Find the best Synthesia alternative for your European team. Compare verified EUR and GBP pricing, video minute limits, and GDPR data residency rules.
The right Synthesia alternative depends on what your team ships. Pick HeyGen for avatar videos across marketing and sales, Colossyan for SCORM courses, ElevenLabs for voiceover, and Runway for cinematic clips. If EU hosting decides it, Synthesia stores data in Ireland, while HeyGen and ElevenLabs default to the US.
Best Synthesia Alternative Picks at a Glance
TL;DR. Here is who each option suits, and who should skip it.
- HeyGen suits marketing, sales and internal comms teams that want one avatar platform for every department. Skip it if SCORM courses are your main output or if you need EU hosting by default.
- Colossyan suits instructional designers who need branching scenarios, quizzes, SCORM and multi-avatar dialogue. Skip it if you make marketing clips or need fast renders.
- ElevenLabs suits teams that already have footage or screen recordings and need studio-grade voiceover and voice cloning. Skip it if you need a presenter on screen.
- Runway suits creative studios building product teasers, social ads and generative B-roll. Skip it for talking-head training.
- Synthesia is the baseline. It hosts data in Ireland, but Starter at US$29 a month buys 1,250 credits, enough for up to about 12 minutes of video on top of 10 free minutes. SCORM export sits on its Enterprise plan.
| Tool | Entry paid price (US$, billed annually) | Allowance as listed | SCORM export | Data location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesia | US$18 (Starter) | 1,250 credits a month, up to about 12 minutes of video | Enterprise plan | EU (Ireland) |
| HeyGen | US$24 (Creator) | 600 credits a month, videos up to 30 minutes | Added March 2026, per HeyGen | United States |
| Colossyan | US$19 (Starter) | Business plan: unlimited minutes, but the NEO2 model is capped at 10 minutes a month | Yes (SCORM and xAPI) | EU or US on Enterprise |
| ElevenLabs | US$5 (Starter) | 30,000 credits a month | Not listed | United States, EU on Enterprise |
| Runway | US$12 (Standard) | 625 credits a month | Not listed | Not listed |
Source: the Synthesia, HeyGen, ElevenLabs and Runway pricing and legal pages, checked October 2026. Colossyan figures and HeyGen's SCORM note come from the HeyGen and Vidmetoo roundups, checked October 2026. Prices are before VAT.
Which Synthesia Alternative Suits Your Team
It comes down to what lands on your desk each week. Match the tool to that output first, then check price and data rules.
Pick HeyGen for shared, multi-department use
Say your marketing lead wants a launch teaser on Monday and sales wants personalised intro clips on Tuesday. HeyGen is a general avatar platform, so both requests live in one account. It lists 175+ languages and its newer Avatar V model. It also lets you build an avatar of yourself without booking a studio.
Pick Colossyan for LMS-ready courses
If your output is compliance training that must upload to a learning management system, Colossyan is built for that job. You work slide by slide, add branching scenarios and in-video quizzes, and put several avatars in one conversation. The rest of the product assumes a course, not a campaign.
Pick ElevenLabs when the footage already exists
Maybe your product team records screen demos and only needs a good voice over them. ElevenLabs does that for a fraction of what avatar platforms cost. It makes audio, not presenters, so you will edit the video elsewhere.
Pick Runway for generative, non-corporate visuals
Runway fits ads, concept visuals and short cinematic scenes made from text prompts. It is the odd one out, because it does not try to replace a corporate presenter. If you want a spokesperson reading a policy update, look at the other three.
Not sure you need to leave? If you are a solo creator, our guide to Synthesia alternatives for freelancers weighs smaller budgets.
Four Top Synthesia Competitors Reviewed
Figures in this section come from each vendor's pricing page, checked October 2026. Colossyan's details come from the HeyGen and Vidmetoo roundups, checked the same month.
HeyGen: broad avatar video for commercial teams
HeyGen is a general avatar video platform rather than a training specialist.
- 700+ stock avatars on paid plans (500+ on Free) and 1,000+ AI voices.
- Video Agent builds a finished video from a single prompt.
- Interactive options include quizzes and links. HeyGen's own roundup says branching paths and SCORM export arrived in March 2026.
- Creator videos run up to 30 minutes at 1080p.
The downsides are real. The free plan allows 3 videos a month of up to 1 minute each, and HeyGen's roundup says free output carries a watermark. Real-time conversational avatars are sold separately as the LiveAvatar API for developers. SSO and team features start on Business, at US$149 a month plus US$20 per extra seat.
Creator costs US$24 a month billed annually (US$29 monthly) for 600 credits. Pro is US$49 monthly with 4K export. Synthesia Starter gives 1,250 credits, but credits are not interchangeable between vendors, so compare the minutes you actually need. The details sit on the HeyGen page, and the HeyGen vs Synthesia comparison goes deeper.
Colossyan: instructional design first
Colossyan is a course-first tool, and that focus is both its strength and its limit.
- A slide-based editor with branching scenarios and quiz embedding.
- SCORM and xAPI export.
- 120+ language localisation.
- Multi-avatar conversation mode, with up to four avatars in one scene according to Vidmetoo.
- SOC 2 Type II certification.
Speed is the catch. HeyGen's roundup cites independent testing that puts Colossyan renders at 10-plus minutes for short videos. The Business plan advertises unlimited minutes, yet its newest NEO2 model is capped at 10 minutes a month.
Starter is US$19 a month billed annually. Synthesia also offers two-or-more-avatar Dialogue scenes, interactive videos on Pro, and roleplay seats at US$29 per learner a month. The gap is packaging: Colossyan puts SCORM at the centre, while Synthesia holds SCORM export for Enterprise.
ElevenLabs: voice without avatars
ElevenLabs suits teams that want voiceover and cloned voices over footage they already own.
- Starter includes a commercial licence and instant voice cloning, with 30,000 credits a month.
- Creator adds professional voice cloning and 121,000 credits a month.
- Higher tiers scale to 600,000 credits (Pro) and 6M (Business).
The downside is scope. The plan details list voice credits and cloning, with no avatar video, so you need a separate editor to finish the job. Starter costs US$5 a month billed annually (US$6 monthly), and Creator is US$18.33 annually (US$22 monthly). It undercuts Synthesia's US$18 Starter on paper, but it solves a different problem. See the ElevenLabs page for the full tier list.
Runway: generative scenes, not presenters
Runway generates visual material, not a person reading a script.
- Text-to-video scene creation on the Gen-3 model family.
- Standard includes no watermarks, 4K upscaling and 20 GB storage.
- Max adds up to 3 custom voice clones and 500 GB storage.
Credits are finite: 625 a month on Standard, 2,250 on Pro. The plan list covers credits, upscaling, storage and voice clones, with no avatar library or courseware tools. Standard costs US$12 a month billed annually (US$15 monthly). Where Synthesia delivers a presenter, Runway delivers motion and atmosphere. More on the Runway page.
European Pricing in Euros Pounds and Dollars
Synthesia is the only tool here that lists separate euro, pound and dollar prices, and the figures are not simple conversions. Source: Synthesia's pricing page read from the US, FR and GB locales, checked October 2026, prices before VAT.
| Synthesia plan | US$ | € | £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter, billed monthly | US$29 | €19 | £19 |
| Starter, per month billed annually | US$18 | €12 | £11 |
| Pro, billed monthly | US$89 | €79 | £69 |
| Pro, per month billed annually | US$64 | €49 | £39 |
Note the gap on Pro: €79 monthly against US$89. If you buy in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain or Italy, read the price in your own locale before you budget.
The credit maths behind Starter
Synthesia charges 100 credits per minute of avatar video and 76 credits per minute of AI dubbing. Starter's 1,250 credits therefore stretch to about 12 minutes of video or 16 minutes of dubbing, on top of the free allowance of 10 minutes. Pro's 6,000 credits cover up to about 60 minutes of video or 78 of dubbing.
Syren, its video agent, is the budget trap. A one-minute Syren video typically uses 1,000 to 2,000 credits, which is close to or above Starter's whole month. Roleplay learner seats add US$29 per learner a month.
Entry prices for the four alternatives
- HeyGen Creator: US$24 a month billed annually, 600 credits.
- Colossyan Starter: US$19 a month billed annually.
- ElevenLabs Starter: US$5 a month billed annually.
- Runway Standard: US$12 a month billed annually.
These four vendors list dollars, so budget in dollars and keep the currency label on every line of your business case. For seat counts, Synthesia lists one editor on Starter and Pro, with 3 or 5 guests who can comment. Custom editor numbers belong to Enterprise.
European Data Privacy and GDPR Compliance
Only Synthesia states EU hosting as its default. Everyone else needs a contract route for transfers. This shared section draws on each vendor's security, privacy and data-residency pages, checked October 2026, and Colossyan's details come from the HeyGen roundup.
- Synthesia: primary customer data is stored in the EU, in Ireland. Its privacy policy states a data processing agreement and Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers. That helps public sector and regulated buyers, and the Synthesia page has the plan details.
- HeyGen: data sits in the United States. HeyGen cites EU-US Data Privacy Framework certification, Standard Contractual Clauses and SOC 2 Type II. Its DPA is offered to enterprise customers, so check which plan you would be on. HeyGen also states that customer data never trains its models.
- ElevenLabs: data sits in the United States, and EU residency is reserved for Enterprise contracts. It publishes a DPA that incorporates Standard Contractual Clauses.
- Colossyan: SOC 2 Type II certified, with EU or US data residency on Enterprise.
- Runway: its privacy policy does not mention a data processing agreement, and no hosting location is stated. For a team that must sign a DPA before purchase, that is a blocker.
In practice, a French public body that must keep footage inside the EU has one default answer here. A marketing team using a non-sensitive script can accept a US-hosted tool with Standard Contractual Clauses. Ask your data protection officer which case you are in before you pick on price.
Frequently Asked Questions About Synthesia Alternatives
Why do corporate teams switch from Synthesia?
Usually because of the credit meter. The free allowance is 10 minutes a month on every plan. Starter then adds up to about 12 minutes, and Dubbing and surveys draw on the same credits. A team making many short clips can burn through that quickly. Seats matter too: Starter and Pro include one editor each, with guests who can only comment.
Which tool supports SCORM export for an LMS?
Colossyan lists SCORM and xAPI export as part of its course workflow. Synthesia lists SCORM export, 1-click translation into 140+ languages and unlimited video minutes under Enterprise. HeyGen says it added SCORM export in March 2026. If you only need an LMS package and not a custom contract, that difference matters.
Can you create a custom avatar without a film crew?
Yes. HeyGen's roundup says it builds a digital twin from a 15-second webcam recording. Synthesia's Pro plan includes 5 personal avatars. Its higher-fidelity Studio Express-1 avatar is a paid add-on at US$1,000 a year, for annual plan users only, and can take up to 10 days to process.
Which tools have a free plan?
Four of the five do. Check the limits before you build a pilot on them.
- Synthesia Basic: 10 minutes of video a month, with a Synthesia watermark.
- HeyGen Free: 3 videos a month, up to 1 minute each.
- ElevenLabs Free: 10,000 credits a month, with no commercial licence.
- Runway Free: 125 one-time credits and 5 GB of asset storage.
Figures from the vendors' pricing pages, checked October 2026.