How to Make a Training Video With AI (Including for Free)
Verification log (1)
- Aug 5, 2026Initial publish. Pricing and plan limits were taken from each vendor's own pricing page on the day of publishing: Synthesia (Basic free with 10 min/month and 9 avatars, no card; Starter $18/mo yearly or $29 monthly; Creator $64/mo yearly or $89 monthly) and Pictory (Starter $25/mo yearly or $29 monthly; Professional $35/mo yearly or $59 monthly; free trial only). Both vendors advertise L&D use cases and SCORM export. We have not produced a full training module in either tool for this article — this compares documented capability, plan gates, and input formats, not output quality; our hands-on video-tool testing lives in the comparison linked at the end.
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Test verdict
Trade-off scorecard
| Pick | Price friction | Capability gap | Setup friction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synthesia | Free plan is real but capped at 10 min/month; Starter's 120 min/year works out to roughly 10 min/month too | An avatar reading a script is not a substitute for a subject-matter expert on camera — learners notice | Script-first workflow: you still have to write the course before the tool does anything |
| Pictory | No permanent free tier — trial only, and Starter is $25-29/mo | Stock-footage-driven output suits explainer and summary content more than step-by-step software demos | Fastest path if the training already exists as a document or deck; least useful if it exists only in someone's head |
“AI training video” covers two jobs that need different tools, and picking the wrong one is why people end up paying for a subscription that can’t do what they wanted.
Job one: a presenter delivers a course to camera — onboarding, compliance, policy. You have a script, you need a face and a voice.
Job two: training material already exists as a document, a slide deck, or a recorded session, and it needs to become watchable video.
The free route, honestly
Synthesia’s Basic plan is free and permanent — no credit card — with 10 minutes of video per month and 9 stock avatars. That’s genuinely enough to produce one short module a month, or to test whether an AI presenter is acceptable to your audience before committing budget.
Pictory has a free trial but no permanent free plan, so treat it as evaluation rather than a free tier.
What the free routes won’t give you: a personal avatar cloned from your own footage, longer-form modules, or (usually) the export format your LMS needs. Which brings up the thing to check before paying.
Check SCORM export before you pay
If the video has to live in a learning management system and report who completed it, you need SCORM export. An MP4 file plays, but it doesn’t track completion.
Both Synthesia and Pictory advertise SCORM support, and on both it tends to sit on higher or enterprise tiers rather than the entry plan. Confirm it’s in the specific plan you’re about to buy. Buying a $25/mo plan and finding out it exports MP4 only is the most common and most annoying mistake in this category.
For a presenter-led course: Synthesia
Synthesia generates an AI avatar speaking your script, in a large set of languages, which is why it dominates corporate L&D and compliance training. Paid plans start at $18/user/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly) for 120 minutes a year, with Creator at $64/mo yearly ($89 monthly) for 360 minutes a year plus personal avatars.
Note how the minute allowances work: Starter’s 120 minutes per year is about 10 minutes a month — the same as the free plan. You’re paying for avatar choice, a personal avatar, and languages, not primarily for volume.
For existing material: Pictory
Pictory takes what you already have — script, doc, PDF, PowerPoint, audio, a URL, or a long recording — and produces an edited video with stock footage and captions. For a company that has a shelf of written SOPs or an hour-long recorded webinar, this is the shorter path.
Starter is $25/mo billed yearly ($29 monthly) for 200 minutes a month; Professional at $35/mo yearly ($59 monthly) adds voice cloning and custom avatars.
What neither one does
Neither tool records your screen. If the training is a software walkthrough, capture the screen first with a screen recorder, then use these tools for narration, captions, and editing. Expecting an AI video generator to produce accurate UI footage of your internal tool is the fastest way to waste a subscription.
For a fuller head-to-head on video tools generally, see Pictory vs InVideo vs Synthesia, and our best AI tool for video creation guide for use cases beyond training.
Anyone recording a software walkthrough. Neither tool captures your screen. A step-by-step 'click here, then here' tutorial needs screen recording first — AI can narrate and edit it afterward, but it can't produce the footage.
Teams that need LMS completion tracking on a budget plan. SCORM export is the feature that makes a video usable in an LMS, and it tends to sit on higher tiers. Buying the cheapest plan and discovering it exports only MP4 is the common expensive mistake.
Training that needs a real expert's credibility. For safety-critical or highly technical instruction, a stock avatar reading a script undercuts trust. Use AI for the surrounding modules and film the expert for the parts that carry the weight.
Frequently asked questions
Can I make a training video with AI for free?
Yes, within limits. Synthesia's Basic plan is free with no credit card and gives you 10 minutes of video per month across 9 stock avatars — enough for one or two short modules monthly. Pictory offers a free trial rather than a permanent free plan, so it's for evaluating, not for ongoing free use. Expect the free routes to cap video length, avatar choice, and personal (cloned) avatars.
What's the difference between Synthesia and Pictory for training video?
They solve different halves of the job. Synthesia generates an AI presenter speaking your script — the right shape for onboarding, compliance, and policy training where a person talking to camera is the format. Pictory converts material you already have (script, doc, PDF, PowerPoint, audio, a URL, or a long recording) into an edited video with stock footage and captions. If you're starting from a written course, Pictory; if you're starting from a script that needs a face, Synthesia.
Will an AI training video work in my LMS?
Check for SCORM export before you pay — it's the format most learning management systems need to track completion and scores. Both Synthesia and Pictory advertise SCORM export, and it's frequently gated to higher tiers or an enterprise plan, so confirm it's included in the specific plan you're buying rather than assuming it comes with the product.