What's the difference between a license and a role?

📌 This article is for our Enterprise plans.

If you would like to upgrade your plan, book a demo with our sales team.

In Synthesia, two things decide what each person can do: their license and their role. A license sets what you can do with videos — create and edit, or only view and comment. A role sets your standing in the workspace — whether you're a guest with limited access, a member of the team, or an admin who manages settings and people.

Licenses: Free, Restricted, and Full

A person's license determines if they're included in your billing. It also controls what activities they can do.

There are three licenses:

Free: An introductory license. Allows access to view and comment on videos by default. When a video is shared with edit or full access permission, free license members can also edit scripts and add screen recordings. A free license upgrades to a full license automatically the first time a member edits a video — no request or admin approval is needed. Free licenses do not use a paid seat.

Restricted: Allows access to view and comment on videos by default. When a video is shared with edit or full access permission, restricted license members can also edit scripts and add screen recordings. Users need admin approval to upgrade to a full license. Restricted licenses do not use a paid seat.
Full: Allows editing. User becomes billable. For Enterprise plans, going over your purchased license count isn't billed automatically — your account team will reach out to reconcile it.

📚 To learn more check out, How does Synthesia handle user licenses and billing for Enterprise workspaces?

Roles: Guests, Members, and Admins

A role sets your standing in the workspace — how much you can access, and for admins, what you can manage. It applies apart from what your license lets you create.

Guest — limited, invite-based access to specific videos.
Member — belongs to the workspace (what a member can create or edit still depends on their license).
Admin roles — Organization Admin, Brand Admin, and Workspace admin, who manage people, settings, and brand assets.

📚 To learn more about guests, check out What features are available to guests in Synthesia?

✍️ Your license and role are set per workspace, not across your whole account. If you belong to more than one workspace, you can have a different license and role in each — for example, a full license in one and a restricted license in another. An Organization links multiple workspaces under one plan, with shared billing and an Organization Admin who can manage members across all of them.

💬 FAQs

What is the difference between a free and a restricted license?

Free and restricted license are licenses that are not yet full. A free license upgrades to full the first time you edit a video; a restricted license stays limited until an admin approves an upgrade.

What's next?

Related resources

📚 To learn more, check out What features are available to guests in Synthesia?

📚 To request an upgrade from a restricted license, see How do I upgrade from a restricted license?

📚 For the full licensing and billing breakdown, visit How does Synthesia handle user licenses and billing for Enterprise workspaces?