GhostImage runs a background-removal model inside your browser. The photo never leaves your device, and the full-resolution cutout is free — no credits, no account.
remove.bg made one-click background removal mainstream: drop a photo, and a few seconds later the subject is cut out cleanly. It does that by uploading your image to its servers, where a cloud model does the work. Free previews are capped at 0.25 megapixels; the full-resolution file costs a credit. remove.bg has also announced that its standalone site closes on 1 December 2026, with background removal moving into Canva and its API moving to Leonardo.Ai.
GhostImage takes the opposite route. The segmentation model (a compact U²-Net variant called silueta, about 42 MB) downloads to your browser once and is cached; after that, every photo is processed on your own device, via WebGPU where available or WebAssembly otherwise. Because there is no server doing the work, there is nothing to meter: the cutout comes back at your photo’s original resolution, free, with no account.
remove.bg is very good at what it does. Its cloud model handles difficult edges — flyaway hair, fur, semi-transparent fabric — noticeably better than a small model running in a browser tab can, and results arrive in seconds regardless of how fast your own device is.
It has also been built for volume: an API, desktop apps, batch processing, and plugins such as a Photoshop extension. After the December 2026 transition, that work continues inside Canva, and the API continues at Leonardo.Ai. If background removal is part of a production pipeline, those are real advantages.
Your photo is never uploaded
The model runs in a Web Worker inside your browser. The image is decoded, segmented, and composited on your device — in your browser’s Network tab you’ll see the one-time model download, never your photo.
Full resolution, free
The cutout is composited at your photo’s original pixel dimensions (up to 40 megapixels) and downloaded as a transparent PNG. There’s no low-res preview tier and no credits for the full-size file.
More than a transparent cutout
Keep the transparent PNG, fill the background with any solid color (JPG), blur the original background for a portrait look, or add a sticker-style white outline with a drop shadow.
No account, no watermark
Nothing to sign up for and nothing stamped on the result. HEIC photos from an iPhone work too.
Stack it with other steps
The cutout stays in the GhostImage studio, so you can crop, resize, compress, or upscale it next — or strip the photo’s hidden metadata — without re-uploading anything anywhere.
| Feature | GhostImage | remove.bg |
|---|---|---|
| Where the photo is processed | On your device, in the browser | Uploaded to their servers |
| Full-resolution download | Free | Costs a credit; free previews are up to 0.25 MP |
| Account | None | Needed for credits |
| Model | silueta (compact U²-Net), ~42 MB, runs locally | Cloud model on their servers |
| Hair and fine edges | Good on clear subjects; fine strands can be soft | Generally cleaner — a real strength |
| Speed | Depends on your device; first run downloads the model | Seconds, on their hardware |
| API and bulk processing | No | Yes (API moving to Leonardo.Ai) |
| Output options | Transparent PNG, solid color, blur, sticker | Transparent PNG and background edits |
If you are cutting out portraits with loose hair, pets with fur, or product shots with fine detail and edge quality is what matters most, remove.bg’s cloud model will usually produce the cleaner result. Our model works at a small internal resolution and upscales the mask, which is fine for clear subjects but softer on stray strands.
Canva’s background remover (where remove.bg is heading) or the Leonardo.Ai API is also the better pick when you need hundreds of images processed in a design workflow or pipeline. GhostImage is built for the photo you would rather not hand to anyone — ID photos, family pictures, unreleased products — not for industrial throughput.
Is GhostImage’s background remover really free at full resolution?
Yes. The cutout is composited at your photo’s original size (up to 40 megapixels) and downloads free, with no credits, no account, and no watermark. There is no server cost to pass on, because your device does the work.
Does my photo get uploaded?
No. The segmentation model downloads to your browser once (about 42 MB, cached afterwards) and runs locally, via WebGPU or WebAssembly. Your image is never sent to a server.
Which AI model does it use?
silueta, a size-reduced version of the open U²-Net salient-object model, run with ONNX Runtime Web. It predicts a mask at 320×320 that is then upscaled and applied to your full-resolution photo.
How does the quality compare with remove.bg?
For a clear subject against a distinct background, results are close. On fine hair, fur, or glass, remove.bg’s cloud model is usually better. That is the trade-off for never uploading the photo.
Why is the first run slower?
The model has to download once. After that it’s cached by your browser, so later photos go straight to processing. Speed then depends on your device; a laptop with WebGPU is fastest.
Can I put the subject on a new background?
You can fill any solid color or blur the original background directly. For a photo background, download the transparent PNG and layer it in any editor.
On-device AI, full resolution, free. Your image never leaves your browser.
Remove a background free