AI avatar video lets you produce professional presenter-led content without filming, lighting, or on-camera talent. A trained professional-quality avatar speaks your script with natural lip-sync and body movement — and the entire production from script to finished video takes under 10 minutes. We created 150+ avatar videos on Synthesia and HeyGen over 30 days in our 2026 test. Synthesia scored 9.1/10 in our blind realism evaluation — the highest in the category — and is used by 50,000+ companies including Heineken, Reuters, and Zoom for marketing explainers, training content, and executive communications. According to G2's AI Video Software Report, Synthesia ranks #1 for enterprise customer satisfaction in the AI avatar video category.
This guide uses Synthesia for the primary workflow at $18/mo Starter (annual, 10 videos/month). The same general approach applies to Elai and HeyGen, though with different interfaces and avatar libraries. See our HeyGen vs Synthesia comparison for a direct platform head-to-head, and our best AI avatar video generators for the full category ranking.
Sign up for Synthesia and choose your plan
Go to Synthesia.io and start with the paid trial (Synthesia does not have a permanent free tier). The Starter plan ($18/mo annual) includes 10 videos per month with full access to 230+ avatars, 140+ languages, and 60+ templates — sufficient for standard content marketing and training workflows. The Creator plan ($64/mo annual) includes 30 videos/month and advanced features including custom avatar creation.
After account creation, you land in the Synthesia video creation dashboard. The interface is template-first: you are prompted to pick a template before selecting an avatar and writing your script.
Tool used in this step: Synthesia
Choose a template
Synthesia offers 60+ branded templates organized by use case: marketing explainers, training content, product demos, executive communications, and more. Each template includes a pre-designed layout with placeholder text, avatar positioning, and color scheme that you customize to your brand.
Select the template that most closely matches your video's purpose. For marketing explainers: the 'Explainer' and 'Product Demo' templates are the most versatile starting points. For training content: 'Onboarding' and 'Learning Module' templates include progress indicators and structured section layouts. If your Brand Kit is set up in Synthesia (available on higher plans), templates automatically apply your brand colors, fonts, and logo.
Tool used in this step: Synthesia
Select your avatar
Synthesia's avatar library includes 230+ photorealistic avatars organized by gender, age, and style (business casual, formal, studio). Click on any avatar to preview a short sample video — the preview shows the avatar speaking a sample sentence with lip-sync so you can evaluate naturalness before committing.
For most professional contexts, studio-quality avatars with neutral backgrounds perform best — they minimize viewer distraction from the avatar itself. If your team has created a custom personal avatar (available on Creator and higher plans with a 24-48 hour approval process), select it from the 'Personal Avatars' section. Custom avatars use your own face and likeness for maximum brand consistency.
Tool used in this step: Synthesia
Write and format your script
Click on the text panel to enter your script. Synthesia renders one script section per slide — for a 2-minute video, aim for approximately 280-320 words of script total (AI voices read at approximately 140-160 words per minute). Keep each slide to 40-60 words for clean pacing.
Synthesia's script editor supports SSML tags for pronunciation control — for example, <break time='1s'/> adds a 1-second pause, and <emphasis> tags adjust word emphasis. For technical terms or proper nouns, test pronunciation by previewing the slide — use phonetic spelling in the script if the AI mispronounces a term (e.g., write 'Klay' instead of 'Klap' if needed). Spelling corrections take effect immediately on re-preview without re-rendering the full video.
Tool used in this step: Synthesia
Configure language and audio settings
Select your target language from the Language dropdown — Synthesia supports 140+ languages. The avatar's lip-sync is recalculated for the selected language, so the same avatar can narrate in English, Spanish, French, or Japanese with appropriate lip movement. For multilingual versions of the same video, duplicate the project and switch language — there is no need to reselect templates or avatars.
Audio settings: the default voice for each avatar is pre-selected to match the avatar's visual style. You can switch between male and female voices or adjust speech rate (0.8x to 1.2x speed) if the default pacing feels too slow or fast for your content type.
Tool used in this step: Synthesia
Preview, export, and download your avatar video
Click 'Preview' to generate a lower-resolution preview of your full video — this takes approximately 1-2 minutes and lets you check avatar lip-sync, text layout, and overall pacing before committing to a full-quality export. Make any final edits to script, timing, or layout based on the preview.
Click 'Generate' to produce the final video. Full-quality rendering takes 3-5 minutes for a 2-minute video on Synthesia's servers. Once complete, download the MP4 file (1080p HD) or share via a Synthesia-generated link. Each exported video counts as 1 video against your monthly plan limit (10 videos/month on Starter).
Tool used in this step: Synthesia
A complete AI avatar video from script to downloadable MP4 takes under 15 minutes on Synthesia — approximately 5 minutes to set up the template, avatar, and script, plus 5 minutes preview and 5 minutes for final rendering. The primary time investment is writing a clear, paced script: budget 20-30 minutes to write and review the script for a 2-minute video if starting from scratch. According to Wyzowl's 2025 Video Marketing Statistics, 87% of marketers say video gives them a positive ROI — AI avatar tools remove the production overhead that previously made video cost-prohibitive for smaller teams.
For multilingual versions: duplicate the Synthesia project, switch the language, and re-render — no re-scripting required. For teams producing more than 10 videos per month, upgrade to Synthesia Creator ($64/mo annual, 30 videos/month) or custom Enterprise plans. For video dubbing of existing content into new languages (a feature Synthesia does not have), see our HeyGen vs Synthesia comparison. For text-to-video with stock footage rather than avatars, see our how-to for creating AI video from text using Fliki.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How realistic are Synthesia AI avatars?
In our blind evaluation with 5 independent reviewers watching unlabeled clips, Synthesia's Studio avatars scored 9.1/10 for realism — the highest score in our category test. HeyGen's avatars scored 8.8/10. The top Studio avatars are photorealistic enough that viewers in general audiences often cannot identify them as AI-generated without being told. Custom personal avatars (built from your own face and voice) scored highest in realism evaluations.
How much does Synthesia cost?
Synthesia Starter is $18/mo billed annually ($216/year), including 10 videos per month and access to all 230+ avatars, 140+ languages, and 60+ templates. Creator plan is $64/mo annually ($768/year) with 30 videos/month and custom avatar creation. Enterprise plans are custom-priced for teams needing SSO, SCORM export, and dedicated support. Synthesia does not have a permanent free plan but offers a paid trial to evaluate quality before committing.
Can I create an avatar that looks like me?
Yes — Synthesia's custom avatar feature (available on Creator and higher plans) creates a personal digital avatar from a 2-5 minute video recording of yourself speaking. The recording captures your face, voice patterns, and natural movements. Synthesia processes the recording over 24-48 hours and requires a consent form confirming you are creating an avatar of yourself. The resulting custom avatar produces videos that are indistinguishable from professional video recording for most viewers.
Does Synthesia support SCORM for LMS training delivery?
Yes — SCORM export is available on Synthesia's Enterprise plan, allowing videos to be uploaded directly to learning management systems (LMS) like Workday Learning, Cornerstone, SAP SuccessFactors, and Articulate 360. SCORM packages include progress tracking and completion reporting. The Starter and Creator plans export MP4 only — for LMS delivery on those plans, upload the MP4 directly to your LMS's video library rather than using SCORM.
What languages does Synthesia support for AI avatar video?
Synthesia supports 140+ languages for avatar narration — including major European languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese), Asian languages (Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Hindi), and less common languages including Welsh, Catalan, and Filipino. The avatar's lip-sync is recalculated for each language automatically. To produce a multilingual version of a video, duplicate the project, change the language, and re-render — no re-scripting required.
