# HeyGen Voice vs PlayHT Text-to-Speech API

> HeyGen Voice scores 71.3 (BB) to PlayHT Text-to-Speech's 3.9 (F) for text-to-speech. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-playht-tts
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-playht-tts.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-playht-tts.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-playht-tts.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-10

PlayHT Text-to-Speech API shut down on 2025-12-31. HeyGen Voice scores 71.3 (BB) on agent readiness against PlayHT Text-to-Speech API's 3.9 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do text-to-speech.

- HeyGen Voice: grade BB, 71.3/100, rank #131 of 961. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/heygen-voice.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/heygen-voice.json
- PlayHT Text-to-Speech API: grade F, 3.9/100, rank retired, not ranked. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/playht-tts.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/playht-tts.json
- Best text-to-speech APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/text-to-speech/index.md
- All 66 tts comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/text-to-speech/index.md

## Which one, for what

### HeyGen Voice (BB)

Good for: Speech in a voice cloned from one short recording, for agents that already make HeyGen videos or need a cloned narrator with streaming and timestamps.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 0
- Schema & documentation, 94 against 31
- Agent ergonomics, 83 against 0
- Security & auth, 69 against 0
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 65 against 0
- Transparency & trust, 69 against 33

Also in its favour:
- Still running. PlayHT Text-to-Speech API has shut down
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- No incidents deducted, where PlayHT Text-to-Speech API loses 4 points for them

Watch for: Speaks only voices cloned in the caller's workspace. Stock and designed voices go through a separate endpoint and engines

### PlayHT Text-to-Speech API (F)

Good for: Nothing new. It shut down on 2025-12-31.

Watch for: api.play.ht doesn't resolve, so every call fails


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | HeyGen Voice | PlayHT Text-to-Speech API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 0 | HeyGen Voice +75 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 94 | 31 | HeyGen Voice +63 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 0 | HeyGen Voice +83 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 69 | 0 | HeyGen Voice +69 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 0 | HeyGen Voice +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 0 | HeyGen Voice +65 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 69 | 33 | HeyGen Voice +36 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **71.3 · BB** | **3.9 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | HeyGen Voice | PlayHT Text-to-Speech API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | HeyGen | PlayHT |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.heygen.com` | `https://api.play.ht/api/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Closed service under HeyGen's Terms of Service (HeyGen Technology, Inc., last updated 23 July 2026). | Apache-2.0 (Python SDK) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | none | 2025-05-21 |
| Terms last updated |  | 2023-06-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | 2021-06-19 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Popularity | none | 218 stars, 14k npm/wk, 6.6k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 1/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**HeyGen Voice.** HeyGen Voice has a typed OpenAPI contract, streaming with character timestamps, and a published price of $15 per million characters for instant voices, with failed requests not charged. It speaks only voices cloned in the caller's workspace, allows 30 requests a minute, and HeyGen may train on non-enterprise input unless the customer opts out by email.

**PlayHT Text-to-Speech API.** The old API reference is still readable at docs.play.ht for anyone porting code. api.play.ht doesn't resolve, so every call fails.

## Before you call either

### HeyGen Voice

1. Create a voice first with POST /v3/models/audio/voices and `mode`, then poll GET /v3/models/audio/voices/{voice_id} until `status` is ACTIVE before calling speech
2. Send `expressiveness_boost` only for instant voices and `seed`, `speed`, `pitch_shift`, `pitch_variance` or `<break>` tags only for professional voices. Mixing them returns 400 invalid_parameter
3. On the stream, decode and play each base64 WAV part in `part_index` order. Do not concatenate the bytes
4. Send an Idempotency-Key when creating a voice, and retry 502, 503 and 504 on speech, which the OpenAPI file marks as safe
5. Use POST /v3/voices/speech for stock or designed voices. It is a different engine and price

### PlayHT Text-to-Speech API

1. Don't call api.play.ht, it doesn't resolve.
2. Ignore docs.play.ht code samples, they describe a closed service.
3. Map PlayDialog or Play 3.0 Mini work to another TTS listing before writing code.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, HeyGen Voice or PlayHT Text-to-Speech API?

HeyGen Voice scores 71.3 (BB) on agent readiness against PlayHT Text-to-Speech API's 3.9 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Do HeyGen Voice and PlayHT Text-to-Speech API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call HeyGen Voice and PlayHT Text-to-Speech API without installing anything?

Yes. HeyGen Voice has a hosted endpoint at https://api.heygen.com and PlayHT Text-to-Speech API at https://api.play.ht/api/v2.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-playht-tts.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-playht-tts.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "heygen-voice", "b": "playht-tts"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare heygen-voice playht-tts`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/heygen-voice.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/playht-tts.json

## Other comparisons with HeyGen Voice or PlayHT Text-to-Speech API

- [Amazon Polly vs HeyGen Voice](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-polly-vs-heygen-voice.md)
- [Amazon Polly vs PlayHT Text-to-Speech API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-polly-vs-playht-tts.md)
- [Azure AI Speech text-to-speech vs HeyGen Voice](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-text-to-speech-vs-heygen-voice.md)
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- [Fish Audio TTS API vs HeyGen Voice](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fish-audio-tts-vs-heygen-voice.md)
- [Fish Audio TTS API vs PlayHT Text-to-Speech API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fish-audio-tts-vs-playht-tts.md)
- [HeyGen Voice vs Murf TTS API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-murf-tts.md)
- [HeyGen Voice vs Resemble AI Text-to-Speech API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-resemble-ai-tts.md)
- [HeyGen Voice vs Rime TTS API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-rime-tts.md)
- [HeyGen Voice vs Soniox Text-to-Speech](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/heygen-voice-vs-soniox-tts.md)
- [Murf TTS API + MCP vs PlayHT Text-to-Speech API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/murf-tts-vs-playht-tts.md)
- [PlayHT Text-to-Speech API vs Resemble AI Text-to-Speech API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playht-tts-vs-resemble-ai-tts.md)
- [PlayHT Text-to-Speech API vs Rime TTS API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playht-tts-vs-rime-tts.md)
- [PlayHT Text-to-Speech API vs Soniox Text-to-Speech](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playht-tts-vs-soniox-tts.md)