In the digital age, the demand for high-quality images is ever-increasing. Whether for professional photography, graphic design, or simply enhancing personal photos for social media, the need for tools that can improve image quality is undeniable.
While many new AI art generators are on the market, there are also AI tools for enhancing or editing images you already have. AI image enhancers can effortlessly remove blemishes, add vibrant colors, and even change the background of an image, all while preserving the original quality. They are capable of transforming ordinary photos into extraordinary works of art. But with many options available, choosing the right AI photo enhancer can be daunting.
In this article, we’ve curated a list of the best AI photo enhancers that will help you elevate your images to the next level.
Why Should You Use an AI Photo Enhancer?
Well, for several reasons. First and foremost, anyone who’s spent time using Photoshop knows that photo editing takes time. By using AI, creators can improve image quality, save time, and easily restore or enhance images. Another excellent benefit of using an AI photo enhancer is to avoid pixel loss. These powerful tools can enhance pictures without losing any information in your photos, and in many cases, they can even improve upon the original.
The Best AI Photo Enhancers for 2024
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We’ve looked around and found some of the best photo enhancers on the market. We have big names and new players on this list. You will also notice a fair mix between SaaS AI enhancers and desktop options. Starting with Adobe Photoshop, here are the top picks:
The Best AI Photo Enhancers Listed In Order
1. Topaz Photo AI
🥇 Best AI Photo Enhancer Overall
Topaz Photo AI is a tool that maximizes your image quality on Autopilot. It uses deep learning to sharpen, remove noise, and increase the resolution of your photos. This tool is designed to supercharge your image quality, allowing you to focus on the creative part of photography. It’s certainly a contender for the best AI photo enhancer and deserves your attention.
Autopilot Analyzes and Corrects Photos Automatically
Photo AI’s most impressive feature is Autopilot. The program automatically detects the image’s file type and metadata using AI, such as ISO, what camera was used, and its lens information. It further analyzes your photo by identifying how much noise your photo has, the subject, and its blur level. Upon completing an extensive analysis, Autopilot applies the right amount of noise reduction, sharpening, and other AI filters to enhance your photo flawlessly.
What We Like About Topaz Photo AI
- Powerful AI Filters: AI-powered noise reduction and sharpening
- Photo Enhancement: Upscaling of images for increased resolution
- Face Recovery: Photo AI’s face recovery feature is perfect for enhancing image resolution with authentic detail
- Autopilot: AI analyzes your photos and implements enhancements based on several factors
What Could Be Improved
- It’s Expensive: It’s on the pricey side, but you only have to pay once
- Face Detection: The AI doesn’t always recognize faces like it should
🥇 Why We Picked It
Photographers and creators who need a quick and easy way to enhance their photos will benefit from Topaz Photo AI. The software touts dedicated AI models for noise reduction, detail recovery, and image upscaling, so making quick edits is effortless.
Who Is Topaz Photo AI Best For?
Topaz Photo AI is best for photographers who want to focus on their creativity and leave the technical aspects to AI. It’s perfect for sharpening images, removing noise, and upscale photos for better resolution.
Community Reviews And Ratings
Reviewers love Topaz’s upscaling, sharpening, and denoising features but don’t like that the software doesn’t offer more manual features.
Pricing
Topaz Photo AI comes with a limited free trial. Paid licenses are $199 for a lifetime license (limited product updates).
2. Adobe Photoshop (Firefly)
🥈 Best AI Photo Enhancer for Advanced Photo Editing
Adobe Photoshop is a renowned name in the world of digitally created art. Recently, Adobe released a powerful generative AI engine called Adobe Firefly that is now integrated into Photoshop. With the power of AI, Photoshop’s capabilities extend to features like automatic subject selection, generative fill, and neural filters, which can drastically change the style and mood of any image. This exciting AI integration will undoubtedly enhance all the Photoshop tools designers and photographers have used for years, like blending modes, image scaling, and making GIFs.
Neural Filters and Generative Fill
Photoshop has had Neural Filters for a while now. They can be used to create contextual but new elements in an image. Instead of relying on the original pixels of an image, Photoshop can use a neural network to generate new material/pixels that are contextually relevant to the original image. This takes photo editing to a whole different place.
Abobe brings numerous types of Neural Filters to its user base. Some of them can recognize human faces and transform critical features. The below image showcases a user changing the position of a person’s eyes and lips to be arranged in a very different pose.
Adobe’s AI Generative Fill takes all of this to new heights. Generative fill lets users select a portion of an image and type in a text-based prompt that transforms that aspect of the image. Below is a side-by-side comparison of a 1920s cartoon (original on the left) with the same cartoon edited with generative fill. The chair was replaced with a stylistically similar lamp, and the rug was replaced entirely. These changes were all based on two prompts (less than six words)!
Original: Shoshone Journal. Volume 41. June 8th, 1923
What We Like About Photoshop
- Generative Fill: Photoshop offers integrated generative AI with Adobe Firefly
- Subject Selection: With AI-powered subject selection, you can make changes to the subject of your photos with ease
- Edit With Text: Use Generative Fill for editing images with AI using text prompts
- Versatile: Photoshop comes with AI neural filters, making it easy to make stylistic transformations to images
What Could Be Improved
- Inaccurate Results: There’s no doubt that Photoshop is on to something with its AI features. That said, there are times when human intervention is still needed
🥈Why We Picked It?
Photoshop is, hands down, the best photo editing software on the market. With the inclusion of artificial intelligence, the sky is the limit. Whether you want to replace the clothing of a person in a photo, change their expression, add visual elements, or simply enhance the image quality, Photoshop is hard to beat.
Who is Photoshop Best For?
Adobe Photoshop is best for professionals and enthusiasts who want to take photo editing to the next level. It’s ideal for photographers, graphic designers, and digital artists who need advanced editing tools and AI-powered features to enhance their work. Photoshop is a mainstay in digital creative work and should be a tool that is well-utilized among most professionals.
Community Reviews and Ratings
Users love the new Generative Fill feature, easy subject selection, and sheer number of photo editing options. On the other hand, most agree that Photoshop is difficult to learn.
Pricing
Adobe offers a 7-day free trial with monthly plans starting at $20.99 per month.
3. Luminar Neo
🥉 Best AI Photo Enhancer For Effects
Luminar Neo is a photo editing software that leverages AI to help users enhance their photos. It offers a range of features, including Portrait Bokeh AI, Relight AI, Sunrays AI, Sky AI, and Enhance AI. These features allow users to create out-of-focus background effects, light up dark photos, add rays of sunshine, replace dull skies, and control shadows, highlights, contrast, and tone.
Enhancing Photos With Sky AI
One of Luminar Neo’s most impressive features is Sky AI. Using AI, Luminar Neo can automatically detect the sky in your photos, giving it a completely different look. You can replace it with a different sky, adjust the lighting and color, and make other fine-tuned adjustments. Additionally, Sky AI allows you to flip the direction or shift the horizon, which is great for matching shadows.
What We Like About Luminar Neo
- AI-Powered Tools: Luminar Neo offers impressive AI features, such as Sky AI, Face AI, and Body AI
- One-Click Presets: Luminar Neo has the ability to create out-of-focus background effects with Portrait Bokeh AI, amongst others
- Sky AI: Recognize and replace the sky in photos to better match the image subject
- Relight AI: Great for lighting up dark photos
What Could Be Improved
- RAM Hog: Luminar Neo can be heavy on system resources, so having a beefy computer is a must
🥉 Why We Picked It?
Luminar Neo stands out for us due to its advanced AI tools, user-friendly interface, and fast image processing. The Sky AI tool is perfect for swapping the sky in photos, and the GenErase tool allows you to quickly remove unwanted elements. Whatever you need an AI photo enhancement tool for, Luminar has you covered.
Who Is Luminar Neo Best For?
Luminar Neo is best for photographers and digital artists who want to leverage AI for creative photo enhancement. It’s ideal for individuals who wish to add unique effects to their photos and control various aspects of their images. Each enhancement can be controlled individually, so the creator retains the ability to see their vision come to life. This makes it a valuable tool for novice photographers and professionals alike.
Community Reviews and Ratings
Users praise the speed in which Luminar makes edits to their photos, while detractors say the erase function can be hit or miss.
Pricing
Luminar Neo offers paid plans starting at $11.95 per month, billed annually. A lifetime license is also available for $249.
4. HitPaw Photo Enhancer
HitPaw Photo Enhancer is an AI-powered desktop app that enhances quality and boosts image resolution. It offers five AI models, including the General, Denoise, Face, Color Calibration, and Colorize models, each designed to cater to different enhancement needs. It’s a versatile tool that can make pictures less blurry, remove noise, and upscale images without losing quality.
Another useful feature of HitPaw is its Batch Bulk feature, which allows users to process multiple images simultaneously. It can be used to batch edit, compress, or watermark numerous images, saving tremendous amounts of time.
What We Like About HitPaw Photo Enhancer
- Multiple AI Models: It provides five unique AI models for different image optimization
- Sharpen Images: It gives users the ability to make pictures less blurry and remove noise
- Upscale Images: Upscale smaller images without worrying about quality loss
What Could Be Improved
- No Cloud Option: To use HitPaw, you must download it, which can be less than desirable for people with less powerful computers
Who Is HitPaw Photo Enhancer Best For?
HitPaw Photo Enhancer is best for individuals needing a versatile photo quality enhancement tool. It’s perfect for photographers who need to upscale images, remove noise, and improve the overall quality of their photos.
Community Reviews and Ratings
HitPaw users praise how easy it is to improve photos; however, a few say canceling your subscription is difficult.
Pricing
The devs at HitPaw Photo Enhancer offer a limited free trial with paid plans starting at $29.99 per month or $289.99 as a one-time price.
5. Remove.bg
Remove.bg is a specialized AI tool that removes backgrounds from images and does it about as well as any service out there. Sometimes, a photo requires repurposing rather than touch-ups. That’s the case for eCommerce shops, car dealerships, and various marketing functions. Remove.bg is a time-saving solution for all who frequently need to isolate objects in their photos. With just one image upload, you can get a transparent background for any image, making it a perfect tool for many types of photographers.
Uploading an image automatically starts the AI background removal. Remove.bg allows users to blur the background or replace it with another photo or color. If portions of the photo need to be removed (or added back), the “Erase / Restore” option lets users select areas of the image to retouch.
Photo Credit: “Cars in Cuba, Cuba” by Nouhailler and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
What We Like About Remove.bg
- Background Remover:Easily remove backgrounds with the AI-powered automatic background remover
- Output Quality: High-quality image output
- API: Remove.bg offers API and Integrations to edit images at scale
What Could Be Improved
- Cost: The pay-as-you-go model may not be suitable for all users
Who Is Remove.bg Best For?
Remove.bg is best for photographers who frequently remove backgrounds from images. It’s ideal for eCommerce businesses, designers, and social media marketers who want to streamline their workflow.
Community Reviews and Ratings
Fans of Remove.bg praise its simplicity and call it a must-have web tool. On the other hand, some speak negatively of the pricing structure.
Pricing
Remove.bg can be used for free, but higher-resolution images have usage-based pricing starting at $0.90 per image (lower if purchasing a subscription).
6. Fotor
Fotor is an online photo editing tool that offers a wide range of features, including an AI image upscaler (making images bigger while retaining image clarity). It’s designed to be user-friendly, making it easy for anyone to enhance their pictures. Fotor provides other tools to perfect photos, such as enhancing photos, retouching portraits, removing backgrounds, and applying styling effects.
One of the best features of Fotor is its 1-tap Enhance tool. It automatically improves image quality and fixes common issues with a single click. Image enhancements, such as color correction, brightness, and others, are easily accomplished thanks to this powerful AI-powered tool.
What We Like About Fotor
- Background Removal: Fotor provides intelligent background removal and replacement
- Batch Editing: Edit and enhance photos and apply one change to assets in bulk
- Powerful Editor: Online editor with more image editing options than Canva
What Could Be Improved
- Confusing for Beginners: Some new users may struggle with the interface
- Free Plan: The free plan only provides low-res image output
Who Is Fotor Best For?
Fotor is best for individuals who want a simple tool for photo editing. It’s perfect for social media enthusiasts, bloggers, and anyone who needs to edit photos and create eye-catching designs regularly. Especially when an image needs a single change, Fotor is a sinch for applying that change with little effort.
Community Reviews and Ratings
Those who like Fotor state that it’s an excellent Photoshop alternative, while detractors note that bouncing between tools is confusing.
Pricing
Fotor offers a free plan with paid plans starting at $7.49 per month (billed annually).
7. VanceAI
VanceAI, an AI-powered image editor, packs in a multitude of handy tools. Its standout feature, an image upscaler, enlarges images up to 800% without sacrificing quality. Other useful tools include AI image compression, photo restoration, and image enhancement. You can access many of these tools for free on their website or use the complete suite of tools through their desktop app.
The image below shows VanceAI decreasing image noise, increasing image size, and improving the overall quality of the image simultaneously.
Photo Credit: “Cars in Cuba, Cuba” by Nouhailler and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
What We Like About VanceAI
- Powerful Upscaling: AI-powered upscaling of up to 800%
- It’s Secure: Data safety guarantee with processed images deleted in 24 hours
- AI Background Remover: Easily remove backgrounds in your photos
- Versatile: Online or desktop application for convenient workflows
What Could Be Improved
- Cost: The pay-as-you-go model isn’t for everyone, and the monthly price is a bit steep
Who Is VanceAI Best For?
VanceAI is best for individuals who need to improve images with various tools. It’s ideal for photographers, digital artists, and anyone who needs to upscale images for prints, eCommerce, presentations, and more. People looking to restore old photos or who need help making their photos look more professional for passports or resumes also flock to Vance.
Community Reviews and Ratings
The community generally thinks the tools available with VanceAI are top-notch. However, some state that photo restoration can be hit or miss.
Pricing
VanceAI has a usage-based pricing structure, with plans starting at $0.049/credit (1 credit = 1 image) or $39.90 per month for their desktop app (with lifetime pricing available).
What Are the Best AI Image Enhancers?
Whether you want to remove the backgrounds in your images, upscale them, or add elements with a text prompt, our list of the best AI photo enhancers has you covered. However, with the choices we’ve provided, you may need help choosing. No worries, though, because we have put together some comparison tables to help you decide.
Feature Comparison of the Best AI Image Enhancers
The best AI photo enhancers have a few things in common, including the ability to remove backgrounds, restore fine details, and, in some instances, do it automatically.
| Features | 🥇 Topaz Photo AI | 🥈 Photoshop | 🥉 Luminar Neo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noise Reduction | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Increase Image Resolution | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Face Recovery | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Edit w/Text Prompt | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Free Trial | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Price for All Features | $199/one-time | $20.99/month | $11.95/month |
| Get Topaz Photo AI | Try Photoshop | Try Luminar Neo |
Best AI Image Enhancers: Price Comparison
AI photo enhancers come in many different packages. Some of them are freemium SaaS, while others are premium applications. The table below compares our best AI image touch-up tools based on their price and pricing model.
| AI Photo Enhancers | Starting Price | Free Option | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Topaz Photo AI | $199/one-time | ✔️ (trial) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5/5) | Visit |
| 🥈 | Adobe Photoshop | $20.99/month | ✔️ (trial) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.7/5) | Visit |
| 🥉 | Luminar Neo | $11.95/month | ❌ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5/5) | Visit |
| 4 | HitPaw | $29.99/month | ✔️ (trial) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5/5) | Visit |
| 5 | Remove.bg | $0.90/image | ✔️ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5/5) | Visit |
| 6 | Fotor | $7.49/month (billed annually) | ✔️ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.35/5) | Visit |
| 7 | VanceAI | $39.90/month | ❌ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.6/5) | Visit |
Topaz Photo AI is our top choice for the best AI image enhancer. It is easy to use, and it has a suite of powerful tools that use deep learning to sharpen, remove noise, and increase resolution naturally. If you are a photographer or designer looking to enhance images like a pro, Adobe Firefly is a powerful tool that works seamlessly in Photoshop. If you want a photo editor that is easy for beginners, Luminar Neo can generate advanced photo enhancements that are unique. HitPaw, a downloadable AI tool with a wide range of user-friendly features, is another top contender, providing an excellent solution for photo enhancement. It has an attractive monthly price point and solid features.
Want more AI tools? You should be able to find everything you may need in our list of best AI tools.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Before we wrap up, let’s answer some of your most common questions regarding the best AI photo enhancers. Did we miss one? Leave a question below, and we will respond!
What is the best photo enhancer AI?
Do AI photo enhancers work?
Is there a free AI to enhance picture quality?
What is a photo enhancer?
How can I enhance a photo with AI?
Is there an AI that can edit my photos?
How do AI photo enhancers work?
Is HitPaw Photo Enhancer worth it?
How do I enhance photos with Photoshop?
How do I enhance the resolution of a photo?
How do I enhance a blurry photo?
Featured Image by Favebrush / Shutterstock.com
Topaz Photo AI
Adobe Photoshop
Luminar Neo
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