Which has a free plan?

Both: Runway gives 125 one-time credits; Synthesia gives 10 minutes a month with a watermark.

Which is rated higher, Runway or Synthesia?

Runway is rated higher in our initial editorial ratings (8.5 vs 8.0). These are not benchmark results; testing is in progress.

How much does Runway cost?

Standard $15/month or $12 billed annually (625 credits/month); Pro $35 or $28 annually (2,250 credits/month); team, enterprise and API plans separately.

How much does Synthesia cost?

Starter $29/month (1,250 credits); Pro $89/month (6,000 credits) scaling to $676 for 48,000 credits; yearly billing discounts; enterprise separately.

When was pricing checked?

On 2026-10-15, on each tool's official pricing page. Prices change often, so confirm on the vendor's site before you buy.

TaskRank / Compare / Video generation

Comparison · Video generation

Runway vs Synthesia

Initial editorial ratings, testing in progress. Scores are editorial judgments, not benchmark results, and will be replaced by hands-on test scores. Sponsors never affect scores.

Runway and Synthesia both appear in our video generation ranking. This page puts them side by side: our current ratings, what each costs and includes according to its own pricing page (checked 2026-10-15), and which one to pick for which job. Where we could not verify something on the official site, we say so instead of guessing.

At a glance

	Runway	Synthesia
Our rating	8.5/10	8.0/10
Why it ranks	Pro editing toolkit	AI avatars for training videos
Pricing	Standard $15/month or $12 billed annually (625 credits/month); Pro $35 or $28 annually (2,250 credits/month); team, enterprise and API plans separately.	Starter $29/month (1,250 credits); Pro $89/month (6,000 credits) scaling to $676 for 48,000 credits; yearly billing discounts; enterprise separately.
Free tier	Free plan with 125 one-time credits and 5 GB storage.	Basic plan at $0: 500 credits a month and a free allowance of 10 minutes of video creation or dubbing; videos carry a watermark.
Best for	Creators who want to edit and shape clips, not just generate them.	Training, onboarding and internal communication videos with a presenter.
Source	Checked 2026-10-15 on the official site	Checked 2026-10-15 on the official site

Scores by criterion

Our methodology weights five criteria. Per-criterion scores come from hands-on testing, which hasn't been done yet for this category, so we show the weights and leave the scores blank instead of making numbers up. The overall ratings above are editorial.

Criterion	Weight	Runway	Synthesia
Output quality	40%	Not yet tested	Not yet tested
Speed & reliability	20%	Not yet tested	Not yet tested
Ease of use	15%	Not yet tested	Not yet tested
Value	15%	Not yet tested	Not yet tested
Privacy & trust	10%	Not yet tested	Not yet tested

Key differences

Different jobs. Runway (8.5) generates and edits cinematic clips; Synthesia (8.0) produces avatar-presented videos for training. Runway Standard is $12/month annually; Synthesia Starter is $29/month.

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Runway in brief

Runway pairs generation with a full editing toolkit. Its free plan gives 125 one-time credits; Standard at $12 a month (annual) gives 625 credits, which the page equates to about 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 video. It also offers third-party models such as Kling. We rate it 8.5/10.

Standard: all AI video and image models, no watermarks, 4K upscaling
625 credits ≈ 52 seconds of Gen-4.5 video, per the page
Music, voice and sound effects generation
Models listed include Gen-4.5, Kling 3.0 and Nano Banana Pro
Agentic creative collaborator

Synthesia in brief

Synthesia makes presenter-style videos with AI avatars rather than cinematic footage. The free Basic plan gives 10 minutes of video a month with a watermark; Starter at $29 removes the logo and adds downloads. We rate it 8.0/10.

125+ AI avatars on Starter
Dubbing, surveys and roleplays
Download content and remove the logo from Starter
AI Video Assistant
Credits shared across all AI features

Which should you pick?

Verdict: Pick Synthesia for training and internal videos with a presenter. Pick Runway for creative footage.

How that maps to our criteria:

Output quality (40%): until testing is done, our editorial ratings are the best guide: Runway 8.5/10, Synthesia 8.0/10. Runway is rated higher.
Value (15%): compare the free tiers in the table. Runway: Free plan with 125 one-time credits and 5 GB storage. Synthesia: Basic plan at $0: 500 credits a month and a free allowance of 10 minutes of video creation or dubbing; videos carry a watermark.
Ease of use (15%): Runway is best for creators who want to edit and shape clips, not just generate them. Synthesia is best for training, onboarding and internal communication videos with a presenter.
Speed & reliability (20%) and Privacy & trust (10%): not yet tested. Before you commit, read each vendor's data-retention and training settings on its own site.

Frequently asked questions

Which has a free plan?: Both: Runway gives 125 one-time credits; Synthesia gives 10 minutes a month with a watermark.
Which is rated higher, Runway or Synthesia?: Runway is rated higher in our initial editorial ratings (8.5 vs 8.0). These are not benchmark results; testing is in progress.
How much does Runway cost?: Standard $15/month or $12 billed annually (625 credits/month); Pro $35 or $28 annually (2,250 credits/month); team, enterprise and API plans separately.
How much does Synthesia cost?: Starter $29/month (1,250 credits); Pro $89/month (6,000 credits) scaling to $676 for 48,000 credits; yearly billing discounts; enterprise separately.
When was pricing checked?: On 2026-10-15, on each tool's official pricing page. Prices change often, so confirm on the vendor's site before you buy.

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