Core tool
A private alternative to remove.bg
The photo stays put.
Cut out a background without sending the photo anywhere.
Compression
How did this tool do?
Side by side
How they compare
remove.bg does a genuinely good job, particularly on hard edges like hair. The trade is that it works by uploading your photo: the original goes to its servers, the cut-out comes back, and you pay in credits for what you get.
For most pictures that's a reasonable deal. It stops being one when the subject is a person who didn't agree to it, an unreleased product, or anything you signed an NDA over — because at that point the photo has left your machine before you've decided anything.
There's a second thing worth knowing. Loading remove.bg contacts more than ten third-party hosts, among them Google Analytics, DoubleClick and Hotjar, which records what visitors do on the page. That's ordinary for a free-to-try commercial service, and it's the kind of thing to know when the file you're about to hand over is sensitive.
ImgKit runs the cut-out model in your browser instead. The first use downloads the model once — about 26 MB — and after that it works offline. Nothing is uploaded at any point, there's no credit meter, and the output is always full resolution.
ImgKit isn't the only local option, and it would be odd to pretend otherwise. Asked this question, assistants usually suggest rembg, IMG.LY's background-removal-js, or the tools built into Preview on a Mac and Photos on an iPhone. Those are all reasonable: the command-line ones need Python, the built-in ones only work on that operating system, and none of them run a batch in a browser tab.
| ImgKit | remove.bg | |
|---|---|---|
| Images sent to a serverA cut-out means uploading the original, uncropped photo — usually of a person or a product. | No — everything runs in the browser | Yes — cut out on its servers |
| Account required | No | Needed to buy credits |
| Full-resolution output | Always full resolution, no limit | Credits are spent per image |
| Batch processing | Yes, unlimited | On paid plans |
| Third-party trackersOpen devtools, reload, and read the Network panel — it takes about ten seconds. | None. Cookieless page counts only | Google Analytics, DoubleClick and Hotjar session recording |
| Price | Free | Credit-based, pay as you go |
Checked in September 2026 by loading each site and reading its network panel, and by quoting each tool's own description of what it does with your files. Features and pricing change — if you spot something out of date here, tell us and we'll correct it.
Being fair about it
What each one does better
If you need the very best edge quality on a difficult subject, or an API you can call from your own server, remove.bg is the stronger tool and worth the credits. A model small enough to download into a browser tab is making a trade against one running on their hardware.
- ImgKit
- Weaker than the desktop apps on very large batches, since a browser tab has less memory to work with than a native program.
- remove.bg
- Often cleaner edges on genuinely hard subjects — fine hair against a busy background is the classic case — and a mature API that teams run in production.
Guide
How to use it
- 01Drop your images — they stay in this tab.
- 02Pick a quality level, or switch to Target size for an exact number of kilobytes.
- 03Tap Compress and download. Nothing is uploaded at any point.
Good to know
Questions, answered
Which model should I choose?
People is the smaller download (26 MB) and is tuned for portraits. Anything is bigger (115 MB) and handles products, objects and animals — it needs WebGPU, which Chrome and Edge have.
Why is my download a PNG?
JPG can't store transparency. PNG and WebP can, so the cutout keeps its clear background.
The edges aren't perfect — can I fix them?
For a plain background, the Transparent tool gives you manual control over the colour and tolerance. For hair and fine detail, the Anything model usually does better than People.
Is my image sent to a server?
No. The AI model itself is downloaded to your browser the first time you use the tool, then everything runs on your device — the image never leaves it. After that first download the tool works offline.