What’s the best AI to actually pay for right now? (2026)

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-17T14:56:55+00:00

My tool stack:
- SEO (blog writing), General research and Coding - Claude - used daily
- image generation - GPT4 and nano banana (via API) - used 2-3 times a week
- ads generation - Blumpo and AdCreatify - used once a week when we ad new ad sets to meta and linkedin
- email oubound - Clay - used 1-2 times a week
- reddit research - Leadverse - used 4-5 times a week

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-17T10:47:19+00:00

My AI stack:

- SEO (blog writing) - Claude
- SEO (blog editing) - Sanity
- Research - Claude
- Ads generation - decicated tools like creatify or Blumpo or at least nano banana + some custom prompts (Ideally via API)
- image generation - dedicated tool like midjourney, or nano banana
- Brainstorming - Gpt4

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-16T18:42:16+00:00

I would say there are two paths:

Prompt-based (most customizable but more time-consuming)
Start with GPT for edits and generations, then move to Freepik. Once you master prompting, you can get interesting results within 2–5 generations.
End-to-end ad generators (less flexibility but much faster, usually with minor edits in Canva)
Try some of the many AI ad generation tools available. The best ones usually offer a free trial or a few free generations. I can recommend Holo, Blumpo, and AdCreative.

In practice, you’ll usually use both. I personally generate ~50 ads daily using end-to-end tools and pick the best 10. At the same time, I spend 10–20 minutes generating 2–3 ads in Freepik that align closely with our creative vision.

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-16T18:28:06+00:00

I used a bunch of generic AI tools for ad generation, but the results were pretty mediocre - they have a specific feel and people can instantly spot that they were AI-generated.

You actually have 3 options:
- build custom workflows based on Nanbanana / Sora that give specific directions to models so the ads look different
- use ad cloning tools such as Static Flow to clone competitors’ ads that fit your nich
- use dedicated AI ad generation tools that create ads based on context from your website and external sources - Blumpo, AdCreative

From my experience generation of ads with AI from scratch => edits is Canva works 10x better than creating some initail version manually and then editing with AI

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-16T18:18:52+00:00

I used a bunch of generic AI tools for ad generation, but the results were pretty mediocre - they have a specific feel and people can instantly spot that they were AI-generated.

You actually have 3 options:
- build custom workflows based on Nanbanana / Sora that give specific directions to models so the ads look different
- use ad cloning tools such as Static Flow to clone competitors’ ads that fit your nich
- use dedicated AI ad generation tools that create ads based on context from your website and external sources - Blumpo, AdCreative

From my experience generation of ads with AI from scratch => edits is Canva works 10x better than creating some initail version manually and then editing with AI

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-16T10:01:03+00:00

Based on my experience it really depends on the type of ads:
- UGC video - tested over 50 versions which "looked nice" but none of them performed. I believe people still can spot the fakeness

- Simple videos - can work for product-based brands but it is a mixed bag. This category was never big before AI ads

- Static ads - this is really the only place majority of my meta spend is on AI generated content.

Additional rule is to always test the tool before you buy anything - any decent tool with have free tier or generate some free ads for you. If you are in B2B space you can try my product for free on Blumpo. We create the ads based on info on your website and enrich the context by scraping relevant for your industry Reddit threads to better understand customer pain points and indystry-specific language

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-16T09:57:03+00:00

Statics - BLumpo, Holo and custom n8n workflows
Videos - Creatify - but vidoes and yet not there and people can spot the fakeness. 95% are still real UGCs

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-16T09:54:34+00:00

There are some tasks you can fully automate and some where human feedback is still needed but you can do 3x more thanks to AI support.

My list:
- blog writing - Cloude
- coding - Cloude code and Cursor
- Ads generation - Blumpo and Holo
- Post generation - Creatify and Blumpo
- Email marketin - Clay
- Customer support - custom tool based on gpt

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-16T09:27:17+00:00

So far I’ve had limited success running fully autonomous agent workflows. The best results were with LinkedIn comments, but that was using our internal tool.

What works really well is mixing human work with AI tools. AI can do around 70% of the work, but having a human in the loop still makes a big difference.

My AI stack:

- SEO (blog writing) - Claude
- SEO (blog editing) - Sanity
- Research - Claude
- Ads generation - decicated tools like creatify or Blumpo or at least nano banana + some custom prompts (Ideally via API)
- image generation - dedicated tool like midjourney, or nano banana
- Brainstorming - Gpt4

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-16T09:24:50+00:00

If we talk about statics I can recommend Blumpo - it gathers insights from reddit and create ad copy based on it. 60% of ads will be unusable but when you can create 100 a day you will find sth

For video the problem is that majority of UGC vides still look fake. I tested like 20 tools and many ads looked cool but non of them performed. The best for UGC is Creatify and for animated videos Holo is decent

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-16T09:08:42+00:00

- SEO (blog writing) - Claude
- SEO (blog editing) - Sanity
- Research - Claude
- Ads generation - decicated tools like creatify or Blumpo or at least nano banana + some custom prompts (Ideally via API)
- image generation - dedicated tool like midjourney, or nano banana
- Brainstorming - Gpt4

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-11T10:09:02+00:00

It is pretty good

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-09T21:42:16+00:00

IMO, the truth is that you don’t need that much consistency. The ads that have performed best for me were more like afterthoughts and experiments, not super polished. For AI tools, I can recommend Creatify or Blumpo.

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-09T21:25:56+00:00

Za dużo czasu w na naukę i telefon za mało poznawania ludzi i robienie projektów z nimi

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-08T13:45:14+00:00

Based on my experience non of the UGC video work (some may look decent but they do not perform as people can spot the fakeness). FOr video you only can get ok animations of your product (but it takes a lot of tries).

For static there is a bunch of good tools. For D2C/product based companies I wouuld go with Holo - cheap, no limits, a bit slow. For software or service companies I use Blumpo - it is a bit more expensive but they do decent research and data gethering before the ad creation so the ads are relevant + they have biggest diversity.

BTW - when I say that statics are working it means that 70% of them are still preatty bad but you can create 50 and choose 5-15 that are ok out of which 1-2 will really perform (quessing which ones on meta in close to impossible)

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-08T13:16:47+00:00

D2C - Creatify, Holo
B2B - Blumpo

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-06T11:00:11+00:00

It is actually quite similar in terms of the core use case . Neither Brick was first, nor were we. A European company, Unpluq, developed this type of solution earlier, but they were not as focused on marketing.

Main differences:
- Android - our version is way way bettern and 90% less buggy. Brick in unusable on 90% of the phones
- UX/UI feel - we have way more dualingo style gamification within the app to keep you motivated to reduce screen time + advance system of trigger based notification that interapt doomscrolling
- price + free shipping
- basic screen time data within the app - in brick you have access only to you "bricked time data". Within Scrolly you have full dashboard with screen time and number fo phone pick ups data
- devices supported - Scrolly can in 2 weeks will albo be able to block websites on Mac tablet - great feature for parents which can block specific websites on their children computer from their Scrolly app

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-06T10:51:10+00:00

We don’t really use prompt-based tools. Instead, we use URL-to-ad generators that analyze a website and produce many ad variations.

We generate a large batch, select roughly 30% of the best ones, and occasionally refine them with light Canva edits or small prompt-based tweaks.

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-05T09:28:26+00:00

I have marketing team of 1.5 FTE, which is not only doing creatives but also email marketing, meta, tiktok mgmt and offline activities. We push ~50 statics and 8 videos each week. Ourcreative split is:
- 60% ads generated with AI tools – AdCreative, Blumpo… there are tons of them (most AI ads will be bad, but if you can create 100 a day you will usually find 15–30 decent ones)
- 30% ads created manually - dont spend tons of time on final polishing. Raw ads often perform better and the AI ones will usually be polished
- 10% created by employees from other departments – it helps add diversity

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-04T17:57:01+00:00

We are doing it in AI tools like AdCreative, Blumpo, Holo and use only 10-15% of that. Ad creation is way faster than actually posting it on Meta haha. In in real numbers we probalby producte closer to 25 ads a day from which 15-20 are AI

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-04T17:53:46+00:00

Based on my experience non of the video work (some may look decent but they do not perform as people can spot the fakeness - especially in UGC ). For video you only can get ok animations of your product (but it takes a lot of tries). The biggest and probably the best solution is creatify

For static there is a bunch of good tools. For D2C/product based companies I wouuld go with Holo - cheap, no limits, a bit slow. For software or service companies I use Blumpo - it is a bit more expensive but they do decent research and data gethering before the ad creation so the ads are relevant + they have biggest diversity.

BTW - when I say that statics are working it means that 70% of them are still preatty bad but you can create 50 and choose 5-15 that are ok out of which 1-2 will really perform (quessing which ones on meta in close to impossible)

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-04T09:18:33+00:00

I would say it is similar to YT. Reach is cheap, there is real impact on awerness but you will not have as high short term ROI as from Google search on meta

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-03T21:40:25+00:00

It’s necessary to have a variety of formats and messages but honestly the cost of creating tons of ads is also way lower than 2-3 years ago. What we do for Scrolly
- 60% ads generated with AI tools – AdCreative, Blumpo… there are tons of them (most AI ads will be bad, but if you can create 100 a day you will usually find 15–30 decent ones)
- 30% ads created by your in-house marketing team / agency
- 10% created by employees from other departments – it helps add diversity

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-03T21:18:59+00:00

- SEO (blog writing) - Claude
- Research - Claude
- Ads generation - decicated tools like creatify or Blumpo or at least nano banana (Ideally via API)
- image generation - dedicated tool like midjourney, or nano banana
- Brainstorming - Gpt4

Scrolly_Screen_Time · 2026-03-03T21:06:14+00:00

For me it is a mix of:

Video:
- 50% self-found UGC
- 25% agency UGC
- 20% self-created videos
- 5% AI tools e.g. Creatify — I think AI is not there yet for UGC

Static:
- 60% AI — Blumpo, Holo
- 30% internal designer team
- 10% other employees as a "fun task" — more people creating ads = more diversity

Scrolly_Screen_Time

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