ElevenLabs Dubbing vs HeyGen Translate on fal: $0.01 vs $0.05 a Second, and What Each Actually Changes (October 2026)
ElevenLabs Dubbing lists at $0.60 per minute and changes only the voice; HeyGen Translate lists at $0.05 per second and moves the lips too. Languages, limits, a pairing that gets both for less, and when each is the right call.
Dubbing a video into another language is two jobs people often treat as one: replace the voice and move the lips to match. fal lists two popular endpoints at very different prices, and the price gap is mostly the gap between those two jobs. ElevenLabs Dubbing is $0.60 per minute ($0.01 per second) and handles the voice. HeyGen Translate v2 is $0.05 per second ($3.00 per minute) and handles the voice and the mouth. This comparison explains which you need, and how to combine cheap and good.
The numbers
| ElevenLabs Dubbing | HeyGen Translate v2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per second | $0.01 | $0.05 (Precision and Speed alike) |
| Price per minute | $0.60 | $3.00 |
| 5-minute video | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Input | a video or an audio file | a video up to 8 minutes |
| Languages | target language by ISO 639-1 code; source and number of speakers detected automatically | 175+ |
| Lip movement | not changed | changed to match |
| Extras | none we could read | audio-only mode, SRT subtitles, a brand glossary |
Read from fal on 18 October 2026. fal names ElevenLabs Dubbing as its published pick for dubbing; it is five times cheaper than HeyGen per second.
What "dubbing" changes in each
ElevenLabs Dubbing returns the video with a new voice track. The speaker's mouth still moves to the old language, so if the camera is on the speaker's face, a viewer sees the mismatch. It is excellent where the face is not the focus: a screen recording, a slide deck, a b-roll-heavy explainer, a voice-over, a podcast with a static image.
HeyGen Translate v2 translates, re-voices (preserving the speaker's voice timbre) and re-times the lips in a single call. It is the call you want when the speaker is on screen and the language change must not be visible. It also offers an audio-only mode when you do not need the lips, which narrows the difference in function but not in price.
How to get both for less
You can combine the two. The pattern:
- Dub the voice with ElevenLabs at $0.01 per second.
- Fix the lips only on the scenes where the face is large, with a lip-sync model such as sync-3 ($8 per minute) or, for short clips, VEED lip-sync or Kling LipSync.
For a three-minute video where the speaker is on camera for 40 seconds, that is $1.80 for the voice plus about $5.33 for lips on those 40 seconds, about $7.13 in total, against $9.00 for HeyGen over the whole three minutes. The saving is real but modest, and it costs you an assembly step; HeyGen's single call is the simpler path for short videos. For a long video with little face time, the split approach wins. For a short talking-head Reel, HeyGen is the better choice. Dubbing a talking-head Reel works through a worked example.
Quality: where we have evidence
We use HeyGen Translate in our own revoice tool and sync-3 in the supporting stack. We have not used ElevenLabs Dubbing in production and have not run a paired test of its voices against HeyGen's, so we make no claim about naturalness. Languages with different rhythms from English, such as Russian and Spanish, take longer to say the same sentence; our articles on Spanish and Russian describe where translations slip, and the same limits apply to either tool.
Choosing
- Screen recording, slides, voice-over, podcast: ElevenLabs. Cheapest, and nothing visual is lost.
- A speaker on camera, a short video: HeyGen Translate, once, and done.
- A long video with occasional face time: ElevenLabs for the voice, a lip-sync model for the close-ups.
- A client who will notice a mismatch: HeyGen, or the combined route with careful checking.
Rights and consent
You need the right to translate and re-voice the video, and a cloned or preserved voice should belong to the speaker or be licensed. Dubbing someone else's video into another language and posting it as your own is not made acceptable by the tool. Our tools ask you to confirm the right to a source before they run.
Common questions
Does ElevenLabs Dubbing change the lips?
No. It replaces the voice and leaves the mouth movement unchanged.
Which languages does HeyGen support?
175 or more, with audio-only mode, SRT subtitles and a brand glossary.
Can I combine them?
Yes: dub the voice with ElevenLabs and fix the lips with a lip-sync model only on the scenes where the face is large.
Which is cheaper for a three-minute video?
ElevenLabs at $1.80 for the voice alone. The combined route is about $7.13 with 40 seconds of lip sync, and HeyGen alone is $9.00.
Do I need the speaker's consent?
You need the right to translate and re-voice the video. Preserving or cloning a voice should be done with the speaker's agreement.
How to do this without code: The Revoice tool handles voice and lip movement behind one upload and a language choice. In AutoHustle this is the Revoice tool: upload the video and pick the target language (about 1 credit per second of video, quoted before you press Generate). See How to revoice a video into another language and AI video revoice.
Related reading: HeyGen vs sync for Lip Sync: $6, $5 and $8 a Minute Compared · HeyGen Video Translation vs Cheaper Alternatives (August 2026)
For developers: the fal endpoints
| Model | fal endpoint |
|---|---|
| ElevenLabs Dubbing | fal-ai/elevenlabs/dubbing |
| HeyGen Translate v2 (precision) | fal-ai/heygen/v2/translate/precision |
| HeyGen Translate v2 (speed) | fal-ai/heygen/v2/translate/speed |
ElevenLabs: target_lang (ISO 639-1), automatic source-language and speaker detection. HeyGen: up to 8 minutes of video, 175+ languages, translate_audio_only, SRT output, brand glossary. Prices read on 18 October 2026.