Descript vs. Synthesia

Avatars, along with everything else

Don’t just settle for Synthesia’s talking heads. Descript gives you all the tools you need to make all kinds of videos, all in one spot.

Quick text-based editing

Synthesia just has old-fashioned timeline editing. Descript has text-based editing, which makes editing video as fast and easy as typing. Whether it’s an avatar video or it has real humans in it, if you know how the backspace key works, or how to copy-paste, you know how to make it in Descript.

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Instant editing with AI

Descript comes with Underlord, a built-in editing assistant; Synthesia doesn’t. Clean up your look, fix your audio, and let Underlord make all the tedious, annoying edits in just a few clicks.

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Generate clips for microlearning

Creating clips from longer videos for social sharing or micro-learning moments is a drag with platforms like Synthesia. Descript makes it easy on your marketing and education teams with AI that automatically finds and creates your best clips and highlight reels.

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Don’t just take our word for it

With a 4.6-out-of-5-star rating and a bunch of distinctions on G2, Descript’s users have declared it an industry standard in the video and podcasting world.

2025

Best Software

Video Editing

Text to Speech

Screen and Video Capture

“With Descript I'll be able to at least double my content output since editing is taking one-quarter the time it used to.”

Donna B. |

“With Descript we can create videos for our YouTube channel and our LinkedIn page much faster and with high quality.”

Balázs N.

“Descript has made cleaning up and creating my educational videos into professional presentations [possible] without needing extensive technical computer skills.”

Barbara C.

“Descript makes recording and editing audio and video a breeze. It's advanced features have streamlined my workflows, saving me a lot of time usually spent editing.”

Roderick F.

“The collaborative tools streamline teamwork, allowing my team and me to work efficiently together on projects. Overall, Descript enhances productivity and simplifies the editing process.”

Aldrich M.

“Transcription-based editing makes the process much faster…All in all, a must have editor for most audiences, especially in SaaS marketing.”

Nidhin M.

Frequently asked questions

Is Descript free?
Descript has a free tier that lets you start your journey with fast text-based video editing. From there, we have several pricing tiers with additional features to match your needs. Unlock more usage and premium AI powered features by upgrading to a paid plan.
What does Descript do?
Descript can do a lot. Stuff like record and edit right on the platform or import your own recording, collaborate with your team, create beautiful layouts and branded templates, translate your video into different languages, use text to speech, and share directly from Descript.
Is Descript worth it?
Descript is totally worth it. At every pricing tier, you get an end-to-end video editor that lets you write, record, edit, collaborate, and export incredibly good-looking video, all with a text-based editor that makes creating video as easy as typing.
Is Descript better than Synthesia?
Hands down. Descript’s text-based editor allows you to edit your video just like you would a doc. It also comes with an AI assistant who can filter out filler words, change eye contact in a video, or spiff up your audio with Studio sound. Oh, and we’ll also translate your video into 20+ languages with dubbing and captions. Synthesia would never.
Does Descript have avatars?
Descript has avatars! Choose an avatar from our gallery or a custom one you upload, then match it with one of our AI voices to create a video from text. You don’t have to get in front of the camera or even brush your hair.

Descript vs. Synthesia

Avatars, along with everything else

Quick comparison guide

More video, more engagement—faster growth

Frequently asked questions