---
title: "The Arcads alternative built for AI agents."
url: "https://riffads.com/alternatives/arcads"
description: "Looking for an Arcads alternative? See Arcads pricing as reported, cost per ad, trial, credit rollover, refunds, API and MCP, next to RiffAds."
updated: "2026-09-28"
source: "RiffAds"
---

# The Arcads alternative built for AI agents.

RiffAds is an Arcads alternative for AI UGC video ads with published prices and credits that never expire. Make ads in the studio, or let your AI agent make them through API, MCP, Agent Skills and CLI, inside spend limits you set.

## Is RiffAds a good Arcads alternative?

RiffAds is a good Arcads alternative if you want published prices, credits that never expire and an AI agent you can cap. It bills talking actor video by the second and includes API, MCP, Agent Skills and CLI on every plan. Arcads fits better if you need its 1,000+ actor library, a refund policy or competitor ad tracking.

### Choose RiffAds if

- You want to see prices before you sign up. Plans start at $49 a month.
- You want credits that never expire while your account exists, even after you cancel.
- Your AI agent makes the ads, and you want to cap what it spends per job, per day and per API key.
- You make short ads and want to pay by the second, in any of 74 voice languages.

### Choose Arcads if

- You want the bigger actor library: more than 1,000 AI actors.
- You want a refund policy. RiffAds gives no refunds.
- You want to track competitor ads from the Meta Ad Library.
- You want to translate finished videos, or want a tool that aims to host your data in the EU.

## RiffAds vs Arcads at a glance.

Each Arcads cell links the Arcads page, or the report, it was read from.

| Feature | RiffAds | Arcads |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Prices on the website | Yes. Every plan, and the credit price of the main models, is on the pricing page. | No. arcads.ai/pricing returned a 404 when we checked. ([Arcads](https://www.arcads.ai/pricing)) |
| Entry price | $49 a month (Launch, 4,500 credits). | Not published. eesel reported Starter at $110 a month and Creator at $220 a month, in a report dated June 17, 2026. ([eesel](https://www.eesel.ai/blog/arcads-ai-pricing)) |
| Credits a month | 4,500, 9,500 and 30,500 (Launch, Growth and Scale). 1 credit is $0.01. | 8,000 on Starter and 16,000 on Creator. Higher tiers are custom. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13230774-how-to-buy-more-credits)) |
| Unused credits roll over | Yes, on every plan, with no cap. Credits never expire while your account exists, even after you cancel. | Not on Starter or Creator: credits reset each cycle. Pro, Scale and Business roll over while you stay subscribed. If you cancel or downgrade, unused credits are not refunded or carried forward. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13230774-how-to-buy-more-credits), [Arcads](https://www.arcads.ai/terms)) |
| At the monthly limit | Your account is not blocked. A job your balance cannot cover is refused before it runs, and you can top up in the app on any plan. | Starter and Creator: the account is temporarily blocked. Pro, Scale and Business: not blocked, and extra use is billed per credit. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13230774-how-to-buy-more-credits)) |
| Refunds | No. All payments are final. A job that fails gives its held credits back. | Yes, in set cases: a full refund for a billing period with zero credits used (ask within 30 days), and a one-time refund within 24 hours of your first charge. It may give credits back when a generation fails because of a platform issue. Not for output quality alone. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13264397-arcads-refund-policy)) |
| Trial | Growth for $1 for 3 days, with 500 credits. Then $99 a month unless you cancel. | A 3-day trial. If you do not cancel within 72 hours, your card is charged for Starter. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13264397-arcads-refund-policy), [Arcads](https://www.arcads.ai/)) |
| Languages | 74 voice languages for text to speech. | Translation in more than 30 languages, per its home page. ([Arcads](https://www.arcads.ai/)) |
| AI actors | An AI actor library (the full library from Growth up), plus your own actors made from a description or a photo. | More than 1,000 AI actors, plus custom actors. ([Arcads](https://www.arcads.ai/)) |
| Talking actor models | MiniMax H3 Max Lip Sync, MiniMax H3 Max Lip Sync 1080p, OmniHuman 1.5 and Seedance 2.5 Actor. | Arcads 1.0, Audio-Driven and OmniHuman 1.5. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13725589-how-are-credits-counted)) |
| Video and image models | Video: Veo 3.1, Kling 3, Seedance 2.5, Omni Flash and MiniMax H3 Max. Image: Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2, GPT Image 2.5, GPT Image 2, Seedream 5, Seedream 4.5 and Grok Image. | Video: Veo 3.1, Kling, Sora 2, Seedance, Grok Video and more. Image: GPT Image, Nano Banana, Seedream and Grok Image. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/15503340-everything-you-can-do-on-arcads-complete-platform-guide)) |
| Custom voices | Clone or design a voice in the app, on every plan. | Custom voices and ElevenLabs voice import are on Pro only. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13250377-what-languages-are-supported-by-arcads)) |
| REST API | Yes, on every plan, at the same credit prices as the studio. | Yes. Its docs do not say which plans include it. One reviewer on Trustpilot says it is only on the highest paid tier. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/10538922-arcads-ai-api-documentation), [Trustpilot](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/arcads.ai?stars=1)) |
| MCP server | Yes, at https://mcp.riffads.com, on every plan. | Yes, at mcp.arcads.ai. It needs an active subscription with credits left. ([Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/15655699-arcads-mcp)) |
| Agent Skills and CLI | Yes, both, on every plan. | A skills plugin on GitHub, with skills to clone a hook, clone a static ad and find competitor ads. ([GitHub](https://github.com/arcads-ai/skills)) |
| Agent spend limits a person sets | Yes: per job (600 credits by default), per day (2,000 by default) and per API key. Every agent call also names the most it may spend. | Not documented. Its API reports what MCP spent this period, but we found no spend cap in its MCP guide or API spec. ([Arcads](https://external-api.arcads.ai/docs-json), [Arcads help center](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/15655699-arcads-mcp)) |
| Posts ads to social accounts | No. You get a download link to the finished file. | Not that we found. Its Terms say its TikTok link is read-only and cannot publish. ([Arcads](https://www.arcads.ai/terms)) |

RiffAds prices: [RiffAds pricing](https://riffads.com/pricing). RiffAds refund policy: [Refund policy](https://riffads.com/refund-policy).

### Sources, checked on September 25, 2026

1. [Arcads: arcads.ai/pricing (returns 404)](https://www.arcads.ai/pricing), checked September 25, 2026
2. [eesel: Arcads AI pricing](https://www.eesel.ai/blog/arcads-ai-pricing), published June 17, 2026
3. [Arcads help center: How to buy more credits](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13230774-how-to-buy-more-credits), updated July 30, 2026
4. [Arcads: Terms and Conditions](https://www.arcads.ai/terms), in force September 22, 2026
5. [Arcads help center: Arcads refund policy](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13264397-arcads-refund-policy), updated September 16, 2026
6. [Arcads: Home page](https://www.arcads.ai/), checked September 25, 2026
7. [Arcads help center: How are credits counted](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13725589-how-are-credits-counted), updated April 29, 2026
8. [Arcads help center: Everything you can do on Arcads](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/15503340-everything-you-can-do-on-arcads-complete-platform-guide), updated September 23, 2026
9. [Arcads help center: What languages are supported by Arcads](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13250377-what-languages-are-supported-by-arcads), updated July 2, 2026
10. [Arcads help center: Arcads API documentation](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/10538922-arcads-ai-api-documentation), updated April 16, 2026
11. [Trustpilot: Arcads reviews (review of June 18, 2026)](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/arcads.ai?stars=1), checked September 25, 2026
12. [Arcads help center: Arcads MCP](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/15655699-arcads-mcp), updated June 26, 2026
13. [GitHub: arcads-ai/skills](https://github.com/arcads-ai/skills), created June 9, 2026
14. [Arcads: External API spec (OpenAPI)](https://external-api.arcads.ai/docs-json), checked September 25, 2026

## Arcads pricing vs RiffAds: what one ad costs.

RiffAds prices every job in credits worth $0.01 each. A talking actor video bills by the second, and its voice by the length of the script. Arcads bills a talking actor by the minute, and rounds every video up to a whole minute. So which one costs less depends on how long your ad is.

- **848 credits**: A 30 second RiffAds talking actor ad on OmniHuman 1.5, voice included. That is $8.48 at $0.01 a credit.
- **800 credits**: An Arcads talking actor, per minute and per actor, with the length always rounded up. ([Arcads help center: How are credits counted](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13725589-how-are-credits-counted), updated April 29, 2026)
- **8,000 credits**: The Arcads Starter plan's credits for one month. ([Arcads help center: How to buy more credits](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13230774-how-to-buy-more-credits), updated July 30, 2026)
- **$110 a month**: Arcads Starter, as eesel reported it from the in-app paywall. Arcads does not publish it. ([eesel: Arcads AI pricing](https://www.eesel.ai/blog/arcads-ai-pricing), published June 17, 2026)

### One ad, one actor, on each entry plan

| Ad length | RiffAds credits | RiffAds on Launch | Arcads credits | Arcads on Starter (our estimate) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 15 seconds | 424 | $4.62 | 800 | $11.00 |
| 30 seconds | 848 | $9.23 | 800 | $11.00 |
| 45 seconds | 1,272 | $13.85 | 800 | $11.00 |

How we did the math: each dollar figure is the ad's credits times the plan's monthly price, divided by the plan's monthly credits. RiffAds Launch is $49 for 4,500 credits, so a credit there costs a little more than $0.01, and the RiffAds rows are priced on OmniHuman 1.5, voice included. For Arcads we use eesel's reported $110 for the 8,000 Starter credits from Arcads' own help center.

In our estimate, RiffAds costs less at 15 seconds, RiffAds costs less at 30 seconds and Arcads costs less at 45 seconds.

The Arcads dollar column is our estimate, not an Arcads price. Arcads does not publish prices, so the price you see after sign-up may differ. A credit is also not the same size on the two sites, which is why we compare dollars, not credits.

## Where Arcads is ahead.

A fair comparison says where the other tool is better. These are the places we would pick Arcads.

- **A bigger actor library**: More than 1,000 AI actors, plus custom actors you make yourself. ([Arcads: Home page](https://www.arcads.ai/), checked September 25, 2026)
- **A written refund policy**: A full refund for a billing period with zero credits used, a one-time refund within 24 hours of your first charge, and it may give credits back when a generation fails because of a platform issue. RiffAds gives no refunds. ([Arcads help center: Arcads refund policy](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13264397-arcads-refund-policy), updated September 16, 2026)
- **Competitor ad tracking**: API endpoints and a skill that find and download competitor ads from the Meta Ad Library. ([Arcads: External API spec (OpenAPI)](https://external-api.arcads.ai/docs-json), checked September 25, 2026; [GitHub: arcads-ai/skills](https://github.com/arcads-ai/skills), created June 9, 2026)
- **Free daily images**: 100 free images a day on Nano Banana Pro and on a Seedream model, without using paid credits. ([Arcads help center: How are credits counted](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13725589-how-are-credits-counted), updated April 29, 2026)
- **EU hosting**: Its Terms say it uses its best efforts to host the platform and your data on servers in the European Union. ([Arcads: Terms and Conditions](https://www.arcads.ai/terms), in force September 22, 2026)
- **Rollover on higher tiers**: On Pro, Scale and Business, unused credits roll over while you stay subscribed, and use past the limit is billed instead of blocked. ([Arcads help center: How to buy more credits](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13230774-how-to-buy-more-credits), updated July 30, 2026)
- **More video tools**: Sora 2 and Grok Video models, video translation with lip sync, and a tool that replaces the actor in a video. ([Arcads help center: Everything you can do on Arcads](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/15503340-everything-you-can-do-on-arcads-complete-platform-guide), updated September 23, 2026; [Arcads help center: How are credits counted](https://intercom.help/arcads/en/articles/13725589-how-are-credits-counted), updated April 29, 2026)

## Arcads alternatives: Creatify, HeyGen and more.

Starting prices and agent access, read from each tool's own pages on September 25, 2026.

| Tool | Starting price | REST API | MCP server | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| RiffAds | $49 a month (Launch, 4,500 credits) | Yes, on every plan, same credits | Yes, on every plan | [RiffAds pricing](https://riffads.com/pricing) |
| [MakeUGC](https://www.makeugc.ai) | $59 a month (Startup, 500 credits), with a start for $1 offer | Separate API plans from $99 a month | None listed | [MakeUGC Pricing](https://www.makeugc.ai/pricing) |
| [Creatify](https://creatify.ai) | Free plan (10 credits, watermark). Starter $39 a month | API plans from $99 a month | Yes, on Pro ($99 a month) | [Creatify Pricing](https://creatify.ai/pricing), [Creatify API billing](https://docs.creatify.ai/billing) |
| [HeyGen](https://www.heygen.com) | Free plan (up to 3 videos a month). Creator $29 a month | Yes, billed on separate API plans | Yes, on all plans, uses plan credits | [HeyGen Pricing](https://www.heygen.com/pricing), [HeyGen MCP overview](https://developers.heygen.com/mcp/overview), [HeyGen Developer llms.txt](https://developers.heygen.com/llms.txt) |
| [Topview](https://www.topview.ai) | Pro $29 a month, or $16 a month billed yearly | Yes, on Pro and Business | Yes | [Topview Pricing](https://www.topview.ai/pricing) |
| [Hedra](https://www.hedra.com) | Free plan. Basic $20 a month (2,000 credits) | Yes (API v3) | Yes, plus a CLI | [Hedra Pricing](https://www.hedra.com/pricing), [Hedra llms.txt](https://www.hedra.com/llms.txt) |
| [Synthesia](https://www.synthesia.io) | API access starts on Creator: $89 a month, or $64 a month billed yearly | Yes, from Creator | Yes, in public beta | [Synthesia Pricing](https://www.synthesia.io/pricing), [Synthesia MCP docs](https://docs.synthesia.io/reference/synthesia-mcp.md) |

## How to switch from Arcads.

Three steps. Your scripts come with you, and your actors are made again.

1. **Bring your scripts**: Paste each script, up to 1,500 characters, and pick a voice in any of 74 languages. Have a voice-over already? Upload it, and an audio-driven actor lip-syncs to it.
2. **Recreate your actor**: There is no import from Arcads, so make the actor again: describe the person in words, or start from a photo. Only use a photo of a real person with their written consent. The actor stays in your library for every ad.
3. **Connect your agent or API key**: Add the RiffAds MCP server URL to Claude or ChatGPT as a custom connector, or to Cursor or VS Code as an MCP server. Or create an API key in the app. Then set how much your agent may spend.

MCP server URL: `https://mcp.riffads.com`

- [How to connect your agent](https://riffads.com/connect)
- [Create an API key](https://app.riffads.com/api-keys)
- [Set your agent limits](https://app.riffads.com/connections)

## Arcads alternative, answered.

### Is there a cheaper alternative to Arcads?

For short ads, yes. Arcads does not publish prices, and eesel reported its Starter plan at $110 a month. RiffAds starts at $49 a month and bills talking actor video by the second, so short ads cost less in our estimate. Arcads bills each started minute, so ads close to a minute long can cost less there. HeyGen and Topview have $29 plans, and Hedra Basic is $20.

### Does Arcads have a free trial?

Yes. Arcads' refund policy, updated September 16, 2026, describes a 3-day trial, and its home page says "Free trial available". If you do not cancel within 72 hours, your card is charged for the Starter plan. RiffAds offers Growth for $1 for 3 days, with 500 credits. Then $99 a month unless you cancel.

### How much is Arcads?

Arcads does not publish prices, and arcads.ai/pricing returned a 404 when we checked. In a report dated June 17, 2026, eesel put Starter at $110 a month and Creator at $220 a month, read from the in-app paywall. Arcads' help center lists 8,000 credits a month on Starter and 16,000 on Creator, and a talking actor uses 800 credits per started minute.

### Does Arcads have an API or an MCP server?

Yes, both. Arcads has a public REST API, a hosted MCP server at mcp.arcads.ai and a skills plugin on GitHub. Its docs do not say which plans include the API. RiffAds includes API, MCP, Agent Skills and CLI on every plan, at the same credit prices as the studio.

### Do Arcads credits roll over?

Not on Starter or Creator. Arcads' help center says those credits reset each cycle, and usage pauses at the monthly limit. On Pro, Scale and Business, unused credits roll over while you stay subscribed. Its Terms say unused credits are not refunded or carried forward if you cancel or downgrade. RiffAds credits roll over on every plan and never expire while your account exists.

### Does RiffAds offer refunds?

No. All RiffAds payments are final, including the $1 offer and every renewal. Credits never expire while your account exists, even after you cancel, and a job that fails gives its held credits back. Arcads does have a written refund policy, so weigh that if refunds matter to you.

### What is the main difference between RiffAds and Arcads?

Both make AI UGC video ads with talking actors, and both have an API and an MCP server. RiffAds publishes its prices, bills talking actor video by the second, has credits that never expire, and lets a person cap what an AI agent spends. Arcads has a bigger actor library, a refund policy and competitor ad tracking, and aims to host data in the EU.

### Can I move my Arcads scripts and actors to RiffAds?

Your scripts, yes: paste each one, up to 1,500 characters, or upload a voice-over you already have. There is no import from Arcads for actors, so make yours again from a description or a photo. Only use a photo of a real person with their written consent.

## Try RiffAds

- [Try Growth for $1](https://app.riffads.com/sign-up?redirect=%2Fpricing%3Fplan%3Dgrowth%26interval%3Dmonth)
- [See every plan and price](https://riffads.com/pricing)
- [Connect your AI agent](https://riffads.com/connect)

_Arcads is a trademark of its owner. RiffAds is not affiliated with Arcads. This page compares public information checked on September 25, 2026. If something here has changed, write to hello@riffads.com and we will check it._