What is actually happening
remove.bg announced that background removal is “moving to Canva.” The standalone website will no longer be available from December 1, 2026 at 9:00 AM CET, according to remove.bg’s own FAQ.
Two details matter for anyone with an account:
- Pay-as-you-go credits expire on the same day — December 1, 2026. Anything unused is gone when the site closes.
- The technology is not disappearing — it is being folded into Canva, which acquired Kaleido, the company behind remove.bg, back in 2021.
So the real question is not “which tool replaces remove.bg,” but “do I want to do background removal inside a design-suite subscription, or keep using a standalone tool?”
What moving to Canva means
Inside Canva, the feature is called BG Remover, and Canva’s help center is explicit: it is included with paid plans. On a free Canva account the button is locked apart from trial periods, and it only works on photos under 9 MB.
For a remove.bg user, that changes the deal in three ways:
- You need a Canva account, and effectively a Canva Pro subscription, for what used to be a per-image purchase.
- Canva is a full design suite — great if you already pay for it, heavyweight if all you want is a transparent PNG.
- Pay-as-you-go pricing is replaced by subscription pricing.
If that fits your workflow, the migration may cost you nothing extra. If it does not, the alternatives below keep the standalone model alive.
Alternatives compared
| Tool | Best for | Images | Video | Free tier | Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| erase.bg | Quick one-off image cutouts | Yes | No | Free, no watermark | None needed |
| Photopea | Editing the result afterwards, in the browser | Yes | No | Free with ads | None |
| ShareX | Windows users who want it local and offline | Yes | No | Free, open source | None |
| BG Remover Online (this site) | Cutouts with real transparency — images and video | Yes | Yes — WebM alpha + ProRes 4444 | 5 free credits with Google sign-in | Google sign-in |
One honest note about this site’s own row: image removal here costs 1 credit per image, video 1 credit per started second, and new accounts get 5 free credits after Google sign-in — enough to try 5 images or a 5-second clip. Credit packs start at $6.99 for 60 credits and never expire, and a job that fails returns its credit. The format converters and transparency checker are free without an account.
The gap remove.bg never filled: video
remove.bg was always an image tool. If the shutdown is your cue to rethink the workflow, background removal for video is where standalone tools thin out.
This site’s video background remover takes a clip up to 60 seconds (1080p, 30 fps, 200 MB), removes the background with AI, and returns a transparent WebM (VP9 alpha) that plays in Chrome, Firefox and Edge, plus a ProRes 4444 master for Premiere, Resolve or Final Cut on clips up to 15 seconds. The transparent video compatibility guide covers where each format belongs.
Questions people are asking
Is remove.bg really shutting down?
Yes. According to remove.bg’s official FAQ, the standalone website will no longer be available from December 1, 2026 at 9:00 AM CET. The background removal technology is being folded into Canva.
What happens to my unused remove.bg credits?
Unused pay-as-you-go credits expire on December 1, 2026 — the same day the standalone site closes. Plan any remaining cutouts before that date.
Is background removal free inside Canva?
No. Canva’s BG Remover is included with paid plans. On the free plan the feature is locked apart from trials, and it only works on photos under 9 MB.
Is there an alternative that also removes video backgrounds?
Yes — this site removes backgrounds from both images and video. Video clips become transparent WebM (VP9 alpha) plus a ProRes 4444 master for editors, and new accounts get 5 free credits after Google sign-in.