AdToolBenchSynthesia alternatives for marketers and ad creators (2026)
Based on vendor documentation and pricing as of . We have not run hands-on tests of these tools; nothing here is a paid placement.
Quick answer
if you came to Synthesia to make ads rather than training videos, the cheapest switch is Creatify. Its Standard plan is $15/month, or $10/month billed yearly, its free plan gives 10 credits a month, and it's built around UGC-style ad actors and ad templates. If you want a presenter avatar like Synthesia's but with more creative tools, HeyGen Creator is $29/month ($24/month yearly) and its free plan allows 3 watermarked videos a month. For many talking-actor ads, MakeUGC lets you try any plan for $1. For training content, Colossyan's free Starter plan includes 20 video minutes a month. Before you switch at all, check Synthesia's own free Basic plan and US Starter price: $0 for 500 credits a month, then $19/month or $14/month yearly. All prices were read on the vendors' pricing pages on 12 Nov 2026.
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Creatify's free plan includes 10 credits a month (up to 2 video ads or 20 image ads, per its pricing FAQ), 300 AI actors and 40 ad templates, with a watermark. Standard is $15/month or $10/month billed yearly for 55 credits. Read on creatify.ai/pricing, 12 Nov 2026.
Paid link: we may earn a commission if you buy.
Disclosure: AdToolBench earns a commission if you buy Creatify, MakeUGC, Arcads or Synthesia through our links. It doesn't change your price and isn't a ranking factor: the order below follows use case and entry price. We have no affiliate link for HeyGen, Colossyan or D-ID. We haven't tested these tools hands-on; features and limits come from each vendor's own pages.
Why people look for a Synthesia alternative
Synthesia is built for business communication: training, onboarding, explainers and translation into 140+ languages, with SCORM export, surveys and roleplay sessions. That's a strong fit for L&D teams and a weaker one for performance marketers. Its stock avatars are presenter-style rather than selfie-style UGC creators, and it has no ad templates, ad-account connections or competitor ad research. Pricing is also less predictable than it looks. Synthesia prices by country (US visitors see Starter at $19/month; the card we see from Israel and many other countries is $29), credits reset every period with no rollover, and the free Basic plan can't download videos and carries a watermark. Finally, a typical finished minute uses about 100 credits, according to Synthesia's FAQ, so the annual Starter allowance (15,000 credits a year) works out to roughly 150 minutes a year on top of the 10 free minutes a month.
| Tool | Entry paid plan (vendor page) | Free option | Best fit vs Synthesia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesia (baseline, US prices) | Starter $19/mo or $14/mo yearly ($168/yr, ~150 min/yr); Pro $89 or $59/mo yearly ($708/yr, ~720 min/yr) | Basic $0: 500 credits/mo (10 min), watermark, no downloads | Training, explainers, 140+ languages |
| HeyGen | Creator $29/mo or $24/mo yearly, 600 credits; Pro $49/mo, 1,000 credits; Business $149/mo + $20/seat | Free: 3 videos/mo up to 1 min, watermarked, no card | Personal avatars, Avatar IV/V, translation, generative video models |
| Creatify | Standard $15/mo or $10/mo yearly, 55 credits; Pro $55 or $38 (280); Ultra $95 or $66 (730) | Free: 10 credits/mo, 300 AI actors, watermark | UGC-style video ads from a product URL, ad templates, Ad Agent |
| MakeUGC | Starter $29/mo yearly or $59 monthly, 500 credits; Growth $39/$79 (1,000) | Any plan for $1, then renews at plan price | High volume of talking-actor ad videos; API/MCP on every plan |
| Arcads | Prices shown only in the app; Starter 8,000 credits/mo; yearly 20% off | 72-hour trial, 1,000 credits, card required | AI actors reading direct-response ad scripts |
| Colossyan | Professional $59/mo on yearly billing, 30 min/mo (NEO) + 10 min (NEO2); +$30/mo per extra editor | Starter free: 20 min/mo with NEO, no card; watermark | Training and courses with SCORM export |
| D-ID | Lite $4.7/mo ($56/yr, personal-use license); Pro $16/mo ($191/yr, commercial use, 15 min/mo) | 14-day $0 trial: 3 minutes, full-screen watermark | Cheapest talking-photo and avatar videos; API on every plan |
Vendor pricing pages read 12 Nov 2026 (Asia/Jerusalem) as a signed-out visitor in US dollars. Synthesia shown with its US rate card. Arcads: official help center, since it publishes no public price list. Colossyan and D-ID cards are the yearly view; monthly-billing prices weren't captured.
| Tool | Entry plan | Price | Billing | Free plan / trial | Notes | Last verified | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesia | Starter | From $19/mo · verified | monthly, US price ($14/mo billed yearly) | Free plan | Credit-based, geo-priced. US visitors: Basic $0 (500 credits/mo, watermark, no downloads); Starter $19/mo monthly or $14/mo billed yearly ($168/yr, 15,000 credits/yr); Pro $89/mo monthly or $59/mo billed yearly ($708/yr, 72,000 credits/yr). Standard rate card shown in many other countries (e.g. Israel): Starter $29 / $18 yearly, Pro $89 / $64 yearly. Enterprise custom. Re-checked 2026-11-03. | 2026-11-12 | Try Synthesia ↗Paid link |
| HeyGen | Creator | From $29/mo · verified | monthly | Free plan | Creator $29/mo monthly or $24/mo billed annually (600 credits, 1080p, custom avatar, credits roll over 1 month); Pro from $49/mo (1,000 credits, tiers to 100,000 credits at $4,300, 4K); Business $149/mo + $20/seat. Free: 3 videos/mo up to 1 min, watermarked, no card. Re-checked 2026-11-12. | 2026-11-12 | Visit ↗ |
| Creatify | Standard | From $15/mo · verified | monthly | Free plan | Standard $15/mo monthly or $10/mo annual (55 credits). Pro $55 monthly / $38 annual (280 credits; was $44/mo annual on 2026-10-20). Ultra (formerly Max, same price) $95 / $66 (730 credits). Business from $195 / $136 (1,500-6,100 credits). Free plan 10 credits/mo (up to 2 video ads or 20 image ads) with watermark. Unused credits roll over one extra month. Pricing page (2026-11-12) says every plan includes Ad Agent, AdFlow and MCP; Standard 1 ad account, Pro 3. API Starter $99/mo (500 API credits), API Pro $299/mo (2,000). Re-checked 2026-11-12 (Business and API figures from 2026-10-27). | 2026-11-12 | Try Creatify ↗Paid link |
| MakeUGC | Starter | From $29/mo · verified | billed yearly | Free trial | Try any plan for $1 (auto-converts). Starter $59 monthly / $41 quarterly / $29 annual (500 credits); Growth $79/$55/$39 (1,000); Pro $149/$104/$79 (2,000-5,000). No free plan. API/MCP included; talking-actor video = 100 credits (API docs). Credits refresh monthly, no rollover. Re-checked 2026-10-28. | 2026-11-12 | Try MakeUGC ↗Paid link |
| Arcads | Starter | Not published (in-app only) | monthly or yearly (yearly 20% off) | Free trial | Arcads does not publish prices: arcads.ai/pricing returns 404 and the official help center (re-read 2026-11-01) says current prices are shown on the pricing page in the app. Official: Starter 8,000 credits/mo, Creator 16,000, Pro 48,000, Scale 96,000, Business 192,000, Enterprise custom; billed monthly or yearly, yearly 20% off; 72-hour 1,000-credit trial (card required) converts to Starter monthly. No price is listed here because none is published. | 2026-11-12 | Try Arcads ↗Paid link |
| Colossyan | Professional | From $59/mo · verified | yearly view (-34%) | Free plan | Starter is Free (20 video min/mo with NEO, 0.5 min NEO2, 15 custom avatars, 3 voices, no card; $27 shown struck); Professional $59/mo on yearly billing (30 min/mo NEO + 10 min NEO2, watermark removal, 5 SCORM exports/mo, +$30/mo per extra editor, up to 3); minutes don't roll over; 14-day no-card free trial per FAQ; monthly-billing price not captured. Re-checked 2026-11-12. | 2026-11-12 | Visit ↗ |
| D-ID | Lite | From $4.70/mo · verified | annual-equivalent ($56/yr) | Free trial | $0 14-day trial (3 min, full-screen watermark, personal use); Lite $4.7/mo = $56 billed annually (10 min/mo, D-ID watermark, personal-use license); Pro $16/mo = $191/yr (15 min/mo, commercial use); Advanced $108/mo = $1,293/yr (100 min/mo). Annual view; monthly price not captured. Re-checked 2026-11-12. | 2026-11-12 | Visit ↗ |
Prices from each vendor's pricing page or docs; ‘unverified’ = third-party or ambiguous source.
Best for video ads on a budget
$10–15/month entry, a free plan with 300 AI actors, and ad templates plus an Ad Agent on every plan.
Try Creatify ↗Paid link
Best for talking-actor volume
$1 trial, then 500 credits a month on Starter; a talking-actor video is 100 credits per its API docs.
Try MakeUGC ↗Paid link
Best for script-first UGC ads
Built only around AI actors reading ad scripts; credits roll over from Pro up.
Try Arcads ↗Paid link
Stay if you make training videos
Free Basic tier, $14/month yearly Starter on US prices, and the deepest language support here.
Try Synthesia ↗Paid link
What a minute of avatar video costs
Vendors meter usage differently (credits, minutes or videos), so we converted each plan's published allowance into an annual price per minute where the vendor states minutes. This is our arithmetic from the pricing pages, not a test, and it ignores free allowances and promotions.
| Plan (yearly billing) | Price per year | Published allowance | Approx. cost per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-ID Pro | $191 | 15 min/mo (180 min/yr) | $1.06 |
| Synthesia Pro (US) | $708 | ~720 min/yr | $0.98 |
| Synthesia Starter (US) | $168 | ~150 min/yr | $1.12 |
| Colossyan Professional | $708 | 30 min/mo NEO (360 min/yr) | $1.97 |
| Creatify Standard | $120 | 55 credits/mo = 11 Aurora 15-second avatar videos (~33 min/yr) | $3.64 |
| HeyGen Creator | $288 | 600 credits/mo; per-minute cost varies by model and isn't stated on the pricing page | Not published |
| D-ID Lite | $56 | 10 min/mo (120 min/yr) | $0.47, but personal-use license only, so not for ads |
Calculated 12 Nov 2026 from vendor pricing pages. Synthesia: ~100 credits per finished minute (its FAQ). Creatify: its plan table's 'what a month of credits makes' row for its Aurora avatar model at 720p.
Two things stand out. First, per-minute cost alone favours presenter tools, but ad creative is usually 15–60 seconds, so the number of finished ads matters more than minutes. Second, read the license: D-ID's Trial and Lite plans are personal use only, and Synthesia's free Basic plan can't download videos, so neither works for paid ads.
UGC ad tools: cost per finished ad
One ~30-second talking-actor video ad on each entry paid plan, worked out from the vendors’ published prices and credit rules. Checked .
| Tool & plan | Vendor’s credit rule | Ads per month | Cost per ad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creatify Standard | About 5 credits per video ad (the pricing FAQ says 10 credits make up to 2 video ads; length isn't stated) (source, 2026-11-01) | 11 (55 credits) | $0.91 ($10/mo annual billing); $1.36 ($15/mo monthly billing) |
| MakeUGC Starter | 100 credits per talking-actor video (API docs: 1 API unit = 100 displayed credits; script up to 1,500 characters) (source, 2026-11-01) | 5 (500 credits) | $5.80 ($29/mo billed yearly); $11.80 ($59/mo month to month) |
| Arcads Starter | 800 credits per Arcads 1.0 talking-actor video (up to 2 minutes) (source, 2026-11-01)Arcads shows dollar prices only inside the app, so we can only give cost in credits. | 10 (8,000 credits) | 800 credits per ad; dollar price not published |
Assumptions
- One finished ad = one roughly 30-second talking-actor (AI avatar reading your script) video, generated once at the vendor's standard setting. No retries, upscales, custom actors, dubbing or B-roll, all of which cost extra.
- Cost per ad = the plan's published monthly price ÷ its monthly credits × the credits one ad uses under the vendor's own rule. Taxes and promotions are excluded unless stated.
- Credits work differently at each vendor and rules change; vendors may test other rates on some accounts. Check the vendor's own credit table, or the cost shown in the app before you generate.
- We haven't generated these ads ourselves. This is arithmetic on published numbers, not a hands-on test.
Work out your own monthly cost with the free AI ad cost calculator → Enter your ad volume, length and seats.
MakeUGC lets you try any plan for $1; after the trial it renews at that plan's price. Starter is $29/month billed yearly, $41 quarterly or $59 monthly, for 500 credits. Read on makeugc.ai/pricing, 12 Nov 2026.
Paid link: we may earn a commission if you buy.
The cheapest option for your case
| Your case | Cheapest fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Testing AI video ads before paying | Creatify free plan, $0 | 10 credits a month, 300 AI actors, watermarked; Synthesia Basic can't download |
| A handful of UGC ads a month | Creatify Standard, $10/mo yearly or $15 monthly | 55 credits; Creatify lists 11 Aurora 15-second avatar videos a month |
| About 10 talking-actor ads a month | MakeUGC Growth, $39/mo yearly ($79 monthly) | 1,000 credits at 100 credits per talking-actor video |
| Script-led actor ads | Arcads (price shown in app) | 72-hour 1,000-credit trial; rollover from Pro |
| Your own avatar for founder-style ads | HeyGen Creator, $24/mo yearly ($29 monthly) | Custom video avatar with your voice; credits roll over one month |
| Training videos and courses | Colossyan Starter, $0 | 20 min a month with NEO avatars and unlimited course creation |
| Staying with Synthesia | Starter $14/mo yearly (US) | ~150 min a year plus 10 free minutes a month; check the card your country sees |
From vendor pricing pages and help docs, 12 Nov 2026. Our own arithmetic where noted; no hands-on testing.
HeyGen
From $29/mo · verifiedThe closest general-purpose rival. Creator includes Avatar III and IV, limited Avatar V, 1080p export and a custom video avatar with your own voice; Pro adds 4K, Seedance 2.5, Veo 3.1 and videos up to 30 minutes. Monthly subscribers' unused credits roll over one month; annual credits accumulate until renewal. HeyGen's own affiliate program bars SEO and blog promotion, so we have no link to it.
Creatify
From $15/mo · verifiedAd-first: URL to video, Ad Clone, 200+ templates on Standard (500+ from Pro) and 300 AI actors (1,500 from Pro). Its pricing page now says every plan includes Ad Agent, AdFlow and MCP; Standard connects 1 ad account, Pro 3. Unused credits roll over for one extra month.
Paid link: we may earn a commission if you buy.
MakeUGC
From $29/mo · verifiedTalking-actor and product-in-hand videos with batch mode and API/MCP access on every plan. Starter exports at up to 720p and runs one video at a time; Growth adds HD to 4K and parallel videos.
Paid link: we may earn a commission if you buy.
Arcads
Not published (in-app only)AI actors delivering ad scripts. Arcads lists credits per plan (Starter 8,000, Creator 16,000, Pro 48,000) but shows prices only in the app, so we can't quote a dollar figure.
Paid link: we may earn a commission if you buy.
Colossyan
From $59/mo · verifiedThe most direct Synthesia substitute for L&D: free Starter with 15 custom avatars and 3 cloned voices, Professional with watermark removal, 5 SCORM exports a month and up to 3 editors. Unused minutes don't roll over; annual plans get the year's minutes upfront. Its FAQ says a no-card free trial runs 14 days.
D-ID
From $4.70/mo · verifiedLow-cost talking photos and video avatars with API access on every plan. Commercial use starts at Pro ($16/month yearly); Lite and the trial are personal use. Paid plans advertise unlimited videos in the first month under a fair-use policy.
FAQ
What is the best free alternative to Synthesia?
For ads you can download and run, Creatify's free plan (10 credits a month, up to 2 video ads, watermarked) is the most useful. HeyGen's free plan allows 3 watermarked videos a month up to 1 minute, and Colossyan's free Starter includes 20 minutes a month. Synthesia Basic is free too but can't download videos (12 Nov 2026).
Is HeyGen cheaper than Synthesia?
On US prices, no: Synthesia Starter is $19/month ($14 yearly) and HeyGen Creator is $29/month ($24 yearly). On the $29 Synthesia card shown in many other countries, the two are level monthly.
Which Synthesia alternative is best for UGC ads?
Creatify, MakeUGC and Arcads are built for UGC-style ads with AI actors; Synthesia, Colossyan and D-ID are presenter and training tools. Creatify has the lowest entry price of the three ad tools.
Can I use D-ID's cheapest plan for ads?
No. D-ID's pricing page lists a personal-use license for Trial and Lite; commercial use starts with Pro at $16/month billed yearly.
Why does Synthesia show me a different price?
Synthesia prices by country. US visitors see Starter at $19/month ($14 yearly); the standard card shown in many other countries is $29 ($18 yearly).
Sources (checked 2026-11-12)
- Arcads — pricing source
- Colossyan — pricing source
- Creatify — pricing source
- D-ID — pricing source
- HeyGen — pricing source
- MakeUGC — pricing source
- Synthesia — pricing source
- Synthesia pricing, US card (read 2026-11-12)
- HeyGen pricing (read 2026-11-12)
- Creatify pricing (read 2026-11-12)
- MakeUGC pricing (read 2026-11-12)
- Arcads help center: how pricing works (read 2026-11-12)
- Colossyan pricing (read 2026-11-12)
- D-ID Studio pricing (read 2026-11-12)
Related guides
- Synthesia pricing: Basic, Starter, Pro and Enterprise, credits, and why prices differ by country
- HeyGen vs Synthesia
- Creatify vs Synthesia
- Best AI avatar video generators for ads
- Creatify pricing: plans, credits, the free plan and API costs
- MakeUGC pricing: plans, credits, the $1 trial and what a video costs
- Arcads alternatives
- Free AI UGC and avatar video generators