Custom AI avatar tools for ads

What each tool asks you to record

A custom avatar needs two things from the person: a sample of their face and voice, and proof that they agreed. The footage ranges from 10 seconds on Captions to 5 minutes on Synthesia, and Synthesia is the only one that takes about a business day.

The tools, one by one

MakeUGC: your clone beside product-in-hand shots

MakeUGC’s custom avatar page lists three steps: upload a short video, add your voice if you want it, then type a script.

It states “Growth includes 1 custom AI avatar and Pro includes 3. Starter does not include custom avatars.” Pro costs $149 a month (MakeUGC pricing).

The same account makes product-in-hand video and B-roll (MakeUGC hub), so a founder clone and the product shots share one credit pool. MakeUGC’s API docs (read 21 October 2026) charge 100 credits per custom avatar.

The Custom Avatar Policy (4b) says MakeUGC “does not claim ownership over your Custom Avatar Content”, and grants MakeUGC a licence to it solely to provide the service. Users report charges after cancelling, and trial cancellations that need an email (17 of 29 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot).

Best for

Direct-response teams testing many UGC and B-roll variants, with Batch Mode and product-in-hand video on every plan and API access drawing on the same credits.

Skip it if

you want a clone on the entry plan: Starter includes no custom avatar, so the clone starts on Growth.

HeyGen: a twin from a 15-second clip

HeyGen’s custom avatar page asks for “a 15-second reference video” and a consent code you read on camera.

The same page says “Processing typically completes within about 10 to 15 minutes”.

How to Use HeyGen Avatar V in 2026 (Step-by-Step Beginner Tutorial for Digital Twins)Independent Creator Academy

The free plan includes one custom avatar, but terms s.4 bar free output from “advertising”. The help centre gives Creator, $29 a month, and Pro 1 or 5 twin slots, depending on region and account creation date. Business, $149 a month, gets 5 by default or 10 in some regions.

Users say avatars look real and lip sync lands, custom twins included (8 of 39: G2, Product Hunt). Others report a clone that came out stiff or unlike them (4 of 39: App Store, Product Hunt).

Best for

Localising one ad script into many languages, cheap avatar minutes for talking-head ads, and founder or spokesperson clones on a paid plan.

Skip it if

you plan to run ads from the free twin: terms s.4 bar free-plan output from advertising.

Synthesia: the longest sample and a live consent take

Synthesia’s help centre asks for footage “Between 1 and 5 minutes in length” for a video avatar, and the consent clip “must be recorded live” with an on-screen passcode. Processing takes “about 1 business day”. Starter, $29 a month, includes three personal avatars and Pro five.

That consent route matters for ads. Synthesia’s Acceptable Use Policy bars stock avatars from paid social without its written consent, so a personal avatar is how a Synthesia ad runs. Users report viewers reading the avatars as AI, with learners tuning out of talking-head modules (19 of 69: r/elearning, r/instructionaldesign).

Best for

Explainer, onboarding and product-education videos and their localisation. For paid social, only with a personal avatar of someone who has consented.

Skip it if

you want to keep the avatar after you leave: the Customer Terms say avatars cannot be exported.

Captions: a twin from a selfie

Captions’ AI Twin page says “Mirage Avatar X only needs 10 seconds of footage to make your twin”, and a selfie works too. It recommends video “For the highest-quality match”. AI Twin and custom actors start on Max, $24.99 a month (Captions pricing).

Terms 2.2 bar Mirage from commercialising your voice on its own without your written permission. Users report avatars that distort people and voices that sound robotic (6 of 36: Trustpilot, Trustpilot).

Best for

Business teams making avatar ads on Captions on web, whose terms name advertising, and phone creators captioning and editing their own footage.

Skip it if

you want testimonial-style scripts read by your twin: Mirage’s Acceptable Use Policy (Input) bars input that does not reflect your honest views.

Argil: a clone behind an ID check

Argil runs “the compulsory in-depth identity verification process” before it accepts a User Avatar video (terms 5.2.3.1). Pro costs $50 a month. Under 12.2 your personality rights stay yours, while the intellectual property in the avatar sits with Argil, which grants you a licence to it “in the context of use of the Platform”.

Users say the clone looks and sounds like the person who trained it (5 of 15: Traksource, YouTube). Others report avatar creation failing on paid accounts (4 of 15: App Store, Trustpilot).

Best for

Founder-led and personal-brand videos where your own verified clone reads the script, with B-roll assembled in the same tool.

Skip it if

you want to take the avatar to another tool: terms 12.2 keep its intellectual property with Argil.

Arcads: custom actors are generated faces

Arcads’ homepage offers to “create your own AI Avatar” and to “Generate a face” that holds your product. It describes no upload of your own face. Terms 8.1 cover cloning an actor’s voice onto your script, and 13.4 make you clear the personality rights of anyone in a video you upload.

Users report output below the examples in Arcads’ own ads, stiff custom actors among it (18 of 64: Trustpilot, r/FacebookAds).

Best for

Talking-actor ads close to a whole minute long, if billing rounds up to the minute as the help centre’s one example suggests.

Skip it if

you need a clone of yourself: Arcads documents generated actors and voice cloning, and no self-avatar from your footage.

JoggAI, Creatify and D-ID: three custom avatars on one plan

JoggAI’s free plan includes one custom avatar and Starter, $29 a month, three. Its terms bar uploading images of people “without their consent”.

Best for

High-volume talking-avatar output on a small budget, and teams that want the same credits in the web app, the API and agent tools.

Skip it if

you want a refund if the clone disappoints: JoggAI’s terms make payments non-refundable except where the law requires.

Creatify’s Pro, $55 a month, lists three custom avatars beside 1,500 stock actors.

Best for

E-commerce teams making URL-to-video ads in volume who want an ad launcher for Meta, TikTok and AppLovin in the same tool.

Skip it if

you want a clone on the cheapest paid plan: Standard lists stock actors only, and custom avatars start on Pro.

D-ID’s Pro, $29 a month, includes three personal avatars and a commercial licence.

Best for

Talking-photo and presenter videos where an AI marker is acceptable, and teams building interactive agents on the same API minutes.

Skip it if

your ad must carry no AI marker: EULA 4.2 puts a synthetic mark on every animation.

Who owns the avatar, and what happens when you cancel

Ownership splits into two questions: who owns the avatar itself, and who owns the videos it made.

HeyGen’s Moderation Policy 2.1 says “you own the rights to photo, or custom avatars you create”. After cancelling, the account “moves to the Free plan”, and the help centre says your avatars “will still be accessible when you’re ready to sign back up”.

Synthesia’s Customer Terms (Ownership and Proprietary Rights) give the videos to your organisation, and the person shown owns none of them. A freelancer cloned inside a client’s account keeps no rights in those videos.

Synthesia’s avatars stay inside Synthesia, and its billing help article (10 September 2026) says “Once the billing period ends, you lose access to Synthesia and all videos in your account”. Download your ads before you cancel.

MakeUGC’s Custom Avatar Policy says nothing about the avatar after cancelling. Its terms page carries two versions of 3.2(a): one keeps your ownership of output “after your Subscription ends”, the other ties it to an active subscription. Both keep 7.3, “Termination does not affect your ownership rights to previously generated Output.”

Argil keeps the avatar’s intellectual property (12.2), and Captions’ twin page says a twin is built “for your own use”.

Using someone else’s face

HeyGen, Synthesia, MakeUGC, Captions, Argil and JoggAI each require the consent of anyone you clone who is not you.

HeyGen makes you honour a removal request from the person shown “wherever you have published such depictions” (Moderation Policy 2.1). Its consent take is the provided text, read exactly as written in under 30 seconds.

Synthesia lets you send a creator an invite link to record their avatar only on Enterprise. Argil asks companies for “written consents, and mandates” before using anyone’s photos (5.2.3.1).

Stock faces can be withdrawn too. When an Arcads actor withdraws consent, you delete the videos by Arcads’ deadline. Each day of delay costs 100 euros (Arcads terms).

The AI UGC legal guide covers likeness clauses, and AI ad disclosure rules cover New York’s synthetic performer law.

Clone or stock actor?

A clone pays off when your face is the brand: founder ads, personal-brand offers, a spokesperson viewers already know. A stock actor needs no consent take and comes on entry plans: MakeUGC’s Starter and Creatify’s Standard include no custom avatar.

On monthly billing, the cheapest paid plan with a clone is Captions Max, $24.99 a month; HeyGen’s Creator costs $29 a month, D-ID’s Pro $29 a month and MakeUGC’s Growth $79 a month.

Shared stock faces get recognisable, though: users report competitors running the same Arcads actors (3 of 64: r/dropshipping, YouTube). For a presenter who reads your script on camera, see AI spokesperson video generators.

More pages for MakeUGC users, sorted by job, in the MakeUGC hub →