Background removal API comparison. Both produce high-quality transparent PNGs — the difference is price and what else you get.
| Metric | PixelAPI | Remove.bg |
|---|---|---|
| Per-image cost | $0.002 | $0.23 (pay-as-you-go) |
| 1,000 images | $2 | $230 |
| 10,000 images | $20 | $2,300 |
| Free tier | 100 credits (50 removals) | 1 free image/month (low-res) |
| Cheapest paid plan | $10/mo (10K credits) | $9/mo (40 credits) |
| Feature | PixelAPI | Remove.bg |
|---|---|---|
| Background removal | ✅ | ✅ |
| Background replacement (AI scenes) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Text-to-image (FLUX Schnell) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Text-to-image (SDXL) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Image-to-image | ✅ | ❌ |
| Inpainting | ✅ | ❌ |
| ControlNet | ✅ | ❌ |
| 4x Upscale (Real-ESRGAN) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Face restore (GFPGAN) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Object removal (LaMa) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Audio generation (MusicGen) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Total AI models | 11 | 1 |
Remove.bg has been optimizing background removal since 2018 and handles edge cases (complex hair, semi-transparent objects) exceptionally well. PixelAPI uses BiRefNet, the current state-of-the-art open-source segmentation model. For standard product photos on clean backgrounds, quality is comparable. For challenging cases with fine hair detail, Remove.bg may still have an edge.
Both APIs are straightforward:
PixelAPI:
curl -X POST https://api.pixelapi.dev/v1/edit/remove-background \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
-F "[email protected]"Remove.bg:
curl -X POST https://api.remove.bg/v1.0/removebg \
-H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
-F "[email protected]" -F "size=auto"100 free credits on signup. No credit card required. Test all 10 AI models.
Get Free API Key →