Pencil AI for ads

What Pencil makes for ads

Pencil (trypencil.com) is an ad workspace where AI agents write copy and make images and video with third-party models (rate card). The Core plan card lists “Realtime AI insights and Scores” and launching to seven ad platforms, from Facebook to LinkedIn (pricing page).

Your Virtual Tour of PencilTryPencil

Resizing is the feature users praise most (10 of 25 sources), and Pencil prices it two ways. The rate card charges 1 generation “regardless of format count” for feed work; the pricing FAQ charges 1 for “Each new format” with AI Auto Resize.

The Brandtech Group announced on 15 June 2023 that it had acquired 100 per cent of Pencil (press release). The pricing page claims “35,000+ teams making 2,000,000+ ads”.

What one Pencil static or video second costs

Pencil bills in generations, and the model sets the rate. Its rate card, revised on 23 September 2026, charges 0.1 to 3.2 generations an image and 0.5 to 6.5 a second of video.

Agent work is billed on top of the media. Pencil’s own four-concept static example bills 16.2 generations of GPT-5.5 agent work and 19.2 of Nano Banana Pro images: 4.5 an image.

Method: Core’s 50 generations at $14 a month make one generation $0.28, and Growth’s 250 at $55 a month make it $0.22 (pricing page, 2 October 2026). Each cell multiplies the rate card’s generations by that figure, if every generation is used.

A Custom Score set to Automatic adds 1 generation per run, and a Priority Capacity model 1 per image or second (rate card).

Fifteen seconds of Veo 3.1 video use 60 generations at 4.0 a second, more than Core’s 50 a month, which cannot be exceeded (pricing FAQ). AI product video generators lists video tools by price.

The AI ad cost calculator prices one Veo or Kling video ad on those vendors’ own plans.

The AI ad tool price tracker row holds the same plan prices.

Who owns what Pencil makes, in its terms

Pencil’s Core and Growth terms keep the outputs with Pencil and give you a licence. Clause 3.1 says Pencil “retains sole ownership” of the Outputs; 3.2 grants “a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free and fully paid-up licence to use the Outputs as part of Customer’s ordinary commercial operations”.

Five more clauses tie the outputs to one brand and put infringement claims on you.

Clause 3.2 calls the licence “perpetual”, yet 13.1(b) ends “any and all licences, permissions and authorisations granted to Customer” on termination. Clause 13.3 keeps any provision that “either expressly or by implication is intended to come into or continue in force on or after termination”. The terms do not say whether the 3.2 licence survives termination.

Pro’s plan card lists “IP assignment, “no train”, indemnification”, the three points 3.1, 3.5 and 10.1 settle the other way on Core and Growth. The AI commercial use table sets the plans side by side.

Is there a Pencil AI free trial?

Yes, as a guided sign-up: Pencil’s pricing page says you can “create six ads through a guided experience, completely free”. There is no free plan.

Cancelling stops charges at the end of the billing period. Core and Growth users keep their workspaces “albeit without any generation credits to use” (pricing FAQ).

What 25 public reviews say about Pencil

Pencil’s public record is thin and mostly old: 25 user sources, 15 of them dated 2021 to 2023, before the Core and Growth plans. Trustpilot holds 7, G2 6 (archived 12 August 2025), the Shopify App Store 5 (archived 7 December 2024), AppSumo 3, Reddit and YouTube 2 each.

The praise counted most is many sized variants from one creative (10 of 25 sources). The four sources cited for it date from 2022 to 2025. The three August 2026 Trustpilot reviews describe training from Pencil’s team and praise the team and the models on offer.

The cited billing complaints date from 2023 and 2025: “Now years later I get an invoice out of nowhere” (Trustpilot, July 2025). The one 2026 Reddit mention, on app-install banners, says “for apps they create weired stuff” (Reddit). Users rarely discuss the terms.

Pencil pros and cons

How AdCreative.ai, Creatify and Madgicx differ from Pencil

AdCreative.ai bills a credit per downloaded ad, where Pencil bills generations at each model’s rate. Its subscriber terms give no ownership of the ads either; only its Enterprise terms do (7.1).

Creatify makes video from a product link. On paid plans its terms say “You own all your original content in the Assets you create” (6.2). A breach of that clause’s restrictions ends the agreement, and “all rights granted to you shall revert to Creatify”.

Madgicx sets its price by the monthly ad spend you declare (pricing), and its terms of 18 November 2024 never mention AI-generated creatives.

• Static and image ads

  AdCreative.ai

  Generates static ad banners, ad copy and product shots from a brand kit, with a predicted performance score.

  From $39 a month · checked 2 Oct 2026

• AI UGC and avatars

  Creatify

  Avatar and product video ads from a URL or script, with batch variants, an ad launcher and a competitor ad tracker.

  From $39 a month · checked 2 Oct 2026

• Creative research

  Madgicx

  Meta ads platform with creative insights, AI tagging, an AI ad generator, automation agents and cross-channel reporting.

  From $45 a month · checked 2 Oct 2026

AdCreative.ai alternatives has a Pencil row, and AI static ad generators lists the rest.