Synthesia Starter $29 vs Pro $89: cost per minute, and Sume tiers
Synthesia Starter lists about 12 minutes for $29 and Pro about 60 for $89, roughly $2.42 and $1.48 a minute. Sume avatar jobs choose standard, plus or max.
On Synthesia's monthly prices, a minute of video costs about $2.42 on Starter and about $1.48 on Pro if you use the whole allowance. Starter is $29 a month for 1,250 credits, which the page says is about 12 additional minutes; Pro is $89 for 6,000 credits, about 60 minutes. Sume does not sell minutes of avatar video that way: each job takes a quality tier (standard, plus or max), and a job is estimated at 4 to 60 seconds.
The numbers below divide the listed price by the listed minutes, so they carry the "about" the page uses.
| Plan | Monthly price | Credits | Minutes listed | Price / minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | 500 | 10 minutes | Free |
| Starter | $29 | 1,250 | about 12 | 29 / 12 = $2.42 |
| Pro | $89 | 6,000 | about 60 | 89 / 60 = $1.48 |
| Credits per minute | n/a | 1,250 / 12 and 6,000 / 60 | about 104 (Starter), 100 (Pro) | n/a |
What the plan buys besides minutes
Plans differ on avatars and seats too. The page lists 9 AI avatars on Basic, 125 or more on Starter and 180 or more on Pro, with one editor on each and 3 or 5 guests on Starter and Pro. All three are listed at Full HD, 1920 by 1080.
On Sume you create an avatar from a prompt, a reference photo or a supported input, then reuse it by handle in later talking videos. The avatar becomes a reusable workspace resource when its job completes, so the number of avatars is not a plan feature.
Sume tiers in place of plans
Avatar Video takes quality: standard, plus or max. Plus is the default and balanced; standard is the fastest path; max is highest quality with slower turnaround. Resolution is 720p at this time, versus Full HD on Synthesia, which matters if the video will play full screen on a large display.
Use previews to check the first frame before you pay for a full render. The create-preview call accepts the same body as an avatar video and returns stills only; you then call generate-video on the preview you like.
- Synthesia fits a presenter library, many avatars, and 1080p output.
- Sume fits scripted clips submitted from code with a preview stage in the middle.
- The live Sume job price is in GET /v1/catalog, so compute your own per-minute figure from it.
How to compare fairly
Divide your own monthly volume into each model. At 60 minutes a month, Synthesia Pro is $89. At 6 minutes, Starter at $29 is $4.83 a minute, worse than Pro's rate, so low volume punishes the subscription. A pay-per-job balance has no minimum, which is why it tends to win at very low or very spiky volume and lose to a subscription at steady full use.
Sources
Related posts
More in Comparisons
- Synthesia survey response: 350 credits is $3.73 to $8.12
A Synthesia Survey Session response costs 350 credits. Converted with the plan page's own prices that is $3.73 to $8.12, versus a Sume question clip at $2.76.
- Notes on a reference ad: by hand vs one reference-ingest call
What you would log by hand while watching a reference ad, and the manifest Sume's reference ingest returns instead: shots, OCR, audio facts, strip.
- Talking head video vs conversational avatar: three things you get back
A talking-head video is a file; a conversational avatar is a session. Three differences, with Sume Avatar 1.0 and Tavus Griffin-Lite as examples.
- Talking presenter: Fabric still plus voice, or video model plus voice?
Sume docs: video models do not lip-sync to TTS, so use a still plus audio on Fabric ($0.1875/s at 720p listed). Wan 3.0 is cheaper but will not match the voice.
Written by Sume