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Arcads vs Runway

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

Arcads logo

Arcads

Generate UGC-style video ads with AI actors without hiring creators or filming

4.0(1 review)Free trial
Visit websiteView details

Verdict

Arcads is listed under Video AI and Runway under Image & Visual AI. Runway scores higher in FinderAtlas's editorial review (8.4 vs 7.6 out of 10). Only Runway has a free plan or trial. Only Runway is available on iOS and Android.

Best overall

Runway

  • Filmmakers
  • Video creators
  • Marketers and ad teams
  • Designers

Choose Arcads if

  • You want a tool built for producing many UGC-style ad variants for paid social testing without creators or filming.
  • Large library of more than 1,000 AI actors, plus custom actor creation.
  • Covers the full ad workflow: generation, captions, translation and editing in one tool.

Choose Runway if

  • You want a tool built for Text-to-video and image-to-video generation.
  • Combines video, image and audio generation and editing in one workspace.
  • Offers Runway's own Gen-4.5 plus third-party models such as Seedance 2.0.
Best value
Runway
Best for beginners
Arcads
Best for business
Runway

Features

17 features compared.

  • AI Actor Library
    Arcads
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Lip-Sync and Emotion Control
    Arcads
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Multi-Model Generation
    Arcads
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Localization
    Arcads
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Video Editing Tools
    Arcads
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Ad Presets
    Arcads
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Workflow Canvas
    Arcads
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • AI Video and Lip Sync APIs
    Arcads
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Gen-4.5 video model
    Arcads
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Creative Agent
    Arcads
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Multiple models
    Arcads
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Characters
    Arcads
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Aleph and Act-Two
    Arcads
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Audio tools
    Arcads
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Workflows and Recipes
    Arcads
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Runway Dev API
    Arcads
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Runway MCP
    Arcads
    Not available
    Runway
    Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

  • Pricing model
    Arcads
    Free trial
    Runway
    Freemium
  • Free plan
    Arcads
    No
    Runway
    Yes
  • Starting price
    Arcads
    $29
    Runway
    $0
  • Plans
    Arcads
    4 plans
    Runway
    4 plans

Arcads plans

  • Lite

    $29/month

    Entry plan for short model-generated clips

    • 1,800 credits
    • no talking actors

  • Starter

    $110/month

    Individual marketers testing AI actor ads

    • 8,000 credits
    • talking AI actors
    • no captions

  • Creator

    $220/month

    Regular ad creators needing captions and workflows

    • 16,000 credits
    • captions
    • workflows

  • Pro

    $550/month

    Teams and heavy users

    • 48,000 credits
    • API access
    • unlimited team seats
    • custom actor cloning
    • credit rollover
    • ElevenLabs integration
    • Slack and call support

Runway plans

  • Free

    $0

    125 one-time credits that do not expire

    • A selection of generative models
    • 5GB storage

  • Standard

    $15/month

    625 credits per month; $12 per month billed annually

    • All video and image models
    • Creative Agent
    • 5 parallel generations
    • Music and voice and sound effects
    • Up to 3 projects
    • No watermarks
    • 4K upscaling
    • 20GB storage

  • Pro

    Most popular

    $35/month

    2,250 credits per month; $28 per month billed annually

    • Everything in Standard
    • 15 parallel generations
    • Up to 5 projects
    • 1 Brand Kit
    • 1 custom voice clone
    • Top-up credits
    • Runway MCP
    • Unlimited 4K video upscaling
    • 100GB storage

  • Max

    $95/month

    9,500 credits per month; $76 per month billed annually

    • Everything in Pro
    • Early access to new models
    • 20 parallel generations
    • Up to 10 projects
    • Up to 3 Brand Kits
    • Up to 3 custom voice clones
    • HDR and ProRes and image sequence outputs
    • 500GB storage

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed October 2026.

Arcads
7.6overall
Runway
8.4overall

  • Ease of Use

    Arcads
    8.3
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Feature Depth

    Arcads
    8.0
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Value for Money

    Arcads
    6.8
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Performance & Speed

    Arcads
    7.8
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Documentation & Support

    Arcads
    7.0
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Video Quality

    Arcads
    Not rated
    Runway
    9.0

  • Camera & Motion Control

    Arcads
    Not rated
    Runway
    8.8

  • Model Variety

    Arcads
    Not rated
    Runway
    8.5

  • Editing Tools

    Arcads
    Not rated
    Runway
    8.6

  • Pricing Clarity

    Arcads
    Not rated
    Runway
    7.2

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

Arcads

Pros

  • Large library of more than 1,000 AI actors, plus custom actor creation.
  • Covers the full ad workflow: generation, captions, translation and editing in one tool.
  • Access to several video and image models from a single account.
  • Localization into 30+ languages helps test the same ad across markets.
  • API and MCP options exist for teams that want to automate creative production.

Cons

  • Credit-based pricing is hard to predict; a talking-actor minute reportedly costs 800 credits, and runtime is rounded up to the minute.
  • Paid plans start at $29 for a limited tier and $110 for talking actors at list price, with no permanent free plan confirmed.
  • Captions, API access, custom actor cloning and credit rollover reportedly sit on higher tiers.
  • No public pricing page was reachable and no native mobile app was found.

Runway

Pros

  • Combines video, image and audio generation and editing in one workspace
  • Offers Runway's own Gen-4.5 plus third-party models such as Seedance 2.0
  • Creative Agent builds videos from a conversation
  • Runway Dev API with Node and Python SDKs
  • Free plan with 125 credits that do not expire
  • Native iOS and Android apps

Cons

  • Credit-based pricing: a 5-second Gen-4.5 clip costs 60 credits, so the 625 credits on Standard cover about 10 such clips
  • Standard and Pro credits do not roll over at the end of the month
  • Some App Store reviewers complain about the cost of failed or unusable generations
  • 4K upscaling is unlimited only on Pro and Max

Platforms

  • Web
    Arcads
    Supported
    Runway
    Supported
  • Windows
    Arcads
    Not supported
    Runway
    Not supported
  • macOS
    Arcads
    Not supported
    Runway
    Not supported
  • iOS
    Arcads
    Not supported
    Runway
    Supported
  • Android
    Arcads
    Not supported
    Runway
    Supported
  • API
    Arcads
    Supported
    Runway
    Supported
  • Browser Extension
    Arcads
    Not supported
    Runway
    Not supported

Integrations

Arcads

1 integration
  • ElevenLabs

Runway

5 integrations
  • Runway MCP
  • ChatGPT plugin
  • Meta Ads
  • Google Ads
  • TikTok Ads

Company

  • Company
    Arcads
    Arcads
    Runway
    Runway AI, Inc.
  • Founded
    Arcads
    2024
    Runway
    2018
  • Headquarters
    Arcads
    Not listed
    Runway
    New York, NY
  • Listing
    Arcads
    Claimed
    Runway
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is Arcads better than Runway?

It depends on your workflow. Arcads is built for producing many UGC-style ad variants for paid social testing without creators or filming. Runway is built for Text-to-video and image-to-video generation.

What are the key feature differences between Arcads and Runway?

Arcads: Generate UGC-style video ads with AI actors without hiring creators or filming. Runway: AI video, image and audio creation suite with Gen-4.5, agents and an API. Arcads is rated 4.0/5 from 1 user review.

Does Arcads or Runway have a free plan?

Runway has a free plan or trial; Arcads is paid only.

Which is cheaper, Arcads or Runway?

Arcads starts at $29 and Runway starts at $0. See the pricing table above for what each tier includes.