AI video: the free plan that runs out once, and the discount that is not what the banner says
One of these free tiers renews every month and one gives you a single allocation and stops. And on the biggest advertised saving here, the headline percentage only applies to the cheapest plan.
One of these free plans renews. The other one ends and does not tell you.
Synthesia's free plan gives 10 minutes of video a month, 1,200 monthly credits, 25 AI-generated video assets, 9 avatars and over 160 languages. Monthly. Runway's free plan gives 125 credits once: the vendor's own help centre says the allocation does not expire and does not renew, and that credits cannot be purchased on the free plan at all. Both are listed as free plans and only one of them is a plan. The other is a trial with no clock on it, which is a fair thing to offer and an easy thing to misread when you are budgeting a project.
Check both Synthesia annual totals before committing
Synthesia's Starter card shows $29 monthly or $18 a month billed yearly, implying $216 annually and about 38% off. Creator shows $89 monthly or $64 a month billed yearly, implying $768 annually and a $300 saving. Yet the same page's FAQ lists $264 annually for Starter and $804 for Creator. These figures do not reconcile. Confirm the annual total at checkout for either plan; do not treat a calculated total or headline saving as the final bill.
The watermark decides more often than the price does
In this category the free tier almost never ends because you ran out of minutes. It ends because of what is stamped on the output. Every video generated on Runway's free plan carries a Runway watermark, and removing it means Standard or higher. Synthesia lists removing its logo as a paid Starter feature. Riverside's free tier records two hours in 720p with a watermark. So the honest question before comparing free allowances is whether the video is going anywhere public. If it is, the free tier is already ruled out and the allowance never mattered.
Four products, four different jobs, and the expensive mistake is buying two
Synthesia and HeyGen generate a presenter: an avatar reading a script, which is what most corporate and training video actually needs. Runway generates footage that never existed. Riverside records real people over the internet in high quality. Descript edits by editing the transcript. These overlap just enough to look like alternatives and they are not. Decide which of the four jobs you are doing before you open any pricing page, because paying for two tools that each do 70% of the other is the most common bill in this category.
What the paid entry tiers actually cost, verified
Synthesia displays Starter at $18 a month on annual billing against $29 monthly, subject to the annual-total discrepancy noted above. HeyGen Creator is $24 against $29, and HeyGen is unusual in that unused annual credits accumulate until renewal rather than lapsing each month, which matters if your work comes in bursts. Riverside Pro is $24 a month billed as $288 for the year, against $29 monthly, and adds 4K at 48 kHz, unlimited text-based editing and 15 hours of separate-track downloads. Descript Hobbyist is $16 against $24 monthly. Every figure is the vendor's own published rate with the date we checked it on the offer page.
Credits are the meter, and they behave differently on every platform
Nothing in this category is priced by the minute of finished video, whatever the marketing implies. Synthesia meters credits monthly alongside a minute allowance. HeyGen accumulates them across an annual term. Runway gives a fixed lump on free and sells more only on paid plans. Before committing to a year, generate a representative piece of work on a free or monthly plan and count what it actually consumed. A thirty-second clip regenerated eight times to get it right is the real unit of consumption, not the thirty seconds.
A sensible order to try them in
Start on Synthesia's free plan if you need a presenter, because it renews monthly and you can keep testing. Use Runway's 125 credits deliberately, in one sitting, on the specific thing you are unsure about, because you do not get more. Only pay once you can name the constraint that stopped you: the watermark, the resolution, the minutes, or the credits. If you cannot name it, the free tier has not stopped you yet and the subscription is early.
Questions
Is Runway's free plan monthly?
No. It is a one-time allocation of 125 credits that does not renew, and credits cannot be bought on the free plan. Spend them on the thing you actually need to test.
Which free tier is genuinely usable month to month?
Synthesia's, at 10 minutes of video and 1,200 credits a month with 9 avatars. The constraint you will hit is the logo on the output rather than the allowance.
Is Synthesia's 38% annual saving real?
The Starter card rates imply about 38% and Creator about 28%, but the FAQ contradicts both annual totals. Confirm the final annual amount at checkout for either plan before relying on the saving.
Do I need both a video generator and an editor?
Only if you publish. Generating a presenter video and editing recorded footage are different jobs, and buying one tool for each is right only when you genuinely do both.
Do unused credits carry over?
It depends on the vendor, which is why it is worth asking. HeyGen states annual credits accumulate until renewal. Do not assume the same elsewhere; on several tools in this catalogue they lapse monthly.
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