Akool AI Free Plan and $12 a Month Pricing: Can Stock Avatars Run Ads?

Akool's stock avatars need written consent for paid ads

Akool AI has a free plan. Its pricing page lists Free at $0, and its Avatar Video FAQ says new users get 100 free credits. Paid plans start at $12 a month per seat.

That's where most write-ups stop, and they leave out the line that matters most if you buy ads. Akool's Terms of Service say you agree not to use its ready-made avatars in "promoted", "boosted" or "paid" social media advertising without Akool's explicit written consent. None of the search results we could read mentions it.

That rule covers the stock avatars already in Akool's library. An avatar made specifically for you falls outside the clause, though the rest of the terms still apply to it. But on price alone, Akool is hard to beat. A 30-second avatar clip works out to about 90 cents on its Starter plan.

We didn't test Akool for this post. What we say about it comes from its own pages and public ratings, read on October 31, 2026. The Novoads numbers come with a render we ran ourselves.

What Akool's Free plan gets you

What the Free column lists

Akool's comparison table gives the Free plan these limits, and its Avatar Video page adds "No credit card needed".

• Avatar video up to 720P, with a maximum length of 10 minutes
• All public avatars, plus one Instant Avatar
• 5 GB of storage and Slow processing
• Text-to-speech limited to 5 uses in total, up to 1,000 characters each
• Face swap uploads at 720P, up to 150MB and 30 seconds

The table's License row shows a dash for Free, where every paid plan gets a label. We can't tell what that dash means for how you can use a free video.

How many free credits you get

Akool doesn't give a single answer, and its pages pull in different directions.

• The Avatar Video FAQ says "New users receive 100 free credits, enough to create up to 200 seconds of 720p/1080p video or 100 seconds of 4K video."
• A banner on the same page says "Free 3 mins video", which is 180 seconds.
• The comparison table's Free column stops at 720P. So the FAQ's 1080p and 4K figures don't fit it, and that column gives no credit count at all.
• The terms say "We may in our sole discretion provide complimentary credits", and they add that Akool may revoke those credits at any time.
• A line in Akool's app says "Daily check-ins protect your free credits from resetting."

We read that last line to mean an unused free balance can reset. So treat 100 as what the FAQ said on October 31, 2026, and check your balance right after you sign up.

Which watermark you'd get

Akool's pages don't agree here either. The comparison table lists Free as "Full Screen" and every paid plan as "Removal". The Avatar Video FAQ says free videos "will include a small watermark". We didn't make a free video, so we can't say which description is right. Either way, we wouldn't plan on running a free export as an ad.

Akool's plans and prices

Prices as of October 31, 2026, in US dollars per seat. The terms say Akool's pricing page "sets forth Akool's current fees", so check it again before you buy.

Plan	Credits a month	Monthly billing	Yearly billing, per month	Billed each year	License label
Free	No count shown	$0	n/a	n/a	None shown
Starter	200	$12	$12	$144	Personal
Pro	600	$30	$21	$252	Personal
Pro Max	1,200	$59	$41.30	$495.60	Personal
Business	6,000	$249	$174.30	$2091.60	Business
Enterprise	Custom	n/a	Contact sales	Contact sales	Enterprise

Starter costs $12 a month whether you pay monthly or yearly, and paying yearly means $144 up front. The yearly cards for Pro, Pro Max and Business carry a "30% OFF" tag. We'd treat that as a promotion we saw on October 31, 2026, which may not last.

What the license labels leave open

The plan cards label Starter, Pro and Pro Max "License: personal". Business gets "License: business", and Enterprise gets "License: enterprise". We went through the pricing page, the terms and the refund policy and couldn't find a definition of any of the three. So we can't say what a personal license rules out, or what Business adds.

Akool's AI image generator page says "AKOOL's pricing page distinguishes personal, business and enterprise licences, so a paid subscription alone does not mean every commercial use is included." Its AI corporate video editor page says "For client work, ads or other business use, confirm that the licence attached to your account covers the project." If you're buying Starter to make ads for clients, we'd want that answer before paying.

Seats, currencies and Unlimited Mode

Prices are per seat, and the pricing page says "All added admins and editors are subject to an additional charge upon invitation." The charge matches what the workspace owner pays, so a second editor on a $30 Pro plan adds another $30 a month.

Akool also prices its plans in euros, Brazilian reais, rupees, yen and won, so check the currency and the amount at checkout.

Akool has an Unlimited Mode too, and we couldn't find a page that explains it in full. Its app says "Unlimited mode doesn't use credits, but limits how many tasks run at once." It also says "Unlimited Mode concurrency is available for Pro and above." The models Akool lists for the mode are video and image generators. Akool's site menu does put the word "Unlimited" beside Avatar Video, and the banner on the Avatar Video page says "Unlimited generations". But the FAQ on that same page counts avatar video in credits. Until Akool says otherwise, we'd budget avatar videos in credits.

What a credit buys on Akool

Rates as of October 31, 2026. Akool's API pricing page lists them for Pro Max and Business, and each one is the same on both plans.

Feature	Credits on Akool's API pricing page
Talking Avatar, 1080P	5 credits per 10 seconds
Talking Avatar, 4K	10 credits per 10 seconds
Talking Photo	10 credits per 5 seconds
Face Swap, video	10 credits per 10 seconds
Face Swap, image	4 credits per image
Background Change	4 credits per image
Video Campaign	10 credits per 10 seconds

Those are API rates, so treat them as a guide to the web plans. The pricing page has its own "How do different products consume credits?" section, and Akool's tool pages say "Check the current pricing page and review the credit cost shown in the workspace before you generate." We left out image generation, because the plan cards count images differently by model, and translation, because its rate carries a "Limited-time offer" label.

Avatar rates by resolution

By our math, the Avatar Video FAQ's numbers give the same two avatar rates as the API table.

• 100 credits for up to 200 seconds at 720p or 1080p is 5 credits per 10 seconds
• 100 credits for up to 100 seconds at 4K is 10 credits per 10 seconds

The resolution you can reach depends on the plan. The avatar video row in the comparison table stops at 720P on Free and 1080P on Starter. From Pro up, it reaches 4K. The plan cards show higher numbers, 8K on Pro Max and 16K on Business. But the avatar video row, which is the one we'd go by, doesn't go past 4K on any plan.

What a 30-second avatar ad costs on Akool

At the rate above, a 30-second clip comes to 15 credits. The rate is set per 10 seconds, and Akool doesn't say whether a partly used 10-second block rounds up. A 30-second clip is exactly three of those blocks, so rounding doesn't change the number here. The Free plan stops at 720P with a watermark, so a clean 1080P version needs a paid plan.

What that costs depends on the plan, so we did the math at each plan's monthly price.

• Starter at its listed $0.060 a credit comes to $0.90
• Pro at $30 for 600 credits comes to about $0.75
• Pro Max at $59 for 1,200 credits comes to about $0.74
• Business at $249 for 6,000 credits comes to about $0.62

Starter's 200 credits cover 13 of those clips. If you spend the whole $12 on them, that's about 92 cents a clip. Comparing avatar tools? We've priced the same kind of ad for HeyGen, Synthesia, D-ID and Hedra.

Unused credits and top-ups

On the regular plans, credits don't carry over. The terms say purchased credits "shall not roll over into the subsequent Subscription period". The refund policy says unused subscription credits expire and don't roll over, "unless your plan or order form expressly states otherwise." The Enterprise card says "Credits do not expire".

On the Pro card, Akool adds "Pay as you go" credit packs. Its plan list has a 400-credit pack for $24. That's 6 cents a credit.

Can Akool's stock avatars run paid ads?

What the terms say about stock avatars

Akool's Terms of Service, last updated October 1, 2026, put extra limits on the avatars in its library. The first one on the list is the one an ad buyer needs to read.

you agree not to use any Akool Avatars without Akool's explicit written consent: (a) in Output (i) for "promoted", "boosted", or "paid" advertising on any social media platform or similar media; (ii) for TV broadcasting

Akool explains why in the same paragraph. The avatars "bear a life-like resemblance to, and are made based on, real people", and the limits apply "in order to protect the rights and reputation of the actors and to comply with the licensing terms with the actors".

Which avatars the rule covers

The limit applies only to the avatars already in Akool's library. The terms define Akool Avatars as "the avatars that are not created specifically for you and are already available in the Hosted Service". That's the stock library, the one Akool's Talking Avatar page advertises as "1000+ AI Avatars Available". A custom avatar made for you isn't in that definition, so this clause doesn't cover it, though the rest of the terms still apply.

A consent rule, with no plan named as an exception

This isn't a flat ban. The clause hinges on "Akool's explicit written consent", so a private agreement could allow it, and you can't tell from public pages who has one. We found no page that says how Akool gives that consent.

The terms don't name any plan as an exception, and we can't say whether a Business or Enterprise contract changes that. The general grant in the terms doesn't settle it either. It says "You may use the Output you generate for any lawful purpose, provided that you adhere to this Agreement and acknowledge that any use of such Output is done at your own risk." We read that to mean the grant holds only if you follow the rest of the agreement, this clause included.

How far the rule reaches

The rule covers more than a paid post on a social platform. Three parts of the terms matter for an ad buyer.

• The clause says "or similar media", which the terms don't define, and it lists TV broadcasting separately. So we wouldn't assume a paid placement outside social platforms is fine.
• Another line in the same list bars a stock avatar, without that consent, from "making any kind of statement of opinion, including expressing any personal preferences or experiences as if they are Akool Avatar's preferences or experiences". We think a first-person testimonial script runs into that line, whether or not you pay to promote it.
• The terms say that if Akool decides you've broken them, "Akool may impose a fine", and they give "unauthorized commercial use" as one example. They don't tie the fine to this clause.

Why this isn't a new rule

None of this came with the October update. The terms page still links to a version dated April 26, 2024, and that version has the same clause word for word.

Akool's rights guide, updated October 26, 2026, repeats it in plainer words. It says "Without AKOOL's written consent, you can't use them in paid or boosted social ads or on TV, or have them express opinions as if they were the avatar's own."

Why Akool's marketing pages sound looser

Akool's product pages don't read like its terms.

• The text-to-video page says "You are free to use them for commercial purposes, ad running, social sharing, internal training, etc."
• The Avatar Video and Talking Avatar pages say "Yes, you can use the avatars for commercial purposes, but ensure you have the rights to the images used for avatar creation."
• The Talking Avatar page also tells you to "craft immersive ad campaigns that feel like real commercials."
• A post on Akool Production, its done-for-you service, lists "paid ads" among the uses.

Those lines don't name stock avatars, and the first three don't name paid placement. So we'd call this tension on Akool's own site rather than a contradiction.

Akool's rights guide points you back to the terms. It says "Don't rely on a marketing page or an old blog post." It also says public plan and product pages "may use different licensing descriptions, so do not infer commercial rights solely from whether a plan is paid." And Akool's AI avatar for advertising page adds "A paid subscription alone does not establish every right needed for an ad or client project."

That's what Akool's pages say and how we read them. None of it is legal advice.

Refunds and canceling at Akool

Akool's terms and its newer refund policy don't agree on how you cancel or where a refund goes.

What the terms say about canceling

The terms, dated October 1, 2026, say you cancel by emailing [email protected] at least 24 hours before the plan renews. On fee disputes, they say "Any and all refunds issued to resolve such a dispute shall be issued as credits to your Account, but in no event shall there be any cash refunds."

What the refund policy says

The refund policy, dated October 16, 2026, goes into far more detail.

• You can cancel at any time from Billing or Manage Plan in your account.
• On your first paid subscription, "you may request a refund within 7 calendar days of successful payment, provided that no paid credits or other paid benefits from that purchase have been used for a successfully completed task."
• "Approved refunds are returned to the original payment method."
• "Renewal charges are not eligible for a refund under this Policy, even if you have not used the renewed period." The policy makes exceptions for billing errors, charges after a timely cancellation, unauthorized charges and any refund the law requires.
• "If a paid generation fails or is recorded as failed, we will return any credits deducted for that task to your account, based on the task billing record."
• "If mandatory consumer law gives you a stronger right, that law applies."

How we'd handle the gap

The policy says it applies alongside the terms, and we couldn't find a line on either page that says which one wins where they differ. So we'd cancel in the app and by email, at least 24 hours before renewal, and keep the confirmation.

What reviewers say about Akool

Ratings as of October 31, 2026.

Trustpilot shows no score

Trustpilot doesn't show a score for Akool Inc. Its page says "This company's rating is unavailable due to a breach of our guidelines." and "We've removed a number of fake reviews for this company." We don't know anything beyond those two lines.

The page lists 436 reviews. Of those, 345 are from the last 12 months. The rating bars show 72% five-star and 12% one-star, and we'd read them with that notice in mind.

The reviews we read range from glowing to angry, and several recent one-star reviews are about billing.

• A five-star review dated October 29, 2026, calls Akool "an innovative AI that provides an array of creative tools for video making, graphic design, and brainstorming."
• A one-star review dated October 23, 2026, says "Unauthorised transactions on my card from this company, that I never signed up to."
• A one-star review dated July 25, 2026, says "AKOOL charged me US$252 for a second annual plan only two months after my first US$252 annual payment".

Those are the reviewers' own accounts, and we haven't checked them.

App Store, G2 and Capterra

Akool's app on Apple's US App Store showed 4.0 from 164 ratings. We couldn't see G2's or Capterra's Akool pages that day, so we can't report a score from either.

What the same ad costs on Novoads

What we charge for a talking actor

Novoads is paid from the first month. We bill a talking actor by the started minute, so any ad up to 60 seconds counts as one minute. At 720p, that minute costs 200 credits. At 480p, it's half that.

• Starter is $15 a month for 200 credits. At $0.075 a credit, a 720p ad costs $15.00 and uses the whole month's credits.
• Plus is $49 a month for 1,000 credits. At $0.049 a credit, the same ad costs $9.80, and you get five a month.
• On Plus at 480p, the ad costs $4.90.

These frames come from one of our own runs, a 13-second ad made on October 9, 2026. The actor read the script word for word, and we paid for the full started minute.

Talking actor, made in Novoads on 2026-10-09. A host with short grey hair and glasses reads our oatmeal shampoo script for dogs, word for word, in 13 seconds. One started minute, 200 credits.

Where Akool costs less

Akool costs less, and by a lot. Its 30-second clip comes to $0.90 on its Starter plan. On our Starter plan, the same ad costs about 17 times that, and on Plus about 11 times. Even our 480p ad on Plus costs about five times as much. Akool's clip is also 1080P, while ours is 720p.

Akool's library is bigger, too. It advertises 1000+ avatars, and we have 100+ actors. If you need a high volume of cheap avatar clips, we won't beat Akool on price. We've priced a 30-second avatar ad on two more tools, in our JoggAI pricing breakdown and our Colossyan review.

What we'd read before running either one

Our pricing FAQ says "All videos generated with Novoads are fully licensed for commercial use." Read that line the way you've just read Akool's. Novoads makes the ad. You decide where it runs and buy the media yourself. You'll find our plans on the Novoads pricing page, and our guide to AI avatar video generators covers the wider field.

Our pricing page with Monthly selected, captured 2026-10-31.

Who Akool suits, and who it doesn't

This part is our take.

Where Akool looks like a good fit

• You want a low cost per clip for organic social posts, training or explainers.
• You're building a custom avatar of someone who's agreed to it. The stock-avatar clause doesn't cover that avatar, though the rest of the terms still do.
• You don't mind buying credits that reset, because your volume is steady enough to use them up each month.

Where we'd slow down

• You plan to run stock avatars in paid social ads and don't have Akool's written consent.
• Your scripts have a stock avatar give a first-person testimonial, which we think runs into the opinion line above.
• Your decision depends on what "License: personal" allows. Akool's public pages don't answer that.

If you're buying ads, we'd settle the consent question first and compare prices second, because a clip's price only matters once you know you can promote it.