Top AI Video Generators 2026 (Synthesia, Pictory, InVideo & More)

The phrase "AI video generator" now covers tools with fundamentally different approaches to what video production means. Some platforms generate talking-head videos with AI avatars for corporate training. Others convert blog posts and scripts into stock-footage videos optimized for social channels. A few focus on generative capabilities where the AI creates visual sequences from text descriptions rather than assembling existing media.

This roundup examines the three most commonly deployed platforms—Synthesia, Pictory, and InVideo—alongside context on where other tools fit, and what pricing, quota, and workflow constraints matter most when choosing.

Synthesia is designed for business video production centered on AI avatars. You provide a script, select an avatar from the platform's library, and the system generates a video where the avatar delivers your content in natural speech with synchronized lip movements. The platform supports 140 languages and voices, with one-click translation into 80 languages on Enterprise tier, making it valuable for global teams producing training content or internal updates across regions.

Synthesia's Free tier includes 3 minutes of video per month with access to 9 AI avatars. This is sufficient for testing the platform and understanding whether the avatar format fits your use case, but it's not designed for sustained production. Starter is $29 per month and includes 10 minutes of video per month with access to 125 avatars. Creator is $89 per month and includes 30 minutes of video per month with 180 avatars and API access. Enterprise offers unlimited video minutes with custom pricing and access to 230 stock avatars, plus SCORM export for LMS integration.

The most important constraint to understand is that SCORM export—required for integrating videos into learning management systems like Moodle or Cornerstone—is Enterprise-only. Teams producing training content for LMS deployment cannot use Starter or Creator tiers for this workflow, which significantly impacts pricing planning for L&D teams.

Synthesia's language handling is sophisticated but has operational limits. The same avatar can speak multiple languages in a single scene, but not all voices are available in every dialect, and you cannot switch voices mid-sentence. This matters for teams producing multilingual content where voice consistency across languages is important.

Pictory takes a different approach. Instead of avatars, it generates videos by assembling stock footage, images, and text overlays based on your script or source content. You can convert a blog post URL, upload a script, provide images, or import a PowerPoint file, and Pictory produces a video with captions, visuals, and optional voiceover.

The platform's pricing is structured around video minutes rather than number of videos, which provides flexibility for teams producing assets of varying lengths. Starter is $19 per month annually or $25 per month when billed monthly. Professional is $39 per month annually or $49 per month when billed monthly, with a default quota of 600 video minutes per month that can be customized up to 3,600 minutes. Teams tier is $66 per month annually or $79 per month when billed monthly, supporting 2 to 5 team members with customizable minutes ranging from 1,200 to 6,000 per month.

This minute-heavy model is Pictory's competitive differentiation. Avatar-based tools like Synthesia typically cap entry tiers at 10 to 30 minutes per month. Pictory's Professional plan default of 600 minutes per month is designed for teams repurposing dozens of blog posts or scripts into social videos, educational content, or marketing assets without constantly hitting quota limits.

Pictory does not include native distribution automation. You generate the video, download the MP4, and upload it manually to YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, or other platforms. This separation of creation and distribution is simpler for teams that already use scheduling tools like Buffer or Later, but it means Pictory doesn't solve the entire workflow if you need automated cross-platform publishing.

InVideo operates on a credit-based model where credits unlock video creation, premium stock assets, and generative AI features. Plus is $28 per month and includes 10 credits, 50 video minutes, 95 iStock assets, 2 express clones, 100 GB storage, and 30 seconds of generative video allocation. Max is $50 per month and includes 40 credits, 200 video minutes, 320 iStock assets, 5 express clones, 400 GB storage, and 120 seconds of generative video allocation. Generative is $100 per month and includes 100 credits, 200 video minutes, 320 iStock assets, 8 express clones, 400 GB storage, and 300 seconds of generative video allocation. Team is $899 per month and includes 1,000 credits, 2,000 video minutes, 3,200 iStock assets, 40 express clones, 4 TB storage, and 50 minutes of generative video allocation.

InVideo allows you to boost Plus, Max, and Generative plans up to 5x for higher limits, which provides scaling options without jumping to the Team tier. The platform also includes unlimited HD exports according to its help documentation, which removes a common constraint where export quality is gated behind higher pricing tiers.

The credit system is more complex than Pictory's straightforward minute quotas or Synthesia's per-video approach, but it reflects InVideo's broader scope. The platform is designed for teams that need premium stock footage, generative AI capabilities, and voice cloning alongside standard video creation, and the credit model allows balancing usage across those features within one subscription.

Marketing claims around language support often overstate practical usability. Understanding the operational constraints matters for teams planning multilingual production.

Synthesia markets 140 languages and voices, which is the broadest language library among the three platforms. However, not all voices are available in every dialect, and switching languages within a scene requires line breaks—you cannot switch voices mid-sentence. For teams producing global training content where the same avatar needs to deliver content in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, these constraints affect workflow planning. You can use one avatar across languages, but the voice options and switching mechanics impose limits on how seamlessly you can blend languages within a single video.

Pictory and InVideo focus more on English-language production and stock-footage assembly, with voiceover options that include multiple languages but less emphasis on avatar-based multilingual delivery. For teams producing content in one primary language with occasional localization needs, this is sufficient. For teams managing global rollouts where consistent presenter identity across languages is critical, Synthesia's avatar model is better aligned despite the operational constraints.

Corporate training teams have specific needs that consumer-focused video tools don't address by default.

Synthesia's SCORM export capability is designed for teams deploying training videos into learning management systems. SCORM packages allow LMS platforms to track video completion, quiz results, and learner progress. This is essential for compliance training, onboarding programs, and continuing education workflows where completion tracking is required. The constraint is that SCORM export is Enterprise-only, which means teams needing LMS integration must commit to Synthesia's highest-priced tier and cannot test the workflow on Starter or Creator plans.

Pictory and InVideo do not emphasize SCORM or LMS integration in their documented features. They export MP4 files, which can be uploaded to LMS platforms manually or embedded, but they don't generate SCORM packages with completion tracking. For L&D teams where compliance tracking is a requirement, this eliminates Pictory and InVideo from consideration unless you handle SCORM packaging separately.

For marketing or social content teams, this distinction is irrelevant. For training departments, it's a binary decision gate.

Understanding how each platform's pricing scales with usage is essential for budgeting as production volume increases.

Synthesia's model is straightforward: you buy a monthly allowance of video minutes. Free gives 3 minutes. Starter gives 10 minutes. Creator gives 30 minutes. Enterprise offers unlimited minutes. The platform also uses credits as a shared currency for AI-intensive features, but the primary gate is minutes per month. For teams producing 20 to 40 minutes of training content monthly, Creator tier at $89 per month is the minimum viable option. For teams producing less, Starter at $29 per month is sufficient if avatar variety and API access aren't required.

Pictory's minute quotas are significantly larger. Starter includes enough minutes for moderate usage. Professional defaults to 600 minutes per month and can be customized up to 3,600 minutes. Teams tier supports 1,200 to 6,000 minutes depending on configuration. This structure is designed for teams repurposing high volumes of written content into video, where the constraint is production capacity rather than cost per video. Pictory's Professional tier at $39 per month annually offers 600 default minutes, which is 20x the quota of Synthesia's Starter tier at comparable pricing—a meaningful difference for content-heavy workflows.

InVideo's credit-based model layers multiple dimensions: credits for video operations, video minutes for total output, iStock assets for premium media, express clones for voice customization, and storage for project files. This multi-dimensional pricing is more complex to forecast but reflects the platform's broader feature set. Teams need to estimate not just how many videos they'll produce but also how many will require premium stock assets, voice clones, or generative AI features. The ability to boost plans up to 5x provides scaling flexibility without tier-jumping, which is useful for teams with variable monthly demand.

The decision between these platforms depends on what kind of video you're producing and where it will be used.

Synthesia is optimized for presenter-format business videos. Training modules where an instructor explains a process. Internal communications where a leader delivers updates. Product demos where a guide walks through features. The avatar model is designed to replace human presenters in scenarios where consistency, scalability, and multilingual delivery outweigh the need for unique creative visuals. Synthesia is less suited for social short-form content, viral marketing, or visually dynamic storytelling where stock footage, motion graphics, and editing creativity matter more than presenter identity.

Pictory is built for content repurposing workflows where written content—blog posts, scripts, presentations—is transformed into short videos for social distribution, YouTube, or marketing campaigns. The platform's strength is speed and volume. You can convert dozens of blog posts into videos within a month without hitting quota limits on Professional or Teams tiers. This makes Pictory better for content marketers, social media managers, and agencies producing high volumes of short-form video from existing written assets.

InVideo positions itself between these extremes, offering both stock-footage assembly and generative AI features. The platform's credit model allows teams to balance usage across video creation, premium assets, and AI-generated sequences depending on campaign needs. InVideo is better for teams managing diverse video production requirements—some projects need premium stock, others need voice cloning, others need generative visual creation—and who want one subscription covering all three rather than separate tools for each.

For teams building products, applications, or high-volume automated workflows, API access determines whether a platform can scale beyond manual production.

Synthesia includes API access on the Creator tier at $89 per month. This allows technical teams to trigger video generation programmatically, integrate Synthesia into product workflows, or build custom dashboards for managing large-scale video production. API access is essential for companies embedding video generation into their own platforms or automating video updates across hundreds of assets.

Pictory and InVideo do not prominently market API access in their documented tier features. This positions them as manual-production tools where teams create videos through the web interface rather than programmatic workflows. For most content teams, this is not a constraint. For product teams or agencies building custom video automation pipelines, the lack of API access limits scalability.

Beyond the three platforms covered in depth, several other tools appear frequently in buyer research and deserve brief mention for context.

HeyGen competes directly with Synthesia in the avatar-based video space, offering similar features with different pricing and avatar libraries. Colossyan is another avatar-focused platform optimized for training and compliance video. Both are worth evaluating alongside Synthesia if presenter-format business video is your primary need.

Runway is positioned as a generative AI video tool where the platform creates visual sequences from text descriptions rather than assembling stock footage. This places it in a different category—more aligned with creative production and experimental storytelling than with business training or content repurposing workflows. Runway's strength is in generating novel visuals that don't exist in stock libraries, which matters for creative agencies and filmmakers but less for corporate communications teams.

VEED and Fliki are editing-first platforms with AI features layered in, similar to how Murf AI approaches voiceover. They're designed for teams that start with existing video assets and want AI to assist with subtitles, translations, or editing enhancements rather than generating videos from scratch.

For most buyers choosing between avatar-based training tools, high-volume content repurposing, or credit-balanced production, Synthesia, Pictory, and InVideo remain the clearest options with documented pricing and operational constraints.

Teams producing videos at scale need collaboration features to maintain consistency and avoid rework.

Synthesia's higher tiers include team workspaces, shared templates, and brand kits. Enterprise tier adds governance controls like SSO, which matters for companies with security policies requiring single sign-on integration. The platform is designed for organizations where multiple departments produce training or communication videos and need to ensure brand consistency without centralized production bottlenecks.

Pictory's Teams tier supports 2 to 5 team members with shared access to projects and customizable minute quotas. This is positioned for small agencies or in-house teams where collaboration is needed but not the enterprise governance depth that Synthesia's Enterprise tier provides.

InVideo's Team tier at $899 per month includes collaboration features designed for larger teams or agencies managing multiple clients. The high entry price reflects a model optimized for agencies or studios producing video at scale across client portfolios rather than single-brand in-house teams.

For small teams or solo creators, collaboration features are less critical and shouldn't drive the platform decision. For agencies or larger marketing departments, understanding which tier unlocks shared workspaces and brand governance is essential for avoiding workflow friction as the team scales.

For most corporate training teams and internal communications departments that need presenter-format videos with multilingual support and eventual LMS integration, Synthesia is the better choice because it specializes in avatar-based business video and offers the strongest language library and translation features. The Starter tier at $29 per month provides 10 minutes and 125 avatars, which is sufficient for moderate training production. Teams planning SCORM deployment must budget for Enterprise tier, which gates that capability explicitly. If your workflow centers on replacing human presenters with AI avatars for training, onboarding, or internal updates, Synthesia's focus on this use case justifies the investment despite higher per-minute costs compared to Pictory.

Pictory is a stronger choice for content marketing teams and social media managers who need to convert high volumes of blog posts, scripts, or presentations into short videos for YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, or campaigns. The Professional tier's default 600 minutes per month at $39 annually is designed for teams producing dozens of videos monthly without constantly managing quota limits. Pictory's minute-heavy pricing model and focus on stock-footage assembly make it more cost-effective than avatar tools for workflows where presenter identity doesn't matter and the goal is rapid video production from written content. If your workflow involves repurposing existing content at scale and you don't need avatars or SCORM, Pictory's approach is simpler and more affordable.

InVideo is best suited for teams managing diverse video production needs who want premium stock assets, voice cloning, and generative AI features within one subscription. The credit-based model allows balancing usage across video creation, iStock assets, and generative sequences depending on campaign requirements. The Plus tier at $28 per month is a reasonable entry point for small teams testing the platform, and the ability to boost plans up to 5x provides scaling flexibility. InVideo fits teams that need more creative flexibility than Pictory offers but don't require the avatar specialization or multilingual depth that Synthesia provides. If your workflow involves producing videos with varying requirements—some needing premium stock, others needing AI-generated visuals, others needing voice clones—InVideo's multi-dimensional pricing supports that variability better than single-purpose tools.