remove.bg Is Shutting Down on 1 December 2026: What to Use Instead

remove.bg has told its users that the standalone website is closing. From 1 December 2026 at 9:00am CET the site will no longer be available, background removal moves into Canva, and API access moves to Leonardo.Ai. I read the FAQ on 26 September 2026 and pulled out the parts that matter, whether you used remove.bg once a week for a product photo or once a minute from a script.

What ends on 1 December 2026

• The website and every account. remove.bg says account data stays accessible until 1 December 2026 at 9:00am CET. After that the site and accounts cannot be reached.
• The self-service API, which stops accepting requests on that date. Enterprise API contracts continue as normal.
• The Photoshop plugin, the desktop app and the other integrations and plugins.
• Unused pay-as-you-go credits, which expire on 1 December 2026.

What happens to money you have already paid

• Annual subscriptions keep working until the cutoff, then end automatically. Unused time is refunded pro rata to the original payment method, with no action needed.
• Monthly subscriptions end at the cutoff too, and any final renewal on or after 1 November is free.
• Invoices and the credit usage report can only be downloaded from the Account page until the cutoff. Export them before then if you need them for bookkeeping.

What remove.bg recommends

Its own answer is Canva for single images and bulk batches (it says Canva's Background Remover uses the same technology), Leonardo.Ai's API for automated volume, and Affinity for a Photoshop-style editing workflow.

Two things to know before you follow that advice. remove.bg's FAQ says you remove the background from an image directly within a Canva design at canva.com. And it says Affinity's background removal runs on Canva AI and needs a Canva Pro subscription, even though Affinity itself is free. What Canva's own web remover costs, and which plan it sits on, is decided by Canva's pricing pages, so check canva.com before you commit a workflow to it.

A free option with no login

If what you used remove.bg for was a clean cutout of one image at a time, our free background remover does that with no account, no credits and no watermark, and the download is the full-resolution file rather than a preview. It takes JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and HEIC, and exports a transparent PNG, or a JPG or WebP with a colour or your own photo behind the subject. Try it on the sample below.

Try it here
OriginalBackground removed
Drag the handle. This is the exact cutout you get, full resolution, no login.
Open the background remover

Be clear about what it does not do, because remove.bg users will ask. There is no API, so a script cannot call it. There is no bulk upload for this tool, so a folder of 300 product shots means 300 drops. There is no Photoshop plugin. If any of those was the reason you paid remove.bg, Leonardo.Ai (the official successor for the API) or Cutout.pro are the closer fit, and our MergeImages vs remove.bg comparison lays the trade-offs out row by row, including the rows remove.bg wins.

What to do this week if you are a remove.bg customer

1. Use any pay-as-you-go credits before 1 December 2026. They do not roll over anywhere.
2. Download your invoices and usage report from the Account page while you still can.
3. If you call the API from code, read the Leonardo.Ai migration guide linked from remove.bg's API page, or pick another API, and switch before December so nothing fails on the morning of the first.
4. If you only ever needed one image at a time, try the free tool above and see whether it covers you.

Frequently Asked Questions

When exactly does remove.bg shut down?

1 December 2026 at 9:00am CET, according to remove.bg's FAQ. That applies to the website, accounts, the self-service API, the Photoshop plugin, the desktop app and the other integrations and plugins.

Will I get a refund?

Annual subscribers get a pro-rata refund for unused time after 1 December 2026, sent automatically to the original payment method. Monthly plans end at the cutoff, with any final renewal on or after 1 November free. Unused pay-as-you-go credits expire and remove.bg recommends using them before the migration date.

Is Canva's background remover free?

remove.bg says Canva is the official replacement, that it uses the same technology, and that you remove the background from an image directly within a Canva design. What it costs, and which Canva plan it sits on, is set by Canva's own pricing, so check canva.com. remove.bg's FAQ does say the Affinity version needs a Canva Pro subscription.

Is MergeImages a full remove.bg replacement?

For one image at a time, yes: free, full resolution, no login, no watermark. For an API, bulk processing or a Photoshop plugin, no. Leonardo.Ai is the official API successor, and Cutout.pro also offers an API and bulk processing.