Remove BG AI Review: One-Click Background Removal

With many AI tools, the focus is on delivering as many options as possible.

But this jack-of-all-trades approach often results in AI suites that feel like some parts are just “off” or don’t perform as well as the rest.

Well, with Remove BG AI (remove.bg), that couldn’t be further from the truth.

That’s because Remove BG AI does one thing (well, two things): removing and changing backgrounds.

So let’s dive into how the tool works (if it works at all) and how it stands against other popular AI background removal apps.

Remove BG AI: Browser Version Review

For the first part of this article, I’ll focus on the online-only version of the tool, which can be used from any browser.

Notably, this can be integrated with Canva, with pretty much every option on the website redirecting you to the platform.

As you might’ve guessed, the tool as a whole is hyper-focused on letting you remove or change the background and do so automatically.

This leaves little variation in terms of sheer functionality.

However, the tool markets itself for different use cases, specifically sales- or social-media-oriented industries that benefit the most from quick photo editing.

So I’ll go over some of the most common “uses” rather than features and check how much detail is left over with each pass.

Product Photography

For product photography, removing the background should be easy enough, so long as the AI can detect the edges of the object properly.

Given that most product photos will be shot against a highly contrasted background, I suspect that the Remove BG AI won’t have any issues handling a simple or even a more complex product photo.

When I tested the product images with a blank background, I couldn’t really find a fault. The results are pretty much what you might see with sample images.

What I do like is that you can selectively change parts of the background to remove.

For example, in the sample above, I could add back the “floor” by going to the “Cutout” section.

The tool also comes with a few other basic editing features, such as cropping, shadow adjustment, and adding text or stickers. All of these can go through Canva.

For product photography in particular, the AI does seem to capture the edges of the product relatively well.

When it comes to the quality of the image, there are also no issues, as the AI is capable of outputting an image with the same (or even higher) resolution as the original.

Do note that this does require you to purchase or use the credits. The “free” version of the app will heavily downgrade the quality of the image to the point where you can actually see the pixels.

One notable problem that you might encounter with this AI tool is that it might not properly detect overlapping objects.

This can be a nuisance if you’re trying to capture product photos that focus on nature or have more layered backgrounds.

In these cases, parts of the setting can “bleed” into the resulting image. And since the tool comes with practically no advanced editing options and the AI can’t regenerate objects inside the image, you’re going to be stuck editing them out the manual way.

Here’s an example above, where you can quite clearly see that the grass is visible on the bottom section of the bag.

The only in-platform editing option that could remove it is the cropping tool, but it would just render the picture less of a product shot than it already was.

Read more about AI tools revolutionizing product photography.

People Photography

When photographing people, there are usually two major issues that the AI stumbles on: hair and clothes.

First, most AI tools have an incredibly difficult time distinguishing between hair and the background, especially if they’re remotely similar in color.

I’ve started with a bit of an easier case, but with wavy hair and some loose strands.

Let’s go over the hair first, because honestly, the results are pretty amazing this time around.

While I’m used to AI tools adding a generous amount of pixelated padding to the edge of the hairline, Remove BG AI is pretty seamless.

If you can zoom in enough on the image, you might be able to notice that the background between the actual strands of hair has been removed (or at least recolored to a blank white). This is miles ahead of less advanced AIs that simply cut around the edges.

Of course, there’s still a bit of trimming, as evidenced by the left-hand side of the person in the profile. However, the details there are so minute that it’s understandable why the AI would cut them entirely.

The second big point is the clothing, which seems to have been processed slightly differently.

In the sample image (the first one), you can clearly see that the clothes on the person’s right blur into the background (due to their fuzzy texture).

But in the edit, the blurriness is almost completely gone, with a clear line to separate the subject from the background.

Even here, however, the results are still excellent. Unlike with most AIs, there’s no “buffer” or outline around the subject, which would usually impede your ability to add backgrounds later.

Of course, there are all the same additional editing options, such as the ability to change the “clipping” mask to include or exclude other people or parts of the background from the photo.

When working with the latter, note that the AI isn’t perfect and will simply cut off a part of a wall or background if you tell it to keep that part in the image. The result might look a bit off, and you may need to edit it.

Notably, the resolution of the images can go well over 4K, allowing you to work with pretty much any photo and get it to the same standard you need for your publishing.

Overall, I’d consider this one of the definite wins for Remove BG AI, as there are very few AIs that can maintain that level of control over edge corrections.

Animal or Pet Photography

Pets or animals in general are not usually something that the AI has good control over, since most generative AI struggles with precise animal shapes and poses.

Luckily, it seems that the Remove BG AI has been properly trained to determine fur or feather edges and can isolate them with the same accuracy as with human photos.

In fact, some tests make it seem like the AI might be slightly more effective with animals since their fur is much more consistent from one animal to the next than human hair is.

But as with everything, the AI isn’t quite perfect, as fur that is similar in color to the background (or lighting) might be mistaken for a part of the background or vice versa.

Here’s one of the examples.

The AI can’t really tell the back half of the cat’s body (in the original image, it’s quite blurry and to the right), so it makes an estimate.

I was able to use the “Magic Brush” option in the adjustment menu to fix it a bit. Even then, the result is a bit odd, with parts of the grass being kept in (since they can’t be feasibly removed).

Car Photography

For cars, the process follows a similar theme: take a photo of a car, and put it into a different background if you want.

So, with testing this, I wanted to test the tool’s ability to create backgrounds as well.

With this one, the main issue is going to be fitting the car precisely onto the background. Luckily, it seems that the “Magic background” tool is quite solid.

Notably, the platform provides a lot of differently-styled images, and I used the first option for the example above.

One issue here is that you don’t quite get a preview of how the AI generator will behave. The only way to get an image is to commit to spending a credit and letting the AI create it.

Once I started digging into the picture, the more flaws I noticed, especially how different it was compared to the sample in the preview pane, which was a bit annoying.

One large problem that you might immediately spot is the reflection on the car itself. Since it’s a part of the “subject,” the AI won’t change it at all, even if it doesn’t fit the frame.

Additionally, the other two background options (image and color) might be flat-out useless for a vast majority of images, as the AI just superimposes the subject onto the background and calls it a day with no regard to where it would fit best.

That aside, the quality of background removal here is similarly solid. The AI correctly identified that it only needed one car, removing the other from the background.

And even with those gripes about background generation, the basics seem to work. The background and the car align properly (at least if you don’t look too hard at the picture), and the background looks like a legitimate garage.

However, when I did my testing, I often needed multiple attempts to get a workable result where the image didn’t look too AI-generated and could be used for subsequent editing.

Graphics and Logo Editing

Apart from actual photos, Remove BG AI can work with logos and other graphic designs.

The principle for logos is the same. In theory, the AI should be able to isolate a logo or anything that has a color scheme different from the background, then put it on a blank canvas.

And in practice, the AI works well here.

At its core, the AI immediately strips anything that doesn’t look like it belongs to the logo, including any texture or color inside designs.

Similar to other options, you can insert your own background (which is where the picture and color options become useful due to their 2D nature).

The logo option is not particularly notable beyond that, but it’s nice to know that the AI can allow you to experiment with different options by inputting one design.

Additional Options with Remove BG AI

Apart from the browser version that technically redirects you to Canva, you can use this tool in a few different ways.

Standalone App

The Remove BG AI app on the App Store and the Google Play Store provides pretty much the same user experience as the browser platform, with Canva redirects included.

Considering that the AI only has two notable functions (remove and generate background), the UI is simple enough to be intuitive for anyone, and there isn’t anything really missing on the app that you get online.

The app allows you to log in with the same credentials and share the account as you can with a browser.

One quirk of the app is that a lot of its menus are actually embedded web clients and might not look great on small screens.

In some cases, even the photo editing screen is incredibly small.

Overall, I wouldn’t really recommend the app unless you’re well-versed in editing on the small screen or used to working in Canva on mobile (since that’s where you’ll be editing anyway).

App Plugin

The AI is also available as a plugin or add-on for Photoshop, GIMP, Figma, Sketch, and even PowerPoint.

In all these programs, it functions pretty much the same.

You get a button that allows you to upload an image, and then Remove BG AI will remove its background and allow you to continue where you left off.

API and Shopify Plugins

Apart from standalone plugins, the Remove BG AI team allows you to use its API to utilize the background remover function in custom programs.

Given that this seems like it’s one of the more advanced such options, it can be worthwhile for businesses that need a lot of images converted while maintaining data security and internal processes.

Pricing

Remove BG AI follows a two-prong pricing model based on image credits. An image credit is used whenever you want to apply an AI function to an image (remove or add a background) and save the result.

For background removal, you can technically get a few previews, but you’re limited to a very low resolution.

Price-wise, you can buy credits under the pay-as-you-go option, at about US$1 per credit for small amounts (sold in groups of three), which is quite steep. Alternatively, you can subscribe to one of the platforms’ Premium tiers that provide a monthly stipend of credits to use.

Considering the price for 200 credits per month is around US$35, this app is one of the pricier investments. However, the quality of the work can speak for itself.

What I Liked and Didn’t Like

One of the major draws to the platform is its focus on simplicity. Since it only has two major functions, you don’t feel the AI bloat with trend-based utilities that often end up being subpar.

The platform was also relatively easy to use, as the AI is so good that it really does take one button to go from an image to one without a background most of the time.

However, the app basically forces you to also work in Canva, which might not be up to everyone’s tastes.

Additionally, I’ve noticed that the browser version tends to lag a lot and not save your progress as intuitively. You get a “history” of the work, but the images don’t load properly, and there’s no indication of which version is being saved.

Final Verdict

If you really need a lot of background removal done regularly, then Remove BG AI might be your go-to option.

The AI is powerful enough to avoid many mistakes seen in other photo editing apps, and the platform is solely focused on maintaining that user experience through excellence.