Arcads Pricing 2026: Plans, Cost Per Video, and Free Trial Explained
An honest breakdown of Arcads pricing in 2026: the real plans, cost per month, cost per video, the credit model, and API pricing, with verified July 2026 numbers. Or skip the reading: paste a product URL on the right and render a real UGC ad in minutes, free with your account.
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Arcads, which a lot of people search for as Arc Ads and often mistype as Arcards, costs $110 a month for 10 videos on Starter and $220 a month for 20 videos on Creator, with a custom-priced Pro plan that adds API access for high volume. There is no free plan and no free trial, and Arcads does not publish prices on its site, so you create an account to see them. The plans are quoted in videos, but the real meter is credits, and one credit is not one video: a talking actor burns roughly 800 credits per minute, captions add 80, so a one-minute single-actor ad costs about a tenth of the 8,000 credit Starter balance. Run 90 seconds or two actors and your ten videos become six. The catch is the same as every credit tool: each hook variant you render spends the balance, so the real cost per winning ad is higher than $11. If you need predictable UGC ad volume, also test a tool counted in finished ads instead of credits, like UGCGen at $49 a month. We put those numbers against every other tool in the AI UGC pricing comparison, and the switch itself is covered on our Arcads alternative page.
$110
Starter, 10 videos/mo
~$11
Per video, both plans
$0
Free trial offered (none)
$49
UGCGen, finished ads not credits
Arcads pricing plans, side by side
Here is what each Arcads plan includes as of July 2026. Arcads does not show prices publicly, so confirm current numbers in your account before buying. UGCGen is included as a cost-predictable comparison.
| Plan | Price | Videos / credits | Cost per video | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $110/mo | 10 videos | ~$11 | Core generator, no rollover |
| Creator | $220/mo | 20 videos | ~$11 | Priority rendering, same per-video cost |
| Pro | Custom | High volume | Negotiated | API, team, ElevenLabs voices, support |
| Free trial | None | 0 | n/a | No free plan or trial |
Comparing tools, not just Arcads? See the Arcads alternative page, the head-to-head Arcads vs Creatify comparison, or the full best AI UGC ad generator roundup.
Arcads cost per video: the sticker price is not the real cost
The headline number for Arcads is about $11 per video, but that is the cost per generation, not the cost per ad that actually performs. Good UGC ad testing means trying several hooks per product, and most of them lose. If you render four variants to find one winner, that winner effectively cost you four credits, roughly $44 on the Starter plan, not $11. At 10 videos a month, that is enough for about two real tested ads, not ten.
Credits also do not roll over on the Starter and Creator plans, so anything you do not use by the end of the month disappears. That structure rewards careful rationing, which is the opposite of fast creative testing. A model counted in finished ads, like UGCGen at $49 a month, removes the math: you know how many ads your plan makes, you keep testing hooks without burning a per-clip credit on each loser, and nothing expires. See the full breakdown on the pricing page.
How to decide if Arcads pricing fits you
Match the plan to how you actually work. The right call depends on realism needs, testing volume, and whether you need an API.
You value realism most
If the most human-looking talking-head actor is the whole creative and $110 a month is fine, Arcads earns its price. Just budget for the credit burn when you test hooks.
You test a lot of hooks
If you render many variants per product, the per-credit model adds up fast. Each loser still costs a credit, so a finished-ads model is usually cheaper per winning ad.
You need an API
API access is only on the custom Pro plan, not Starter or Creator. If you need programmatic generation, you will negotiate a quote rather than pay a published price.
You want a free test first
Arcads has no free trial, so you cannot try before paying. UGCGen lets you create an account and render UGC-style ads free, with no credit card, before you commit.
How Arcads credits work, and why 10 videos is not always 10 videos
Arcads plans are advertised in videos, but billing runs on a credit balance and different actions cost very different amounts. Starter carries about 8,000 credits, Creator 16,000, and Pro 40,000. The figures below are the per-action credit costs reported by third-party pricing trackers in July 2026, since Arcads does not publish a public pricing page. Confirm them in your own account before planning a budget around them.
| Action | Reported credit cost | Share of an 8,000 credit Starter plan |
|---|---|---|
| AI talking actor footage | About 800 per minute, per actor | A tenth of the plan for one minute with one actor |
| Captions on a video | About 80 per video | 1 percent |
| Upscaling | About 80 per 10 seconds | About 6 percent for a 60 second clip |
| Actor replacement | About 800 | A tenth of the plan |
| Veo 3.1 generation | About 800 | A tenth of the plan |
| Kling 3.0 generation | 176 to 560 depending on settings | 2 to 7 percent |
| Seedance 2.0 generation | 96 to 1,620 depending on resolution | 1 to 20 percent |
Run the arithmetic on a real ad and the headline changes. A 60 second single-actor spot with captions is roughly 880 credits, so Starter delivers about nine of those, close enough to the advertised ten. A 90 second spot with two actors talking is roughly 2,480 credits, so the same $110 buys three. That is the number to plan against, and it is why Arcads alternatives that meter in finished ads rather than seconds of render are easier to forecast. Upscaling and actor replacement are the two line items that quietly drain a balance, because both feel like edits rather than new generations.
Arcads pricing vs the main alternatives
Arcads has no free tier and a $110 entry, so several tools undercut it. Pricing verified July 2026; all change plans often, so confirm before buying.
| Tool | Entry price | Free option | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcads | $110/mo | No | Credits, ~$11/video |
| Creatify | $39/mo | Free, watermarked | Credit-based, ~20cr/video |
| HeyGen | $29/mo | Free, 3 videos/mo | Credit-based, by feature |
| UGCGen | $49/mo | Free with account, no card | Counted in finished ads |
Cheaper entry does not always mean cheaper per finished ad, since credit tools charge for discarded test variants too. Compare the real cost per winning ad, not just the headline price. Weighing the most common Arcads rivals in detail? See the full Creatify pricing breakdown, or the Zeely pricing breakdown if you are looking at a tool that takes a percentage of ad spend instead of charging per credit. All six tools sit in one table on the AI UGC pricing comparison.
Arcads pricing FAQ
How much does Arcads cost?
As of July 2026, Arcads costs $110 per month for the Starter plan with 10 videos and $220 per month for the Creator plan with 20 videos, plus a custom-priced Pro plan with API access for high volume. There is no free plan or free trial. The plans are advertised in videos, but the meter underneath is credits, and a typical single-actor ad of about a minute with captions lands near 880 credits, which is where the roughly $11 per clip figure on both Starter and Creator comes from.
How much does Arcads cost per video?
Arcads works out to about $11 per video on its published plans. Starter is $110 a month for 10 videos and Creator is $220 a month for 20 videos, so the per-video cost is the same on both, with no volume discount until you negotiate a custom Pro plan. Because every generation spends a credit, the real cost per winning ad is higher once you count the hook variants you test and discard.
Does Arcads have a free trial?
Not as a standing offer. Arcads has no free plan and no permanent free trial: you create an account to see pricing and pay from $110 a month. As of August 2026 its homepage is promoting a limited-time seven days unlimited offer on Seedance 2.5, subject to fair use terms, so check there before assuming either way, because campaigns like that appear and disappear. If you want a no-cost route that is always open, UGCGen lets you create an account and generate UGC-style ads free, with no credit card.
How do Arcads credits work?
One credit does not equal one video. Arcads plans carry a credit balance, reported at 8,000 on Starter, 16,000 on Creator and 40,000 on Pro, and each action spends a different amount: about 800 credits per minute per talking actor, 80 for captions on a video, 80 per 10 seconds of upscaling, and 800 for an actor replacement. That is why Starter is described as 10 videos: roughly 8,000 credits divided by a one-minute single-actor ad. A 90 second two-actor spot costs far more than a tenth of the plan. Credits are spent on render, not preview, and do not roll over.
What are the Arcads plans?
Arcads sells three plans. Starter is $110 a month, advertised as 10 videos and carrying about 8,000 credits. Creator is $220 a month, advertised as 20 videos with about 16,000 credits, and adds more seats and higher limits. Pro is custom priced with roughly 40,000 credits and adds API access, custom avatars, team collaboration, premium voice integration, and priority support. There is no free plan and no published pricing page, so you sign up to see the tiers.
Is Arc Ads the same as Arcads, and what does Arc Ads price out at?
They are the same product. Arcads is written as one word by the company, but a large share of people searching for it type Arc Ads with a space, and both refer to the AI actor video generator at arcads.ai. The Arc Ads price is therefore the Arcads price: $110 a month on Starter for 10 videos, $220 on Creator for 20, and a custom quote on Pro. There is no separate cheaper product under the spaced spelling. The same goes for Arcards pricing, which is simply a common misspelling of the same company and not a different tool.
How much is Arcads per month?
Arcads is $110 per month on Starter and $220 per month on Creator, billed monthly, with Pro quoted individually. Those are the only two self-serve prices, and there is no annual discount advertised on either. Because the cheapest plan is $110 and there is no free trial, Arcads has the highest entry cost of the mainstream AI UGC ad generators, where the usual band runs from free to about $50 a month.
How much does Arcads UGC cost compared to a real creator?
An Arcads clip works out to about $11 at list price, against roughly $150 and up for a hired US UGC creator video. The tradeoff is what you are buying. The creator holds your actual product, shows real texture and scale, and can shoot an unboxing or a demo. Arcads gives you a presenter delivering a script, which is enough for hook testing but not for proving a physical product works.
Does Arcads have API pricing?
Arcads offers API access on its custom-priced Pro plan, not on Starter or Creator. The Pro tier adds API access, team collaboration, premium voice integration, and priority support, and its price is negotiated rather than published. If you need programmatic generation at volume, contact Arcads for a Pro quote, since the API is not available on the standard monthly plans.
Is Arcads worth the price?
Arcads is worth it if raw talking-head realism is your top priority and you can absorb $110 a month with no free trial. It is one of the most human-looking AI actor generators, with a large actor library. It is less worth it if you test many hooks or need predictable ad volume, because the credit model means discarded variants still cost money. For high-volume UGC ad testing, a tool counted in finished ads instead of credits, like UGCGen at $49 a month, is usually more cost-predictable.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Arcads?
Yes. Arcads starts at $110 a month with no free tier, so several tools undercut it. Creatify starts free (watermarked) then about $39 a month, HeyGen has a free tier and Creator at $29 a month, and UGCGen is $49 a month counted in finished ads with a free start. The cheapest headline price is not always the cheapest per finished ad, since credit-based tools charge for discarded test variants too, so compare the real cost per winning ad.
Test the math yourself, free
Before you pay $110 a month for Arcads, run the same product through UGCGen. Paste a product URL, pick a creator, and watch a UGC-style ad render in minutes. Free to start with your account, no credit card, no per-clip credits to ration.