Tools
Wanting a white background on a profile photo, or the background gone from a product shot, comes up often, and since firing up an image editor just to erase a background is overkill, most people go looking for a free tool online.
What stopped me there was that every tool I found worked by uploading the image to a server. Handing my own face, or a product that has not been announced yet, to somebody else’s server is not a decision to make lightly just because it costs nothing, and plenty of them come with caps on how many images you can do, or drop the resolution unless you pay.
This article walks through the background removal in "Media Tools", which I built, and how to make a background transparent without sending the image anywhere. Everything runs inside the browser, so the photo never leaves your device.
What You'll Learn from This Article
- The limits on free background-removal tools
- How to choose a model to suit the subject
- How to cut out the background
- How to fix what the AI misses
- Choosing an output format and background colour
All you need is the image and a browser. There is no account, no payment, no upload and no cap on how many images you process.
The limits on free tiers, and when a free tier disappears
Even services that advertise themselves as free fall into one of three kinds of restriction once you read the conditions. Here is what I found when I checked each company's pricing page and official help in September 2026.
Kind of limit | Examples I confirmed (as of September 2026) | When it hurts |
|---|---|---|
Cap on images or runs | "Adobe Firefly" caps daily generations on the free tier, and "Pixelcut" labels background removal on its free plan as "limited" | Processing dozens of product photos in one go |
Cap on resolution | The free tier of "remove.bg" stops at preview quality (0.25 megapixels, roughly 625×400); saving at the original resolution costs one credit per image | Print, or e-commerce product images, where the original size matters |
Account or paid plan required | "Adobe Firefly" needs an Adobe account even on the free tier. "Canva" includes its background remover only in paid plans | You want one image done and it starts with a sign-up |
On top of those three, a free tier can simply go away. The background removal site "remove.bg" has officially announced that its standalone website closes on 1 December 2026 at 9:00 CET and its functionality moves into "Canva". From that moment the site and accounts become inaccessible, unused credits expire, the API moves to "Leonardo.Ai", and the Photoshop plugin and desktop apps are discontinued.
What I consider the real problem is not the closure itself but the fact that Canva, the destination, lists its background remover as a paid-plan feature. Canva's help centre states that "Background remover is included with paid plans", so anyone who relied on remove.bg's free preview quality cannot carry on the same way after moving.
What changes when nothing is uploaded
Online background removers almost always process on the server. That is faster, since the server’s hardware does the work, but a set of constraints comes along with it.
Typical cloud service | Processed in the browser (this article) | |
|---|---|---|
Image transfer | Uploaded to a server | Never leaves the device |
Number of images | Some have a daily cap | None |
Resolution | Often reduced on free tiers | Unchanged |
First-run wait | Almost none | The AI model has to be fetched |
Speed | Fast | Depends on your machine |
Processing in the browser has its own weaknesses. The AI model has to be downloaded the first time, and the speed tracks whatever hardware you are on. In exchange, the image is never handed over to an outside server.
I chose this approach because that trade is decisive whenever the material cannot leave the company, or the photo belongs to a client.
When switching, the first thing I check is whether the image is sent to a server at all. Caps on image count and resolution disappear once you pay, but whether data leaves your device is a property of the method itself and cannot be changed later. Beyond that, there is no API and no Photoshop plugin here, so where automated processing is required I think a paid API is the quicker route. Knowing that, I still put "no data sent out, no limits, no account" first.
Choosing between the two models
Two AI models are available. Try "People" first and switch to "General" if it does not come out cleanly — that is the order that works in practice.
People | General | |
|---|---|---|
Model | MODNet (25 MB) | BiRefNet_lite (100 MB) |
WebGPU (lets the browser use the GPU) | Not required | Required |
Measured on a 900×1350 photo | 16.4 s | 46.5 s |
Suits | People, and subjects with fur or hair | Hard outlines such as cars and buildings |
As the name says, "People" was built for people, but it holds up surprisingly well on other subjects. Trying it on a photo of a dog sitting in grass for this article, it cut the fur out cleanly down to the outline. Running the same photo through "General" left part of the white fur on the chest missing, and took nearly three times as long.
So "anything that is not a person needs General" does not hold. I start with "People" and only reach for "General" when the result does not satisfy me.
Why start with the People model
It is faster and runs even on machines without WebGPU, and at 25 MB the model is a quarter the size of the General model (100 MB). It also suits subjects whose outline breaks into fine strands, like hair or animal fur.
When to switch to the General model
It is worth trying when the People model breaks the outline. Subjects with a defined edge — cars, buildings, manufactured goods — tend to come out more consistently with it.
The catch is that it will not run without WebGPU support. Processing at 1024×1024 takes a lot of memory, more than is available without WebGPU. On machines without WebGPU, only "People" is available.
How to cut out the background
Free tool that removes the background from a photo with AI and saves it as a transparent PNG or over a colour of your choice. Switch between a model for people (MODNet) and a general one (BiRefNet). Inference runs in your browser, so the photo is never sent anywhere.
media.tools.ryusei.io- Open the background removal page in your browser.
- Drag and drop the image.
- Pick "People" or "General" under "Subject".
- Decide the "Background": leave it transparent, or fill it with white or another colour.
- Run it, and the cut-out image is written out.
The AI model downloads only on the first run — 25 MB for the People model, 100 MB for General. From the second time onward the copy stored in your browser is used, so there is no wait.
The figures in this article come from a PC with an integrated GPU (Radeon 780M) running Chromium, on a 900×1350 photo. They include fetching the model, so later runs are quicker, and a PC with a discrete GPU would probably finish faster still.
Fixing what the AI misses
Since the AI determines the area to cut out automatically, there will be times when a touch-up is needed. When the subject and background are close in colour, or the subject has a lot of fine detail, the outline may not land where you want it, and I built in a way to correct it by hand from the start on that assumption.
What I built is an editor that allows the following on top of the automatic result.
- Select a region and limit the work to inside it
- Cut out by hand, freehand
- Bring back what was erased too far, or erase what was left behind
As long as the automatic pass gets most of it, all that is left is tidying the remainder with a brush, which takes less time than cutting the whole thing out by hand.
Output formats and background colour
Only PNG and WebP preserve transparency. JPG has no mechanism for holding a transparent pixel at all, so choosing JPG writes out an image filled with the background colour instead.
Use | Format | Background |
|---|---|---|
Layering onto a document or slide | PNG | Transparent |
Putting it on a website | WebP | Transparent |
Submitting it as an ID photo | JPG | Filled with white |
For an ID photo on a white background, pick white under "Background" and save as JPG.
Frequently asked questions
Is my photo sent to a server?
It is not. After the AI model is fetched into your browser on the first run, the processing stays on your device, so the image never leaves it. Apart from downloading the model, Media Tools sends processing statistics (such as the tool and settings used and device specs) to the site's server, but these do not include the image itself, file names or IP addresses. You can turn this off with the "Send processing statistics" switch near the bottom of the page.
Is it free?
It is. No account is required, and no cap is placed on how many images you process or on their resolution. Because the work happens on your device, there is no reason to charge per image.
Can I use this instead of remove.bg?
Yes. remove.bg closes its standalone site on 1 December 2026, and at Canva, where it moves, the background remover is a paid-plan feature (as of September 2026). The background removal in Media Tools stays free, unlimited and account-free, with a people model and a general model to choose from. It does not offer an API or a Photoshop plugin.
Can I put a white background on an ID photo?
You can. Pick white under "Background" and the transparent area is filled with white; JPG or PNG both work.
Does it work on products and animals?
It does. Try "People" first, and switch "Subject" to "General" if the outline breaks.
Does it work on a phone?
The People model does. The General model needs WebGPU and may be unavailable depending on the device, in which case choose "People".
Can I use the transparent image anywhere?
Saving as PNG or WebP preserves the transparency, but anywhere that does not support it will fill the transparent area with white or black. Older software and some services still do this, so check how it looks where you paste it.
Summary
Making a background transparent does not require uploading the image anywhere. Run the AI inside your browser and the photo stays on your machine while it is cut out.
- Try "People" first, and switch to "General" if it does not come out cleanly
- The General model needs WebGPU. Its first run, including the model download, takes nearly three times as long
- Whatever the automatic pass misses can be fixed with region selection and a brush
- Only PNG and WebP keep transparency; JPG gets filled with the background colour
- remove.bg's standalone site closes on 1 December 2026, and at Canva, where it moves, the background remover is a paid-plan feature (as of September 2026)
Related articles and tools
Convert, compress and edit images, audio and video entirely in your browser, with AI upscaling and background removal. Free, no upload, no size limit, no sign-up.
media.tools.ryusei.io
No install, no upload. Transcribe a video, fix the SRT, and burn the subtitles into the picture — all inside your browser, free and without an account.
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