What is ZeroBG?
ZeroBG cuts the subject out of a photo and gives you a transparent PNG at the original size, or the same cutout on white, black, red, blue or a background of your own. You upload a JPG, PNG or WebP of up to 25 MB, check a free 512 px preview with a watermark, and pay only for the files you keep. A free touch-up brush lets you erase leftover background or restore a part the model cut, and the site carries a few dozen other photo tools on the same credits.
According to its help centre, the cutouts come from BiRefNet, an openly published segmentation model. ZeroBG is run by ITERO LTD, a company registered in the United Kingdom. It also sells an API that copies remove.bg's request path, aimed at developers whose remove.bg self-serve API moves to Leonardo.Ai from 1 December 2026.
How much does ZeroBG cost?
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Watermarked previews up to 512 px; 1 HD credit on sign-up; 30-day history |
| Credit packs | $4.99 for 20, $9 for 100 | One-time, never expire; unlock batch of 10 and the API |
| Basic | $9.90/month | 100 credits a month; 90-day history |
| Pro | $19.90/month | 300 credits a month; batch of 10; 180-day history |
| Business | $49.90/month | 1,200 credits a month; batch of 50; history kept while the account is active |
Free 512 px watermarked previews; 1 HD credit on sign-up; one HD photo $1.99 with no account; packs of 20 credits for $4.99 or 100 for $9, never expiring; Basic $9.90/month (100 credits), Pro $19.90/month (300), Business $49.90/month (1,200); yearly billing saves up to 25%.
Is ZeroBG worth it?
You need one photo of a mug on pure white for a listing, or a headshot without the kitchen behind it, and most background removers want a monthly plan before they hand over a full-size file.
ZeroBG lets you see the result first. Every upload gets a free 512 px preview with a watermark and no sign-up, and you spend a credit only on the HD file you keep. One photo costs $1.99 without an account; a pack of 100 credits costs $9, about 9 cents a photo, and pack credits never expire. Failed jobs are not charged, re-downloading the same image is free, and the touch-up brush re-renders the full-size file at no cost. Monthly plans run from $9.90 for 100 credits to $49.90 for 1,200, and those credits reset each month.
The API is the more interesting half for developers. It answers at the same path as remove.bg's (POST /v1.0/removebg), takes the same X-Api-Key header and returns errors in the same shape, so the docs say a migration is a change of base URL and key. remove.bg's own API page says its background removal moves to Leonardo.Ai from 1 December 2026. Every successful call costs 1 credit, previews included, where remove.bg charged a quarter of a credit for a preview, and some remove.bg options are accepted but ignored: shadows are not generated and there is no separate subject classifier.
The catch: ZeroBG is a storefront for BiRefNet, an open model that a developer can run on their own machine for nothing, so what you pay for is convenience, not a proprietary cutout. Its paperwork also disagrees with itself. The help centre says "We never share your images or personal information with third parties", while the API docs mention an inference provider without naming it. The terms promise a full refund within 7 days if you are unsatisfied, but the refund page excludes purchases whose credits are all used. Uploads are kept for 24 hours without an account and 30 to 180 days on paid plans, or for as long as a Business account stays open, so delete what you do not want stored.
Our take: for someone who removes a background a few times a month, a $9 pack that never expires beats any subscription, and the free preview takes the gamble out of it. For a shop with thousands of SKUs, ZeroBG is a cheap remove.bg replacement worth testing on your hardest images first, hair and glass especially, before you point production at it.
Where it earns its place
A one-person Etsy shop selling ceramics
Put 30 new product photos a month on pure white
Check each free preview, fix stray edges with the touch-up brush, then unlock the keepers. A 100-credit pack at $9 lasts about three months and never expires, so slow months cost nothing.
A backend developer at a print-on-demand start-up using remove.bg's API
Keep automatic cutouts working after remove.bg's self-serve API moves to Leonardo.Ai on 1 December 2026
Swap the base URL to https://zerobg.ai and the key, keep /v1.0/removebg, and run a sample set through both before switching. Watch the daily caps: 100 calls a day after buying a pack, 300 on Pro and 600 on Business, plus 20 requests a minute per server.
A job seeker updating a LinkedIn photo
Replace a cluttered background with plain white
Sign up for the 1 free HD credit, or pay $1.99 without an account. Without an account the upload is deleted after 24 hours.
Before you commit
- Setup
- Drop or paste an image on the homepage; the preview needs no account. HD downloads need a credit, a $1.99 single purchase or a free account's sign-up credit. API keys are created from any account with credits; no subscription is required.
- Integrations
- REST API at POST https://zerobg.ai/v1.0/removebg with multipart, form or JSON bodies, image upload, URL or base64, and a GET /v1.0/account balance call. Browser calls from other sites are blocked, so the key must live on a server. No plug-ins for Shopify, Photoshop or Figma are published.
- Data and privacy
- Without an account, uploads and results are deleted after 24 hours; with an account they are kept for the plan's history period: Free 30 days, Basic 90, Pro 180, Business and Lifetime while the account is active. The help centre says: "We never use your uploaded images to train our AI models." Job records (date, file name, size, credits) are kept to enforce limits. No security certification is published. Which AI tools train on your data?
- Cost at scale
- A store unlocking 1,000 photos a month pays $49.90 on Business (1,200 credits, about 4 cents each) or $90 in ten 100-credit packs that never expire. Yearly billing saves up to 25%.
- Limits
- Uploads up to 25 MB in JPG, PNG or WebP. Free previews are capped per day. API: 5 calls a day on a new free account, a shared 20-call daily cap for unpaid accounts on one network, 100 a day after buying a pack or on Basic, 300 on Pro, 600 on Business, and 20 requests a minute per server. Busy backgrounds or subjects that blend into the backdrop can leave rough spots.
What’s good
- Free full preview of every cutout before you pay
- Pack credits never expire; 100 for $9
- remove.bg-compatible API with the same path, header and error shape
- Named UK company and a stated no-training policy
What’s not
- Runs BiRefNet, an open model you could host yourself
- Inference provider unnamed despite a no-third-parties promise
- API previews cost a full credit; shadows not generated
- Refund wording differs between the terms and the refund page
Best for
Online sellers and occasional users who want full-size cutouts without a subscription, and developers moving off remove.bg's self-serve API.
ZeroBG alternatives
ZeroBG: common questions
- Is ZeroBG worth it?
- ZeroBG is a fair, cheap way to cut out the odd product shot or portrait, and the free preview means you never pay for a bad edge. We rate it 3.7 out of 5.
- How much does ZeroBG cost?
- Free 512 px watermarked previews; 1 HD credit on sign-up; one HD photo $1.99 with no account; packs of 20 credits for $4.99 or 100 for $9, never expiring; Basic $9.90/month (100 credits), Pro $19.90/month (300), Business $49.90/month (1,200); yearly billing saves up to 25%.
- What are the downsides of ZeroBG?
- Runs BiRefNet, an open model you could host yourself; inference provider unnamed despite a no-third-parties promise; aPI previews cost a full credit; shadows not generated; refund wording differs between the terms and the refund page.
- Who is ZeroBG best for?
- Online sellers and occasional users who want full-size cutouts without a subscription, and developers moving off remove.bg's self-serve API.
- How much does ZeroBG cost for a team or in production?
- A store unlocking 1,000 photos a month pays $49.90 on Business (1,200 credits, about 4 cents each) or $90 in ten 100-credit packs that never expire. Yearly billing saves up to 25%.
- Is ZeroBG safe for company data?
- Without an account, uploads and results are deleted after 24 hours; with an account they are kept for the plan's history period: Free 30 days, Basic 90, Pro 180, Business and Lifetime while the account is active. The help centre says: "We never use your uploaded images to train our AI models." Job records (date, file name, size, credits) are kept to enforce limits. No security certification is published.
- What are the best ZeroBG alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are Photoroom, Canva and Adobe Firefly.
Answers checked Nov 11, 2026.