How to Migrate From Synthesia to HeyGen
Synthesia built its audience on one specific promise: professional-looking AI avatar video for corporate training and product explainers, no camera required. For years that promise held up well enough that it became the default for L&D teams. But the platform's design decisions that make it great for English-language corporate training are the same ones that create friction when you need to localize content into eight languages, clone a specific voice, or get lip sync that holds up in French or Portuguese without looking like a badly dubbed film.
That's the migration conversation. Creators and marketers who started on Synthesia for English content, then hit the wall trying to expand globally, increasingly land on HeyGen as the comparison. HeyGen built aggressive video translation features, added voice cloning early, and the lip sync quality on non-English languages is visibly better on most spoken comparisons.
What's actually different
Both platforms produce AI avatar video from scripts or text. The differences are in depth of localization features, voice options, and how the platforms charge.
| Feature | Synthesia | HeyGen |
|---|---|---|
| Stock avatar library | 230+ avatars | 100+ avatars + custom upload |
| Custom avatar creation | Enterprise plan | Available on Creator plan and above |
| Voice cloning | Limited | Yes, with sample recording |
| Video translation | Basic | Dedicated feature with lip sync sync |
| Languages supported | 140+ | 40+ (fewer but deeper quality) |
| Lip sync quality non-English | Inconsistent | Stronger on major European + Asian languages |
| Pricing | Starts ~$22/month | Starts ~$29/month |
| SSML / voice controls | Strong | Moderate |
| Team features | Strong | Growing |
The language count looks like a win for Synthesia, but the practical experience differs. Having 140 languages doesn't matter much if the lip sync on the twelve languages you actually use looks off. HeyGen's translation feature, called Video Translate, does full dubbing with automated lip movement resync, which is a different technical approach than just swapping the audio.
Voice cloning on HeyGen requires recording a sample of the target voice, a few minutes of clean audio. You get a cloned voice that works across HeyGen's full feature set. Synthesia's voice cloning has historically been more restricted in access and more limited in what plans can use it.
Mapping your existing workflow
Stock avatars: You're starting fresh on avatar selection. Synthesia's avatars don't transfer to HeyGen, and the libraries look and feel different. HeyGen's stock avatars skew slightly more diverse in cultural presentation and more contemporary in styling. Plan time to audit the HeyGen library and map your existing Synthesia avatar choices to reasonable HeyGen equivalents. The visual match won't be exact but it's usually close enough.
Custom avatars: If you have a custom Synthesia avatar (typically your own face or a brand ambassador), you'll need to create a new custom avatar in HeyGen. The process is similar: submit a consent video, record a training dataset, wait for processing. Budget a few days for this.
Scripts and slides: Your scripts are plain text and they transfer directly. If you've been building videos from slides inside Synthesia, you'll rebuild those layouts in HeyGen's scene editor. The structure is comparable; the specific UI is different. This is the most time-intensive part of the migration.
Voiceovers: Your custom voice recordings or voice clones from Synthesia don't port. HeyGen's voice library is different. For generic stock voices, find matches manually. For voice clones, re-record the sample in HeyGen.
Video translation workflow: This is the new capability you're gaining. In HeyGen, Video Translate takes an existing video, detects the speech, translates to your target language, generates lip-synced audio, and renders a new version. The quality is good enough for most business use cases without additional post-work.
The actual migration steps
1. Inventory your Synthesia library Before you export anything, make a list of your most-used videos organized by: language, avatar, use frequency, and whether they need to be localized. This tells you the scope of re-creation work.
2. Export your completed Synthesia videos Download MP4 versions of all videos you want to preserve. Note the scripts used for each, since you'll re-enter those.
3. Set up HeyGen and audit the avatar library Sign up for a HeyGen plan that includes the features you need. Browse the stock avatar library against your list of Synthesia avatars and document your best matches.
4. Recreate your highest-priority videos first Don't try to batch-migrate everything. Pick the five videos your team uses most frequently and rebuild them in HeyGen. This surfaces workflow differences early and builds familiarity before you're deep into a large batch.
5. Set up video translation on one existing piece Take a completed English video and run it through HeyGen's Video Translate feature for one target language. This benchmarks the quality against your expectations before you commit the full localization roadmap to the platform.
6. Configure voice cloning if applicable If voice cloning is on your roadmap, set it up during onboarding. You'll need the voice owner to record a consent statement and a training sample. Factor in the setup time before you promise a delivery date to a client.
7. Test your team's access HeyGen's team features work differently from Synthesia's. Test asset sharing, permissions, and brand kit setup before you onboard your full team.
Gotchas you'll hit
Your Synthesia template layouts don't transfer. Every video scene needs to be rebuilt in HeyGen's editor. The good news is HeyGen's editor is faster for most users; the bad news is there's no import path.
Voice cloning takes time to process. You can't clone a voice and use it the same day. Budget 24-48 hours for processing after submitting the training audio.
Language quality is uneven across both platforms. HeyGen's Video Translate works best on English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Mandarin. Less common languages get less accurate results. Test on your actual target languages before you promise clients a localization timeline.
Lip sync isn't perfect. For most business video, it's good enough. For any content where lip sync quality will be scrutinized closely, for example a CEO message to a large audience, test carefully before launching.
Credit and minute counting differs. Synthesia measures usage in video minutes. HeyGen uses credits that don't map directly. Read the pricing pages carefully for your expected monthly volume before choosing your plan.
When NOT to switch
Don't migrate to HeyGen if SSML voice controls are central to your work. Synthesia has deeper SSML support, which matters for pacing, emphasis, and pause control in highly scripted training content. Also stay if your team's workflow is deeply embedded in Synthesia's template system and the rebuilding cost outweighs the localization benefit.
HeyGen earns the switch when global video distribution is on your roadmap, when voice cloning is a business requirement, or when lip sync quality on non-English content is visibly hurting your output. The Video Translate feature alone can justify the move for any team localizing more than a handful of videos a quarter.
For a full feature comparison before you decide, the Synthesia profile covers its current template, SSML, and enterprise capabilities in detail.