Synthesia
Create professional AI avatar videos from a text script – no camera required
Featured in: Best AI tools for internal communicators in 2026 and Best AI tools for executive and leadership communications in 2026
Synthesia is a good fit for internal communications when the message is scripted and repeatable: company updates, policy explainers, training, onboarding, and multilingual versions of the same message without reshooting. It is a poor fit for anything emotionally significant, such as redundancy, wellbeing or crisis messages, where an avatar puts distance between leaders and the people they are addressing. Before buying, check avatar consent and AI disclosure: a custom avatar of a real colleague needs a consent agreement, and you should decide how audiences will be told the video is AI-generated. How it works: you type a script, choose a stock or custom avatar and a voice, and Synthesia generates a presenter-led video with no camera or studio. Synthesia says it supports more than 160 languages and is SOC 2 Type II certified and GDPR compliant. Custom avatars are built from video footage of a real person.
For comms teams: internal communications and company updates.
Best for
- • Internal communications and company updates
- • Training and onboarding video production
- • Multilingual content without reshooting
- • Marketing explainer and product videos
- • Teams without video production resources
Pricing
Basic free: 500 credits/month. Starter $29/month billed monthly (1,250 credits). Pro $89/month billed monthly (6,000 credits; higher credit tiers from $176). Yearly billing saves up to four months; September 2026 annual figures were $18 (Starter) and $64. Enterprise on application.
Verified 22 October 2026 on synthesia.io/pricing. The $89 plan is now called Pro (previously Creator), and the free Basic allowance has dropped from 1,200 to 500 credits a month. Annual prices are not shown in the page text, so the $18 and $64 annual figures date from September 2026. Personal avatars (a custom avatar of a real person) appear on paid plans, unlimited on Enterprise; voice cloning appears to be Enterprise only (read from an unlabelled comparison table, so confirm). Hands-on test scheduled for late October 2026. Synthesia raised a $200m Series E at a $4bn valuation in January 2026.
Pricing last verified Oct 2026 – check vendor site for current rates.
What works well
- + Wide range of stock avatars, with quality that passes casual viewing
- + Multilingual voiceover in more than 160 languages, by Synthesia's count
- + SOC 2 certified – safe for enterprise
- + Fast turnaround from script to finished video
Watch out for
- - Avatar videos can feel less personal than live footage
- - Custom avatar creation requires video footage submission
- - Advanced features locked behind higher tiers
When to choose this
Choose Synthesia when you need professional presenter-led video at scale without a production crew, particularly multilingual versions of the same scripted message. Look at HeyGen instead when brand consistency across high-volume video production is the main constraint: its Brand Systems feature extracts your logo, typography and colours from a URL and applies them across templates.
Who should look elsewhere
Synthesia is the wrong tool for emotionally significant communications. The AI avatar format, however realistic, creates distance that undermines empathy in sensitive contexts such as redundancy announcements, mental health messaging or crisis communications; for those, real human video is non-negotiable. It is also unsuited to content that needs high production value or cinematic quality. Synthesia's output is professional and functional, with a distinctive look that experienced audiences will identify. If turning existing written content into video is the main need, Fliz or Visla may be a better starting point.
Key features
- • 230+ built-in AI avatars across genders, ethnicities, and styles
- • 160+ languages with natural-sounding AI voiceovers
- • Custom avatar creation from real video footage
- • Pre-built video templates for common business use cases
- • Real-time collaboration and review workflows
- • Closed caption and subtitle generation
- • Integrations with PowerPoint and popular LMS platforms
Governance & data
Governance information is based on publicly available vendor documentation. Verify with your vendor before procurement decisions.
Integrations
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