If you relied on remove.bg, December 1, 2026 is the day its standalone website and self-service API stop working and unused pay-as-you-go credits expire. ClearBG was built for that switch, as an independent service that is not affiliated with remove.bg or Canva.
On the website
For occasional cutouts, drop an image on clearbg.org and download a transparent PNG at full resolution. The first full-resolution image each day is free without an account or a watermark, and the preview is free for every image.
For developers
For code that calls the remove.bg API, the change is the host and the key. Requests to api.clearbg.org/v1.0/removebg use the same form fields and X-Api-Key header, the response is the image itself or remove.bg's JSON, and errors keep the same shape. A few things differ and are listed in the documentation: full-size outputs are capped at 25 megapixels instead of 50, options that would change the picture in ways ClearBG can't do return a clear 400 error, and the X-Type header is not sent. 50 preview calls a month are free, so you can test before paying.
Cutout quality
Under the hood, ClearBG runs its own copy of BiRefNet, an open-source segmentation model, with an extra step that works out the true colour of edge pixels so hair and fur don't keep a rim of the old background. In a side-by-side test of six photos, long hair, a wine glass and sneakers came out on par with remove.bg; thin objects beside the subject, like a microphone stand, are the weak spot, so check them in the free preview.
Pricing
One credit is one full-resolution image on the website or the API. Credit packs never expire, from $5 for 100 images; plans start at $9 a month for 500 credits.
