Head-to-head · profiles checked Oct 1, 2026
Choose Synthesia for avatar-led training and internal videos, and D-ID for talking photos, personal avatars and short clips with API access on every plan. Synthesia has a free Basic plan and Starter at $29/month billed monthly. D-ID has no free plan, only a 14-day trial with 3 minutes, but Lite costs $4.70/month billed annually. Both cap output by the minute: 10 minutes a month on the cheapest paid plan of each.
We based this comparison on our Synthesia profile checked 2026-09-29 and our D-ID Creative Reality Studio profile checked 2026-10-01, both built from official vendor pages; it uses no third-party benchmarks and no vendor paid for placement.
Synthesia is built around scripted presenter videos for training and internal communication, with a free Basic plan, 160+ languages, SCORM export and SAML/SSO on Enterprise. D-ID Creative Reality Studio turns a script, audio file or still photo into a talking-avatar video, includes API access on every plan and states that customer content is not used for model training. D-ID costs less to start ($4.70/month billed annually) but caps each video at 5 minutes and limits Lite to internal use. Pick Synthesia for course-style training content and D-ID for animating photos, personal avatars and short commercial clips.
Based on our Synthesia profile verified 2026-09-29 and our D-ID Creative Reality Studio profile verified 2026-10-01; no benchmark was run.
Our own captures of each vendor's public pages. Click a frame for the full-size image.
If you only want the answer, this is the table. Everything below is the evidence from the two documented profiles.
| You want to | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Make an employee onboarding video from a script | Either | Both list training and onboarding videos as a main use case |
| Export a course for our LMS | Synthesia | Synthesia lists SCORM export on Enterprise; D-ID outputs MP4 only |
| Turn a photo into a talking video | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | D-ID accepts still photos and animates personal avatars from them |
| Translate a video and keep my own voice | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | D-ID translation into 40+ languages keeps the speaker's cloned voice |
| Voice a script in many languages | Synthesia | Synthesia lists 160+ languages and voices on every plan |
| Record my screen for a tutorial | Synthesia | Synthesia includes an AI screen recorder and motion graphics |
| Send personalized sales videos | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | D-ID lists personalized sales messages as a use case |
| Generate avatar videos from my own app | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | D-ID includes API access on all plans; Synthesia's API starts on Creator |
| Try avatars without paying | Synthesia | Synthesia Basic is $0 with no credit card; D-ID offers a 14-day trial |
| Build videos from a PowerPoint deck | Either | Synthesia accepts PowerPoint files; D-ID has a PowerPoint plugin |
| Plan | Tool | Price | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesia Basic | Synthesia | $0 | 1,200 credits, 10 minutes of video per month, 1 editor; no downloads |
| Synthesia Starter | Synthesia | $29/mo ($264/yr billed annually) | 1,200 credits, 10 minutes of video per month, 1 editor and 3 guests |
| Synthesia Creator | Synthesia | $89/mo ($804/yr billed annually) | 3,600 credits, 30 minutes of video per month, 1 editor and 5 guests |
| Synthesia Enterprise | Synthesia | Custom | Unlimited video minutes |
| D-ID Trial | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | $0 (14 days) | 3 minutes total, full-screen D-ID watermark |
| D-ID Lite | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | $56/yr ($4.70/mo billed annually) | 10 minutes per month, D-ID watermark, internal use only |
| D-ID Pro | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | $191/yr ($16/mo billed annually) | 15 minutes per month, commercial use license |
| D-ID Advanced | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | $1,293/yr ($108/mo billed annually) | 100 minutes per month |
| D-ID Enterprise | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | Custom | Custom monthly minute allocation |
USD as published on each vendor's pricing page, checked Oct 1, 2026. Synthesia pricing in full · D-ID Creative Reality Studio pricing in full
| Synthesia | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Video minutes | 10 (Basic, Starter), 30 (Creator), unlimited (Enterprise) per month | 3 total (Trial), 10 (Lite), 15 (Pro), 100 (Advanced) per month |
| Length per video | Not stated | 5 minutes per video |
| Seats / team | 1 editor on Basic; 1 editor and 3 or 5 guests on Starter and Creator | Not stated; role-based access on Enterprise |
| Rollover | Not stated | Unused minutes do not roll over |
| Feature | Synthesia | D-ID Creative Reality Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Stock avatars | Yes (9 to 240+ by plan) | Yes (100+) |
| Avatar from a photo | Not stated | Yes |
| Personal avatars | Yes (5 on Creator) | Yes (photo and video) |
| Voice cloning | Listed; plan availability not verified | Yes |
| Dubbing / translation | Yes (70+ output languages) | Yes (40+ languages) |
| Interactive avatars / agents | Yes (interactive avatars) | Yes (agentic videos) |
| Screen recorder | Yes | Not stated |
| API | Yes, Creator and above | Yes, all plans |
| Mobile apps | No (desktop-only) | Not stated |
| Synthesia | D-ID Creative Reality Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Training on your data | Not stated | Customer content is not used for model training |
| Retention | Not stated | Free accounts inactive for 6 months are deleted after email notice; paid accounts keep data until cancellation |
| Business controls | SOC 2, GDPR, ISO 42001, SAML/SSO | Role-based permissions, admin controls, audit logging |
Taken from each vendor's published policy pages at the time of our check. Policies change; the source links are at the bottom.
AI video platform for business that creates presenter videos with AI avatars and voiceovers in 160+ languages.
Free stops at: 1,200 credits per month, 10 minutes of video per month
Verified synthesia.io (opens Synthesia website in a new tab)
Free · paid from $29/mo US · checked Sep 29
Web studio for making avatar-presented videos from text, audio or photos, with voice cloning and translation into 40+ languages.
Watch out: Minutes-based caps (e.g. 10 min/month on Lite); unused minutes do not roll over monthly.
Verified d-id.com (opens D-ID Creative Reality Studio website in a new tab)
Pricing US price unconfirmed
D-ID has the lower entry price: Lite is $56/year, or $4.70/month billed annually, for 10 minutes a month, but it is for internal use only. Synthesia Starter is $29/month billed monthly or $264/year billed annually, also with 10 minutes a month. Synthesia also has a $0 Basic plan.
Synthesia's Basic plan is $0 with no credit card, 10 minutes of video a month and 9 avatars, but downloads start on Starter. D-ID has no free plan; its 14-day trial includes 3 minutes of video with a full-screen watermark.
D-ID documents still photos (JPEG or PNG up to 10MB) as an input and animates personal avatars from uploaded photos or videos. Synthesia's documented inputs are text scripts, uploaded voiceovers, PowerPoint files and video files for dubbing; photo animation is not stated.
D-ID states that customer scripts, audio, photos and videos are not used to train its models. Synthesia's training and retention terms are not stated in our profile because its privacy page returned 404 during our check.
Only official vendor pages. No third-party benchmarks, forum threads or press were used. How we review.
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