remove.bg Alternative: What Changes on 1 December 2026
The short answer
remove.bg is closing its standalone website on 1 December 2026 and moving its background removal into Canva. On Canva's current pricing page, background removal is not part of the free plan. If you used remove.bg for free cutouts, our free background remover is one alternative: it saves full-resolution transparent PNGs with no sign-up, and it runs in your browser.
What is changing at remove.bg
These are remove.bg's own words, checked on 4 October 2026:
- The banner on remove.bg/pricing: "remove.bg's background removal is moving to Canva. The standalone website will no longer be available from 1 December 2026 at 9:00am CET."
- The remove.bg FAQ: "Background removal is moving to Canva and API access to Leonardo.ai". The same page says "The self-service API will stop accepting requests from 1 December 2026" and "Any unused PAYG credits will expire on 1 December 2026."
- Until then, its help page on free use says the website is free "for low-resolution images (up to 0.25 megapixels)" and for personal use; higher resolutions and commercial use need a paid plan.
Side by side
| remove.bg | Canva | Avalon Background Remover | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Background removal on the free plan | Low resolution only, up to 0.25 megapixels | Not available on the Free plan | Full resolution, up to 5,000 pixels on the longest side |
| Watermark on free downloads | Not stated on the pages we checked | Not applicable | None |
| Lowest paid plan that includes it | Credits or a subscription, priced by country | Canva Pro, US$18 a month or US$144 a year for one person | Not needed for the cutout. Avalon Pro is $5 a month for batches of up to 100, shadows and your own backgrounds |
| Where your photo is processed | Uploaded to the service | Uploaded to the service | In your browser, on your device |
| After 1 December 2026 | Standalone website closed; moves to Canva | Unchanged | Unchanged |
Prices and plans are as shown on each company's own pages on 4 October 2026 and can change. A 0.25-megapixel image is about 600 × 420 pixels.
How our free tool compares
- What you get for free. The cutout is saved at the size of your photo, up to 5,000 pixels on the longest side, as a transparent PNG, a WebP or a JPG on white, with no watermark and no account. You can put it on white, a color or a blurred copy of the photo, frame it for marketplaces, and fix mistakes with the erase and restore brushes.
- Limits. The free version takes up to 5 photos at once, up to 40 MB each. Avalon Pro takes up to 100 at once and adds drop shadows, your own background pictures, ZIP downloads, saved presets and custom file names.
- Privacy. The model runs in your browser, so photos are not uploaded to us. The first run downloads the model once (about 5 MB for Fast, 47 MB for Best edges).
- What we have not tested. We have not run a side-by-side quality test against remove.bg or Canva, so we make no claim about which cuts out better. Try your own photo: if a result is rough, switch to Best edges and use the brushes.
Sources
All checked on 4 October 2026: remove.bg pricing, remove.bg FAQ, remove.bg: Is remove.bg free?, remove.bg: commercial use, Canva pricing.
remove.bg and Canva are trademarks of their owners. We name them only to compare, and we are not affiliated with either company.
Frequently asked questions
When does the remove.bg website close?
remove.bg's own pricing page and FAQ say the standalone website will no longer be available from 1 December 2026 at 9:00am CET, and that background removal is moving to Canva.
Is Canva's background remover free?
No. On Canva's pricing page (checked 4 October 2026), the row "Remove backgrounds from images and videos" is marked Unavailable on the Free plan and included in Pro.
Is the Avalon background remover really free at full resolution?
Yes. The free version saves the cutout at the size of your photo, up to 5,000 pixels on the longest side, as PNG, JPG or WebP, with no watermark and no sign-up. Avalon Pro adds bigger batches, shadows, your own background pictures and ZIP downloads; the cutout itself is the same on every plan.
Do you upload my photos?
No. Our background remover runs an AI model inside your browser, so your photos stay on your device.