A background removal tool is key to creating polished, high-quality images for your business, whether it’s for your website or social media campaigns.
Removing an image’s background has a wealth of benefits, including easy integration across sales channels, increased attention to your product, and improved image optimization for SEO. But you might not know how to remove image backgrounds yourself.
If you’re handling branding design tasks, there may be more options to remove image backgrounds than you realize. Sure, there’s Photoshop, but it’s not the only option.
There are also free photo editors, as well as more scalable alternatives. Here’s a list of 11 great background removal tools.
Best free background remover tools
- Pxl Photo Background Remover
- Removal.ai
- InPixio Remove Background
- PicMonkey
- Background Eraser
- AutoClipping
- Cutout.pro
- PhotoScissors
- Clipping Magic
- Remove.bg
- Adobe Express
1. Pxl Photo Background Remover
The Pxl Photo Background Remover is a free Shopify app that helps you remove backgrounds and create stunning product photos in one click.
It uses an AI to detect your object and remove the background, saving you editing time and money. You can even add a colored background to match your store design and remove up to 15 backgrounds at one time.
Pros:
- One-click background removal
- Automatic
- Backup feature
- Bulk background removal actions
Price: Free
2. Removal.ai
Removal.ai uses artificial intelligence to detect what part of the picture is the background, then it turns the background transparent. From there you can change the background to whatever you want.
The one drawback is that there’s no real way to touch up what the AI has decided is the transparent background. You’ll have to make sure the photos you upload make it very clear to the AI. Solid color backgrounds and simple foregrounds work best with this app.
Pros:
- Automatic background removal
- Export images in different social-media-friendly dimensions
- You can download high-quality versions of different image sizes
Price: Free
3. InPixio Remove Background
There is both a free version and a paid version of InPixio. The free version is an online background remover that uses an AI algorithm to erase the unwanted objects in your photo’s background.
The great thing about this app is it also has retouching tools that allow you to select your background with more detail. You can save your photo as a JPG file with a white background or use the preset background images to superimpose your photo.
There’s no limit to how many times you can save and upload images using this photo editing app. However, you don’t have access to any other photo editing tools unless you pay a yearly subscription.
Pros:
- Automatic background remover
- Retouching tools
Price: Free; full access starts at $49.99/year
4. PicMonkey
PicMonkey is an online photo editor for tweaking product photos taken on a smartphone. PicMonkey saves everything in the cloud automatically, and you can access it from any of your devices.
It has both an automatic and manual background remover as well as some pretty good photo editing tools and templates for collages and banners.
Although you can use PicMonkey for free, most of its features are only available if you subscribe. For example, if you want to download the image you’ve been working on, you’ll need to pay for an annual subscription.
Pros:
- Automatic cloud storage
- Built-in tutorials and resource center
- Ability to print your images
Price: Free seven-day trial, then $72.00/year
5. Background Eraser
Background Eraser is a free background remover app for Android. Fairly simple, it focuses entirely on helping you remove backgrounds from your photos. You can download Background Eraser in the Google Play app store.
It offers three different ways to remove backgrounds:
- Auto is a removal tool that removes pixels similar to the ones you’ve selected
- Magic acts like a magic wand and makes estimations based on your selections
- Manual gives you complete control
The only drawback is Background Eraser is focused only on background removal. That means you’ll need to download other apps to superimpose your images or turn them into marketing materials.
Pros:
- Three different background removal options
- Easy to use
- Basic image editing tools
Price: Free
6. AutoClipping
AutoClipping is a free tool that’s housed online. All you have to do is register with AutoClipping, which will give you unlimited uploads and downloads.
This online tool is great for beginner photo editors who don’t want to mess around with complicated edits. AutoClipping’s AI does all the work in removing those pesky backgrounds. However, you do need to make sure your images have clearly defined subjects for the AI to work properly.
Pros:
- AI background removal
- Easy to use
Price: Free
7. Cutout.pro
You aren’t just limited to removing the backgrounds in photos anymore. Now you can do it in your videos too.
Cutout.pro is an online background remover that automatically removes the backgrounds in your images and videos. It also allows you to superimpose your images and videos onto any background of your choice.
Cutout.pro also lets you crop your images to fit different social media needs and add text to your images. All in all, this is a great one-stop shop if you’ve got fairly simple editing needs.
Pros:
- Automatic background removal
- Remove backgrounds on images and videos
- Superimpose images and videos
Price: Free
8. PhotoScissors
PhotoScissors is an online background remover that takes care of removing the backgrounds of busy images. It also has presets for cropping images so they’re compatible with sites like Amazon and eBay, as well as for social media.
You have an unlimited number of uploads with PhotoScissors, but if you want high-resolution downloads, you’ll need to pay for photo credits. And if you want access to the more detailed background removal tools, you’ll have to pay for PhotoScissors’ complementary software, Inpaint.
Pros:
- Automatic background removal
- Built-in tutorials
- Remove background from tricky objects like hair
- Remove background from transparent objects
Price: Free with advanced features available for purchase
9. Clipping Magic
Another great online background remover tool is Clipping Magic. It uses AI technology that constantly improves its background removal algorithm with every photo uploaded to its servers.
The only drawback is the free version of this tool leaves a watermark on all your images. If you want an image without one, you’ll have to pay for API credits. You’ll also need to pay for a monthly subscription if you want access to the full range of Clipping Magic’s features, like its bulk clipping feature.
Pros:
- Automatic background removal
- API Integrations
- Bulk clipping
- Tutorials
Price: Free, then $3.99/month
10. Remove.bg
Remove.bg is a free service that lets you remove the background of any photo. It works automatically, meaning you don't have to choose background layers or anything.
Simply choose your image and the tool will remove the background in seconds. You can then download a PNG image for free and use it in your ecommerce store.
Pros:
- Simple upload from Mac, iOS, or Android
- Free stock images you can use
Price: Free
11. Adobe Express
Adobe Express offers a free image background remover online. Simply upload any JPEG or PNG on the website, then edit it or add a new background in the Adobe Express platform.
Pros:
- User-friendly eraser tool
- Excellent editing features using Adobe products
Price: Free, premium plans start at $9.99/month
Finding the best background removal tool for you
As you can see, there are a lot of tools out there to help you get the perfect images for your brand.
What’s more, you don’t have to be an expert photo editor or spend hours in front of a computer. With a quick upload into one of the image tools on our list, you’ll have that perfect soufflé picture for tempting everyone on social media.