By Bogdan Rancea
I’ve been in the ecommerce and advertising space for long enough to feel skeptical about anything advertised as “AI-powered”.
Especially when it comes to creative tools. Over the past couple of years, I’ve tried my fair share of platforms promising to “revolutionize” marketing with machine learning.
I’ve even found quite a few of those tools on Semrush’s app marketplace. Some are amazing, like AdClarity, others feel a bit too niche for me.
When I saw AdCreative.ai (on the Semrush app marketplace), I wasn’t in a huge rush to try it at first. But people just kept talking about it, and most of the noise was good.
So eventually, I decided it was time to try the app for myself. Honestly, I’m pretty impressed. The kit still has its teething pains and problems, but it does a lot of things really well.
Here’s what I discovered during my experiment.
Why You Can Trust This Review
Whenever we review something here on Ecomm.Design, we really review it. We don’t just copy-paste other opinions or make up nonsense based on what we see on a website.
We’ve spent years reviewing everything from AI-powered marketing toolkits, to ecommerce platforms.
All of the insights you’ll find here are based on hands-on testing, real customer feedback, and up-to-date information. If you’re looking for an objective, honest review, this is it.
What is AdCreative.ai? Quick Overview
Just to be clear, in this review I’m talking about AdCreative.ai as it shows up in the Semrush AppCenter – not the standalone platform.
The app is designed to take the pain out of ad creation. You drop in your brand details, pick a goal, add a bit of guidance, and it spits out ready-to-use visuals, ad copy, product photos, and even short videos.
Everything is built to be conversion-focused, so you’re not just making something that looks good – you’re making something that’s more likely to work.
What really separates it from a lot of the other “AI design” tools I’ve tried is the conversion score. Every creative the system generates gets a predicted performance rating, based on machine learning models trained on millions of ads.
That way, you’re not just left guessing which option might land, you have a data-driven way to prioritize what to test first.
The Pros:
- It’s fast: You get really great content in a matter of seconds. It’s honestly way faster than most of the tools I’ve tried.
- Multi-platform support is built in: It sizes everything perfectly for Meta, Google, even LinkedIn without me lifting a finger.
- The conversion scores were surprisingly useful: I didn’t always agree with them, but more often than not, they lined up with real-world results.
- It’s versatile: The combo of design + copy + video in one place saved me a ton of back-and-forth. I didn’t have to jump between tools.
- You don’t need to be a designer. I’m not, and that’s exactly why this tool worked for me.
The Cons:
- Some of the designs felt generic: Not unusable, but they didn’t always feel super unique out of the box.
- Editing options are a bit limited. You can tweak, sure, but if you’re picky about layout or spacing, you’ll probably want more control.
- It’s expensive: At $109/month (plus $50 add-ons if you need more credits and brands), it’s not cheap. Great if you’re producing ads constantly, but maybe overkill if you’re not.
AdCreative.ai Pricing: What You’ll Pay
I’ll start with pricing, because that’s honestly the biggest sticking point for most companies. Adcreative.ai isn’t cheap, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile.
You can start with a three-day free trial, so you can test the tools without any risk. After that, the standard plan is $109 per month. That gives you:
- 100 credits and up to 5 brands
- Unlimited generations inside the app
- The AI text generator
- Unlimited stock photos from iStock
- Access to all the AI assets
The way it works is pretty straightforward. You can generate as many creatives as you want, but every time you actually download one to use, it costs a credit. Burn through your 100 downloads in a busy month and you’ll need to top up.
That’s where the add-on comes in. For $50/month, you can grab another 100 credits and 5 more brand slots. You can stack these if you need more room to scale.
So the price tag isn’t small, especially if you’re not running ads at scale. But if you’re already spending real money on campaigns, the time you save, and the fact that you can test way more variations, can make it worth it.
AdCreative.ai Features: A Deep Dive
If you’re running ads, you already know how much time disappears into resizing, rewriting, and trying to make things “pop.” That’s where the Semrush version of AdCreative.ai comes in.
Whether you’re a solo shop or a busy agency, it helps you crank out ad creatives faster, in more than 20 languages, without needing to jump between a designer, a copywriter, and a stock photo site.
One neat extra is that every single creative comes with a conversion score. Basically, the AI looks at millions of ads it’s been trained on and predicts which of your new ads are most likely to perform.
You don’t have to take the score as gospel, but it’s a useful nudge when you’re deciding what to test first.
Since everything, visuals, text, product shots, even short video ads, lives in the same place, it feels more like a proper toolkit than just another “AI toy.”
You can make unlimited drafts inside the app, and only burn credits when you actually download something to run in a campaign.
That’s also where the built-in stock libraries come in handy: iStock, Pexels, and Unsplash are included, so you’re not stuck hunting for images elsewhere.
The Brands Feature
The first thing you do is set up a brand. It’s not complicated, and there are two ways to go about it. You can type everything in yourself, or you can just drop in your website and let the AI pull the essentials: name, logo, colors, fonts.
Honestly, the auto-import worked fine for me. If you’re picky, though, the manual option gives you more control.
If you’re doing it manually, you’ll need:
- A brand name and description (up to 5,000 characters)
- A logo (try to avoid really light versions or stretched-out ratios – they don’t render well)
- Brand colors (either pick them or paste in the HEX/RGB codes)
Once that’s in, you hit save, tweak anything in the advanced setup if you want, like fonts or alternate logos, and you’re done.
A small heads-up: every product or brand you add counts toward your limit, even if they live on the same domain.
Plus, if you use the background remover on a logo during setup, it’ll cost you a credit, even if you don’t finish adding that brand.
It’s not a huge deal, but worth knowing before you start experimenting.
The Ad Creative Options
Once your brand is set up, the fun part starts: actually making ads. The Semrush version of AdCreative.ai gives you a surprising number of choices here.
You don’t just get one type of creative- you can spin up whole packages or cherry-pick what you need.
Here’s what’s on the menu:
- Ad Packages: Bundles of creatives, social posts, and ad texts designed to work together.
- Ad Creatives: The bread and butter: conversion-focused display ads in all the common sizes.
- Social Creatives: engagement-focused posts tailored for social platforms.
- Ad Texts: AI-generated copy suggestions using a bunch of different copywriting frameworks.
- Batch Creatives: Quick variations with different backgrounds or product images.
- Product Photo Ads: Turn plain product shots into polished, ad-ready visuals with automatic background removal.
- Stock Images: Create custom stock photos (safe for commercial use) pulled from iStock, Pexels, and Unsplash.
- Ad Videos: Short, editable video ads built for conversions.
- Custom Templates: Reusable layouts you design yourself.
- Storytelling Ads: Scene-based video ads with voiceovers to help you build more of a narrative.
AI-Generated Text (For all Kinds of Ads)
Let’s start with the type of ad content I create most often: text.
What’s nice is how flexible the text generation is. You can either type in your own headlines and CTAs, or lean on the AI to do the heavy lifting.
There are options to tweak tone, language, and even swap between different frameworks like AIDA or PAS. The app auto-fills fields like your product description and target audience, but you can adjust them however you want.
Another small but handy detail: when you generate text for an ad, you can click a little brain icon to have the AI rewrite it in a different sentiment or give you variations. It doesn’t cost credits either, which makes it easy to test multiple angles.
Plus, if you’re working with images, you’re not stuck with strict format rules. You can upload JPGs, PNGs, SVGs – whatever you’ve got.
If you only upload a couple of images, the app will automatically generate variations for you with different styles.
The conversion score shows up here too. Every creative you make gets rated out of 100, so you have at least some direction on which ads might perform better. It’s not perfect, but I found it lined up with reality more often than not.
When you’re happy with what you see, you can favorite a creative, save it for later, or download it. Credits only get used when you actually download a finished creative, not when you’re generating options.
Everything sits neatly in the “Projects” tab, where you can filter by type or brand.
Visual-First Ads (Product Photo Ads)
This is where AdCreative.ai surprised me a bit. I figured the “product photo ads” thing would just slap a background on my images and call it a day, but it’s actually more flexible than that.
You can upload your product shot and the AI strips out the background, then drops it into a range of preset styles or custom ones you define.
Most genuinely made my product images look like they came from a professional shoot. You can also choose whether you want the “generated ad” to include just product images, or other creative content.
There’s a free background remover, which worked fine most of the time. There’s also an “advanced” option that costs a credit every time you use it.
Honestly, unless your photo is messy, you probably won’t need the paid one, I learned that the hard way after burning a few credits early on.
You’ll also be able to add “background styles” to your image, choosing between AI-recommended options, pre-set styles, or custom options designed for you.
The Fashion Photoshoots feature is kind of a niche extra, but it works. You upload clothing shots, pick an AI model, and the system fits your product onto them.
It’s not flawless, sometimes the fit looks a little off, but for quick mockups it’s pretty handy. You can save those images into your library and reuse them in other creatives later.
Overall, I’d say this feature is a time-saver if you’re selling physical products. Instead of paying for a mini shoot every time you need a new background or setting, you can get something usable in a couple of clicks.
AI-Generated Video Ads
Producing video is usually the biggest headache for me when it comes to ad creative, so I was curious to see how AdCreative.ai handled it.
The short answer: it’s not going to replace a full video team, but it’s more than enough for quick, scroll-stopping clips.
The process is pretty simple. You pick the video type and resolution first (so you don’t have to mess with resizing later), upload a product photo, and the AI does the rest.
You can add text overlays or let the app generate them, and if you’re feeling fancy, there’s even an option to include a voiceover for “storytelling” style ads.
I tried one of those and, honestly, the voice sounded a little robotic, but it wasn’t terrible.
What I liked was how fast it was. I went from a static product image to a short ad with movement, music, and text in under five minutes.
Were the results always perfect? No. A few of the transitions looked clunky, and I swapped out the default music almost every time. But for testing, it’s gold.
You can also edit videos in bulk (change the sound across a set, for example) or tweak them one by one. Just like with images, your finished assets sit in the Projects tab, and you only pay a credit when you download.
If you’re running a lot of short-form ads, especially for social, this feature is a time-saver. It won’t give you a polished brand film, but it’s perfect for the quick-hit campaigns where volume and speed matter more than perfection.
Custom Templates
If you don’t want to start from scratch every time, the app has a Template Builder. It’s basically a way to lock in your own brand layouts so the AI spits out creatives that already look like “you.”
I tried it with a couple of my go-to ad sizes. You just pick the dimensions you need, drag things around until you like the layout, and save it.
Next time you generate ads, the system can use that template as a base.
It’s simple, but it keeps everything on-brand without you having to re-edit the same stuff over and over.
The editing is click-and-drag, so you can swap colors, images, or text boxes pretty easily. I wouldn’t say it’s a full design tool, but it’s good enough for quick adjustments.
Once you’re happy, you just hit close, and it saves. If you don’t like what you made, you can toss it and start over.
I wouldn’t call templates the flashiest feature, but if you’re running ads regularly, they cut down a lot of repetitive work. It’s one of those things you don’t think you’ll use much, until you do.
Editing Content: The Projects Tab
After you’ve made a few ads, everything lives in the Projects tab. That’s basically the hub where you can scroll back through your work, rename stuff, duplicate it, or just delete the things that didn’t turn out.
I liked that I didn’t have to keep re-generating if I wanted to go back and change something later, it’s all saved there.
Now, editing is very straightforward. You’ve got a quick-edit mode if all you need is a small text change, like swapping a call-to-action.
If you want more control, there’s a full editor. It’s pretty simple: drag things around, replace an image, add a shape, pull something in from stock.
Text editing was the part I used the most. You can open up any of the ad copy you generated earlier, see which framework it came from (AIDA, PAS, etc.), and tweak it on the spot.
Honestly, half the time I just copied it straight into my ads and nudged a word or two—it was faster that way.
One thing to keep in mind: if you download an edited creative, it still costs you a credit. I learned that the hard way after messing around with layouts a bit too much. So yeah, best to make your changes before hitting download.
User Experience and Customer Service
Some tools claim to be “easy” until you actually open them. Then it’s a maze of tabs, tooltips, and tutorial videos you don’t have time to watch. I’ve been there.
With AdCreative.ai, I didn’t need a walkthrough. I just dove in. I logged into the Semrush app, added a brand, picked a goal, and within a few minutes I was generating ads with visuals, copy, and conversion scores.
No walkthrough needed. The layout is clean and responsive, and the main actions: create, edit, organize, are right there in front of you. It feels designed for marketers who don’t have time to dig through a manual.
Although I didn’t need much help personally, there is support out there, too. You’ll need to reach out over email; there’s no live chat or phone number that I could find.
But the team gets back to you pretty quickly. There’s also a helpful blog for tips and ideas.
Final Thoughts: Is AdCreative.ai Actually Worth It?
I didn’t expect to like this tool as much as I did. Usually, when something promises to “generate ads with AI,” I brace for disappointment.
Either the design looks like a template from 2014, or the copy sounds like it was written by a robot who’s never seen an ad.
But AdCreative.ai inside the Semrush AppCenter turned out to be great. I didn’t have to wrestle with a clunky interface, and I didn’t need a design degree to get good results.
Within minutes, I had ads ready to test: sometimes image-based, sometimes video, sometimes full kits with scores and copy suggestions baked in.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say it can replace a full creative team, but as a sidekick? It’s more than capable. Especially if you’re running campaigns regularly and need to test lots of variations fast.
Ultimately, if you’re just dabbling in ads, the price might feel steep. But if you’re actively spending on campaigns and want to cut down the time (and cost) of making creatives, AdCreative.ai is genuinely useful.
It doesn’t replace creativity, but it gives you a head start, and sometimes that’s all you need.
