Synthesia AI Video Assistant and Syren: How Each Tool Works

Synthesia's AI creation tools come in five pieces, and each does a different job. Assistant, launched in July 2026 on Starter and above, turns a prompt, a URL or a document into an editable outline and then a video, and drafting with it uses no credits. Syren, launched in October 2026 and labeled beta, is an agent on every plan that builds a whole video from a brief at typically 1,000-2,000 credits per finished minute, according to the pricing page ^[1]. AI Playground adds generated clips and images, and motion graphics, in beta, add free animated scenes. An MCP connection, in public beta since November 2026, brings Synthesia into ChatGPT and Claude. Pick Assistant for exact scripts. Pick Syren for speed.

Five tools and one credit pool

Credits are the single currency in Synthesia; motion graphics and Assistant drafts are free. The tools spend at very different rates. On self-serve plans, avatar video built in the editor costs about 100 credits per finished minute (more if the avatar is on screen throughout), while Syren spends credits as it builds and on every change round. On Enterprise, video generation uses no credits, but Syren still does. Starter adds 1,250 credits a month billed monthly (15,000 a year, upfront, billed yearly), and Pro adds 6,000 a month at its entry level (72,000 a year upfront), on top of a free allowance of 10 minutes of video or dubbing, 3 survey responses and 500 credits a month. Nothing rolls over; our Synthesia pricing guide covers top-ups and upgrades.

Assistant: a draft you can still edit line by line

Assistant is a chat-based starting point available on Starter, Pro and Enterprise ^[2]; Basic accounts get it only when they buy Roleplay learner seats ^[3]. You give it a prompt, one or more URLs, or files up to 50 MB each in ppt, pptx, pdf, doc, docx or txt format. It returns an outline you can change before anything is generated, then either generates the video or opens the scene editor. You also choose a duration (Auto, Short, Medium or Long, with Auto tested for one-to-five-minute videos) and a delivery style, Dynamic or Presentation.

One distinction trips up compliance teams. Import script keeps your text word for word, so approved wording survives intact. Import a file does something else: it writes a new script from the document. If legal has signed off on the text, paste it. The script follows the language of your prompt, so a Spanish prompt yields a Spanish script. Assistant itself uses no credits, which means you can rework outlines freely; generating the video then draws on the usual editor rate. Applying a brand kit inside Assistant is Enterprise only. Our text-to-video guide covers PowerPoint and script imports in detail.

The legacy AI Video Assistant, available since January 2024, is still reachable, and Synthesia expects Assistant to replace it. Starter, the lowest Studio plan that includes Assistant, is $19 a month billed monthly, or $14 a month billed yearly ($168 a year). On Starter, by our arithmetic, plan credits cover up to about 12 minutes of avatar video a month on top of the 10 included minutes. Syren spends far faster.

Syren: an agent that builds the whole video

You describe the video to Syren and attach material such as decks, PDFs, images, video, audio or YouTube links. Syren then assembles motion graphics, avatars, voiceover, music and b-roll, and you refine the result by chatting with it. The script panel cannot be typed in. Since October 2026, moodboards show three creative directions before generation, so you can reject a look before it costs credits. Output comes in 16:9 or 9:16, with other ratios on request, and exports at up to 1080p. Treat it as a director, not a word processor.

Syren runs on every plan, but the limits differ sharply ^[4]. Paid plans allow videos up to 60 minutes, and Syren asks you to confirm anything above 15. Basic caps videos at 3 minutes and watermarks them, and the help center says exporting and sharing those free Syren videos stay enabled only for the first 2 weeks. Personal avatars appear in Syren from Starter, and only photo-based ones. Syren videos also live apart from Studio videos: you cannot open them in the scene editor, and Interactive Avatars are not available inside Syren.

Credits are the real constraint. The pricing page puts a one-minute Syren video at typically 1,000-2,000 credits, with actual usage varying, and each change round spends more. On self-serve plans Syren can push the balance below zero and recover it from the next top-up. As listed on the pricing page on 10 November 2026, limited-time Syren-only promo credits per user, valid one month, are 1,000 on Basic, 1,500 on Starter, 1,500 on Pro and 2,000 on Enterprise. The help center says the launch credits expired on 9 November 2026, so check your balance. After that, Syren uses normal credits.

AI Playground and motion graphics: pieces inside a scene

AI Playground and the editor's Create with AI generate b-roll clips and images, and both are listed on Starter and above. In November 2026 the video models are Google Veo 3.1, Veo 3.1 Fast and Gemini Omni, which is in beta and stays off until an admin turns it on in workspace settings, plus Flux 3 in Create with AI. Image models are FLUX.2, Nano Banana Pro and OpenAI GPT-Image-2. AI Playground clips are a fixed 8 seconds. Create with AI offers 4, 6 or 8 seconds on most models (up to 10 on Gemini Omni), and Flux 3 makes clips up to 20 seconds with audio.

Each asset uses credits, and the cost depends on the model. The editor shows the cost before you generate, and credits are charged only for assets that generate successfully. FLUX.2 images cost 3 credits each and are free on Enterprise. Generated assets are stored per user rather than shared to the workspace, which matters when a colleague wants to reuse your clip. Third-party model providers moderate prompts themselves, and Synthesia support cannot override their blocks. Admins can also switch generative assets off for the whole workspace.

Motion graphics, labeled beta, are free on every plan. Synthesia's own rendering model builds them from presets or from a prompt, and the brand-kit style is Enterprise only. Text inside a graphic is editable only for graphics made after June 2026, so older projects may need a graphic rebuilt rather than retyped. For a training deck that feels static, this is the one AI layer that adds movement without touching the credit balance at all.

Synthesia inside ChatGPT and Claude

Since November 2026, in public beta, Synthesia connects to ChatGPT and Claude through its MCP server. In ChatGPT you install it from the plugin marketplace; in Claude you add it as a custom connector, because it is not yet in Claude's directory. Sign-in uses OAuth instead of an API key and covers one workspace. Connecting works on every plan, including Basic, but creating a Studio video draft needs a paid plan . There is no extra charge during the beta, Enterprise included, and hourly limits apply per user.

The chat produces one of two outputs. A Studio draft is finished in the editor and uses no credits until you generate it. A Syren video is made and edited inside the chat, and it uses credits. The two never cross over: Studio drafts cannot be edited back in the chat, and Syren videos cannot be opened in the editor. Synthesia's own docs warn that MCP drafts may be rougher than what Assistant produces inside the platform. Brand kit selection through MCP is Enterprise only. Microsoft Copilot is not supported yet.

Exact script or fast creative: choosing the tool

Synthesia's own advice is direct. Syren suits fast creative videos, while Assistant and the editor suit exact scripts, precise scene control and material that is updated regularly, such as training and compliance. The mechanics above explain why. Assistant output is editable scene by scene and can be refreshed by changing one line, so a policy video revised every quarter belongs there. A launch teaser or an internal announcement, where the look matters more than exact wording, is Syren's job. Playground clips then fill gaps in either.

Budget follows the same split. On self-serve plans, editor video runs about 100 credits per finished minute (more if the avatar is on screen throughout), and only new footage counts, so fixing three seconds costs three seconds. Syren charges on every revision round, on every plan. A team on Starter that wants regular Syren output will exhaust its plan credits fast. When credits run out, video creation pauses until renewal unless you buy credits or upgrade, and upgrading mid-cycle forfeits unused credits. Plan Syren work around your billing period's reset: monthly on monthly billing, while yearly plans get the year's credits upfront.

The same rules cover every tool. Every video passes content moderation; stock avatars are limited to neutral, factual content, and only paid plans can appeal a rejection. Stock avatars may not appear in paid advertising without Synthesia's written consent. Synthesia creates a personal avatar or voice clone only with a live consent recording from that same person, who must be of legal age; it refuses celebrities, public figures, deceased people and anyone who has not consented, and you cannot create a photo avatar of someone else even with their permission. Our Synthesia review weighs these limits against the rest of the product.

The bottom line

Synthesia's AI tools reward knowing which one you are using. Assistant, from Starter, is the dependable route for scripted training and compliance video: drafting costs no credits, imported scripts stay word for word, and you end up with an editable project. Syren, in beta on every plan, builds a finished video quickly but spends credits on every round and keeps its output outside the editor. AI Playground clips and free motion graphics fill individual scenes, and the MCP beta lets you start from ChatGPT or Claude. Draft with Assistant. Use Syren deliberately.