Roleplay team budget: Synthesia learner seats or a Sume clip library

For 20 learners over 12 months, Synthesia Roleplay Training at its listed $25 per learner a month on annual billing is $6,000, or $6,960 at $29 monthly billing. A library of 24 scenario clips of 30 seconds each on Sume costs $132.48 on Standard, $176.40 on Plus or $396.00 on Max, once. The two are not substitutes: only the Synthesia product listens and answers.

The useful question is what share of your roleplay need is spoken prompts versus scored, interactive practice.

Twelve-month numbers

Synthesia figures are from its pricing page and Sessions launch post, read 2026-10-08; Sume figures are catalog rates without a product image.

What the clips can do

Each clip is one avatar delivering one scripted line: the customer's objection, a manager's feedback or a prompt for the learner to answer aloud. A multi-scene job can leave a silent beat for the learner to respond. The learner then reviews the clip with a coach, or records their own answer in a tool you already have.

Updating a scenario means re-rendering one clip, about $2.76 to $8.25 for 15 seconds on any tier, not changing a subscription.

What the seats do

The Sessions launch post describes avatars that respond and, for surveys, follow up. That is the part the clips cannot replace: the response changes with the learner. If the scoring and the repetition are the point, the $6,000 buys the actual product. A common split is to render the shared briefing and scenario setup as clips and reserve live seats for the learners who need the repetition; see the 20-person cost post for the monthly math.