Arcads AI in short: an AI tool for UGC-style videos with AI actors, priced by credits that you only see after signing up.
Arcads makes UGC-style videos with AI actors, and its cost structure punishes short ads and iteration.
Work out your cost per ad before you subscribe.
Visit Arcads' official siteDisclosure: Predis.ai makes a competing product. We built this review from Arcads' help center, its in-app pricing, public user reviews, and one side-by-side test on the same product. We note where the two tools differ.
Arcads does not publish prices on its website. Its pricing plans only appear after you create an account. Here is what we saw inside the app on 12 October 2026.
Every plan works out to the same price per credit, about $0.01375. Bigger plans give you more credits, not cheaper ones. Yearly billing is 20% off, and a Custom plan sits above Business.
On Starter and Creator, unused credits reset at the end of each billing cycle. Pro and higher plans roll unused credits over.
Arcads' help center lists what each action costs in credits. The most important rule: talking-actor video is charged per minute, per actor, and length always rounds up to the next full minute.
| Action | Credits | Cost at Starter rate ($0.01375/credit) |
|---|---|---|
| Talking-actor video, 1 actor, up to 1 minute | 800 | $11.00 |
| Each additional actor | +800 per minute | +$11.00 |
| Captions (Creator and up) | 80 per video | $1.10 |
| Upscaling | 80 per 10 seconds | $1.10 per 10 seconds |
| Actor replacement | 800 | $11.00 |
| Video translation | 240 | $3.30 |
| Veo 3.1 generation | 800 | $11.00 |
| Kling 3.0 generation | 176 to 560 | $2.42 to $7.70 |
All credit rates checked on 7 October 2026 against the Arcads help center article on how credits are counted.
| Ad | Credits | Cost on Starter |
|---|---|---|
| 15-second ad, 1 actor | 800 | $11.00 |
| 30-second ad, 1 actor, with captions (Creator and up) | 880 | $12.10 |
| 60-second ad, 2 actors | 1,600 | $22.00 |
| 60-second ad, 1 actor, captions, upscaled (Creator and up) | 1,360 | $18.70 |
| 15-second ad, 1 actor, 3 takes to get it right | 2,400 | $33.00 |
The last row is the one most buyers miss. Iteration is where credit costs add up.
Starter covers 10 ads a month at these settings.
Estimates use Arcads' published credit rates and the plan prices we saw on 12 October 2026. Your actual cost can differ.
Yes. Arcads offers a 3-day free trial that lasts 72 hours from signup and includes 1,000 credits with all features unlocked. A card is required at signup, and if you don't cancel before the 72 hours end, Arcads charges the Starter plan at $110/month. 1,000 credits cover one talking-actor ad of up to a minute (800 credits), so expect to test about one ad.
Arcads' core product is its library of AI actors, advertised at 1,000+ (300 on Starter, 1,000 on Creator, 1,500 on Pro and higher), who deliver your script on camera in a UGC style. You write or paste a script, pick an actor, and get a talking-head ad. In user reviews, actor realism is the most often mentioned positive, and reviewers cite it as the main reason they pay its prices.
Arcads supports 35+ languages, and offers video translation for existing ads.
You can create a custom actor, for example from a brand spokesperson. Custom actors (cloning your own) need the Pro plan or higher, and some reviewers say custom actors move less naturally than the library ones.
Beyond talking actors, Arcads offers product demos, fashion try-on videos, and access to third-party video and image models such as Seedance 2.5, Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0, Grok, Wan 3.0, and Nano Banana Pro, each billed at its own credit rate.
Arcads has an external API and an MCP server that connects to Claude, so you can make ads from Claude Desktop or Claude Code using your Arcads credits. The MCP server is on every plan; the API needs Pro or higher. This is relevant for teams that automate ad production.
We ran one test: the same product, the same settings, in both tools, using each tool's first output without edits. Because Arcads charges for every take, we also recorded the cost of each output. It is a single test rather than a full benchmark.
Men's Suede Sneakers (Blue/Grey)Arcads' help center says a talking-actor video costs 800 credits per started minute. Our 15-second video on the Arcads 1.0 model used 630, so the cost can vary by model.
| Criteria | Arcads | Predis.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Presenter realism: voice, lip-sync, movement | 4 | 4.5 |
| Script: does it sell the product clearly? | 4 | 4.5 |
| Product shown accurately | 4 | 5 |
| Brand fit: does it look like the brand? | 4 | 5 |
| Editability: how easy is it to fix one part? | 3 | 5 |
| Cost of this output | 630 credits, about $8.66 | 95 credits, about $2.34 |
Predis.ai's ad scored higher on every criterion. Presenter realism and the script were close (4.5 against 4), while the gaps were wider on product accuracy and brand fit (5 against 4) and on fixing one part (5 against 3). Predis.ai also finished in about half the time and cost about $2.34 against about $8.66 for Arcads at list price.
Arcads' review footprint is thin and divided. Arcads now has a G2 listing but no reviews yet. Most public feedback is on Trustpilot, where Arcads holds a rating of 2.6 from 180 reviews, split sharply between 5 stars (42%) and 1 star (47%).
Based on each product's public information as of 12 October 2026.
| Feature | Arcads | Predis.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Core idea | UGC-style ads with AI actors | An AI ad platform for ads that look like your brand |
| Public pricing | No; shown after signup | Yes, on predis.ai/pricing |
| Starting price | $110/month | $32/month for Core, or $19/month billed yearly |
| Plans | Starter, Creator, Pro, Scale, Business, Custom | Core, Rise, Enterprise+ |
| Trial | 3-day trial, 1,000 credits, card required | 3-day trial, card required |
| Cost of a 15-second ad | About $11 on Starter | 95 credits, about $2.34 on Core |
| Fixing one part of an ad | Actor replacement costs 800 credits; most changes mean a new take | Fix-one-frame editing |
| Start from an existing ad | Partly: Replace Actor and Animate Actor rework an existing video; no reference-ad input | Reference-ad input |
| Competitor research | No | Competitor Ad and Social intelligence |
| Publishing | No, download only | Publishing, Scheduling and Autoposting |
| API / automation | External API (Pro and up) and MCP server (every plan) | API and an MCP server |
| G2 rating | Listed, no reviews yet | 4.7 / 5 |
talking-actor ads are your main format, your ads run close to a minute, and you have a paid-social budget where $11 to $20 per test creative is small next to media spend.
Its main feature is the actor library, and teams that automate can use the API or the Claude integration.
most of your ads are short, you expect to iterate, or you want ads that look like your brand rather than a single presenter format.
Predis.ai offers a 3-day trial (card required), so you can run the same product through both.
| Company | Arcads |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | France |
| Founders | Romain Torres and Dylan Fournier (co-CEOs) |
| Launched | January 2024 |
Pricing, credits, refunds, the API, and how it compares.
How much does Arcads cost?
Arcads does not publish prices. Inside the app, plans start at $110/month for Starter (8,000 credits), then $220/month for Creator (16,000 credits), $550/month for Pro (40,000 credits), $1,100/month for Scale (80,000 credits), and $2,200/month for Business (160,000 credits), with a Custom plan above that. Yearly billing is 20% off.
How much does one Arcads video cost?
A talking-actor video with 1 actor costs 800 credits per started minute, about $11 on Starter. Because length rounds up, a 15-second ad also costs about $11. Captions, upscaling, extra actors, and retakes add more.
Is Arcads AI free?
No. Arcads has no free plan, but it offers a 3-day trial with 1,000 credits; a card is required and the trial becomes a $110/month Starter plan unless you cancel.
Why doesn't Arcads show its pricing?
Arcads has not said publicly. Prices only appear after you create an account, which is why this page lists what we saw inside the app and the date we saw it.
Do Arcads credits roll over?
On Starter and Creator, no: unused credits reset each billing cycle. On Pro, Scale, and Business, unused credits roll over to the next cycle.
Does Arcads offer refunds?
Arcads' refund policy offers a full refund within 24 hours, or within 30 days if no credits have been used. User reports on how consistently this is honored are mixed.
Does Arcads have an API?
Yes. Arcads offers an external API on the Pro plan and higher, and an MCP server on every plan.
Can I use Arcads with Claude or Claude Code?
Yes. Arcads' MCP server connects to Claude, so you can make ads from a Claude conversation or from Claude Code using your Arcads account and credits.
Is Arcads legit?
Yes. Arcads is a venture-backed company that raised a $16M seed round in December 2025 and reports 6,000+ customers. Most complaints are about pricing, output consistency, and billing rather than whether the product works.
Is Predis.ai better than Arcads?
Yes. Predis.ai is better at creating ads with AI actors: it delivers more realistic results at a lower cost. The side-by-side test above shows both on the same product.