Last updated: 2026-10-09
Arcads is an AI video ad platform founded in 2024 that generates talking-actor and UGC-style ads from a script, a product image or a prompt. It pairs its own talking-actor model with clips from third-party video models, runs in the browser, and offers developer API access plus an MCP server for agent clients.
About Arcads
Arcads is a French AI ad platform founded in 2024 by Dylan Fournier and Romain Torres, who had earlier run a marketing agency and a mobile app studio. It raised a $16 million seed round led by Eurazeo in December 2025 and said in that announcement that it served more than 6,000 clients, with over half of its users in the United States. According to its privacy policy, the product is run by FRESHR, a company registered in Rouen, France.
You can start with a script, a photo of the product or a text prompt. For a talking-head ad you pick an actor from the library, paste the script and choose one of three talking-actor models: Arcads 1.0 for longer scripted videos, Audio-Driven for tighter lip sync, and OmniHuman 1.5 for more expressive faces. The platform also works as a model aggregator. Video clips can come from Veo 3.1 by Google DeepMind, Kling 3.0 by Kuaishou and Seedance 2.5 by ByteDance, and images from Nano Banana Pro, Seedream, Grok Imagine from xAI, and GPT Image 2. A node-based Workflows canvas chains these steps so a winning script can be rerun in bulk.
The buyer is a performance marketer who tests many hooks on TikTok, Meta and YouTube. Arcads publishes industry pages for e-commerce, mobile apps, SaaS, lead generation, insurance, law firms, real estate and marketing agencies, and presets such as Show Your App and Unboxing POV cover app and product ads. Translate Video relocalizes a finished ad and re-syncs the lips to the new language. It is a weaker fit when the ad depends on a product being held, opened or demonstrated, which third-party reviews flag as the most consistent weak spot.
Arcads runs on the web at app.arcads.ai, with a public API and an MCP server for agent clients. Pro accounts add voice cloning, and the help center says Pro voice customization uses an ElevenLabs integration. If the work is presenter-led, HeyGen is the usual comparison, with Synthesia closer to corporate training. For short-form ad generation the nearer overlap is Creatify, aimed at e-commerce sellers, or Higgsfield, which bundles many video models. For raw video generation without actors, the usual names to check are Runway, then Pika.
Pricing
ai/pricing returns a 404 as of 2026-10-09, and plans appear only inside the sign-up paywall. Reviewers who reached it report Starter at $110 monthly with 8,000 credits, and Creator at $220 monthly with 16,000 credits. Pro is sold through sales; one reviewer lists it at $550 a month for 40,000 credits, and Arcads confirms that unused Pro, Scale and Business credits roll over and that extra usage is billed per credit.
Per-feature credit costs are in Arcads' own help-center credit table. A lower entry price is available from Higgsfield, and also from Creatify.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $110/mo | 8,000 credits per month |
| Creator | $220/mo | 16,000 credits per month, double the Starter pool |
| Pro | Custom | Sold through sales, Unused credits roll over, Extra usage billed per credit, Voice cloning and cloning yourself |
Key Features
- Three talking-actor models: Arcads 1.0 generates longer scripted videos with stable movement, Audio-Driven prioritises lip sync, and OmniHuman 1.5 animates a still image with stronger facial expression.
- Actor library and custom actors: More than 1,000 AI actors are based on real people who consented and are paid for their likeness, and a custom actor can be built from one headshot and stays private to your workspace.
- Voices and translation: Talking-actor voices cover 35 languages and accents, and Translate Video handles more than 130 with lip sync matched to the new audio.
- Bundled video and image models: One credit balance pays for clips from Veo 3.1, Kling, Seedance, Grok and Wan-based animation, and for stills made with Nano Banana Pro, Seedream or GPT Image.
- Workflows canvas: A node-based canvas chains models and tools, and the vendor's example runs one script across ten actors in two languages to produce twenty clips in a single run.
- Editing tools: Built-in tools add captions, text overlay, trim, resize, stitch, upscale, extend and background removal, and Kling o3 or Grok apply instruction-based edits to a finished clip.
- Replace Actor: Swaps the face in an existing video while keeping the script, timing and background, so one creative can be tested against different actors.
- API and MCP server: A public API and an MCP server at mcp.arcads.ai let Claude Desktop and other MCP clients create video ads without opening the dashboard.
Pros
- Talking-actor cost can be estimated before you generate, because the credit table lists a fixed rate per minute per actor instead of hiding it behind model choice.
- Replace Actor and Workflows make it practical to run one script across many faces, which is the hook-testing job reviewers rate Arcads highest for.
- Several third-party video and image models share one credit pool, so a team avoids separate subscriptions for each model vendor.
- Per the vendor, its actors are based on consenting, paid real people, which gives a clearer likeness-rights position than faces generated from nothing.
Cons
- Trustpilot shows 2.6 out of 5 from 182 reviews as of 2026-10-09, and recurring complaints cover charges after cancellation, slow support replies and video quality that reviewers call obviously AI.
- Starter and Creator credits reset each cycle and do not roll over, and both plans pause at the monthly limit instead of billing overage, so unused credits are lost and a heavy month stalls work.
- Scenes where a person holds, opens or demonstrates a product are the most consistent complaint in third-party reviews, and the presets built for that are billed as separate generations, so budget for retries.
- Help-center articles disagree in places: an older model guide still quotes one credit per minute, while the current credit table bills far more, so treat the credit table as the source of truth.
Data Handling
- Training-data policy
- The privacy policy (effective 2026-10-08) says data from connected Google Drive, Dropbox, Shopify and TikTok accounts is not used to train generalized AI or machine learning models. A policy for scripts and uploaded media was not found.
- Compliance
- GDPR (privacy policy; data controller FRESHR · France)
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do you pay for Arcads?
Arcads publishes no prices, so these figures come from reviewers who reached its paywall: Starter is reported at $110 a month for 8,000 credits and Creator at $220 for 16,000 credits, with Pro sold by contacting sales. Cost then depends on what you generate. Per Arcads' credit table, a talking actor takes 800 credits per minute per actor, rounded up, which at the reported Starter rate of $0.01375 a credit is about $11 for a 60-second video and about $22 for a 61-second one. Video clips from third-party models are priced per generation, from 24 credits up to 1,620 for a 1080p Seedance 2.0 clip, with a 1,080-credit surcharge when a reference video is attached.
Is Arcads free to use?
There is no permanent free plan. New accounts get a 72-hour trial with 1,000 credits and every feature unlocked, but a card is required and the Starter plan starts automatically unless you cancel inside the 72 hours. The trial credits cover a little over one minute of talking-actor video at the 800-credit rate, so write the test script before you start the clock. Image generation with Nano Banana Pro and Seedream is free up to 100 images a day and does not draw on paid credits.
What should you use instead of Arcads?
[HeyGen](/hub/tools/heygen) suits presenter-style and training videos, localization and a cheaper start. [Creatify](/hub/tools/creatify) targets e-commerce sellers who want a steady supply of short ad creative at a lower entry price. [Higgsfield](/hub/tools/higgsfield) fits teams that make short social clips every week and want many video models under one account. [Synthesia](/hub/tools/synthesia) is the better choice for corporate training and internal communication than for paid social.
Is Arcads better than HeyGen?
It depends on the job. Arcads is built around UGC-style talking actors for paid social hook tests and bundles third-party video models into the same credit pool, while HeyGen is built around presenter avatars and offers a watermarked free plan, so HeyGen is cheaper to trial. Choose Arcads when you need many short variants of one script across different faces, and choose HeyGen for long presenter videos or heavy localization.
How long does it take to get going with Arcads?
Sign-up to first render is a short flow: create an account at app.arcads.ai, add a product image or pick an actor, paste a script and choose a talking-actor model. Arcads does not publish render times, so time your first video during the trial rather than trusting a figure. If you do not want the paid plan, open Settings, then Subscription and Billing, and click Cancel subscription before the trial ends, because cancelling during the trial cuts access immediately.
Top Alternatives
- HeyGen: Pick HeyGen if a free plan, long presenter videos or heavy localization matter most; pick Arcads for many short UGC-style hook variants.
- Creatify: Pick Creatify if you sell physical products and want ad creative at a lower entry price; Arcads fits better when the ad is a person talking to camera.
- Higgsfield: Pick Higgsfield if you want many video models and templates at a low entry price for short clips; pick Arcads when a consistent AI actor should read your script.
- Synthesia: Pick Synthesia if the video is corporate training or internal communication; pick Arcads when the video is a paid social ad.