Prices checked October 2026
Arcads vs Icon
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 |
| Icon | The Agency6 human UGC ads (2 creators x 3 ads), 3-day trial, then $1,000 | $1000 | 6 | $166.67 |
"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, Icon pricing page.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Arcads | Icon |
|---|---|---|
| Portrait 9:16 video ads | ✓ | — |
| Learns brand from URL | — | — |
| Competitor + Reddit research | — | Partial |
| Multiple ad formats (16) | — | Format library |
| AI creators that post daily | — | — |
| Reels / TikTok / Shorts scheduler | — | — |
| Launches Meta ads | — | Partial |
| Winner / loser learning loop | — | — |
| API + MCP | ✓ | Volume deals |
| Free trial without card | Limited | 3 days, then billed |
| Photoreal AI actor library | ✓ | — |
| Your own face in ads | Actors+ plan | — |
| 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 Icon if you want: Real human creators with usage rights and raw footage; Unlimited revisions and a money-back guarantee; Ad software for review, launch and analysis.
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 Icon. More head-to-heads: Arcads vs Creatify, Arcads vs MakeUGC, Arcads vs Superscale, Arcads vs ReelFarm, Arcads vs Tagshop AI, Creatify vs Icon, Icon vs MakeUGC, Icon vs Superscale, Icon vs ReelFarm, Icon vs Tagshop AI, 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).
- Icon: official pricing page, checked October 2026.
- Addy pricing: our own plans, updated whenever prices change.
Questions
+Is Arcads or Icon cheaper?
Arcads, on list prices checked October 2026: about $11.00 per video ad on its best-value plan versus about $166.67 on Icon. Check what each counts as one video before comparing; some tools count statics or slideshows.
+What is the main difference between Arcads and Icon?
Arcads: AI actors reading your script for UGC-style ads. Icon: Human UGC ad agency with its own ad software (no AI actors).
+Is there an alternative to both Arcads and Icon?
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.