Best Free AI Background Removers (2026)

Apple's Lift Subject separates the subject of a photo, or a paused video frame, from its background. It works in Photos, Safari, Quick Look and other apps, and it does not need an internet connection or an account.

How to use it on iPhone:

1. Open a photo in full screen, or pause a video on a frame.
2. Touch and hold the subject until an outline appears.
3. Tap Copy, Share or Add Sticker, or keep holding and drag the subject into another app.

On a Mac, open the image in Preview and use the remove background option. Preview may ask to convert the file to PNG so the background can be transparent. You can choose Edit > Undo to bring it back.

There is no app screenshot because this is part of the operating system. It is the fastest way to make stickers, paste a person into a message or prepare an image for a design on Apple devices.

Samsung added a cutout tool (first called Image Clipper) to the Gallery app with the Galaxy S23 series and One UI 5.1, and later brought it to more devices. Open a photo in Gallery, press and hold the subject, and the cutout appears. You can then copy it, share it, save it as a new image or save it as a sticker.

It also works on a paused video frame. If the long press does nothing on your phone, Samsung users report that the Lasso selection in the photo editor is a manual fallback.

Gallery's other AI tools, such as Object Eraser and the generative edit in Galaxy AI, remove objects rather than the whole background. Our best AI photo editors guide covers those.

Paint on Windows 11 has a Remove background button in the toolbar. Paste or open an image, click it, and Paint detects the subject across the whole image, or only inside an area you selected first.

• Output: The background becomes transparent. Microsoft notes it may look white when viewed or saved outside Paint, so save as PNG to keep the transparency.
• Shortcut: On supported PCs, Click to Do has a "Remove background with Paint" action.
• Limits: Hair, glass, shadows and subjects that match the background colour may need touching up by hand.

It is free, works offline and has no size limit beyond what your PC can handle, which makes it the obvious first try on a Windows PC.

remove.bg, now owned by Canva, made one-click background removal popular. You drop in an image and get a cutout in a few seconds.

• Free output: Previews are free on the website, up to 0.25 megapixels (for example 625 x 400 pixels). That is fine for a profile picture or a chat sticker, but too small for printing or a product listing.
• Full resolution: Up to 50 megapixels, but each download costs a credit. New accounts get one free credit.
• Apps: Android, plus free desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux. Previews in the apps and API cost a quarter credit.
• Training: remove.bg asks before using an image you rate badly to improve its AI, and you can say no.

Use it when a small image is enough. For full-size downloads at no cost, Photoroom's free plan is the better deal.

Photoroom is built for sellers. It cuts out a product, puts it on a clean or AI-made background and adds shadows, so a phone photo looks like a catalogue shot.

• Free plan: Background removal and core tools, with 250 exports a month and no watermark, according to Photoroom.
• Batch: Paid plans process images in bulk. Pro includes 1,000 exports a month.
• Paid plans: Pro is $7.50 a month billed yearly, with 8,000 AI credits. Max ($20.99 a month billed yearly) adds 4K images and video.

The free plan is enough for most small shops. If you sell a lot, the yearly Pro plan is cheap for what it saves you.

Adobe Express removes image backgrounds for free and gives you a transparent PNG. Inside the editor, the same Remove Background option sits in the Image panel, so you can drop the cutout straight into a poster, thumbnail or social post.

• Free: Image background removal. Adobe's page says you do not need an account to get started.
• Paid: Removing the background from a video needs Adobe Express Premium.
• Watch for: Adobe notes the tool can drop fine details or low-contrast edges, so check the cutout before you download.

It is the free alternative to Canva's background remover, which needs Canva Pro. For more free design tools like this, see our Canva alternatives.

Pixelcut is a lighter, cheaper rival to Photoroom, with a background remover, magic eraser and upscaler in one app.

• Free plan: Limited background removal and upscaling, and free exports have no watermark. Pixelcut does not publish the exact free number.
• Pro: $10 a month, or $8 a month billed yearly, for unlimited background removal, 600 AI credits, 1,000 batch exports a month and a commercial licence.

Use the free tier for the odd listing photo. Pro makes sense if you remove backgrounds every week and want batch exports.

Clipdrop is a set of AI image tools on the web, and its background remover handles large images, up to 5000 x 5000 pixels according to its help section. You can upload one or several images at a time.

The same site has related tools, such as Replace Background, Relight and an image upscaler, which helps when a cutout needs a new scene or more pixels.

There is no app screenshot because Clipdrop is a web tool. Its free terms are less clearly published than Photoroom's, so check the download screen for any limit before you start a large batch.