Synthesia

Synthesia has established itself as the market leader in AI-powered video generation, enabling businesses to create professional-quality videos from plain text without cameras, microphones, actors, or studios. Founded in 2017 in London by a team of AI researchers and entrepreneurs, the platform has grown explosively to serve over 60,000 companies worldwide, including approximately 90% of the Fortune 100. Organizations like Zoom, SAP, Heineken, and Reuters rely on Synthesia to produce training videos, marketing content, and corporate communications at scale.

What makes Synthesia particularly compelling is its ability to democratize video production. Traditionally, creating professional video content required significant investment in equipment, talent, post-production, and time. Synthesia collapses this process to minutes: you type your script, select an AI avatar, choose a language, and the platform generates a polished video ready for distribution. This transformation of the video production workflow has made it possible for organizations of all sizes to communicate through video at a pace and cost that were previously unimaginable.

As a UK-based company with strong European roots, Synthesia operates under rigorous data protection standards. The platform is GDPR compliant and has implemented responsible AI practices, including consent-based avatar creation and content moderation policies designed to prevent misuse of the technology. For European businesses seeking a video generation platform that aligns with EU values around data protection and ethical AI, Synthesia represents a natural choice.

AI Avatars and Presenters

At the heart of Synthesia's offering is its library of over 230 stock AI avatars, representing diverse ethnicities, ages, genders, and professional styles. These avatars deliver remarkably natural performances, with realistic lip-sync, facial expressions, and body language that have improved dramatically through successive generations of the underlying AI models. The avatars can present in a variety of settings, from corporate offices to casual environments, allowing you to match the visual tone to your content's purpose.

For organizations that want a more personalized touch, Synthesia offers custom avatar creation. By recording a short video of a real person, the platform can generate a digital clone that faithfully reproduces the individual's appearance, mannerisms, and voice. This feature is particularly popular for executive communications, brand ambassadors, and instructor-led training where a familiar face builds trust and engagement. The custom avatar creation process includes explicit consent verification, ensuring the technology is used ethically.

Multilingual Video Production

One of Synthesia's most powerful capabilities is its support for over 140 languages and accents. The text-to-speech engine produces native-sounding voiceovers with accurate pronunciation, intonation, and pacing for each supported language. This makes it possible to create a single video script and generate localized versions for global audiences without hiring voice actors or translators for each language. The AI Dubbing feature, available for over 30 languages, goes further by providing lip-sync that matches the dubbed audio, creating a seamless viewing experience.

For enterprise customers, Synthesia offers one-click translation to over 80 languages, dramatically simplifying the process of localizing training content, product documentation, and marketing materials for international teams. This capability alone can save organizations tens of thousands of euros in translation and voice-over costs per project, making multilingual video communication accessible to businesses that could never have afforded it through traditional production methods.

Video Editor and Templates

Synthesia's browser-based video editor is designed for simplicity without sacrificing capability. The interface resembles a slide-based presentation tool, making it immediately familiar to anyone who has used PowerPoint or Google Slides. Each slide becomes a scene in your video, and you can add text overlays, images, shapes, screen recordings, background music, and transitions between scenes. The editor supports brand kits that maintain consistency across all your videos with predefined logos, colors, fonts, and visual styles.

The template library offers professionally designed starting points for common use cases including employee onboarding, product tutorials, sales enablement, compliance training, and marketing announcements. Templates are fully customizable, and organizations can create and share their own templates across teams. The screen recording integration allows you to combine AI presenter footage with software demonstrations, which is particularly valuable for technology training and product walkthroughs.

AI Playground and Advanced Features

In 2025 and 2026, Synthesia significantly expanded its capabilities with the introduction of AI Playground, available across all plan tiers. This feature provides access to advanced AI video generation models including Veo 3.1 and Sora 2, enabling the creation of dynamic video assets beyond talking-head presentations. Users can generate B-roll footage, animated scenes, and creative video elements directly within the platform, reducing dependence on stock footage libraries and external video production tools.

The platform has also introduced Video Agents for enterprise customers, enabling interactive, two-way video communication. This feature allows viewers to ask questions and receive personalized video responses, transforming passive video content into dynamic conversational experiences. Video Agents have applications in customer support, interactive training, and personalized product demonstrations.

Enterprise Capabilities and Collaboration

Synthesia's enterprise offering includes features designed for large-scale video production across organizations. Team workspaces enable collaborative video creation with role-based access controls, shared asset libraries, and approval workflows. The platform integrates with learning management systems (LMS), content management platforms, and communication tools, making it easy to distribute videos through existing organizational channels.

The API allows developers to programmatically generate videos, enabling automated video production for use cases like personalized customer communications, dynamic reporting, and data-driven content creation. This programmatic capability opens possibilities for video at scale that would be impossible with manual production workflows.

Content Moderation and Ethical AI

Synthesia has implemented comprehensive content moderation policies to prevent misuse of its AI video generation technology. All videos undergo automated and manual review processes to detect prohibited content such as deepfakes, political manipulation, or misleading information. While some users have reported that this moderation can occasionally flag legitimate business content, requiring a manual review process that takes 12 to 24 hours, the safeguards demonstrate Synthesia's commitment to responsible AI deployment.

The platform requires explicit consent from any person whose likeness is used to create a custom avatar, and all consent records are maintained as part of Synthesia's accountability framework. These ethical practices align with the EU AI Act's requirements for high-risk AI systems and position Synthesia well for the evolving European regulatory landscape.

Pricing and Value

Synthesia's pricing has evolved to accommodate different user needs. The Starter plan begins at $18 per month when billed yearly, providing basic video creation capabilities with a limited number of video minutes. The Creator plan at $64 per month billed yearly unlocks additional features including more video minutes, custom fonts, and priority rendering. Enterprise plans offer unlimited video creation, custom avatars, advanced integrations, and dedicated account management. While the per-minute cost of AI-generated video is higher than simple text content, it represents a fraction of the cost of traditional video production.

Limitations and Considerations

Despite its impressive capabilities, Synthesia has some limitations to consider. The monthly video minute allowances on non-enterprise plans can feel restrictive, particularly when creating training content that typically runs 3 to 5 minutes per video. The content moderation process, while important, can introduce delays in production workflows. Additionally, while the AI avatars are remarkably realistic, they may not fully replace human presenters for content that requires genuine emotional connection or complex physical demonstrations.

Who Should Use Synthesia

Synthesia is an excellent choice for L&D teams creating training content, marketing departments producing video at scale, HR teams building onboarding materials, and any organization that needs to communicate through video across multiple languages. It is particularly well-suited for European enterprises that value GDPR compliance and ethical AI practices. Companies currently spending significant budgets on traditional video production will find that Synthesia can deliver comparable quality at a fraction of the time and cost.