Open AI is back with yet another new AI tool that will specifically assist in video production from images or simple text prompts. Meanwhile, Synthesia helps creators create marketing videos, product demos, etc. But which tool aces the AI video creation between the Sora AI and Synthesia?
Both platforms offer unique features and cater to different user needs. Hence, it becomes more difficult to find the absolute best AI video generator.
Therefore, to end this debate, I researched and compared both the AI tools side by side and have curated a detailed guide below.
Read on to find out who won this test!
Sora AI Vs Synthesia – Quick Comparison
Both Sora AI and Synthesia are AI-driven video generation platforms. However, since they serve distinct purposes, in the table below, I’ve shared a quick overview of both the AI tools:
| Parameters | Sora AI | Synthesia |
| Technology | High-quality videos, third-party platform integration, and usage of advanced NLP. | Multilingual, easy-to-use interface. |
| Best for? | Artists seeking exceptional video skills | Businesses that want expert training or presentation videos |
| Pricing | The tool isn’t available for public use. | $29/month |
| Strengths | Photorealistic video output, longer clips with cinematic quality | Intuitive interface, customizable avatars with voiceovers in over 130 languages. |
| Best Use Case | High-end video production and hyperrealism. | Marketing videos, product demos, and corporate presentations. |
| Notable Features | Image to video, video to video. | Text to video, text to speech, Voice cloning. |
| Complex Scenario Generation | Yes | No |
| Extended Clip | Yes | No |
Overview of Sora AI and Synthesia
To help you understand what exactly are Sora AI and Synthesia, below I’ve given a detailed overview of Sora AI and Synthesia, along with the understanding of who these tools are more suitable for:
What is Sora AI?
The new generative text-to-video AI model, Sora AI, is developed by OpenAI. It represents a significant advancement in AI technology, capable of transforming written text into videos.
Introducing Sora — OpenAI’s text-to-video model
By inputting a text prompt, Sora AI works to generate a video that matches the description. This model can also convert an image into a video or extend a video clip forward or backward in time.
Videos created by Sora can be up to 60 seconds long and feature detailed scenes, multiple characters, and complex camera movements.
Its training allows it to understand the physical world and how things interact within it, though it may not always perfectly capture these interactions.
Who can use Sora AI?
As of now, Sora AI is undergoing a thorough testing phase and security checks to ensure it’s safe and secure before being made publicly available.
Access is limited to a select group of security researchers, visual artists, filmmakers, and designers for trial purposes.
OpenAI has not specified when Sora AI will be released to the general public, but there’s an indication that a waiting list may be introduced for early access.
Sora AI Pros and Cons-
Pros:
- Ahead of previous AI video technologies, it provides more compelling and cinematic-quality videos.
- Unlocks creative possibilities for filmmakers, content creators, and digital artists.
- Excels at creating realistic videos, allowing artists to bring impossible ideas to life.
Cons:
- May not fully cater to business-focused needs compared to other tools.
- Potentially harm manual jobs.
What is Synthesia?
Synthesia is an AI video generation platform that allows users to create text videos.
It enables the creation of videos featuring avatars that can speak in various languages, making it useful for creating educational content, marketing videos, or any content where a talking head might be beneficial.
The platform utilizes deep learning to synthesize speech and match it with the movements of the avatar’s mouth, offering a wide range of customization options for the avatars and scenes.
Who Can Use Synthesia?
Synthesia is available to businesses and individuals who are interested in creating video content without the need for traditional video production resources.
Users can sign up for the service through Synthesia’s website, choose their desired avatar, script their dialogue, and produce videos.
Educators, marketers, and content creators often use the platform as an efficient way to produce engaging and informative videos.
Pricing varies depending on the plan and features selected. However, the basic pricing for Synthesia starts at $29/month.
Synthesia Pros and Cons –
Pros:
- Produces aesthetically pleasing videos, even for non-professionals.
- Creates engaging, professional videos from basic text and image templates.
- Allows you to personalize avatars to represent your brand with unique hairstyles and clothing options.
- Ideal for businesses seeking easy video content creation without hiring professionals.
Cons:
- Some adjustments may be needed for optimal audio quality.
- Ethical considerations arise due to the rise of deep fakes.
Sora AI Vs Synthesia – In-depth comparison (Key Differences)
Here’s an in-depth breakdown of Sora AI and Synthesia’s key differences that determine each of their significance as per their domains.
Below is a breakdown of the comparison of Sora AI and Synthesia AI’s key features:
Sora AI Features:
Since Sora AI is not yet available for public use, below, I’ve shared some features that are most likely to be added to the tool:
1. Longer Clips & Various Aspect Ratios:
Sora AI supports video generation up to 60 seconds long, accommodating different aspect ratios. This flexibility allows for diverse video styles and formats, from vertical videos suitable for social media to widescreen cinematic landscapes.
2. Photorealism:
Leveraging advanced AI techniques, Sora aims to generate videos with a high degree of realism, although with a somewhat surreal, video-game-like quality.
This focus on photorealism is ideal for creating visually stunning sequences that closely mimic real-life footage.
3. Cinematic Quality and Visual Landscapes:
Sora’s capabilities extend to generating videos with multiple characters, detailed environments, and dynamic camera movements, making it well-suited for creative storytelling and artistic expression that requires a cinematic touch.
Synthesia Features:
Here are a few key features of Synthesia AI:
1. Customizable Avatars & Voice Cloning:
Synthesia offers customizable avatars and voice cloning technology, enabling users to create videos with avatars that can speak in multiple languages.
This feature is particularly useful for producing content that addresses a global audience or for creating personalized messages.
2. Text-to-Speech:
Integrating text-to-speech technology, Synthesia allows avatars to convert written scripts into spoken dialogue easily.
This simplifies the content creation process, eliminating the need for voice actors and reducing production time.
3. Business-Oriented Features:
Synthesia is designed with business applications in mind, providing tools for creating training videos, educational content, and presentations.
Its features are tailored for organizations looking to efficiently produce practical, informative content without traditional video production’s complexities.
Which One Has Better Performance –Sora or Synthesia?
Regarding AI-driven video creation tools, performance is a critical factor that can make or break the user experience.
Let’s evaluate the performance capabilities of Sora and Synthesia to determine which platform offers a smoother, more efficient workflow.
Sora AI:
When assessing the performance metrics of Sora AI and Synthesia, the following factors prove how the platforms excel with their unique capabilities that cater to different audiences and objectives.
Sora AI, developed by OpenAI, is heralded for its innovation in the AI and filmmaking communities.
It specializes in generating long, high-quality video clips with a focus on photorealism, offering cinematic-grade visuals akin to professional movie production.
This platform is ideal for creatives looking for advanced video artistry, offering tools for complex cinematic scenes and a high degree of artistic expression.
However, it may come at a higher price, and occasional inaccuracies in voice generation might require manual adjustments.
Sythesia:
On the other hand, Synthesia is designed to democratize video production, making it accessible to a broader audience.
It shines in creating professional-quality videos rapidly, using AI avatars and voiceovers, and supports an impressive range of over 120 languages.
Synthesia’s platform is optimized for business use and is ideal for producing high-quality, work-related videos such as training modules and presentations.
While it offers affordability and a quick production process, it has a limited video template library, which might constrain creative freedom, and its natural language processing capabilities are considered less advanced than Sora’s.
Pricing Comparison: Which One Offers Value For Money?
Both Sora AI and Synthesia come with a price tag, but determining true value requires a closer look.
The pricing comparison below will help you understand which platform is more worth your money and help you make a cost-effective choice.
Sora AI Pricing Model:
As of March 2024, the specific pricing details for Sora AI were not publicly disclosed as it is not yet available to the public.
However, I feel it may adopt a model based on the consumption of resources, such as the number of tokens used for generating videos.
This model would align with the approach taken by other OpenAI services, where the cost is tied to the amount of computational power and resources consumed during the generation process.
Such a pricing strategy would suit creative professionals and industries willing to invest in advanced AI video generation for high-quality projects.
Synthesia Pricing model:
Each plan includes a set number of monthly video generation credits. This allows for predictable budgeting and scaling of video production needs.
Synthesia offers two main pricing plans with optional add-ons:
| Plans | Monthly | Annual | Number of Avatars | Best for? |
| Starter | $29/month | $22/month | Ideal for individuals and small teams creating shorter videos. | |
| Creator | $89/month | $67/month | Designed for businesses and marketers needing more video generation capacity and features. |
Overall, Synthesia’s pricing plans are reasonable and flexible for users with limited budgets.
Its credit-based system and various plans cater to different users’ needs, making it a cost-effective option for businesses and marketers seeking AI video solutions.
User Reviews & Experience: Sora AI vs Synthesia
Here are a few real-world user experiences and opinions about Sora AI and Synthesia. Also, note that since Sora AI is not yet available for public use, there is no user experience available as of now:
1. Bobobarbarian
It doesn’t matter if Sora is perfect or not, as there are still things artists can do better; the fact of the matter is that this is good enough to price out entry and mid-level artists, and it’s only a matter of time before it comes for the senior folks too. I predict producers and prompt engineers (god, I still hate that term) will soon become a single role wherein one person oversees the entire production process, with some oversight from other team members like QA on larger projects.
Source: Reddit
2. Elaine. A.
I like the final result: how the avatars’ mouths move according to the speech. I have already identified that not all avatars work well with Brazilian Portuguese, but the ones that work are excellent.
Source: G2.com
3. Janet F.
Intuitive platform. Great avatar choices. That’s a good voice selection. The ability to customize or even clone avatars. Allows you to add pauses and adjust pronunciations, simple special effects, and music. All in all, it’s a great synthetic video tool! The basic plan minutes are limited, and you are charged a full minute for republishing, even the inevitable post-publishing edits. They offer a free preview, but there are usually improvements to be made once you see a live video. Customer support can be patchy.
Source: G2.com
My Research on Sora AI!
My research into Sora AI revealed its exceptional ability to transform text prompts into videos that are not only realistic but also creatively boundless.
Sora AI stands on ChatGPT and DALL·E advancements, showcasing OpenAI’s commitment to pushing AI boundaries.
Although access to Sora AI is selective, focusing on creators and artists, it underscores the ethical implications of lifelike AI-generated content.
The model’s proficiency in creating detailed, consistent video content from textual descriptions promises a new era for storytelling and digital media, albeit currently without integrated audio capabilities, pointing to areas for further development.
So far, everything sounds good with the tool, and I’m eagerly waiting for the tool to be released for public use.
My experience with Synthesia!
Using Synthesia to create training videos offered me and my team a cost-effective, efficient solution that skipped the need for professional videography.
The platform’s intuitive design allowed for quick avatar customization and script input, producing professional and engaging videos through its text-to-speech feature.
However, what bothered me is that, despite its ease of use and affordability, Synthesia’s capabilities felt limited for projects requiring complex narratives or deeper emotional engagement.
Overall, my experience was all about Synthesia’s ability to produce quality educational content quickly, making it indispensable for our team’s adaptable video production needs.
Conclusion: Sora AI will rule the AI industry with its advanced features!
As per my understanding, experience, and research, my verdict is biased towards Sora AI in the debate on SoraAI vs Synthesia.
Even though this tool is not available, the results that OpenAI has shown as a demo prove its future potential.
The superior video production quality, hyperrealistic creations, and cinematic quality support this verdict significantly.
On the other hand, while being in the market for quite a period, Synthesia is a business tool that focuses on more than just video creation. Therefore, if you need more than just video production, you can give Synthesia a try for your creative and business-oriented tasks.