You have a script, a deadline and no camera. That is the exact gap Synthesia sets out to fill: you type the words, pick a presenter, and an AI avatar reads them on screen. The hard part is not the idea. It is working out what the free plan really gives you, what each paid tier unlocks, and which rules apply before you publish.
Synthesia at a Glance: What It Is For
Synthesia is an AI video generator for presenter-style videos: the free Basic plan includes 10 minutes of video a month with a watermark, and paid plans start at $18/month billed yearly or $29/month billed monthly (Synthesia pricing). You write a script, choose an avatar and a voice, and Synthesia renders a video of that avatar speaking.
Who is it really for? Synthesia’s own help center describes it as a platform used by “learning & development, enablement, HR, and corporate-communications teams at large enterprises” (What is Synthesia?). That tells you where the product’s center of gravity sits: training, onboarding, explainers and internal updates. It is not a cinematic clip generator, and it is not a full timeline editor.
This guide draws on Synthesia’s pricing page and help center, read on October 24, 2026, with HeyGen’s pricing page for the comparison. Indie Stack Lab has not run its own Synthesia account test yet, so every limit below links to the official page it comes from. What stood out to us while reading those pages is how much of the real decision sits in the licensing and consent articles, not on the pricing page. If you want the wider picture first, our comparison of AI video generators by the job they do puts Synthesia next to clip generators and script-to-video tools.
Key Takeaways
With 63% of video marketers saying they have used AI to help create or edit marketing videos (Wyzowl, Video Marketing Statistics 2026), avatar tools like Synthesia are now a normal option, but the fit is narrow: Synthesia suits scripted training and explainer videos, its free plan shares by link only, personal avatars need a paid plan and a consent recording, and stock avatars cannot appear in paid ads.
How a Synthesia Video Is Made: Script, Avatar, Voice and Scenes
A Synthesia video is a set of scenes, each with its own script, and the help center caps the script on a single scene at 5 minutes (How do I create a script in Synthesia?). Think of it like a slide deck where each slide has a presenter and a voice track.
Here is the basic flow the help center describes:
- Add scenes. Scenes are “the building blocks of your video — similar to slides in a presentation,” and each one can hold an avatar, text, images and video clips (How do I manage scenes?).
- Write or paste the script for each scene. You can also upload an audio file instead of typing. Longer scripts should be split across scenes, and the scene break works as a natural pause.
- Pick an avatar and a voice for the scene. You can mix scenes with and without an avatar in the same video.
- Select Generate. The progress screen moves through Moderating, Queued, Preparing, Rendering, Assembling and Finalizing (How do I generate my video?).
Notice the Moderating step? Every video passes a content check before it renders, and the help center says moderation review “can add extra time before generation continues.” You can generate up to 10 videos at once; more are queued.
You do not have to start from a blank scene. The help center lists three other ways in:
- Assistant, a chat-based agent that turns a prompt plus attached PDFs, PowerPoint files, Word documents or URLs into a first draft. The help page lists it on Starter, Creator and Enterprise plans, so not on Basic (How do I create a video using Assistant?). Creator is the old name of today’s Pro plan.
- PowerPoint import. Speaker notes become the script, and slides without notes get an automatic script from the slide text. The cap is 1 GB or 150 slides, in .pptx, and PowerPoint animations are not imported (How do I import PowerPoint slides?).
- Syren, a beta agent that builds a video from a description and shows a live preview. Basic plan videos made in Syren carry a watermark and stop at 3 minutes, while paid plans can build Syren videos up to 60 minutes (How do I create a video with Syren?).
One practical detail matters for editing later. Synthesia’s pricing FAQ says you spend credits only “when something is generated, never while you’re editing or previewing,” and only new footage counts: change three seconds and regenerate, and you pay for three seconds (Synthesia pricing).
Stock Avatars vs Personal Avatars
Stock avatars are on every plan, while personal avatars of a real person start on Starter, which includes 3, and Pro, which includes 5 (Which avatar type is right for me?). The number of stock avatars you can pick from also grows with the plan: 9 on Basic, 125+ on Starter, 180+ on Pro and 240+ on Enterprise, per the pricing page’s comparison table.
So which kind do you need? It depends on whether the person on screen has to be someone specific.
Stock avatars
Stock avatars are ready to use with no filming. The help center lists several types (What stock avatars are available?):
- Express-1: built from professionally filmed actors, the most realistic and consistent stock option, API-compatible, no hand gestures.
- Express-2: based on real people, with natural hand gestures and flexible framing, but a fixed background.
- Express-3: Synthesia’s newest generation, with sharper output and more accurate lip sync. The help center says it is in a staged rollout and not every workspace has it yet.
- Synthetic stock avatars: fully AI-generated, not based on any real person, with customizable outfits, backgrounds and b-roll.
- Classic avatars: older filmed avatars being phased out.
Personal avatars of yourself
A personal avatar is a digital twin of a real person. Synthesia now recommends making one from a single photo: the avatar “will typically generate within minutes” after you upload the photo and complete a consent step (How do I create a Personal Avatar from a photo?). The photo tips are specific: a clear, well-lit photo of just you, ideally from the waist up, with your teeth showing for better lip sync.
The older video method still exists, labeled Legacy. You record with a webcam or upload one continuous take between 1 and 5 minutes long, and the avatar processes in about 1 business day (How do I create my personal avatar from a video?). You cannot customize it, but the help center says it is still the only type you can request from a colleague.
Two more options sit at the edges:
- Custom Studio avatars, filmed in a studio or with a high-quality home setup, cost $1,000 per avatar for self-submitted footage and are an add-on to annual Starter plans and above.
- Avatar Builder, on all plans including Basic, creates a stylized or non-human character from a starter concept or a text prompt. The credits help article lists 14 credits per Avatar Builder avatar.
Here’s the catch with personal avatars: they live inside Synthesia. The help center says you “cannot download or export an Avatar as a standalone model or asset” (What is a custom avatar?). If you leave the platform, your avatar stays behind, and only the videos you downloaded go with you.
Voices, Languages and Video Translation
Synthesia lists 140+ languages and voices on every plan, from Basic to Enterprise (Synthesia pricing), and its help center describes stock voices “across more than 140 languages and accents” (Which stock voices and languages are available?). Some languages have regional variants, such as US English and UK English, and those show up in the editor’s language menu.
Want the avatar to sound like you? Voice cloning is “available on all plans,” per the help center, though some languages are Enterprise-only (How do I clone my voice?). You can record in the browser or upload a file:
- Uploaded audio must run 1 to 5 minutes, in mp3, wav, m4a, weba, aac, flac or ogg.
- The speaker then reads a randomly generated passcode aloud as consent. Synthesia rejects silent consent recordings.
- The person being cloned must be of legal age and give consent themselves.
- A finished clone can be used in other languages, not only the one you recorded in.
Translation comes in two forms, and the plan line between them is sharp:
- One-click translation creates translated versions of a Synthesia video, script and on-screen text included. It is “available on Enterprise plans only” (How do I translate a video?).
- AI dubbing works on all plans and translates spoken audio only, not on-screen text. You upload a video file or paste a YouTube link, and on self-serve plans it uses credits (How do I dub a video?). Synthesia’s credits page lists 80 credits per minute with lip sync and 40 without.
The pricing table lists dubbing in 70+ languages on Basic, Starter and Pro, and 140+ on Enterprise. Also note what self-serve dubbing cannot do: the dubbing article says all transcript editing is Enterprise-only, so on Starter or Pro you cannot fix a mistranslated word inside the dub. Basic, Starter and Creator users also cannot publish videos dubbed from a YouTube link, per the same page.
Templates, Brand Kits and Editing Tools
Every plan includes 60+ Synthesia templates, but brand kits, the feature that applies your colors, fonts and logo across videos, are listed as Enterprise-only (How do I use a Synthesia brand kit?). On self-serve plans, the pricing table still lists “your brand colors” as a basic option.
Is Synthesia video editing software? Only partly. The editor handles what a presenter video needs:
- Templates. You can start from a Synthesia template, build your own, or save any generated video as a template (How do I create a new template?).
- Captions. Closed captions are on by default, and you can download them as .srt or .vtt files. You can style dynamic captions, and you switch on burned-in captions at the Generate step. Closed captions are not embedded in a downloaded MP4, so turn on burned-in captions if your video needs them inside the file (How do captions work?).
- Aspect ratios. The help center lists 16:9 at 1920 × 1080, 9:16 portrait at 1080 × 1920, 1:1 square, 4:5 tall and 5:4 wide (How do I change the aspect ratio?).
- Voiceover-only scenes. Hide the avatar with the eye icon or delete it, and “the script and voice still generate normally” (How do I create a voiceover-only video?).
- Custom fonts. The PowerPoint help page says Basic and Starter users cannot upload custom fonts.
What about a Synthesia AI video generator app? There is no app to install. Synthesia runs in a mobile browser for self-serve users, but the help center says the video editor itself is not available on mobile (Can I use Synthesia on a mobile device?). On a phone you can watch videos, dub a clip, create a personal avatar and use the AI Playground; building scenes takes a desktop or laptop. If a phone-first workflow matters more than a presenter, our list of AI video tools that ship as real phone apps is a better starting point.
If your project needs cuts, color work or multi-track audio, you will still want a separate editor. Our explainer on what a full video editor does and how it is priced covers that side.
What the Synthesia Free Plan Includes
The Synthesia AI video generator free plan, called Basic, costs $0 and includes 10 minutes of video, 3 survey responses and 500 credits every month (Synthesia pricing). The pricing FAQ adds that this allowance renews each month.
| Basic plan item | What the official page lists |
|---|---|
| Price | $0 per month |
| Video | 10 minutes of video per month |
| Credits | 500 credits per month |
| Seats | 1 editor |
| Stock avatars | 9 AI avatars |
| Personal avatars | Not included (Starter and up) |
| Languages and voices | 140+ |
| Watermark | Synthesia logo on videos |
| Sharing | Share link |
| MP4 download | Not included |
| Dubbing | Shares the 10 monthly minutes; 70+ languages |
The biggest limit is the download. The help center is blunt: “Basic and trial users are unable to download videos” (How do I download my Synthesia video?). You can share a Synthesia link, but you cannot take an MP4 file and upload it to YouTube, your course platform or a social account. Downloads start on Starter, in Full HD 1080p.
Do unused free minutes roll over? No. The pricing FAQ says your monthly allowance and any plan credits “reset each billing period.” When you run out, the same FAQ says video creation and survey collection “pause until your plan renews,” unless you buy extra credits or upgrade.
In our reading, Basic works best as a test drive of the editor, the stock avatars and the voices before you pay, not as a production plan. Comparing it with other tools? Our roundup of how Synthesia’s free tier stacks up against other free AI video plans puts the numbers side by side.
Paid Plans, Minutes and Limits
Synthesia’s Starter plan costs $29/month billed monthly or $18/month billed yearly, and Pro costs $89/month billed monthly or $64/month billed yearly, per its US pricing page on October 24, 2026 (Synthesia pricing). Enterprise is custom.
| Plan | Price | Extra credits | Video on top of the free 10 minutes | Stock avatars | Personal avatars | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | None (500 credits/month base) | None | 9 | None | 1 editor |
| Starter | $29/month, or $18/month billed yearly | 1,250/month (15,000/year) | Up to ~150 minutes/year | 125+ | 3 | 1 editor, 3 guests |
| Pro | $89/month, or $64/month billed yearly | 6,000/month (72,000/year) | Up to ~720 minutes/year | 180+ | 5 | 1 editor, 5 guests |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Unlimited video minutes | 240+ | Unlimited | Custom |
How do credits turn into minutes? Synthesia’s credits article says video creation uses “about 100 credits per minute of finished video” (What are credits?). Starter’s total of 1,750 credits a month (the 500 base credits plus 1,250 extra) covers “about 17 minutes of finished video, in addition to the 10 minutes of video included every month.” Videos with more on-screen avatar time use a little more.
All features share one credit pool. Dubbing, surveys, the API and generated b-roll all draw from the same balance:
- AI dubbing: 80 credits per minute with lip sync, 40 without.
- API video: 160 credits per minute.
- Bulk personalization: 180 credits per minute.
- Survey responses: 350 credits each after the 3 free ones.
- Generated b-roll: priced per model, for example 460 credits for one Veo 3.1 video asset with audio.
Starter also adds MP4 downloads, logo removal and the AI Video Assistant. Pro adds branded video pages and interactive videos, and the Pro 2× to 8× tiers raise the monthly credits further. The help center’s plan change notice explains a naming detail you will run into: on October 1, 2026, the old Creator plan was renamed Pro, a change the notice sums up as “Same price, same features, more included” (What’s changing on October 1, 2026). Some help articles still say Creator.
Before you upgrade, read the refund page. It says purchases are “non-cancelable and, except where the Contract expressly states otherwise, non-refundable,” and that a forgotten renewal is not refunded (Refund and billing policy). It also says Synthesia does not offer general, student or nonprofit discounts. Credits also do not carry over when you upgrade mid-cycle; your balance resets to the new plan’s allocation.
Consent and Content Rules for AI Avatars
Every Synthesia video goes through moderation, and the help center says you can expect “every video you submit to go through the same review process, whether it’s your first video or your thousandth” (How does Synthesia moderate content?). The process mixes automated checks with human reviewers.
Why does this section matter so much? Because the rules decide which avatar you can use for which video, and some of them are easy to miss:
- Consent for personal avatars. A photo avatar needs “a live consent video of the same person,” and avatars of public figures or anyone without explicit consent are not allowed. The person must meet the legal age in their jurisdiction.
- No celebrity avatars. The custom avatar FAQ says it “isn’t possible to make an avatar of a celebrity or politician without their consent.” A cartoon character cannot become a custom avatar either; use Avatar Builder for that.
- Stock avatars stay neutral. Synthesia allows stock avatars only for content that is neutral, fact-based and educational. Scripts touching medical, legal, financial, news or political topics, or giving advice or opinions, may not qualify (Why can’t I use stock avatars?).
- No paid ads with stock avatars. The licensing page allows stock and synthetic avatar videos on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and your own website, but not in “any form of paid promotion,” including paid YouTube, TikTok and Meta ads (Synthesia Video Licensing). With a custom avatar, those limits do not apply; you follow your agreement with the person instead.
- No impersonation. A stock avatar should not claim to be a real person or express personal experiences that viewers could take as the actor’s own (Impersonation).
That paid-ads rule is the one we would flag first for creators. If your plan is to run a stock-avatar video as a sponsored post, the licensing page rules it out; you would need a personal avatar of someone who agreed to it.
Synthesia also handles AI labeling. Its AI label article says Synthesia adds C2PA provenance signals automatically, and you can add a visible “AI generated” label to your videos on any plan (How do I add an AI label?). That matters on YouTube, which says it may automatically label content that carries C2PA metadata, and which requires creators to disclose realistic AI content, such as a real person appearing to say something they didn’t (YouTube Help).
Synthesia vs HeyGen: Which Avatar Tool Fits
Synthesia’s free plan gives you 10 minutes of video a month, while HeyGen’s free plan gives 3 watermarked videos a month of up to 1 minute each (Synthesia pricing; HeyGen pricing). Both center on a presenter reading a script, but the plans pull in different directions.
| Point of comparison | Synthesia | HeyGen |
|---|---|---|
| Free allowance | 10 minutes/month, watermarked, share link only | 3 videos/month, watermarked, up to 1 minute each |
| Avatar of yourself on the free plan | No (Starter and up) | Yes, one custom video avatar |
| Entry paid plan | Starter: $29/month, or $18/month billed yearly | Creator: $29/month, or $24/month paid annually |
| Next plan | Pro: $89/month, or $64/month billed yearly | Pro: from $49/month |
| Stock presenters | 9 on Basic, 125+ on Starter | 500+ on Free, 700+ on paid plans |
| Languages | 140+ languages and voices | 30+ on Free, 175+ languages and dialects on Creator |
HeyGen’s FAQ states the Creator price directly: “$29/month (or $24/month if you pay annually).” Its Pro plan adds 4K export and access to third-party models, including Veo 3.1 and Seedance 2.5.
Which should you try first? If you want to test a custom avatar of yourself without paying, HeyGen’s free plan lists one, and Synthesia’s does not. If you need longer free test videos, Synthesia’s 10 minutes go further than three 1-minute videos. And if your audience is a company training program, Synthesia’s help center is plainly written for that buyer, from SCORM export to Enterprise-only translation.
We plan a full HeyGen guide for this series; until then, the official pricing page is the place to check credits.
When You Do Not Need an Avatar: Script-to-Video Alternatives
You may not need an avatar at all: Synthesia’s own help center explains how to hide the avatar so “the video plays with audio but no visible presenter,” and that still uses the same 10 free minutes a month (How do I create a voiceover-only video?). That works for narrated slides or screen walkthroughs where a face adds little.
Is a voiceover-only video still a good fit for Synthesia? Sometimes. If what you really want is stock footage and music assembled around a narration, a script-to-video tool is a closer match. InVideo AI is one example. Its help center says manual editing on the timeline is free, while “AI agent work and model generation use credits” (InVideo Help Center). InVideo also offers avatars of yourself, called AI twins, and its help center says “Creating a Pro avatar costs 200 credits” (How to create my avatar?).
What does that look like on a real free account? Our credit-by-credit account of InVideo AI’s free plan on a short script shows how quickly the agent’s quote outgrew the free allowance. For the avatar side, our guide to InVideo’s AI twins, voice clones and what each costs in credits covers the steps and the consent prompt.
A quick way to choose:
- You need a person on screen explaining something step by step: an avatar tool like Synthesia or HeyGen.
- You need narration over stock clips, music and captions: a script-to-video tool like InVideo AI.
- You need a short cinematic shot with no presenter: a clip model, such as the ones in our breakdown of what Runway charges per generated clip. Our explainer on how avatar tools fit among the other kinds of AI video generators breaks down those categories.
Who Should Use Synthesia
Synthesia fits teams and creators who publish scripted, presenter-led videos often, and its help center lists training, onboarding, explainers, internal communications and help center content among the main uses (What is Synthesia?). It fits less well when you need ads, cinematic footage or a finished file on the free plan.
Synthesia is likely a good fit if you:
- Turn written procedures, policies or product docs into short videos on a regular schedule.
- Want to update a video by editing the script instead of reshooting, and pay only for the new footage.
- Need the same video in several languages and can work with dubbing, or have an Enterprise budget for one-click translation.
- Want a personal avatar of an expert who has agreed to it, for use across many videos.
It is probably not the right tool if you:
- Plan to run stock-avatar videos as paid ads on YouTube, TikTok or Meta.
- Need a downloadable MP4 without paying; Basic shares by link only.
- Want realistic B-roll scenes as the main content, rather than a presenter.
- Need full editing control over cuts, color and audio.
What about a faceless YouTube channel? Synthesia’s licensing page allows stock and synthetic avatar videos on YouTube, and realistic AI content needs the AI disclosure in YouTube Studio. Since Basic cannot download, you would need at least Starter to upload a file. Once the video is live, our guide to tools for getting a finished YouTube video found covers titles, tags and keyword research.
Our suggestion: write one real script, build it on Basic, and watch the shared result before you pay. If the avatar and voice work for your audience, Starter’s downloads and extra credits are the next step.
References
- Synthesia: Pricing
- Synthesia Help Center: What is Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I create a script in Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I manage scenes in Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I generate my video in Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I create a video using Assistant?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I import PowerPoint slides into Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I create a video with Syren?
- Synthesia Help Center: Which avatar type is right for me?
- Synthesia Help Center: What stock avatars are available in Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I create a Personal Avatar from a photo?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I create my personal avatar from a video?
- Synthesia Help Center: What is a custom avatar?
- Synthesia Help Center: Which stock voices and languages are available in Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I clone my voice in Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I translate a video?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I dub a video?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I use a Synthesia brand kit?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I create a new template in Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do captions work in Synthesia?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I change the aspect ratio of my video?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I create a voiceover-only video?
- Synthesia Help Center: Can I use Synthesia on a mobile device?
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I download my Synthesia video?
- Synthesia Help Center: What are credits, and how do they work on self-serve plans?
- Synthesia Help Center: What’s changing in Synthesia plans on October 1, 2026
- Synthesia Help Center: What is Synthesia’s refund and billing policy?
- Synthesia Help Center: How does Synthesia moderate content?
- Synthesia Help Center: Why can’t I use stock avatars for my content?
- Synthesia Help Center: Synthesia Video Licensing
- Synthesia Help Center: Impersonation
- Synthesia Help Center: How do I add an AI label to my videos?
- HeyGen: Pricing
- InVideo Help Center: Is invideo Editor free and which actions use credits
- InVideo Help Center: How to create my avatar?
- YouTube Help: Disclosing use of GenAI content
- Wyzowl: Video Marketing Statistics 2026