Synthesia
AI‑driven platform to turn text into professional videos with realistic avatars in minutes.
What is Synthesia?
Synthesia, founded in 2017 and based in London, is an AI video platform that converts text (and slide docs like PowerPoints or PDFs) into polished talking‑head videos using AI-generated avatars and voices. It specializes in business use‑cases—corporate communications, training, onboarding, marketing, and multilingual localization—enabling teams to produce video content at scale without cameras, studios, or human actors. The company offers a freemium usage model with tiered paid plans for higher volume and advanced features, and serves a substantial portion of Fortune 100 and FTSE 100 enterprises.
What you can do with it
Corporate training and onboarding
Convert compliance instructions, onboarding scripts, and learning modules into avatar‑led training videos.
Internal communications
Produce leadership updates, policy announcements, or executive messages without scheduling film shoots.
Marketing and product explainers
Create multilingual product walkthroughs, campaign videos, or promotional content featuring human‑like avatars.
Social media content creation
Generate short‑form, on‑brand videos for platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok using AI avatars.
Sales enablement and customer education
Deploy dynamic demo videos or personalized outreach content that can be updated quickly as messaging evolves.
Localization at scale
Produce one video script and publish it across global markets with dubbed voices, translated captions, and language‑aware playback.
Key features
- Text-to-video conversion from scripts, documents, or URLs, with AI-generated scenes, voice‑over, and avatars
- Library of realistic AI avatars—including stock, expressive, and customizable personal avatars—with natural gestures and lip-sync
- Support for voice cloning and selection from hundreds or thousands of AI voices across 160+ languages
- AI-generated visuals and B‑roll using models like Veo 3.1, FLUX.2, with automated cinematic scene creation
- Localization features including one‑click translation, AI dubbing with lip-sync, and multilingual video player support
- Brand Kit and styling controls (logos, fonts, colors, layouts) for consistent video branding
- Interactive video elements—clickable calls‑to‑action, branching paths, quizzes—and analytics tracking
- Team and enterprise tools: collaboration, version control, SCORM export, embedding, SSO, API access, and security compliance
Screenshots
Inputs / Outputs
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
Rapid text-to-video production
Creates polished videos in minutes without need for actors, cameras, or studios.
Avatars with lip-sync and multilingual support
AI avatars speak naturally and support 60–140+ languages and accents.
Scalable for enterprise
Enterprise features include unlimited minutes, SSO, SCORM export, API, and team collaboration.
Freemium entry
Offers a free tier enabling users to test the workflow before paying.
Personal avatars
Higher tiers include ability to create digital twins with voice cloning.
Large customer base
Adopted by over 70% of FTSE 100 and over 90% of Fortune 100 companies.
Limitations
Limited creative flexibility
Cannot upload or edit own footage; not a full-feature video editor.
Uncanny‑valley risk
AI-generated avatars may feel slightly artificial in some cases.
Credit/minute limits
Monthly video‑minute or credit caps apply and do not roll over; no top‑up option.
Watermark on free tier
Free videos include Synthesia branding.
Studio‑quality avatars cost extra
Premium 'Studio Express' avatars cost around $1,000/year on top of plan.
No real-time or live video
Platform is not suited for live streaming or real-time production.
Pricing & Plans
Model: Freemium
Free (Basic trial)
Test creation with stock avatars, up to around 10 minutes video or limited credits per month, includes watermark or Synthesia branding
Starter
About 10 minutes of video/month, hundreds of stock avatars, 1080 p exports, AI voices, remove watermark, basic editing tools
Creator
Around 30 minutes video/month, multiple custom avatar slots, collaboration, advanced templates, analytics, priority rendering, brand kit
Enterprise
Unlimited videos, SSO and security controls, API/SCORM support, dedicated service, organization‑wide collaboration and compliance tools
Free tier: ~3–10 minutes per month, watermark. Starter: $29/month (or ~$18/month billed annually) for ~10 min/month, 125+ avatars, 3 personal avatars, no watermark. Creator: $89/month (or ~$64/month annually) for ~30 min/month, 180+ avatars, 5 personal avatars, API, interactive features. Enterprise: custom pricing for unlimited minutes, 240+ avatars, SSO, SCORM, dedicated support.
Who it's for
Ideal for
Corporate training, L&D, marketing, internal communications teams needing scalable, multilingual talking‑head video content.
Not ideal for
Users needing full creative control over raw footage, custom animations, real‑time live video, or highly emotive human voiceover.
What users say
- Ease of use
- High realism
- Multilingual capability
- Enterprise readiness
- Cost effectiveness
- Avatar uncanny‑valley concerns
Prompts & Results
›Create a short onboarding video from this text for newcomers using a professional avatar.
A polished talking‑head video with a selectable professional avatar presenting the onboarding script, with natural lip‑sync and voice.
›Translate and dub this PowerPoint slide deck into Spanish via an AI avatar.
The deck is rendered into a video with the avatar speaking in Spanish, with synced lip movements and consistent styling.
›Generate a marketing explainer video branded with our company colors and logo.
A branded video including company logo, color theme, and an AI avatar delivering the marketing script in a polished, professional manner.
›Create an interactive training video with a quiz at the end.
A video where the avatar presents training content and, at the end, an embedded quiz lets viewers answer questions before proceeding.
FAQ
What input types does Synthesia accept?+
Synthesia accepts text directly or materials like PowerPoint and PDFs which it converts into videos.
How does pricing work and what are limits?+
Pricing tiers cap video minutes or credits per period that don’t roll over; exceeding limits requires upgrading plan; no pay‑as‑you‑go overages.
Can I create a custom avatar of myself?+
Yes—Starter includes 3 personal avatars, Creator 5, and Enterprise allows unlimited; premium Studio avatars are paid add‑ons.
Does it support multiple languages?+
Yes—it supports 60+ languages historically, expanded to 140+ by 2025.
Ratings & Reviews
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