Published Updated
In one or two sentences, before anything else.
remove.bg is a one-click background removal service owned by Canva since 2021. remove.bg says its website, accounts, self-service API, desktop app and plugins stop on December 1, 2026 at 9:00 CET; background removal moves into Canva, the API to Leonardo.Ai, and unused credits expire that day.
What it can do, one sentence each, and whether we actually tested it.
Detects the subject in a photo of a person, product, animal or object and removes the background in one step; free previews are capped at 0.25 megapixels.
Per remove.bg's help center; full-resolution downloads cost credits.
Accepts uploads up to 50 megapixels and 22 MB and returns cutouts up to 50 megapixels; PNG output stops at 10 megapixels, so larger cutouts need WebP, JPG or ZIP.
Per remove.bg's help center and API documentation.
Background removal over an API key: the first 50 calls a month are free, an image up to 50 megapixels costs 1 credit, and the rate limit is 500 images a minute, lower for large images.
Stops accepting requests on December 1, 2026; enterprise contracts continue, per remove.bg's FAQ.
Removes backgrounds inside Photoshop and in batches from a desktop app.
Both are discontinued on December 1, 2026, per remove.bg's FAQ.
The subscription adds AI backgrounds, erase and restore tools, bulk editing and API access, per the pricing page.
remove.bg's own description.
Credits are sold one-off from 3 credits for US$3 or by subscription from 40 credits for US$9 a month.
The pricing page says all credits expire on December 1, 2026 at 9:00 CET.
The people it helps and the problems it solves, and where it ranks.
Built for
Problems it solves
Graded in
Public tests other people ran: what they gave it and how it did.
Case 1
Input
Two of his photos in remove.bg: a boat on water and a man photographing mountains in Iceland, each placed on a new background.
What happened
The boat composite worked but looked obviously AI-made, and the boat could not be repositioned. The landscape result was better, but the cutout of the man looked blurry and the sunlight on his bag did not match the cloudy scene. He rated Adobe Express the best of the four tools.
Case 2
Input
A portrait with loose hair, a jellyfish, and a shoe on a plain background, downloaded with remove.bg's free tier.
What happened
remove.bg cut the shoe out cleanly but lost fine hair strands and left a dark patch inside the jellyfish; Photoroom and Canva also lost strands on the portrait. The free download of the 1484 x 1920 shoe photo came out at 439 x 568.
Case 3
Input
Replace POST https://api.remove.bg/v1.0/removebg with an X-Api-Key header by POST https://cloud.leonardo.ai/api/rest/v2/generationssync with a Bearer key, model remove-bg and the image under parameters.guidances.image_reference.
What happened
The size options (preview, auto, full, 50MP) carry over and each image costs US$0.1047. Leonardo always replies in JSON, often reports errors with HTTP 200 and an errors array, and keeps results in your library unless ephemeral is set to true.
What it does badly, with the evidence, and what we could not settle.
Weak
The service ends on December 1, 2026 at 9:00 CET.
Evidence: remove.bg's FAQ says the website and accounts will not be accessible after that, the self-service API stops accepting requests, and the Photoshop plugin, desktop app and other integrations are discontinued. Invoices and credit usage reports cannot be downloaded afterwards.
Unused pay-as-you-go credits are lost, not refunded.
Evidence: The FAQ and the terms updated September 9, 2026 say credits can be used until December 1, 2026 only. Annual subscribers get a pro-rata refund for unused time; the FAQ promises nothing for pay-as-you-go credits.
Free downloads are small.
Evidence: remove.bg's help center caps preview images at 0.25 megapixels (for example 625 x 400); in Aiarty's test a 1484 x 1920 photo downloaded free at 439 x 568.
Fine hair and see-through subjects lose detail.
Evidence: Aiarty's October 2026 side-by-side showed harsh hair edges and a dark patch in a jellyfish; Photoroom's own 45-image test counted 24 clean remove.bg cutouts against 42 for Photoroom; ifanr's 2019 test found hair and part of a backpack cut off on a busy background.
Nobody should buy credits or build a new integration on remove.bg now.
Evidence: Anything bought now expires on December 1, 2026, and the self-service API stops the same day; new API work should target Leonardo.Ai or another provider directly.
Uncertain
Whether Canva's free plan covers what remove.bg users need.
Why unsure: Canva's page says unlimited background removal needs Canva Pro but does not say how many free removals or what resolution free accounts get; remove.bg's FAQ says more functionality will be added to Canva before December 1.
Whether Leonardo.Ai stores images sent to its API.
Why unsure: Leonardo's August 28 announcement says neither remove.bg nor Leonardo's Sync API stores images, while its migration guide says results are saved to your Leonardo library by default unless ephemeral is set to true.
Whether cutouts in Canva and Leonardo match remove.bg's.
Why unsure: remove.bg and Leonardo both say it is the same background-removal technology, but no public test has compared the outputs yet.
The numbers, each with its source and the date we checked it.
| Spec | Value | Note and source |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Canva (operated by Canva Austria GmbH); part of Canva since 2021 | Source: remove.bgchecked |
| Standalone website closes | December 1, 2026, 9:00 CET | Source: remove.bgchecked |
| Self service API | Stops accepting requests on December 1, 2026; enterprise API contracts continue | Source: remove.bgchecked |
| Unused credits | Expire December 1, 2026, 9:00 CET | Source: remove.bgchecked |
| Subscriptions after the closure | Annual: pro-rata refund for time after December 1; monthly: renewals from November 1 are free | Source: remove.bgchecked |
| Prices | Pay-as-you-go from 3 credits for US$3; subscription from 40 credits for US$9 a month | Source: remove.bgchecked |
| Free tier | Preview images up to 0.25 megapixels (e.g. 625 x 400) | Source: remove.bgchecked |
| Maximum image size | 50 megapixels and 22 MB per image | Source: remove.bgchecked |
| Replacement API price | Leonardo.Ai: US$0.1047 per image for background removal | Source: docs.leonardo.aichecked |
| Replacement API rate limit | Leonardo.Ai: 100 images a minute as standard (remove.bg: 500) | Source: leonardo.aichecked |
| Website visits, September 2026 (remove.bg) | 54.8 million (−9.9% on August); 1st of 10 on AICPB's AI photo editors list | Source: mp.weixin.qq.comchecked |
Answer first, then why, an example, the limits and what to do next.
Yes, the remove.bg website shuts down on December 1, 2026 at 9:00 CET. After that the site, accounts, the self-service API, the Photoshop plugin and the desktop app stop working. Background removal continues inside Canva and the API at Leonardo.Ai, both owned by Canva; enterprise API contracts are not affected.
Next step
Use any credits and download your invoices before December 1.
Unused remove.bg pay-as-you-go credits expire on December 1, 2026, and remove.bg does not offer a refund for them. Subscriptions work until then and end automatically: annual subscribers get a pro-rata refund for the unused time to the original payment method, and a monthly renewal on or after November 1 is free.
Next step
Export invoices and the credit usage report from your Account page; remove.bg says they cannot be downloaded afterwards.
Self-service remove.bg API users must switch providers before December 1, 2026, when the API stops accepting requests. remove.bg points to Leonardo.Ai: a new account and key, JSON requests, US$0.1047 per image and 100 images a minute as standard. Photoroom, a competitor, advertises its API from US$0.02 per image on its smallest plan.
Limits
Enterprise API contracts continue as normal, per remove.bg.
Canva's background remover uses the same technology as remove.bg, according to remove.bg's FAQ. Canva's page says unlimited use needs Canva Pro, and it removes backgrounds in bulk on the web and in Canva's desktop app. No public test has compared the two side by side yet.
No single alternative wins every public test, so choose by job. In MakeUseOf's 2024 test Adobe Express beat remove.bg, Picsart and Fotor at replacing backgrounds; in Photoroom's own 45-image e-commerce test Photoroom made 42 clean cutouts and remove.bg 24; in Aiarty's 2026 side-by-side remove.bg, Photoroom and Canva all cut a shoe cleanly and all lost hair strands.
Why
For open models, BRIA's RMBG 2.0 is free for non-commercial use only, and in the vote arena Photoroom runs on Hugging Face BiRefNet v2 rates 927 Elo against 1032 for remove.bg.
Yes, until December 1, 2026 remove.bg still gives free previews of up to 0.25 megapixels. Full-resolution downloads cost credits, and anything you buy now expires on December 1.
This page is built from what could be checked on October 17, 2026: remove.bg's own FAQ, pricing page and terms, Leonardo.Ai's announcement and migration guide, AlternativeTo's report, and side-by-side tests published by MakeUseOf, Aiarty and Photoroom.
According to AICPB's traffic rankings, remove.bg had 54.8 million visits in September 2026, down 9.9% on August: 1st among AI photo editors.
remove.bg cuts the background out of a photo in one step. TechCrunch covered it in January 2019, when it handled only photos of people; it became part of Canva in 2021.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| August 28, 2026 | Leonardo.Ai, also owned by Canva, announces that the remove.bg API is moving to Leonardo |
| September 9, 2026 | remove.bg's updated terms say credits can be used until December 1, 2026 only |
| September 14, 2026 | AlternativeTo reports that remove.bg is shutting down its standalone service |
| November 1, 2026 | Monthly renewals from this date on are free, per remove.bg's FAQ |
| December 1, 2026, 9:00 CET | Website and accounts go offline; the self-service API, Photoshop plugin, desktop app and other integrations end; unused credits expire |
Enterprise API contracts are the one exception: remove.bg says they continue as normal.
The self-service API stops accepting requests on December 1. Leonardo.Ai runs the same technology, it says, but nothing moves over by itself.
| remove.bg API | Leonardo.Ai API | |
|---|---|---|
| Account and key | X-Api-Key header | New Leonardo account and Bearer key; remove.bg keys do not carry over |
| Price | 1 credit per image up to 50 MP; first 50 calls a month free | US$0.1047 per image |
| Rate limit | Up to 500 images a minute | Up to 100 images a minute as standard |
| Requests and replies | Form data or JSON in, image bytes out | JSON in, JSON out; errors often arrive with HTTP 200 |
| Storage | Nothing stored | Saved to your Leonardo library unless ephemeral is true |
| Output formats | PNG, JPG, WebP, ZIP | PNG, JPG, WebP; no ZIP |
Sources: remove.bg API docs, Leonardo.Ai's announcement and migration guide. Photoroom, a competitor, calculated on October 1, 2026 that Leonardo costs less than remove.bg's plans below about 7,500 images a month and more above it.
No recent independent test with a large image set exists. The side-by-side tests that do exist agree: remove.bg is clean on simple subjects and loses detail on hair and see-through objects.
| Option | What public tests show | Catch |
|---|---|---|
| Canva Background Remover | Same technology as remove.bg, per remove.bg; in Aiarty's test a clean shoe, stiff hair and a dark patch in the jellyfish | Unlimited use needs Canva Pro |
| Adobe Express | Best of four at replacing backgrounds in MakeUseOf's 2024 test | The test is two years old and judged new backgrounds, not cutout edges |
| Photoroom | 42 of 45 clean cutouts in its own test; blurred hair strands in Aiarty's | Its best numbers come from Photoroom itself |
| BRIA RMBG 2.0 and BiRefNet (open models) | In the vote arena Photoroom runs on Hugging Face, BiRefNet v2 sits at 927 Elo and remove.bg at 1032 | RMBG 2.0 weights are for non-commercial use; some arena labels are inconsistent |
Do not buy a credit pack, start a subscription or build a new integration on remove.bg: everything bought now expires on December 1, 2026, and the self-service API ends that day. For occasional cutouts, Canva offers the same technology inside a design tool. For an API, run your own images through Leonardo.Ai, Photoroom and an open model before you commit.
Sources
Changelog
Photoroom is the best remove.bg alternative for most people before remove.bg closes on December 1, 2026: its API takes the same calls at $0.02 an image and its app adds batch editing. Pixelcut is the free pick for single cutouts, PicWish's API costs about a cent an image, and Pixlr does free batches.
LayerGrab splits a flat image into up to 16 named, transparent layers over a filled-in background, on the web, in Figma or in Chrome, or pulls out only what you name. Each layer costs $0.10 on its $12 plan, $0.08 on Premium. No independent review exists yet. LayerGrab is our own product: it is made by the team behind GenGrades.
MagicRemover is a browser tool that erases people, objects, text, logos and watermarks from photos, and subtitles from videos. Photos get 2 free removals a day, 2 more after sign-in, at about 1 megapixel; beyond that, credits start at $9.90 for 330. MagicRemover is our own product: it is made by the team behind GenGrades.
EditTextImage is a web tool, with phone apps and a Chrome extension, that rewrites, fixes, translates or removes the words in a finished image while keeping its lettering. Credits are sold once, from $14.90 for 40; a standard edit costs one. No independent test exists yet. EditTextImage is our own product: it is made by the team behind GenGrades.
VideoEnhancer is a web tool that upscales short MP4 clips to 1080p, 2K or 4K with the FlashVSR model and also compresses, face-swaps and generates video. After a 5-second free trial, 1080p costs 3 credits a second, $0.03 to $0.09 depending on how credits are bought. VideoEnhancer is our own product: it is made by the team behind GenGrades.
VideoTextRemover is a web tool that erases burned-in subtitles, captions and other on-screen text from MP4 and MOV videos and repaints what was behind them, up to 1080p. It bills per second processed, about $0.025 to $0.049, with 30 free seconds a month in some countries. VideoTextRemover is our own product: it is made by the team behind GenGrades.