Upscayl alternatives (2026)
Upscayl is a photography & photo editing tool: Free open-source desktop app for upscaling images on your own computer. Pricing, as the maker states it: Free and open source (AGPL-3.0) desktop app; Upscayl Cloud Pro $24.99/mo. Its GitHub repo has 50,719 stars. We found 24 tools in the directory that do overlapping work (open-source image generation, upscaling and restoring photos); 2 of them are open source and 14 list a free or freemium plan. Below are the 10 closest, ranked by how many tasks and sub-tasks they share with Upscayl, then by GitHub stars.
Updated
Quick comparison Top 10 of 11 listed below. Pricing as the maker states it; blank means we don't have it.
| Tool | Pricing | Best for | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|
 Clipdrop | Freemium | Remove backgrounds | |
 Topaz Gigapixel | Paid | Upscale images | |
 Fotor | Freemium | Edit photos | |
 Pixelmator Pro | Paid | Edit photos | |
 Claid.ai | Freemium | Product photos | |
 Let's Enhance | Freemium | Upscale images | |
 Magnific | Freemium | Upscale images | |
 PicWish | Freemium | Remove backgrounds | |
 Remini | Freemium | Restore photos | |
 Immich | Open source | Organize photos | Yes |
- Clipdrop (Freemium): Image cleanup, relighting, background removal and upscaling tools (owned by Jasper). Consider it because it also covers VFX and compositing.
- Topaz Gigapixel (Paid): AI image upscaler that enlarges photos while recovering detail and faces. Consider it because it is a managed commercial product, if you'd rather not run it yourself.
- Fotor (Freemium): Online photo editor and design tool with AI enhance, background removal and generation. Consider it because it also covers IDE and editor agents and editing and rough cuts.
- Pixelmator Pro (Paid): Apple's Mac image editor with machine-learning enhance, denoise and background removal. Consider it because it is a managed commercial product, if you'd rather not run it yourself; it also covers IDE and editor agents and editing and rough cuts.
- Claid.ai (Freemium): AI product photography: backgrounds, fashion models and upscaling, with an API. Consider it because it does the same job with a different approach (freemium).
- Let's Enhance (Freemium): Online upscaling and enhancement for photos and print. Consider it because it does the same job with a different approach (freemium).
- Magnific (Freemium): Creative upscaler and relighter that grew into Freepik's full AI suite (Freepik's AI tools now live under Magnific). Consider it because it also covers VFX and compositing.
- PicWish (Freemium): Background remover, photo enhancer and AI editing tools for web and mobile, with an API. Consider it because it also covers editing and rough cuts and mobile and remote control.
- Remini (Freemium): Photo enhancer that sharpens blurry or old photos and restores faces. Consider it because it does the same job with a different approach (freemium).
- Immich (Open source): Self-hosted photo and video library with AI face recognition and smart search, a private alternative to Google Photos. Consider it because it also covers agent frameworks and SDKs and video; it has more GitHub stars (116,585 vs 50,719).
Upscayl vs alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Pricing | Open source / licence | GitHub stars | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Upscayl | Open source | Yes | 50,719 | open-source image generation, upscaling and restoring photos |
| Clipdrop | Freemium | No | — | upscaling and restoring photos, background removal |
| Topaz Gigapixel | Paid | No | — | upscaling and restoring photos |
| Fotor | Freemium | No | — | background removal |
| Pixelmator Pro | Paid | No | — | background removal |
| Claid.ai | Freemium | No | — | upscaling and restoring photos, AI product photography |
| Let's Enhance | Freemium | No | — | upscaling and restoring photos |
| Magnific | Freemium | No | — | upscaling and restoring photos |
| PicWish | Freemium | No | — | upscaling and restoring photos, background removal |
| Remini | Freemium | No | — | upscaling and restoring photos |
| Immich | Open source | Yes | 116,585 | organizing photo libraries |
More: Upscayl listing · All photography & photo editing tools · All alternatives pages
Alternatives are picked from directory data only: same category plus shared tasks and sub-tasks. Pricing is as each maker states it; GitHub stars as recorded on each listing.