Arcads AI pricing runs three published tiers: Starter at $110 a month for 8,000 credits, Creator at $220 for 16,000 credits and Pro at $550 for 40,000 credits. A talking-actor video costs 800 credits per minute per actor, so one finished single-actor ad is about $11 at list price and $7.70 on the 30% monthly discount Arcads runs for new accounts. There is no free plan, no free trial, and no public pricing page - the numbers only appear after you create an account. This guide lays out every figure, the credit math the vendor does not show, and what the same budget buys in Pixair AI.
How Much Does Arcads AI Cost Per Month?
Arcads sells credits, not videos. Every plan is a monthly credit bucket and the price per credit is the same on all three tiers: $0.01375 at list. Moving up a plan buys more credits, not cheaper ones - volume does not lower the rate.
| Plan | List price | 30% promo | Annual (20% off) | Credits | Single-actor videos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $110 / mo | $77 / mo | $88 / mo ($1,056 / yr) | 8,000 | 10 (9 with captions) |
| Creator | $220 / mo | $154 / mo | $176 / mo ($2,112 / yr) | 16,000 | 20 (18 with captions) |
| Pro | $550 / mo | $385 / mo | $440 / mo ($5,280 / yr) | 40,000 | 50 (45 with captions) |
Two things about the discounts. The 30% monthly promo has been running long enough that third-party trackers treat it as the standing price, and it is a better deal than the annual plan - 30% off month to month beats 20% off with a twelve-month lock-in. If you see a “limited time” banner at signup, do not let it push you into the annual commitment. Pro is also the only tier with API access, cloned actors and team seats, so the jump from $220 to $550 is about features as much as credits.
Arcads does not publish any of this. The /pricing URL on arcads.ai returns a 404, and the plan picker is only shown after account creation. Every number here is cross-checked against three independent pricing breakdowns published between July and August 2026, which is why the Arcads alternative comparison on this site quotes the same figures.
How Do Arcads Credits Work?
The unit that matters is the actor-minute. A talking-actor render bills 800 credits per minute of output, per actor in the scene. Captions are a separate line at 80 credits per video and are gated to Creator and above. Actor replacement on an existing clip is another 800 credits, and upscaling bills 80 credits per 10 seconds. Other models inside the same credit wallet have their own rates - a cinematic B-roll model runs about 800 credits a clip, and the cheaper motion models land anywhere from 96 to 1,620 credits depending on length and resolution.
The catch is rounding. Third-party breakdowns report that talking-actor billing rounds up to the next full minute, so a 15-second hook and a 60-second explainer both cost 800 credits. Since most UGC ads that perform on Meta and TikTok run 15 to 30 seconds, you are paying for 30 to 45 seconds of video you never render. Credits on Starter and Creator reset monthly with no rollover, and there is no overage option below Pro - the account simply stops generating when the bucket is empty.
What Does One Arcads Video Actually Cost?
Applying the credit rules above to the ads people actually make gives a cost sheet Arcads never shows. List price is $0.01375 per credit; the promo column is the same math at 30% off.
| Finished ad | Credits | List | 30% promo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15-second hook, 1 actor, no captions | 800 | $11.00 | $7.70 |
| 30-second ad, 1 actor, captions | 880 | $12.10 | $8.47 |
| 60-second ad, 1 actor, captions | 880 | $12.10 | $8.47 |
| 60-second ad, 2 actors, captions | 1,680 | $23.10 | $16.17 |
| 90-second ad, 1 actor, captions | 1,680 | $23.10 | $16.17 |
| One hook, regenerated once for a wording change | 1,760 | $24.20 | $16.94 |
| 10 hook variants, 15 seconds each, 1 actor | 8,000 | $110.00 | $77.00 |
The last row is the one to sit with. Creative testing on Meta means launching several hooks against the same body and letting the auction pick a winner - a ten-hook test is a normal Monday for a DTC brand. On Arcads that single test consumes the entire Starter month. The second-to-last row is the other trap: change one word of a hook and the whole clip re-renders at full price, because a credit buys a render, not an edit. The AI ad testing workflow that makes UGC ads pay off is exactly the workflow Arcads pricing punishes.
Is There an Arcads Free Trial?
No. Arcads has no free plan and no free trial for video generation. The only way to render a talking-actor ad is to subscribe, which makes the Starter plan at $110 ($77 on promo) the real entry price. Some breakdowns mention a daily allowance of free still images from the image models inside the app, but those do not touch the actor pipeline and do not let you judge the output you are paying for.
The refund policy is the closest thing to a trial: a full refund is available on the first charge only if zero credits have been used, with a 24-hour change-of-mind window reported by several sources. Once one video has rendered, the subscription is non-refundable regardless of how the clip turned out, and unused credits are forfeited on cancellation. Failed generations restore credits, not money. In practice, the first thing you learn about Arcads quality costs $77 to $110.
What Are the Hidden Costs in Arcads Pricing?
Minute rounding on short ads
A 15-second hook bills the same 800 credits as a full minute. For the short-form lengths that win on TikTok and Reels, the effective rate is $44 per rendered minute, not $11.
Per-actor multiplication
A two-person conversation doubles the render cost to 1,600 credits a minute. Duet-style and reaction formats cost $22 to $23 per ad before captions.
Captions gated and metered
Burned-in captions cost 80 credits per video and are not available on Starter. Since most feed video is watched muted, Starter output usually needs a second tool before it can run.
No rollover, no overage
Unused Starter and Creator credits expire at the end of the cycle. Run out mid-month and the only path is upgrading a full tier - $110 more for Creator, $330 more for Pro.
Product-in-hand is a separate workflow
The actor talks about your product; getting the actual packaging on screen with its real label means a prop workflow on top. For supplements, skincare and beverages, that is the entire ad.
Arcads Pricing vs Pixair AI
Pixair prices video by the second and by resolution instead of by the rounded minute, and starts from the product photo rather than a script. A 10-second UGC clip at 720p is 70 credits - $3.15 on an annual plan, with the product in the actor's hand from frame one. Static ads and campaign sets come out of the same credit wallet.
Arcads
Script to AI actor, credits per actor-minute
Pixair AI
Arcads
Script to AI actor, credits per actor-minute
Pixair AI
Cheapest paid plan
$110 / month ($77 promo)
$7 / month
Free before paying
None
30 credits, no card, no expiry
10-second UGC clip
$11.00 (billed as a minute)
$3.15 at 720p
30-second UGC clip
$12.10 with captions
$9.45 at 720p
Longest single clip
120 seconds
40 seconds
Draft render for hook tests
Full price
$0.90 at 360p
Static ad creative
Not offered
$0.18 per ad
Custom actor
Pro tier only ($550)
6 credits, any plan
Pricing page
Hidden until signup
Public, on the homepage
The honest read: Arcads is cheap per minute and expensive per ad. If you genuinely need 60 to 120 second talking-head videos and nothing else, its per-minute rate is competitive. For 10 to 30 second performance creative, tested in batches, with the product visible, the per-ad cost is three to four times higher than it needs to be.
What Does the Same Budget Buy on Pixair?
Prices are monthly / annual. Draft clips are 10 seconds at 360p (20 credits) for checking a script and hook before spending on the real render; standard clips are 10 seconds at 720p (70 credits); static ads are 4 credits each. The Pro plan has a credit slider up to 4x.
| Pixair plan | Price | Credits / mo | Draft clips | 720p clips | Static ads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $7 / $5 | 100 | 5 | 1 | 25 |
| Pro | $24 / $18 | 400 | 20 | 5 | 100 |
| Business | $59 / $45 | 1,000 | 50 | 14 | 250 |
| Pro x4 (slider) | $96 / $72 | 1,600 | 80 | 22 | 400 |
Put the ten-hook test through this table. Ten drafts at 360p cost 200 credits ($9), the two winners re-rendered at 720p cost 140 credits ($6.30), and the whole test lands at $15.30 - inside the $18 Pro plan with credits left for a batch of statics. The same test on Arcads is $110 and the account is empty until next month. Business at $45 covers the number of finished 720p clips Arcads Starter delivers for $110, and adds 250 static creatives Arcads does not make at any price.
Benefit Burst
Clinical Mono
Pour Shot
Real Results
Static ad presets from the same credit wallet - 4 credits each, a format Arcads has no equivalent for.
Is Arcads Worth It at $11 a Video?
It depends on the length of ad you ship. Arcads is a reasonable buy for teams producing long talking-head content - 60-second explainers, founder-style monologues, multilingual voiceover versions of one script - where a full minute of render is actually used and the actor library is the main draw. Creator at $154 on promo for 18 captioned minute-long videos is a fair rate for that job.
It is a poor buy for performance creative. Short hooks, batch testing, product-in-hand shots and static companions are all either billed at the full-minute rate or not offered. If that describes your ad account, the UGC ad creatives workflow in Pixair covers the same format at a per-ad cost that makes testing affordable, and the MakeUGC and Creatify breakdowns cover the two other AI-actor tools people compare against Arcads. For choosing between them on testing velocity rather than price alone, see ad creative testing tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Arcads lists three plans: Starter at $110 a month for 8,000 credits, Creator at $220 for 16,000 credits and Pro at $550 for 40,000 credits. A standing 30% monthly promotion brings those to $77, $154 and $385, and annual billing takes 20% off list for $88, $176 and $440 a month. Prices are only visible after creating an account.
No. Arcads has no free plan and no free trial for talking-actor videos, so the first rendered ad requires the Starter subscription at $110 ($77 on promo). A refund is only possible on the first charge if zero credits were used. Pixair AI is the nearest free entry point in the category, with 30 credits that need no card and never expire - enough for a 10-second draft UGC clip plus two static ads.
A single-actor video bills 800 credits per minute, which is $11.00 at the list rate of $0.01375 per credit or $7.70 on the 30% promo. Captions add 80 credits ($1.10), a second actor doubles the render to 1,600 credits ($22), and billing rounds up to the next full minute, so a 15-second hook costs the same as a 60-second ad.
Not on Starter or Creator - unused credits reset at the end of each monthly cycle and are forfeited on cancellation. Only the Pro plan at $550 accumulates unused credits within a billing period. There is no pay-as-you-go overage below Pro, so an account that runs out mid-month stops generating until the next cycle or an upgrade.
Pixair AI starts at $7 a month for 100 credits and $24 ($18 annual) for 400 credits, with 10-second UGC clips at 70 credits - $3.15 on an annual plan against $11 on Arcads. Static ad creatives cost 4 credits ($0.18) and custom actors 6 credits on every plan, where Arcads gates cloned actors to its $550 tier. The trade-off is clip length: Pixair renders up to 40 seconds while Arcads reaches 120.
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