Synthesia
by Synthesia
Getting-started guide
Type a script, pick a presenter, get a finished video — no camera, no crew, no being on screen yourself.
Current prices: Free, from $29/mo billed monthly · See all plans
Last reviewed 2026-09-07 · for Synthesia
You write what you want said, choose an avatar (a synthetic presenter — a person-shaped video generated from text, not filmed), and Synthesia renders it speaking your words, lips matched to the audio.
A text-to-video tool built on synthetic presenters: you bring the script, it brings the face, the voice and the visuals. Beginners pick it over filming for unglamorous reasons — no need to be presentable, no editing to learn, and you re-render rather than re-shoot when a policy changes.
It aims squarely at workplace video: onboarding, compliance training, internal explainers, product walkthroughs. Its other strength is localisation — one script, many languages.
Versus HeyGen, also listed here: heavy overlap, both good. Synthesia leans corporate — templates, brand controls, team workspaces, translation for rolling one video across a company. HeyGen leans creator and social.
There is a genuinely free plan, not a time-limited trial: the Basic tier is currently free, takes no card, and doesn't expire.
Free is small but real: a small monthly allowance of video minutes, a limited set of stock presenters, and a Synthesia watermark (a mark identifying output as AI-made) on what you export.
The mechanism to learn is a monthly allowance that resets and doesn't roll over. Length is what spends it, and anything unused at period end is gone. If you want the watermark gone or more video each month, you need a paid self-serve plan; prices depend on the billing period, and current plans are on the tool page.
First step: sign up free, open a template rather than a blank project, and paste 60 seconds of your own words over the sample script.
Want an avatar of a specific real person, including yourself? Consent here isn't a checkbox, it's a recorded step: Synthesia requires that person to submit their own footage plus a separate consent video recorded live, reading an on-screen passcode aloud, and checks both show the same person. You cannot upload someone else's video and make an avatar of them. The friction is deliberate.
Your scripts and uploads sit on Synthesia's servers so it can re-render them, under standard account terms rather than a negotiated contract. Keep unreleased financials, customer names and anything under a confidentiality agreement out of the script box.
Here is how expense claims work from this month. Submit within thirty days, and attach a photo of the receipt — a bank statement is not enough. Anything over two hundred pounds needs manager approval.
Why this one: Synthesia's editor is built around the script box rather than a timeline, so paste-and-generate is the whole workflow — and a template means framing, background and captions are handled.
Welcome to the team. Over the next two weeks you will meet your manager, set up your accounts, and complete three short training modules.
Why this one: Its 1-Click Translation currently spans 160+ languages and translates on-screen text as well as the spoken script, so an existing video becomes a second one in seconds, not a second shoot.
Three things change on Monday. The old login page stops working, so use the new one linked below. Passwords now expire every ninety days instead of thirty. And update the mobile app, or it signs you out.
Why this one: There is no fixing a weak script in the edit here — no performance to salvage, no second take, no cutaway. The text is the ceiling on the video.
Want the full picture first? See the Synthesia overview for pricing, the free tier and related tools.
