Synthesia Basic free 10 minutes vs 10 minutes of Sume avatar video
Synthesia Basic is $0 with 10 minutes and 9 avatars; the same 10 minutes on Sume standard is $110.40, so the free plan wins until you outgrow it.
Synthesia lists a Basic plan at $0 with 10 minutes and 9 avatars. Producing 10 minutes of avatar video on Sume at the standard tier costs $110.40 (600 s x $0.184), so for a first 10 minutes the free plan is cheaper. The Sume figure matters when you pass the free allowance or when you want to call a video API from code.
Plan and price figures
Synthesia's paid plans are priced monthly, with annual billing lower. The table lists the plan figures from the Synthesia pricing page next to what the same minutes cost on Sume.
| Option | Monthly price | Minutes | Effective per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesia Basic | $0 | 10 | $0 |
| Synthesia Starter | $29 | about 12 | $2.4167 |
| Synthesia Pro | $89 | about 60 | $1.4833 |
| Sume standard | Pay per use | As needed | $11.04 |
| Sume plus | Pay per use | As needed | $14.70 |
Where Sume starts to make sense
Synthesia's per-minute price falls as the plan rises. At 60 minutes on Pro, the effective rate is about $1.48 per minute, which is well below Sume's per-second pricing. A team making an hour of avatar video a month will pay less on a plan than on Sume standard, which would be $662.40 for 60 minutes.
Sume is the better fit in three cases. The first is bursty use: a month with 2 minutes costs $22.08, and a month with none costs nothing. The second is API-driven generation, where each job is made by code. The third is when you need an aspect ratio, a tier or inline captions chosen per request.
Things the table does not show
Check the Synthesia page for current limits on watermarks, export options and commercial use before you commit.
- Synthesia Basic lists 9 avatars; Sume creates your own avatar from a prompt, props or a photo for $0.95.
- A Sume balance is used only when jobs run, so there is no monthly allowance to lose.
- A Sume talking video is 4 to 60 seconds, so a long piece is made as several jobs and joined in Timeline.
- Output on Sume is 720p only.
A simple rule
If you need under 10 minutes a month and the free plan's features are enough, use the free plan. If you are above that and your volume is steady, compare the Starter and Pro effective rates with your own seconds. If your volume is irregular or made by code, price it per second on Sume.
Sources
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