Synthesia Review: Pros & Cons of the AI Video Generator [2025]

The demand for personalized and instant video content keeps rising in today’s ever-evolving digital landscape. Aiding this shift is a host of AI-powered video generator tools that claim to cater to various use cases. One such contender is Synthesia. 

This niche platform allows users to create avatar-centric videos from text. It looks like a nifty tool, but does it live up to the hype, especially when it comes to offering users personalized video generation? Can it be easily integrated into existing platforms?

In this comprehensive Synthesia review, we dissect its features, evaluate the pros and cons, and exploret some strong competitors to help you make an informed decision. 

Join us as we delve into the world of AI video generation and help you determine if Synthesia is the right fit for your needs.

What is Synthesia Used For?

Synthesia offers an API that allows developers to integrate personalized video creation into SaaS applications. It can generate videos from text, serving as virtual spokespeople for sales training, onboarding, marketing, and customer support.

Here’s how it works:

1. Add your Synthesia API key to your platform.
2. Users insert their text into the interface by cutting and pasting, typing directly into the text box, uploading PowerPoint presentations, or using the Synthesia generator to create the script for the video.  
3. Users choose a layout and an avatar. Further customizations allow for adding logos, brand assets, images, videos, and more. 
4. Users hit the generate button to create the video and can then share the video through email, via an embed link, or a download.

Synthesia Review

Let’s take a closer look at Synthesia’s features and answer some frequently asked questions users have about the platform to help them make an informed decision.

Synthesia Features

• AI Avatars: Offers over 150 ethnically diverse AI avatars or custom avatars on more expensive plans.
• Text-to-Speech: Transform text into voice-overs.
• Voice Cloning: Replicates users’ voices and pairs them with an avatar.
• AI Script Assistant: Their Chat GPT-inspired tool helps produce scripts for videos. 
• Language Variability: Support in over 120 languages.
• Screen Recorder: Built-in screen recording.
• Multimedia Libraries: Houses video templates, images, icons, soundtracks. 
• ‍PowerPoint Import: Add voice-overs to PowerPoint presentations.

Synthesia Pros

Synthesia offers a modern approach to video production integration, with benefits including:

• No film production: Synthesia enables your users to create videos from text alone, without the need to get on camera. 
• Multimedia options: There are over 65 video templates to use as a base for content, including access to royalty-free images, footage, music, icons, shapes, etc.
• Large menu of avatars: Synthesia provides a wide range of ethnically diverse stock AI avatars and languages for global content needs.
• Automatic embed updates: When users update a video via the platform, it automatically updates on embedded landing pages. 

Synthesia Cons

Despite simplifyingavatar video creation, Synthesia has some serious limitations, including:

• Unrealistic Avatars: The avatars lack different facial expressions and can’t show realistic human emotion, so the videos tend to come off as robotic and uncanny. This can greatly impact user experience, reducing the effectiveness of your platform. 
• Lack of media blending: Avatar facial movements slow down to sync with variables and phrases, making their speech clunky and unnatural. Unfortunately, this can make the experience feel disingenuous, devaluing the user experience even more.  
• Limited scalability: While producing Synthesia videos could be more efficient than filming videos, users still have to manually produce each video. This lack of scalability means that the individual number of uses is very limited .
• ‍No personalization: While one-off video generation can be helpful in some circumstances, it doesn’t offer the same benefits as one-to-one videos that are customized to each user. Personalized videos have higher engagement, open rates, and viewing times than generic videos…and can boost conversions by 500%.

Synthesia Cost

Synthesia offers two pricing plans: 

• Free
• Starter: $18/mo
• Creator: $64/mo
• ‍Business: Pricing is not publicly available

Synthesia FAQs

Now let’s tackle a few common queries developers may have about Synthesia:

Is Synthesia a good AI?

For developers looking to enable users to convert PowerPoint decks into videos or produce videos featuring avatars, then Synthesia may be useful as a video marketing software. 

However, there are some glaring weaknesses with this platform. The avatars themselves are quite unnatural since they don’t have facial expressions and their speech is robotic. There’s also room for improvement in the syncing of the avatar’s speech and lip movements because they don’t always align. 

Developers should note that these limitations may reduce user engagement, making it harder to deliver personalized, immersive experiences.

Is the Synthesia app safe?

While generally safe, some user reviews report issues with bugs, refund processing, and limited customer support. Developers relying on smooth workflows might face frustrations if these issues arise during integration.

Is Synthesia free or paid?

Synthesia offers a free plan with limited capabilites.

For developers looking to test a more powerful real-time Conversational Video Interface (API), consider Tavus. You can sign up and try lifelike AI humans for free.

Best Synthesia Alternatives

While Synthesia works for creating one-off videos featuring avatars, you may be looking for an alternative video marketing software that enables your users to create videos of real humans, with better scalability and measurable ROI.

     1. Tavus

Tavus offers developers the Conversational Video Interface (CVI)—a real-time API that brings humanlike, face-to-face AI humans into any application. Powered by Tavus human simulation models, CVI lets your users have natural, emotionally intelligent conversations that see, hear, and respond in real time. Tavus also supports video generation for scripted, asynchronous content when you need it.

With Phoenix‑3 full‑face rendering, Raven‑0 perception, and Sparrow‑0 turn‑taking, Tavus delivers HD, photorealistic lip sync, natural expression, and low‑latency responses in 30+ languages.

Here’s how it works: 

1. Create a persona in the Tavus Portal or via API to define behavior, tone, and knowledge.
2. Spin up a conversation using the API, then embed or join via the returned conversation_url from your app.
3. Enhance with knowledge and memory by attaching documents/URLs (Knowledge Base), enabling Memories, and setting Objectives & Guardrails to guide outcomes. 
4. Integrate and scale with function calling, webhooks, and white‑labeled APIs to support thousands of concurrent sessions.

Key Features: 

• Real-time, face-to-face AI humans powered by Phoenix‑3 (full‑face rendering), Raven‑0 (perception), and Sparrow‑0 (turn‑taking)
• 30+ languages, bring your own LLM, function calling, and webhooks to take action on user intent
• Knowledge Base (RAG), Memories, and Objectives & Guardrails to keep conversations accurate, personal, and on‑task
• 1080p video quality, white‑labeled APIs, and easy embedding in your UI
• Optional video generation for scripted, asynchronous content using default TTS or your own audio

How does Synthesia compare against Tavus? Let’s take a look.

Tavus vs Synthesia

While both platforms enable AI video creation, Tavus and Synthesia serve different purposes. Synthesia creates one-off avatar videos, whereas Tavus delivers real-time, humanlike conversation and also supports video generation when needed. We’ll dive into some of the differences here:

• Humans vs Avatars: Tavus brings lifelike AI humans into your product for face-to-face conversation. Synthesia relies on pre-rendered avatars that can feel robotic and lack emotional resonance.
• Personalization opportunities: Synthesia isn’t focused on individual, dynamic personalization. With Tavus, you can personalize in real time—using Knowledge Base, Memories, and Objectives & Guardrails—plus embed CTAs, customize experiences, and brand the UI.
• AI Quality: Tavus combines Phoenix‑3 (full-face expression), Raven‑0 (perception), and Sparrow‑0 (turn-taking) for natural presence and accurate lip sync. Many avatar tools struggle with realistic expression and timing.
• ‍Scalability: Tavus scales real-time conversations and automated campaigns through APIs and webhooks. Synthesia requires manual setup for each video, limiting throughput for large programs.

Best for:

Tavus is the ideal choice for developers and platforms integrating scalable, face-to-face AI humans across workflows—campaigns, marketing, onboarding, training, recruitment, and beyond. 

With a 3x jump in response rates, 85% increase in purchasing, and a 500% increase in conversions, Tavus helps apps engage users and drive results.

Let Tavus help your users connect, engage, and convert.

Get Started with Tavus‍

     2. Rephrase.ai

Rephrase.ai is a text-to-video platform that creates personalized videos through a digital avatar. Users pick their digital avatars, type in their desired message, and then the AI generates the videos. 

To personalize, users change the variables within the script and then generate each video. However, don’t expect a polished experience. Similar to Synthesia, the AI-generated voices can be robotic (like Siri or Alexa), not quite grasping nuances in human speech. Also, without real media blending, the lip-syncing movements look unnatural. 

Key Features: 

• Template creator and library 
• File sharing 
• Real-time streaming 
• Editing tools for video and audio
• Subtitles and captions to videos

Best for: SMBs who want to create personalized videos with avatars.

     3. DeepBrain AI

DeepBrain AI is a technology company specializing in AI-driven video generation. A nearly identical offering to Synthesia, their cloud-based platform enables users to generate AI avatar videos from text. With the library of video and text templates, DeepBrain AI aims to enable its users to create videos quickly, however, there are no personalization functions and users create each video manually.

‍Key Features:

• Generate videos from existing text, a URL, PowerPoints, Chat-GPT (embedded within the Deepbrain interface), or their script templates
• Use video templates to streamline production, or add your own elements for a custom experience
• Choose from a wide variety of over 100 avatars and more than 80 languages
• Use text-to-speech to create audio voice-overs or videos 

‍Best for: Businesses that want to manually create avatar videos from text.

     4. Lumen5

Lumen5 is video creation software that features a drag-and-drop interface. Users add their text (blog posts, url’s, or their own text), and choose from a library of customizable templates, images, music, and video footage. The experience is similar to creating a slide deck that their AI then stitches into one seamless video. 

Lumen5 also offers a “Talking Head” feature where users upload a pre-recorded video of themselves and further enhance it with visual overlays, call-outs, and automatically generated captions.

Key Features:

• Turn written content, like blog posts, whitepapers, websites, articles, etc. into videos
• Automatic generation of videos from blog posts
• Editing tools and a library of multimedia inputs allow for further customization
• Enhance talking head videos with text overlays and call-outs

‍Best for: The social media and marketing teams of enterprise brands looking to repurpose their static text content into videos.

Is Synthesia.io Worth It?

In the end, Synthesia can be a simple option if you want users to make individual videos with avatars and leave it at that. 

However, when it comes to integrating truly authentic, personalized, and scalable content withing applications, it can’t perform. There's a crucial element of humanlike touch and nuanced personalization that only Tavus can offer. 

Plus, Synthesia’s only true feature is creating one-off avatar-starring videos. They’re not built to help teams ambitiously scale. 

Whereas that’s exactly what Tavus was designed for: delivering real-time, face-to-face AI humans and scalable video experiences throughout the entire customer journey. A single CVI integration becomes the foundation for countless real-time conversations and, when needed, automated video campaigns triggered by user actions—whether onboarding, lead follow-up, or customer engagement.

At Tavus, we genuinely believe in fostering a deep personal connection with audiences, blending the power of AI with the warmth of human interaction. Our commitment to personalized, face-to-face experiences can provide a unique, richer experience that truly engages all users.

While Synthesia may be a viable tool within its niche, we'd like to invite you to experience Tavus. Discover the difference and the value we can bring to your platform — step into the future of offering truly scalable personalized video content with Tavus.

Get started today.