What each free plan really gives
We read each tool’s own pricing page on 7 November 2026 and wrote down what its free plan says it includes. A page that would not show its free plan to us is left out rather than guessed.
| Tool | Free plan | What it gives | Watermark |
|---|---|---|---|
| HeyGen | Yes, $0 a month | 3 videos a month, each up to 1 minute | Yes |
| Synthesia | Yes, Basic, $0 a month | 10 minutes of video a month (500 credits), 9 AI avatars, shared by link; downloads are listed from the paid Starter plan | Yes |
| Fliki | Yes, “free forever”, no card | 5 minutes a month (3 credits), videos up to 5 minutes, 720p | Yes |
| Vidnoz | Yes, $0 | Videos up to 3 minutes, 720p export; the daily credits did not show on the page | “No watermark” is listed from the paid Starter plan |
| CapCut | Yes, EUR 0 | Free templates and basic editing tools; AI credits and export not stated | Not stated |
| Pictory | No: a 14-day free trial | 3 video projects, up to 10 minutes of AI credits, 720p | Pictory branding on trial videos |
| Clip-Short | Yes, for clips: no card | AI Clipping, Auto Caption and Reframe, 60 minutes a month. No free AI video: one for US$1.99 in US dollars (each country’s price below), paid once | Yes on free clips; none on paid AI videos |
Two of the seven have no free AI video at all: Pictory gives a trial instead, and Clip-Short sells AI videos from the first one. Every free AI video in the table carries a watermark or a length cap, most often both.
The limits that matter in a free plan
A free plan is enough to try a tool. Before you build a channel on one, check four things on its pricing page:
- The watermark: HeyGen, Synthesia and Fliki put theirs on free videos, and Vidnoz lists “No watermark” only from Starter.
- The length: HeyGen’s free videos run up to 1 minute, Vidnoz’s up to 3 minutes and Fliki’s up to 5 minutes.
- The quality: Fliki and Vidnoz export free videos at 720p, below the 1080 x 1920 that short-video apps recommend.
- Whether you can download at all: Synthesia’s free plan shares videos by link, and lists downloads from Starter.
A free plan that gives 3 videos or 5 minutes a month is a test drive, not a posting schedule. A channel that posts every day needs a paid plan on any of these tools.
Free plan, free trial and free credits are not the same
Three different things get called free. A free plan stays free for as long as you use it, within its limits: HeyGen, Synthesia, Fliki, Vidnoz and CapCut have one. A free trial ends: Pictory’s lasts 14 days and makes 3 video projects. Free credits are spent once, and the pricing page says how many a video costs.
A free plan also tends to leave out what a channel needs later. On the pricing pages, read 7 November 2026:
- Fliki’s free plan leaves out commercial rights, AI avatars, voice cloning and exports without the watermark, and has email support only.
- HeyGen’s free plan is for 1 user, at standard processing speed, with 1 voice clone and its newest avatar capped at 1 minute a video.
- Synthesia’s free plan is for 1 editor, with 9 AI avatars and 10 minutes of dubbing a month.
None of this is hidden: it is on each pricing page. It is easy to miss in a list that only says “free”, and it is the reason to read the page before you start a channel on a free plan.
Clip-Short: what is free, and what an AI video costs
Free, with no card: the account, AI Clipping (a long video cut into vertical clips with captions), Auto Caption and Reframe, 60 minutes of video a month, exported with a small watermark. The free tools on the site, such as the idea, hook and script generators, need no account at all.
Not free: AI videos, the ones the AI Agent writes, illustrates and narrates from your idea. A new account can buy its first one on its own, paid once, with no subscription: up to 3 minutes, no watermark. It costs US$1.99 (most other countries), MX$29 (Mexico), R$9.90 (Brazil), COP$5.900 (Colombia), S/6.90 (Peru), CLP$1.490 (Chile), €1.99 (the euro area), ₺99 (Turkey). In Egypt one video is not sold on its own; the pack has a price of its own there.
After that, 3 Pro videos cost US$5.99, paid once, or Pro is US$19 a month for 10 AI videos and 5 hours of video processing, without a watermark. Checkout charges the price of the country you are in.
Which one to try first
- A presenter or avatar talking to camera: HeyGen’s or Synthesia’s free plan, to see the avatars before you pay.
- A narrated slideshow from a script, to test the voices: Fliki’s free plan, at 720p with a watermark.
- Editing your own footage: CapCut’s free plan.
- Clips from a long video you already have: Clip-Short’s AI Clipping, free with no card.
- A finished narrated short from one idea, with no watermark: Clip-Short’s first AI video for US$1.99, paid once, rather than a free plan’s 1-minute watermarked export.
Before you pick a free AI video generator
- Read the free plan on the tool’s own pricing page, not on a list article.
- Check the watermark, the length cap and the export quality.
- Check that the free plan lets you download, not only share a link.
- Count how many videos a month you need, and what the first paid step costs.