The pallid spinetail (Cranioleuca pallida) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Brazil.

The pallid spinetail is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 11 to 12 g (0.39 to 0.42 oz). It is a smallish member of genus Cranioleuca. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a wide whitish supercilium, a blackish spot in front of the eye, a dark brown band behind the eye, and buffy ear coverts with faint dark brownish streaks. Their forehead is streaked blackish and buff, their crown is dark rufous, and their nape gray. Their back and rump are tawny-olive or olive-brown. Their tail is dark rufous; the feathers are graduated and lack barbs at the end giving a spiky appearance. Their wing coverts are rufous, their primary coverts dark brown, and their flight feathers pale cinnamon-tawny to pale olive-tawny. Their chin is buffy whitish, their throat and breast bright buffy to brownish olive, their belly duller pale brownish olive, and flanks and undertail coverts slightly darker. Their iris is reddish brown to pale brown, their maxilla black to dusky horn, their mandible pinkish with a dusky tip, and their legs and feet greenish olive or gray. Juveniles have a darker back than adults, with a brown crown, ochraceous-tinged underparts, and variable dark mottling on the breast.