Best AI Photo Upscaling Software

Website: https://topazlabs.com/

Best for: Photographers who want unlimited local rendering

Starting price: $19 per month

Free plan: No

Pros: Unlimited local rendering and unlimited cloud image rendering on Photo and Studio; workflows include Standard Upscale, Creative Upscale, Face Enhancer and Photo Restoration

Cons: Commercial use is limited to organisations under $1M annual revenue; web export is capped at 32 megapixels, with a concurrency limit of 2

Topaz sells upscaling through Topaz for Web, Topaz Photo and Topaz Studio, with Image at $19 a month, Photo at $39 a month and Studio at $79 a month, or $299 for the first year billed annually. Photo and Studio include unlimited local rendering and unlimited cloud image rendering, so there is no credit counting on the core work. The workflow list is the widest here: Standard Upscale, Creative Upscale, Face Enhancer, Photo Restoration, Denoise, Sharpen, Super Focus, Standard Max, Wonder 3, Preserve Text and Recover Faces, which covers simple enlargements and damaged old photos.

There is no free plan and no free trial shown on the pricing page, so a buyer cannot test Topaz before it pays. Two limits deserve attention: commercial use on the standard plans is limited to organisations under $1M in annual revenue, and Topaz for Web Image export is capped at 32 megapixels with a concurrency limit of 2. No standalone Gigapixel price appears on the pricing page, so older Gigapixel figures should not be used for budgeting.

Website: https://upscayl.org/

Best for: Users who want a free desktop upscaler

Starting price: $0 for the desktop app, $24.99 per month for Cloud Pro

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Desktop upscaling up to 16x, free and open source, with batch upscaling and Double Upscayl; Cloud Pro includes credit rollover while subscribed and upscaling up to 256 megapixels

Cons: Cloud credits and history are lost on cancellation, and history is lost after 1 month; Business upscaling to 512 megapixels is not available at 300 credits

Upscayl is the only free tool in this comparison: its desktop app costs $0, is open source and runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. Desktop upscaling reaches 16x, with several models for different needs, batch upscaling and a Double Upscayl mode, so a user with a large folder of images can process them without paying per image. Cloud Pro costs $24.99 a month for 300 credits, and it adds credit rollover while subscribed, priority support, six months of unlimited storage, upscaling up to 256 megapixels and AI image generation, with a free trial of 10 credits.

The catch is cancellation: if a Cloud plan is cancelled, subscription credits will not roll over and will be lost, and Upscayl history will be lost after 1 month. Business upscaling to 512 megapixels is shown as not available for 300 credits, and Custom is priced on request. Desktop use needs a Vulkan-compatible graphics card, so a buyer should check its hardware before it relies on the free app.

Website: https://letsenhance.io/

Best for: Buyers who want the lowest monthly price

Starting price: $9 per month

Free plan: Yes

Pros: Unused credits roll over while subscribed, up to 6 times the monthly allowance; Starter upscales up to 256 megapixels, Pro up to 350 and Max up to 512

Cons: Free outputs carry a watermark and are capped at 8 megapixels; credits are lost on cancellation

Lets Enhance is the cheapest monthly plan here, with Starter at $9 a month for 100 credits, Pro at $24 a month for 300 credits and Max at $34 a month for 500 credits, at 1 credit per image. The free plan gives 10 credits, with free output capped at 8 megapixels, input up to 24 megapixels or 50 MB, unlimited storage for 6 months, and a watermark on free outputs. Unused credits roll over while subscribed, up to 6 times the monthly allowance, so Starter can save up to 600 credits, which suits a buyer who upscales in bursts rather than every week.

Starter upscales up to 256 megapixels, Pro up to 350 and Max up to 512, with input up to 64 megapixels or 50 MB on the monthly plans, plus AI art generation, background removal and priority enhancement. The limits are clear: free outputs carry a watermark and are capped at 8 megapixels, and credits are lost when the plan is cancelled. At $0.09 per image on Starter, it is the lowest per-image cost in this comparison.

Website: https://vanceai.com/

Best for: Users who want 2x, 4x and 8x enlargement in one tool

Starting price: $15 per month (billed annually)

Free plan: No

Pros: Image Upscaler offers 2x, 4x and 8x enlargement at 1, 2 and 3 credits; one credit balance is used across image and video workspaces, and exports have no watermarks

Cons: Every upscale costs credits, and larger scales cost more, so heavy use burns the monthly allowance quickly; desktop plans are separate and cost extra

VanceAI Starter costs $15 a month, $180 billed annually, for 260 credits a month, with Popular at $30 for 650 credits, Creator at $45 for 1,300 and Studio at $75 for 2,600. The credit table is simple: a 2x upscale costs 1 credit, 4x costs 2 and 8x costs 3, so the same allowance buys far fewer 8x upscales than 2x ones. One credit balance is used across the image and video workspaces, and exports have no watermarks for uploads up to 10 MB and 34 megapixels. A trial of 10 credits is available after registration, per the vendor blog.

The main limit is that every upscale costs credits, and larger scales cost more, so heavy use burns the monthly allowance quickly. Desktop plans are separate from the web plans: 1 month at $39.90, 1 year at $99.90 and a lifetime licence at $129.90, each for one PC with unlimited local processing. Older pages reported Starter at $9 a month, but the vendor pricing page now shows $15, so the older figure should not be used.

Website: https://magnific.com/

Best for: Creators who also generate images and video

Starting price: $14.50 per month (billed annually)

Free plan: No

Pros: Magnific image and video upscalers are included on Premium, and Magnific and Topaz upscalers are included on Plus and Pro; Premium includes a commercial AI licence and API access

Cons: Upscaling draws from a shared credit pool, not a standalone purchase; Topaz upscalers are gated to Plus and above, and unused credits do not transfer

Magnific, formerly Freepik, sells upscaling as part of a wider creative platform. Premium costs $20 a month billed monthly, or $14.50 a month billed annually, $174 a year, for 240,000 credits a year, with Plus at $45 a month billed monthly and Pro at $110. Magnific image and video upscalers are included on Premium, and Magnific and Topaz upscalers are included on Plus and Pro. Premium also includes a commercial AI licence, more than 250 million stock assets and API access with credit-based usage.

The catch is the shared credit pool: upscaling is not a standalone purchase, and it draws from the same credits that pay for image, video and audio generation, so upscaling competes with other tools for the same allowance. Topaz upscalers are gated to Plus and above, not Premium, and unused credits will not transfer to the next billing period. There is no free plan card on the pricing page and no trial is stated, though the page states a 30-day refund guarantee, and prices exclude VAT and local taxes.

Website: https://www.adobe.com/

Best for: Photographers who already edit in Photoshop

Starting price: $19.99 per month

Free plan: No

Pros: Super Resolution doubles width and height, 4x the pixels, and uses no generative credits; Photoshop is included on desktop, web and mobile with Lightroom and 1TB of cloud storage

Cons: Subscription only, with no free plan and no one-off purchase; Generative Upscale costs generative credits, so credit-based upscaling is tightly limited, and Super Resolution is 2x only

Adobe Photoshop is the only tool here that bundles upscaling inside a full photo editor. The Photography plan costs $19.99 a month and includes both Lightroom and Photoshop plus 1TB of cloud storage, while Lightroom alone costs $11.99 a month. Super Resolution doubles width and height, 4x the pixels, and uses no generative credits, so it can be used as often as needed. Photoshop is included on desktop, web and mobile, with Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Adobe Portfolio, and a free trial is shown on the pricing page.

The limits are the subscription model and the credit system. Photoshop is subscription only, with no free plan and no one-off purchase, so there is no way to buy it once and keep it. Generative Upscale with Topaz models costs generative credits, so credit-based upscaling is tightly limited, with only 25 generative credits a month on the Photoshop plan, and Super Resolution is 2x only, so a buyer who needs 4x or 8x must use the credit-based tool instead.

Website: https://www.hitpaw.com/fotorpea-photo-enhancer.html

Best for: Users who want up to 32K output with batch work

Starting price: $22.39 per month

Free plan: Free trial (7 days)

Pros: 9 AI models, including Face Model, Denoise Model, Colorize Model and Upscale Model; upscales photos up to 4K, 8K and 32K, with batch enhancement and local processing

Cons: Full exports require a plan and use is credit-limited, with 100 credits on the monthly plan; extra credit packs need an active subscription, and speed depends on computer hardware

HitPaw FotorPea, formerly HitPaw Photo Enhancer, is a desktop tool with 9 AI models, including Face Model, Denoise Model, Colorize Model, Sharpen and Blur Repair Model and Upscale Model. It upscales photos up to 4K, 8K and 32K, with batch enhancement, background removal, ID photo creation and local processing on Windows and macOS. The monthly plan costs $22.39 a month with 100 credits, against a list price of $27.99, with a yearly plan at $90.39 and a perpetual plan at $130.39. A 7-day free trial is available, per the vendor FAQ.

Full exports require a plan, and use is credit-limited, with 100 credits on the monthly plan, so the per-credit cost of $0.22 is the highest here. Extra credit packs require an active subscription, and processing speed depends on computer hardware, per the vendor blog. One warning: prices conflict across HitPaw own pages, with another page listing $35.99 a month, so re-check the price at checkout.