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remove.bg is shutting down on 1 December 2026

remove.bg is moving its background removal into Canva, and its API moves to Leonardo.Ai on 1 December 2026. If you just need a background gone, you can do it right here — free, full resolution, no account.

By ShinobiTools Team · Last updated: 28 September 2026

Free, full resolution, no account. BGNinja is not part of remove.bg or Canva, so nothing changes here on 1 December.

What changes on 1 December 2026

WhatWhat happensSource
The remove.bg websiteBackground removal moves into Canva. Reports give 1 December 2026, 9:00 CET, as the last day of the standalone site.remove.bg FAQ, AlternativeTo, Bitvoxy (9:00 CET)
The remove.bg API"Starting December 1, 2026, background removal moves to Leonardo.Ai, also part of Canva."remove.bg API page
Unused creditsReported to expire on the morning of 1 December 2026. Check your own account.Bitvoxy

What to do now

  1. Download anything you still need from your remove.bg account before 1 December.
  2. Spend or ask about leftover credits with remove.bg support — we cannot see or use them.
  3. For single photos: use the tool at the top of this page. Drop a JPG, PNG, WEBP or HEIC in, get a transparent PNG at full resolution. 10 photos a day, no account, no watermark.
  4. For code that calls the remove.bg API: our free background removal API needs no key. The migration table shows the three changes: URL, image_file → file, bg_color → bg.

How BGNinja compares

remove.bg until 1 Dec 2026BGNinja
Free result0.25 MP preview (~625×400 px)Full resolution, up to 30 MP
AccountNeeded for full-size downloadsNone
API keyYesNo
After 1 December 2026Canva (website) and Leonardo.Ai (API)Same address, still free

We are not claiming our cutout beats remove.bg on every photo — we have not measured that. Hair and fur are the hardest case for any tool; see our notes on hair edges. For a longer side-by-side, read the remove.bg alternative page. Other free options are on our list of free background removers.

Common questions

Is remove.bg shutting down?

Yes. remove.bg is migrating its background removal into Canva, which has owned it since 2021, and its API moves to Leonardo.Ai on 1 December 2026.

When exactly does remove.bg close?

remove.bg's API page gives 1 December 2026 for the move to Leonardo.Ai. Reports give the same date, 9:00 CET, as the website's last day.

What happens to my remove.bg credits?

Reports say unused pay-as-you-go credits expire on the morning of 1 December 2026. Check your own account and ask remove.bg support before then.

What replaces the remove.bg API?

remove.bg points API users to Leonardo.Ai. If you do not want a new account, BGNinja has a free background removal API with no key: change the URL, rename image_file to file and bg_color to bg, and drop the X-Api-Key header. 10 images a day free.

Is there a free remove.bg alternative without an account?

Yes. BGNinja removes the background in seconds on our server, with nothing to install, and gives the full-resolution PNG back free, with no account and no watermark, 10 photos a day.

Will BGNinja shut down too?

BGNinja is not part of Canva or remove.bg and is not affected by this change. It runs on our own servers at bgninja.com.