips to each new language.
4. Pick the render engine, then preview
Under the avatar, choose Avatar III, IV, or V. The official avatar page prices Avatar IV at 16 to 31 credits per minute and Avatar V at 48, while Avatar III is the low-cost option for drafts.
Avatar V isn't available on public Expressive avatars, so check the label first. When you preview a line in the studio, expect a blurry mouth: lip sync only renders when you submit the video.
5. Generate a 30-second test before the full script
Paste a 30-second excerpt with your hardest words, such as product names and numbers, then click Generate. Check lip sync on those words, whether gestures repeat, and whether the pacing sounds rushed.
A short test usually renders in a few minutes and saves credits on the full version. Once it passes, run the full script through text to video and export in vertical, square, or widescreen format.
What to Have Ready Before You Cast
- A spoken-length script. Read it aloud once and time it. Bullet points work for a draft, but the avatar delivers best from full sentences written the way you talk.
- A market list. Write down every language the video will ship in. It decides your voice choice in step 3 and whether you need a paid plan.
- A format decision. Choose 9:16 for TikTok and Reels or 16:9 for training and YouTube before casting, because framing affects which presenter fits.
- Brand assets. Have your logo, colors, and fonts ready for the Brand Kit. Good enough means a PNG logo and two hex codes.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Casting a setting that fights the script
Many stock presenters are filmed in kitchens, home offices, or cafés. A cozy café backdrop undercuts a data-privacy training module, and a corporate office feels stiff in a UGC-style ad. Judge the background as part of the casting, or remove it and place the presenter over your own scene.
Letting the accent and the market drift apart
A US-accented voice on a presenter aimed at UK or Australian buyers reads as off, even when viewers can't say why. Pick the voice by market first, then confirm the presenter's look fits that voice. Swapping voices later means re-rendering every scene.
Rendering long monologues on Avatar III
Avatar III loops the source footage and applies lip sync, which keeps costs low. Over a five-minute monologue, viewers notice the same hand movement cycling back. Split long scripts into scenes with B-roll between them, or move the final render to Avatar IV or V.
Starting a long series with no backup presenter
A 40-episode course built on one stock face carries risk if that avatar retires. Shortlist a second presenter with a similar look and voice at the start, and keep your scripts in a separate document so you can re-cast quickly. The next section explains what retirement means in practice.
Why the Avatar Count Changes Depending on Where You Look
None of the top-ranking guides explain why the HeyGen stock avatars total differs across pages. The pricing table, the avatar page, and third-party reviews each quote a different number, so here is what each figure measures.
The table reflects the pricing page, which is the number to plan around. The avatar page's 1,100+ figure describes the broader roster of presenters, and it lists 177+ languages, so treat the plan table as your working count.
The library also changes over time. In July 2025, four public avatars (Anna, Emylee, Lwandile, and Burak) went offline.
Drafts using them had to be re-cast, "edit as new" stopped working on videos that featured them, and finished videos stayed available to share and download. Download your final masters, and keep the backup presenter from the mistakes list above.
Who This Works Best For
Learning and development teams
A stock presenter gives every module the same face without booking an employee for filming. Business plans add SCORM export and LMS integrations, so a training series moves from script to course platform without a production vendor. Pick one presenter per course and a backup.
Marketers testing ad creative
Swapping presenters is the cheapest creative test you can run. Render the same hook with three different stock avatars aimed at three audiences, then keep the winner. The 9:16 export drops straight into TikTok and Reels ad managers.
Faceless creators
One G2 reviewer described the tool as ideal for running a faceless YouTube channel. A stock presenter delivers your scripts while you stay off camera, and cloned voices or stock voices handle the narration in any supported language.
Owners who will eventually want their own face
Stock avatars are a good first step for a small business, but any brand can cast the same presenter. When the content becomes personal, an AI video avatar built from your own footage keeps your face on every video.
Other Ways to Get a Presenter on Video
Synthesia stock avatars
Synthesia is an avatar platform popular with corporate training teams. Its pricing page lists 9 avatars on Free, 125+ on Starter, 180+ on Creator, and 240+ on Enterprise.
- Pros: an established track record in enterprise training; a slide-style editor that feels familiar to PowerPoint users; personal avatars included on paid plans (3 on Starter, 5 on Creator); one-click video translation.
- Cons: the full avatar library is reserved for the Enterprise plan; monthly video minutes cap output, with Starter covering 10 minutes a month.
Hiring a real presenter
A freelance actor or UGC creator films your script for a fee per video.
- Pros: a real human performance with natural emotion; a face no other brand shares; direct creative control on set; strong fit for testimonials and founder stories.
- Cons: every script change means a new shoot and a new invoice; scheduling adds days or weeks to each video.
Stock footage with a voiceover in Canva
Canva's video editor pairs stock clips with text overlays and a recorded or AI voiceover.
- Pros: a familiar interface for most marketers; a large stock library; fast templates for social posts; low cost on an existing Canva plan.
- Cons: no speaking presenter, so training and sales videos feel impersonal; stock clips are generic and appear in many other brands' content.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use HeyGen stock avatars commercially?
Yes, on eligible paid plans. Stock avatars are built from consented actor and talent data and cleared for use in ads, marketing, social media, and client work. The Free plan adds a watermark, which rules it out for most external marketing, so treat Free as a testing tier.
Can a stock avatar speak in my own voice?
Yes. Clone your voice once, then assign it to any stock presenter in the voice selector, and the Free plan includes one voice clone. Setting up AI voice cloning takes a short, clean sample recorded with your permission. Record it in a quiet room, because background hum carries into every video.
Will other companies use the same stock avatar?
Yes. The stock library is shared by every account, so a competitor's ad could star the same presenter. If exclusivity matters, build a Digital Twin from your own footage or a photo avatar from an image you own, since custom avatars stay in your workspace.
Can I change a stock avatar's outfit or background?
Partly. Background removal works on any avatar, so you can place a stock presenter over your own scene or brand color. Outfits are limited to the looks available for that presenter, which is why checking the Looks panel during shortlisting saves time later.
Do stock avatars work for vertical TikTok and Reels videos?
Yes. Every stock avatar exports in vertical 9:16, square, or widescreen format. Choose half-body or close-up framing for vertical video so the face fills the frame on a phone screen, and add auto-captions because many viewers scroll TikTok and Reels with the sound off.
Conclusion
The fastest way to cast from HeyGen's stock library is to filter first, shortlist three presenters by audience, and test 30 seconds before the full render. The Free plan covers 500+ avatars for testing, and Creator starts at $29 per month, or $24 billed annually.
Greetings! My name is Ayesha Shaheryar. My words have helped millions over the past two years. As a HeyGen expert and a writer, I am here to introduce tips and tricks to edit your next video in no time.
