Prices checked October 2026
Arcads vs Captions
Two AI ad tools people compare before they buy. Here is what one video ad costs on each, what each does well, and who should pick which.
Price per video ad
Monthly list prices. One finished video ad is the unit.
| Product | Plan | Monthly | Video ads / mo | $ per video ad |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arcads | Starter~10 videos, reported | $110 | 10 | $11.00 |
| Arcads | Creator~20 videos, reported | $220 | 20 | $11.00 |
| Captions | Max500 credits; AI Ads costs 1 credit per second, so 15 credits per 15-second ad. Credits are shared with all AI features | $24.99 | 33 | $0.76 |
| Captions | Frontier1,400 credits at 15 credits per 15-second AI ad | $69.99 | 93 | $0.75 |
| Captions | Frontier 2x2,800 credits at 15 credits per 15-second AI ad | $139.99 | 186 | $0.75 |
"Video ads / mo" is the vendor's stated video count, or monthly credits divided by the cost of one video. Sources: Arcads third-party reports, Captions pricing page.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Arcads | Captions |
|---|---|---|
| Portrait 9:16 video ads | ✓ | ✓ |
| Learns brand from URL | — | Product URL to ad |
| Competitor + Reddit research | — | — |
| Multiple ad formats (16) | — | Partial |
| AI creators that post daily | — | — |
| Reels / TikTok / Shorts scheduler | — | — |
| Launches Meta ads | — | — |
| Winner / loser learning loop | — | — |
| API + MCP | ✓ | — |
| Free trial without card | Limited | Free plan, one-time credits |
| Photoreal AI actor library | ✓ | ✓ |
| Your own face in ads | Actors+ plan | AI Twin |
| Remix any winning ad from a link | — | — |
| Never trains on your data | — | — |
Which should you pick?
Pick Arcads if you want: Very realistic cloned actors; Simple script-to-video flow; Strong for performance marketers.
Pick Captions if you want: About 75¢ per 15-second AI ad on Max; Paste a product URL and get a UGC-style ad; Strong mobile editor with an AI Twin of yourself.
Arcads is an actor tool, not an agency. It makes a very good talking-head ad if you bring the script, the plan and the posting. Addy makes the script, the plan and the post, and 15-second ads start at 99¢ instead of about $11. Addy now ships its own photoreal actor library, lets you use your own face and can remix a winning ad from a link, which Arcads does not. If you only need actors and have a team for everything else, Arcads is still a fine pick.
Prefer ads made and posted for you? See Addy vs Arcads and Addy vs Captions. More head-to-heads: Arcads vs Creatify, Arcads vs Icon, Arcads vs MakeUGC, Arcads vs Superscale, Arcads vs ReelFarm, Arcads vs Tagshop AI, Arcads vs HeyGen, Arcads vs Topview, Arcads vs Zeely, Arcads vs Billo, Creatify vs Captions, Icon vs Captions, MakeUGC vs Captions, Superscale vs Captions, ReelFarm vs Captions, Tagshop AI vs Captions, HeyGen vs Captions, Captions vs Topview, Captions vs Zeely, Captions vs Billo, or the 2026 pricing guide.
How we compared
- Prices are each vendor's public monthly list price in US dollars, last checked October 26, 2026. Yearly-billing discounts are noted next to the plan where the vendor publishes them.
- Cost per video ad is the monthly price divided by how many short portrait video ads the plan buys. When a vendor sells credits or minutes, we convert at its published rate; when it publishes no rate, we use third-party reports and label the figure as reported.
- Features come from each vendor's own site and docs. A dash means we could not confirm a feature, not that it is missing.
- Addy is our product. To keep that from tilting the page, tools are listed alphabetically, Addy is scored on the same criteria, and its limits are published on the facts page.
- Something out of date? Tell us on the contact page and we will correct the page and its date.
Sources
- Arcads: third-party pricing reports, checked October 2026 (third-party report; vendor pricing page returned 404).
- Captions: official pricing page, checked October 2026 (vendor pricing page shows iOS prices; AI Ads rate from Captions help docs).
- Addy pricing: our own plans, updated whenever prices change.
Questions
+Is Arcads or Captions cheaper?
Captions, on list prices checked October 2026: about $0.75 per video ad on its best-value plan versus about $11.00 on Arcads. Check what each counts as one video before comparing; some tools count statics or slideshows.
+What is the main difference between Arcads and Captions?
Arcads: AI actors reading your script for UGC-style ads. Captions: AI video editor with AI creators, AI Twin and a product-URL-to-ad tool (AI Ads).
+Is there an alternative to both Arcads and Captions?
Addy learns your brand from your website, writes hooks you approve, renders 15-second portrait video ads from 99¢ and posts them to Reels, TikTok and Shorts. The first ad is free, no card.
+Where do these numbers come from?
Each vendor's own pricing page or, where a vendor does not publish one, third-party reports, checked October 2026. Email hello@use-addy.site if something is out of date.