Arcads vs MakeUGC: Real Prices, Credits and When to Skip Both

You want a talking ad for your business, and every search lands on the same two names. Most Arcads vs MakeUGC pages are written by rival tools, and the credit math can make your head spin.

MakeUGC is the better fit of the two for most small businesses, because it shows its prices and can draft your script. Arcads suits ad teams that test many actors and will sign up before seeing a price. With both, you do the work, so for a busy owner the best option is a done-for-you ad from 30 Second Ad Factory, our own team.

We opened each company's own pricing and help pages on November 5, 2026.

Key takeaways

• MakeUGC lists $59, $79 and $149 a month, or $41, $55 and $104 a month paid quarterly. Pay for a full year and those drop to $29, $39 and $79 a month.
• Arcads shows no dollar prices on its website. It lists credits, and the price appears inside the app.
• A talking video uses about 100 credits on MakeUGC and 800 on Arcads, so credit counts can't be compared directly.
• Both tools leave the brief, the checks and the fixes to you, and Arcads' guides have you write the script too.
• A done-for-you team is the best option for a busy owner: we make and check the ad, and you approve it.

Arcads vs MakeUGC: how do the two tools compare?

Arcads and MakeUGC are AI UGC tools. UGC means user-generated content: ads that look like a regular person talking to the camera. Both do the same core job: you give them a script, and an AI actor says it on camera.

An AI actor is a presenter made by software. Arcads says its actors are based on real actors who agreed to it. The real differences are in the pricing, the trials and the help you get with the words.

Prices and credits come from each company's own pages, checked November 5, 2026. We added 30 Second Ad Factory, our own done-for-you team, so you can see a third choice.

We found no independent head-to-head test of the two, and we did not run one ourselves. Most ratings online come from companies selling a rival product.

Get a talking video ad made for your business for $97 → A real-looking presenter sells for you. We write the words and make the video. You just say yes.

How much does Arcads cost?

Arcads does not publish a dollar price on its website, so you can't know the monthly cost until you sign up. Its help page on pricing says, "Current prices are on the pricing page in the app." When we tried arcads.ai/pricing on November 5, 2026, it came back as "not found."

You will see dollar figures for Arcads on other blogs. Shhots, a rival tool, reports about $110 a month for Starter.

Arcads does not post that number, so treat it as a rough guide until you see the price in the app. At $110, a talking video would cost about $11.

What Arcads does publish is credits. A credit is a token the tool spends each time it makes something. Its FAQ gives Starter 8,000 credits a month and Creator 16,000, and an Arcads 1.0 talking video uses 800 credits for up to 2 minutes.

That works out to about 10 talking videos a month on Starter and about 20 on Creator. Two other talking models, Audio-Driven and OmniHuman 1.5, use 800 credits per started minute.

Starter and Creator stop at the monthly limit, so you upgrade or wait for your plan to renew. Their unused credits also reset each cycle, while Pro and larger plans roll them over.

Arcads' yearly billing is 20% off. Arcads also says it "tests new pricing from time to time," so your account may not match these numbers. The Generate button shows the true cost before you spend.

How much does MakeUGC cost per video?

MakeUGC costs about $11.80 per talking video on its $59 Starter plan, and about $7.90 per video on its $79 Growth plan, if you pay month to month. Those per-video numbers are our math, not MakeUGC's.

We used the 100 credits a talking video costs in MakeUGC's API docs. Its pricing page says credits are shared across the studio and the API. It also says each job's cost depends on "its model, duration and resolution," so yours could differ.

The yearly price looks great, but you pay for 12 months at once. On Starter that is $348 before you know if talking ads work for your shop. For a first test, paying monthly is the safer move.

Quarterly billing sits in the middle, at $41 a month on Starter.

MakeUGC's Starter plan has limits too. It exports at 480p or 720p and makes one video at a time, while Growth adds HD, 2K and 4K. Credits refresh monthly and do not roll over, so a quiet month is money gone.

Remember that MakeUGC's per-video figures are costs per try, not per ad you keep. Say you keep one video in three. Your $11.80 video now costs about $35.40.

Here is one of our Yapper ads, with our AI presenter talking to camera in a home studio.

Want one about your business? Get your Yapper ad

How do the Arcads and MakeUGC trials work?

The Arcads trial is 72 hours with 1,000 credits and needs a card, while the MakeUGC trial costs $1 for any plan. Both turn into a paid plan unless you cancel in time.

Arcads: The FAQ says your card isn't charged during the trial, and a reminder email comes 24 hours before it ends. After 72 hours, the Starter monthly plan begins.

With 1,000 credits, you get one 800-credit talking video and 200 credits left over. If you use all 1,000 credits early, a plan screen appears. If you cancel, access ends right away.

MakeUGC: The pricing page says "Try any plan for $1," and the checkout shows the length and the renewal amount. Its trial policy refers to a "$1 / 72-hour trial" and says the credit allowance is stated at signup.

The policy also says trial videos may be watermarked or limited in quality, length or features. The $1 is not refunded and does not count toward your first payment unless signup says so.

Pro tip: Set a phone reminder for the day before your trial ends, right when you sign up. If you forget, a paid plan starts.

How do you test Arcads and MakeUGC in a trial?

You can test Arcads and MakeUGC fairly by making the same ad in both tools and timing your own work.

Step 1: Write your script before you sign up

The trial clock starts at signup, so have your words ready.

Step 2: Make the same ad in each tool

Use the same script and a similar actor, or you are no longer comparing the tools. On Arcads, 1,000 trial credits cover one talking video, so you get no retry. The 200 left will cover captions: Instagram and TikTok styles use 8 credits, Classic styles 80.

Step 3: Watch it on your phone with the sound off

Judge the ad on the kind of screen it will run on. Check that the captions are easy to read and that the first 3 seconds make sense.

Step 4: Count your minutes

Write down the time you spend on the script, the settings, the retries and the fixes.

What work do Arcads and MakeUGC leave to you?

Arcads and MakeUGC leave you to write or fix the script, pick the actor, check the video and fix what's wrong. The software makes the video, and Arcads' agent can run more of the steps, but you still brief it and check it.

Arcads' how-to guide tells you to "write it the way a creator talks."

Arcads also has an AI agent called Mark, on every plan and in the trial. Arcads says it "picks the models and tools, makes the ad, edits it and can publish it." You still give the brief and check the result, chat turns are charged by token use, and the Arcads guides we read still have you write the script.

MakeUGC goes further on the words. You can paste a script, or let AI write one from your product page, then tweak the captions, music, B-roll and trims in its editor. B-roll is the extra footage that plays over the talking.

MakeUGC says a video will "render in about two minutes." That is the machine's time, not yours, and neither company publishes how long a finished ad takes a real owner.

Say your hour is worth $50 and each ad you keep takes you 2 hours. That is $100 of your time on top of the tool. Add the $59 Starter month, and one finished ad costs you $159 in this example, well above the one-time price of our Yapper ads.

Those hours are only an example, so use your own count from the trial.

Writing is the biggest job. Here is the kind of script you would need to write, for a made-up drain company:

Hook (first 3 seconds): "If your kitchen sink is gurgling, don't ignore it."

Problem: "A slow drain usually means the clog is still growing."

Fix: "Our drain techs can come out and tell you the price before any work starts."

Next step: "Tap the link to book your time."

Notice that the presenter talks like a host, not a customer. An AI actor has never had a blocked sink, so don't write lines like "they fixed mine." For more hook ideas, see our guide to UGC video ad scripts that convert.

Do these tools fit a plumber or a dentist?

Arcads and MakeUGC can both make an ad for a local service business, but much of what you pay for is built for online brands. Arcads names "performance marketers, e-commerce brands, app and game companies" as its main users, then adds service businesses and agencies. Its home page also lists insurance, real estate agencies and law firms.

Arcads does have a guide for ads with no physical product, but it has no local-service example.

MakeUGC's home page speaks to e-commerce brands, mobile apps, agencies, SaaS companies and affiliate marketers. SaaS means software sold by subscription.

Now look at MakeUGC's features. Product in Hand has an actor hold your product, and Batch Mode makes 10 variations at once. Those are handy for a skincare brand testing lots of ads, but a dentist has nothing to hold up, and a roofer in one town doesn't need 50+ languages.

Most Arcads vs MakeUGC articles skip this point. If you want one or two good ads for a local service, you may pay each month for a lot you never touch.

Pro tip: Before you buy any plan, write down how many ads you will really use in the next 3 months. If the answer is 2, a monthly plan may be the wrong shape for you.

Watch our Yapper ads → Click any video to watch with sound.

When should you skip both tools?

Skip both tools when you don't want to write scripts, learn new software or check every video yourself. A monthly tool makes sense when someone on your team enjoys that work, and it makes less sense when that someone is you at 9 p.m.

Here is how the routes stack up. Our guide to the best way to get AI UGC ads goes deeper.

A human creator makes sense when a real person needs to hold your real product. Billo's Essential pack is $1,000 for up to 10 videos, and that price doesn't cover your product or shipping it to the creator.

Marketplace gigs on sites like Fiverr look cheap. In our view, the quality is often low and uneven, they take a lot of back and forth, and you aren't dealing with a professional marketing team.

MakeUGC also sells a managed service, where "a strategist runs production for you." It is part of Enterprise with custom pricing, so it's built for bigger teams.

Here is the Yapper ad we made to sell our own Song Ads.

Want one about your business? Get your Yapper ad

What changes when a team makes the ad for you?

When a team makes the ad, your job shrinks to two things: tell us about your business, then approve the words and the scenes. You never write a prompt, edit a video or learn an app.

With our Yapper ads, you fill in a 2-minute form and send your logo. We write the words, or use yours, and you read them and change anything. We show you a picture for each part, and you say yes or ask for changes, with 1 round of changes included.

Your 30-second ad is ready in 72 hours after you say yes. It has words on screen so it works with the sound off, your logo at the end, and a vertical size for Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

The presenter isn't a real person. She is made with AI and looks and sounds real, and real people write and check every video.

If you aren't happy within 30 days, you get a full refund. Every order comes with your own Ad Factory account, so you can order more ads.

We aren't the right fit for everyone. Our ads are English only for now, you can't pick a different presenter yet, and we make the ad but don't run it. If you need many languages, many faces or dozens of test versions, a tool like Arcads or MakeUGC will serve you better.

Here is the Yapper ad we made for our Holiday Song Club.

Want one about your business? Get your Yapper ad

Which AI UGC option is best for a small business?

The best option depends on who will do the work. Our guide to AI video tools versus an ad agency covers more tools.

• Arcads, best for: ad teams and agencies that test many actors and languages, and don't mind signing up to see the price.
• MakeUGC, best for: a hands-on owner or marketer who wants public prices, help with a first script and plenty of tests each month.
• Billo, best for: brands that want a real person on camera with a real product.
• Marketplace gig, best for: owners with spare time to brief, review and ask for fixes.
• Our Yapper ads, best for: busy owners who want a finished, checked ad and only want to approve it.

Frequently asked questions

Is Arcads or MakeUGC better for a small business?

MakeUGC is the better fit for most small businesses, because its prices are public and it can draft a script. Arcads suits ad teams that test many actors. With either tool, you still check and fix the ad, so a busy owner is better off with a done-for-you team that makes the ad for approval.

Is MakeUGC cheaper than Arcads?

Nobody can say for sure from public pages, because Arcads shows its dollar prices only inside the app. MakeUGC starts at $59 a month, or about $11.80 per talking video. Outside reviews report about $110 a month for Arcads Starter, or about $11 per video, but Arcads does not confirm that.

Is Arcads free to use?

Arcads is not free, but it has a 72-hour trial with 1,000 credits. You need a card to start, and that is enough for one 800-credit talking video. The Starter plan begins after 72 hours unless you cancel.

Will MakeUGC or Arcads write my script?

MakeUGC can draft a script from your product page, and you can then edit it. Arcads' how-to guide starts with you writing the script. Either way, you are the one who checks that the words are true and sound right for your business.

Are the people in Arcads and MakeUGC ads real?

The actors in Arcads and MakeUGC ads are generated with AI, even where Arcads bases them on real actors who agreed, and our Yapper presenter is made with AI too. Write them as hosts, not as happy customers. An AI presenter has never used your service and shouldn't claim to.

The short version

For most small businesses, the Arcads vs MakeUGC choice leans toward MakeUGC. Its prices are public, it starts at $59 a month and it can draft a script for you. Arcads gives you about twice the talking videos on its first plan, but you have to sign up to see the price, and it suits ad teams best.

Both are real tools, and both leave the briefing, checking and fixing to you. That's a fair deal if you like the work.

If you would rather get back to your own job, skip both. For a busy owner, our done-for-you team is the best option: we write, make and check the ad, and you approve it. You can hold off on a monthly tool until you know talking ads suit your business.

Want an ad that talks for you? Get your Yapper ad for $97: your words, your logo, made for you in 72 hours, with a money-back guarantee.

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