A practical Synthesia guide covering avatar choices, script-based editing, localization, updated plans and credits, export limits, and Heineken's customer experience.
Synthesia is built around a practical business task: turn an approved script into a presenter-led video, revise it when the information changes, and adapt it for different audiences. It suits training and explanation more naturally than a tool whose main job is generating cinematic action.
This guide explains avatars, editing, localization, pricing, and a production workflow that keeps the message useful. Sources checked: October 9, 2026. It includes a named customer's published experience; Belliste has not conducted an original hands-on test.
Synthesia is an AI video communications platform. You can start with a script, prompt, file, presentation, template, or empty canvas, then build scenes combining presenters, voices, text, and media.
The creation documentation currently permits up to 150 scenes, five minutes per scene, and four hours overall, whichever limit is reached first. These are technical project limits, not the video allowance included in a subscription.
For most instructional work, a focused two-minute explanation is a better first deliverable than a long presentation converted without editing.
The Synthesia editor lets you work on scene content and the script that controls the presenter and voice. You can revise a sentence, rearrange scenes, adjust visual assets, and generate an updated version.
That makes it useful for software onboarding, process changes, and internal communications. A corrected policy does not necessarily require a new filming session.
Distinguish three jobs:
| Job | Practical workflow |
|---|---|
| Presenter video | Approved script, avatar, voice, and scene layout |
| Updating content | Edit the project and generate a new version |
| Localizing existing footage | Use the separate translation or dubbing workflow |
Generating an avatar scene is different from precisely removing an object from filmed footage. Choose the workflow for the job rather than treating every AI video feature as interchangeable.
Synthesia's avatar guide distinguishes ready-made stock presenters, custom avatars based on people, and Avatar Builder characters.
Check consent, permitted uses, and plan eligibility. The guide warns that real-actor stock avatars have promotional-use restrictions; do not assume every avatar can endorse a product.
API compatibility also varies. The current guide limits video API compatibility to Express-1-based options, including Express-1 stock, Legacy stock, and Custom Studio avatars. An avatar working in the editor may not work in an automated pipeline.
Synthesia's stock-voice help page describes more than 140 languages and accents, while the public language page advertises 160+. These labels include accents and change over time; they do not guarantee that every voice, translation, and dubbing route has identical coverage.
Preview the exact locale and voice. For technical training, have a fluent reviewer check names, acronyms, numbers, and terminology before publishing a localized version.
In Synthesia's Heineken case study, Frank van der Grijspaarde, Global TPM Manager of Customer Service and Logistics, describes using video to teach continuous-improvement concepts. He found generic, mainly English PowerPoints inadequate and highlighted localization and script-based updates.
His advice was: “If you're considering trying Synthesia, don't get ready, get started.”
This is a vendor-published customer testimonial, not an independent benchmark. Our takeaway is narrower: test one recurring training update and see whether your team can produce, review, and localize it more easily. A believable avatar alone does not demonstrate improved learning.
Free $0/month · Paid from $29/month, using the public monthly USD prices checked. Region, tax, annual billing, and add-ons can affect the checkout total.
Synthesia's October plan update renamed Creator to Pro. Every self-serve plan includes ten minutes of video creation or dubbing and three survey responses each month, plus credits.
| Plan | Monthly USD price | Total monthly credits |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | 500 |
| Starter | $29 | 1,750 |
| Pro | $89 | 6,500 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Contract-dependent |
The pricing page displays paid extra credits separately from the included 500. Starter's 1,250 extra credits therefore mean 1,750 total; Pro's 6,000 extra mean 6,500 total.
The credit guide estimates ordinary video creation at about 100 credits per finished minute, depending on generated avatar footage. Dubbing, assets, surveys, and API use can draw from the same balance. Regenerating an edited video can consume additional credits.
For illustration, 1,750 credits represent roughly 17.5 minutes at that approximate rate, beyond the included ten minutes, if no credits go elsewhere. This is planning arithmetic, not a guaranteed export allowance.
Approve the script before final generation. Repeated pronunciation fixes, localization, and generated assets can make a project's cost larger than its final runtime suggests.
Write one outcome: recognize a phishing message, complete an onboarding step, or follow a new procedure. Build the video around that outcome.
Use short spoken sentences. Verify dates and instructions with the subject-matter owner. Convert dense slide text into explanations rather than reading every bullet aloud.
Confirm avatar rights, visual suitability, and the intended accent. Test a sentence containing your hardest acronym or product name.
Use screenshots, recordings, diagrams, or examples where they explain something better than a talking head. Keep on-screen text shorter than the narration.
Listen without watching first: does the explanation still make sense? Then watch for visual timing, cramped layouts, and captions that obscure important details.
Check the translated script and on-screen labels together. A correct voiceover with outdated English screenshots remains a confusing lesson.
Send the final version through content review, then publish via the format your audience needs. Keep an owner and review date so obsolete instructions can be replaced.
The download guide lists Full HD MP4 export at 1920×1080 for standard landscape video, along with audio and caption downloads. Other canvas shapes use different dimensions.
Basic does not include video downloads. Paid access does not solve every export restriction: videos with buttons or branching cannot be downloaded as interactive MP4 files. Use an appropriate hosted link, embed, or eligible SCORM workflow; create a separate linear version when you need a normal video file.
Synthesia is worth evaluating for onboarding, product walkthroughs, multilingual support, and repeatable internal training. It is less naturally suited to unscripted interviews or footage where genuine human performance is the point.
Human review remains necessary for pronunciation, translation, factual accuracy, and whether the lesson teaches the intended action. Use avatars and voices with appropriate permission, and label synthetic presentation where your context requires it.
Synthesia's useful advantage is the ability to maintain presenter-led content after the first version. Judge it on your whole process: script approval, production, localization, review, updates, and distribution.
Start with one short lesson that changes regularly. If your team can keep it accurate and useful with less production effort, the platform has earned its place in the workflow.
Synthesia creates presenter-led AI videos for training, onboarding, explanations, and business communications using scripts, avatars, voices, and media.
Basic is $0 per month. Under the October 2026 plan update, it includes ten monthly minutes of video creation or dubbing and 500 credits, but video downloads are not included.
The public monthly USD prices checked October 9, 2026 are $29 for Starter and $89 for Pro. Enterprise pricing is custom; region, tax, billing cycle, and add-ons can affect the total.
Synthesia renamed Creator to Pro on October 1, 2026. The update kept its price and features while changing included allowances.
No. Included video minutes and credits are separate. Credits are shared across usage-based features; typical video creation uses about 100 credits per finished minute, with actual use depending on content.
You can revise the project script, scenes, and assets and generate a new version. Regeneration may consume additional credits.
Videos containing interactive buttons or branching cannot retain that functionality in MP4. Use a supported hosted or learning-platform route, or create a linear version.
No. The current avatar guide limits compatibility to Express-1-based options, including Express-1 stock, Legacy stock, and Custom Studio avatars.
