The best Synthesia alternatives for training and marketing videos

Synthesia turns a script into a video read by an AI avatar. Its avatars move with body language and gestures, custom avatars of your own team are created from a recording session, and text to speech covers many languages. Lip-synced dubbing translates existing videos, and one-click translation helps global teams ship the same training in every market.

Its focus is training: SCORM export for an LMS, interactive videos and branching scenarios. Those features sit on the Enterprise plan, alongside a custom price. Plans go from Free to Starter, Creator and Enterprise.

The reasons we see most often in reviews and support forums:

• Pricing: the features training teams need most, like SCORM export and translation at scale, are on the Enterprise plan with custom pricing.
• Minutes: plans limit minutes of video, so heavy content production gets expensive.
• Free tier limits: useful to test the editor, not to run a training program month after month.
• Avatar fatigue: for social media content, a talking avatar can feel corporate and lower watch time.
• Speed: writing a script, choosing avatars and editing scenes still takes time for every video.
• Use case: a content team may need dozens of short social videos, not a few long training modules.

Fliz is not an avatar tool, and it is not a replacement for Synthesia in compliance training. It is the best option when the video does not need a presenter: social media posts, blog-to-video, product videos, news recaps and explainers.

You paste a text, a URL, an article or a brief. The AI writes a script you can edit, generates one AI image per scene in one of 63 visual styles, adds a natural AI voice in one of 32 languages, syncs subtitles and adds music. You get a 1080p video in 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9, with your watermark and your music. No recording, no studio, no editor timeline.

Many teams use Fliz next to Synthesia: the avatar tool for training, Fliz for the volume of content on TikTok, Reels, YouTube and LinkedIn. The REST API is included in every plan, with a WordPress plugin and Zapier, Make and n8n support, so a new blog post can become a video automatically.

• Strengths: a whole video from one input, consistent style, subtitles included, API on every plan.
• Limits: no AI avatars, no voice cloning, no SCORM export, no free plan with credits.
• Pricing: monthly or yearly plans with credits; a simple video uses 95 credits.

HeyGen is Synthesia’s closest competitor. It offers stock avatars, a custom avatar cloned from a short video and talking avatars created from a single photo, plus cloned voices and lip-synced video translation. Marketing and sales teams use it for product launches and personalized messages, while Synthesia leans toward enterprise training. HeyGen has a free tier with limits and paid plans for more minutes and features.

Colossyan is the most direct option for L&D teams leaving Synthesia. It turns documents, slides and scripts into presenter-led training videos with AI avatars, and adds interactive training: quizzes, branching scenarios and SCORM export for an LMS. Custom avatars, custom voices and translation into many languages are available.

D-ID turns a single photo into a talking presenter and offers custom avatars from images or video. Its API and real-time streaming avatars are built for conversational agents in customer support and product demos. Credits are billed by video minutes, with a free trial of a few minutes per month.

Fliki turns a script, a URL or slides into a narrated video built from royalty-free stock footage, with a large multilingual voice library. Avatars and cloned voices come with higher tiers, and a free tier is available. It suits teams that want quick narrated videos with real-world footage.

InVideo AI turns a prompt into a draft with a script, scenes, voice-over and captions, which you refine by chat or in an editor. It mixes licensed stock footage with clips from third-party video models, and offers avatars and voice clones on paid tiers. Reviewers note that stock footage can be less relevant on niche topics.

Synthesia starts from a presenter. The avatar reads your script, and the video is built around a person on screen, which works well for training, onboarding and internal updates where trust and clarity matter.

Fliz starts from your content. The AI writes the script and creates the visuals scene by scene, so the video tells the story with images rather than a face. That works better for social media, where viewers scroll with the sound off and decide in two seconds.

If your team produces both, the answer is often both tools: an avatar platform for training content and Fliz for social media content. The cost model is different too: avatar tools count minutes of video, Fliz counts videos.

L&D and training teams: Colossyan for interactive learning, HeyGen for a large avatar library and video translation. Keep Synthesia if SCORM export, enterprise security and support are must-haves.

Marketing teams: Fliz for social media content at volume, HeyGen when a presenter is part of the brand. Fliki and InVideo AI if you prefer stock footage to AI images.

Sales and customer support: D-ID for real-time agents and talking photos, HeyGen for personalized sales videos.

Content creators and faceless channels: Fliz, because there is no avatar to manage, no recording and no editing.

Feature lists look alike; these are the ones that change your workflow and your bill:

• AI avatars: stock library size, custom avatars, and whether they cost extra.
• Languages: text to speech, dubbing, and translation quality in the languages you need.
• Editing: how much you can change scenes, timing and visuals inside the editor.
• Training features: SCORM export, quizzes, tracking, LMS integration.
• Brand: logo, colors, music and a consistent visual style across videos.
• API and integrations: can you create videos automatically from your CMS or tools?
• Support and security: SSO, data handling and enterprise support where you need them.

Synthesia pricing is organized in plans: Free, Starter, Creator and Enterprise. The paid plans add minutes of video per month, more AI avatars and more features, while the Enterprise plan has a custom price and holds the features training teams care about most, such as SCORM export and translation at scale.

That pricing model works well for a large company with a training budget. It is less suited to a small team that needs a lot of short content: minutes run out quickly, and the price per month grows with every new use case. Before you pick a Synthesia alternative, write down three numbers: minutes of video per month, number of editors on the team, and the features that are truly required. They tell you which paid plan you need on each platform.

HeyGen also prices by plan and by minutes, with a free tier. Colossyan prices by plan, with custom avatars as an option. D-ID bills credits by video minutes. Fliz charges per video in credits, with the API on every plan. Check each pricing page for the current price, as plans change often.

Synthesia replaces the camera: no recording session, no studio, no presenter to hire. Some teams still need screen recording for software training, where an avatar next to a screen capture works well; avatar platforms and screen recording tools are built for that.

For everything else, the editing step is where time goes. In an avatar editor you place the presenter, add slides, B-roll and captions scene by scene. In Fliz the AI handles the editing: it writes the script, creates the visuals for each scene, syncs subtitles to the voice and adds music, and you only review and edit the script. The platform you choose should match how much editing your team wants to do.

Avatar platforms price by minutes of video per month, with custom avatars, translation and training features on higher plans or on enterprise contracts. Before you compare plans, estimate how many minutes of finished video you need each month, and which features are required for your training content. A free tier is useful to test quality, not to run production.

Fliz pricing is per video: a simple video uses 95 credits and includes the script, the AI visuals, the voice, subtitles and music. Plans are monthly or yearly, with no commitment, and every plan includes the API.

HeyGen has a free tier, Fliki a free version, and D-ID a free trial with a few minutes per month. Synthesia also has a free tier. All of them limit minutes, quality or features, and usually add a watermark. Fliz does not give free credits: you can sign up and earn credits by inviting other users, but creating videos needs a paid plan.