Arcads vs HeyGen
Arcads is a European alternative to HeyGen: same ai & machine learning use case, headquartered in France and operating under GDPR by default, while HeyGen is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Turn a product brief into ready-to-run video ads with 1,000+ AI actors, emotion control and localization in 30+ languages.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- GDPR by default
- Yes
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
A curated collection of the best European alternatives to HeyGen.
- Jurisdiction
- US
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Arcads vs HeyGen at a glance
| Arcads | HeyGen | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | France | US |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | US law applies |
| GDPR by default | Yes | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Open source | No | — |
| Free tier | No | — |
| Best for | Teams that need ai & machine learning with EU data residency | Teams already invested in the HeyGen ecosystem |
Choose Arcads if…
- You want your data to stay under EU law without extra legal paperwork
- GDPR compliance or public-sector requirements apply to you
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with HeyGen if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the HeyGen ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Arcads
Arcads turns a product brief into ready-to-run video ads using 1,000+ AI actors and custom AI avatars that can hold your product or demo your app on camera. Performance marketers generate dozens of ad variations in minutes instead of booking studios, casting talent and waiting on editors.
The platform covers the full ad production chain: script, actor, emotion control, B-rolls, captions, music and transitions, with localization into 30+ languages from a single source video. A collaborative canvas lets growth teams iterate on hooks and formats together, and ready-made presets encode ad structures proven in performance marketing.
Key benefits:
- 1,000+ AI actors with realistic delivery for UGC-style ads
- Custom avatars that hold products or demonstrate apps on camera
- Emotion control to fine-tune tone, energy and expressions per take
- 30+ language localization to scale one winning ad worldwide
- AI editing with B-rolls, captions, music and transitions built in
- Ad presets based on formats that convert in paid social
Arcads is built by FRESHR, a French company registered in Mont-Saint-Aignan, France, and operates under EU law and the GDPR. Its latest funding round was led by European investor Eurazeo.
More than 6,000 companies use Arcads to generate over 100,000 marketing videos per month.
Why choose Arcads over HeyGen?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. HeyGen is headquartered in US, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Arcads removes that overhead. As a France-based provider, it operates natively under GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single non-EU jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.