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Synthesia is powerful but plan-locked — pick wrong and you re-record every avatar video when you upgrade. This is the setup specialists run.
Who this is forMarketing leaders, L&D teams, and founders adopting Synthesia for AI-avatar video. If you plan to publish more than 5 videos/month, the first-hour decisions shape what you can produce for the next year.
What you'll need
Step 1
Starter ($29/mo) caps at 10 min/mo with watermark. Creator ($89/mo) unlocks 30 min/mo, no watermark, more avatars. Enterprise unlocks custom avatars, SSO, brand controls.
Trying it out for personal use: Starter is fine, but the watermark makes output unusable for marketing.
Marketing or sales use at any volume: Creator is the floor. Watermark removal alone justifies the upgrade.
Training or enterprise rollout with multiple seats + custom avatars: Enterprise. Talk to sales.
Pick before you create the account. Downgrading retains data; upgrading mid-cycle is prorated.
Step 2
Workspace name = company name. Add a logo. Set the default language, region, and aspect ratio before inviting anyone.
Settings → Workspace → name to legal company name. Avoid placeholders.
Upload company logo (square PNG, 512x512 minimum). Shows in exported video metadata.
Set default language and region. Synthesia supports 140+ languages — pick the one your team produces in most.
Set default aspect ratio: 16:9 for YouTube/web, 9:16 for short-form, 1:1 for some social. Avoid switching aspect ratios mid-project.
Step 3
Synthesia has Owner, Admin, Creator, and Guest roles. Most teammates should be Creator, not Admin.
Owner: one person — usually the marketing or L&D lead. Owns billing.
Admin: can manage seats, brand kits, custom avatars. 1-2 people maximum.
Creator: can build, edit, export videos.
Guest: can comment but not edit. Useful for stakeholders.
Send invites by email. Each invite consumes a seat on accept.
Step 4
Brand kit sets default colors, fonts, logo, and intro/outro. Even a basic one beats per-video manual setup.
Settings → Brand kit → New.
Primary color: hex code from your brand guide.
Secondary color: usually accent or background.
Fonts: Synthesia ships 100+ fonts; match yours or pick the closest available.
Logo: upload PNG with transparent background.
Intro/outro templates: build a 3-5 second intro and outro you reuse on every video. Even a basic version saves hours.
Step 5
Integrations matter more than you think. Connect Slack, your LMS, your CMS, and Zapier on day one.
Slack: notify a channel when a render completes. Reduces friction in team workflow.
LMS integrations (SCORM export): if you use a Learning Management System (Docebo, Cornerstone, etc.), Synthesia can export SCORM-compliant packages directly.
CMS: Synthesia exports MP4 — connect to YouTube, Wistia, or Vimeo for distribution.
Zapier: trigger video creation from form submissions, CRM events, or other automations. Underused but powerful.
Step 6
Build one 60-90 second test video before declaring setup done. The first render always reveals what is missing.
Pick a real use case: product feature explainer, welcome video, sales outreach intro.
Use a stock avatar for the first test (custom avatar setup is its own tutorial).
Write the script in the editor. Pick the right voice. Adjust pacing.
Render. Watch end to end. Note: does it match brand? Is the avatar believable? Does the voice carry the message?
Iterate the brand kit + workspace defaults based on what felt off.
Common mistakes
Starting on Starter plan for marketing use
What goes wrong: Every video has a watermark. Stock avatar selection is limited. You produce 5 videos that cannot ship and waste $29 + 10 hours of work.
How to avoid: Creator ($89/mo) is the minimum for marketing. The economics are obvious past one video that needs to ship.
Skipping the brand kit
What goes wrong: Each video has different colors, fonts, logo placement. Looks like 5 different brands. Hours per video to manually retro-fit branding.
How to avoid: 30 minutes to build the brand kit on day one. Then every new video starts on-brand by default.
Mixing aspect ratios across the workspace
What goes wrong: Some videos 16:9, some 9:16, some 1:1, no documented standard. Team duplicates work converting between formats.
How to avoid: Pick one default aspect ratio. Document when to deviate (short-form-specific, etc.). Convert intentionally, not accidentally.
Too many Admins
What goes wrong: Five Admins overwrite each other's brand kit, delete custom avatars, change defaults. One accidental change costs hours.
How to avoid: Owner + 1-2 Admins. Everyone else Creator. Strict.
Never testing on multiple devices
What goes wrong: Video looks great on your laptop. Subtitles are illegible on mobile. Avatar appears washed out on a phone screen. 50% of audience experience is degraded.
How to avoid: Final pass on every video: desktop browser + mobile (iOS and Android). Subtitle size, contrast, framing all need mobile validation.
Recap
Done — what's next
How to create your first Synthesia video with an AI avatar
Read the next tutorial
Hand it off
Setup is easy. Producing on-brand AI-avatar video at volume is where a video specialist earns their fee. EverestX video specialists run $14-16/hr part-time, with most ongoing engagements landing $400-1,200/mo.
See video specialist rates
Start on Creator if you plan any marketing use. Starter watermarks every export and caps duration at 10 min/month. The $60 plan-difference is recovered the first week.
Yes — Creator plan supports up to 3 brand kits via Folders. Past 3, you want Enterprise with proper workspace separation. Many agencies use a single workspace with disciplined folder naming for 2-3 clients.
Synthesia leads on stock avatar quality and SCORM/L&D integrations. HeyGen leads on voice cloning and faster turnaround. D-ID is cheapest but lower fidelity. See the dedicated comparison tutorial.
First production-quality video: 4-8 hours including setup, scripting, and iteration. By video #5, you can produce in 60-90 minutes per video.
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