Background Remover: AI Bulk Cutout & Transparent PNG

High-precision AI background removal in bulk: turn product photos, portraits, and images into crisp transparent PNGs, clean white e-commerce backgrounds, or custom colors.

Paste public image links (or share links from Google Drive and Dropbox) or connect directly to upstream scrapers via dataset chaining. Output files are automatically saved to permanent Key-Value Store records with direct public URLs, avoiding bloated dataset payloads.

• ✂️ Hair-level boundary precision: powered by state-of-the-art IS-Net (1024x1024) dichotomous image segmentation. Captures individual hair strands, animal fur, fine whiskers, and sharp product contours.
• 🛍️ E-commerce ready: replace busy backgrounds with crisp white (#ffffff) or any hex color for Shopify, Amazon, eBay, or Etsy listings.
• 📐 Automatic crop-to-subject: automatically detects the subject's bounding box and crops the canvas tightly around it, with customizable padding percentage.
• 🎭 Alpha mask export: optionally export the 8-bit black-and-white segmentation mask alongside the cutout image.
• 🔗 Dataset chaining: pipe image URLs directly from Instagram, Google Maps, Amazon, or e-commerce scrapers via datasetId.
• ⚡ Zero setup & no GPU fees: runs on high-throughput optimized CPU containers. No external API keys or third-party accounts required.

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What can you do with it?

• E-commerce & retail catalogues: transform studio and supplier photos into uniform white-background images with consistent margins.
• Portraits & headshots: generate transparent PNG cutouts for team pages, profile photos, and design mockups.
• Graphic design & marketing: isolate objects, food, cars, and merchandise in bulk for marketing creatives and ad banners.
• Automated scraping pipelines: chain downstream of marketplace scrapers to automatically clean product imagery.
• AI agents & computer vision: pre-process image datasets by segmenting foreground subjects and extracting alpha masks.

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What files does it accept?

Input	Example	Supported
Direct image link	https://example.com/photos/sneaker.jpg	✅ JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, TIFF, BMP
Google Drive file	https://drive.google.com/file/d/.../view	✅ Shared as "Anyone with the link"
Dropbox file	https://www.dropbox.com/s/.../photo.png?dl=0	✅ Shared public link
Apify dataset	Upstream scraper dataset ID + field path	✅ Auto-extracts image URLs

Note: Folders and pages requiring login are not supported. Link the image files directly.

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How much does it cost?

Pay per successfully processed image. No monthly subscriptions, no seat fees.

Event	Free / Bronze	Silver	Gold / Plat / Diamond
Image cutout (image)	$0.008 / image	$0.007 / image	$0.006 / image
Actor start (apify-actor-start)	$0.00005 / run	$0.00005 / run	$0.00005 / run

• Fair billing: Dead, unreadable, or private links are never charged. You only pay for images successfully segmented and delivered.
• Cap your spend: Set maxImages or use Apify's run budget cap to prevent unexpected costs.

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Input Options

Field	Type	Default	Description
images	Array	[...]	List of public image URLs or share links (one per line).
backgroundColor	String	"transparent"	"transparent" (default), "white", or hex code like "#ffffff", "#f5f5f5".
outputFormat	Select	"png"	"png" (best for transparency), "jpeg" (for solid backgrounds), or "webp".
cropToSubject	Boolean	false	Automatically crop canvas tightly to the subject.
paddingPercent	Integer	0	Percentage padding (0–50%) around the cropped subject.
returnMask	Boolean	false	Save 8-bit black-and-white segmentation mask to KV Store.
model	Select	"isnet"	"isnet" (1024x1024 precision) or "u2net" (320x320 fast bulk).
datasetId	String	""	Apify dataset ID to chain images from.
datasetField	String	"url"	Field path in dataset containing image link (e.g. "imageUrl").
maxImages	Integer	100	Maximum images to process in this run.

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Example Usage

1. Web Console / JSON Input

{
  "images": [
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/T5HtoeQYut1ufwkKC/records/bgremove-product.jpg",
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/T5HtoeQYut1ufwkKC/records/bgremove-portrait.jpg"
  ],
  "backgroundColor": "transparent",
  "outputFormat": "png",
  "cropToSubject": true,
  "paddingPercent": 5,
  "returnMask": false
}

2. Python Client

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run_input = {
    "images": ["https://example.com/shoe.jpg"],
    "backgroundColor": "white",
    "outputFormat": "jpeg",
    "cropToSubject": True,
    "paddingPercent": 10
}

run = client.actor("bossless/background-remover").call(run_input=run_input)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print("Cutout URL:", item["recordUrl"])
    print("Dimensions:", item["width"], "x", item["height"])

3. cURL

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/bossless~background-remover/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "images": ["https://example.com/portrait.jpg"],
    "backgroundColor": "transparent",
    "outputFormat": "png"
  }'

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Output Format

Each processed image produces a clean record in the default dataset:

{
  "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/T5HtoeQYut1ufwkKC/records/bgremove-product.jpg",
  "status": "success",
  "recordUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/abc123xyz/records/cutout_00001.png",
  "maskUrl": null,
  "width": 1024,
  "height": 768,
  "format": "png",
  "backgroundColor": "transparent",
  "cropped": true,
  "subjectBbox": [82, 114, 940, 680],
  "processedAt": "2026-10-29T12:00:00Z",
  "error": null
}

The recordUrl is a permanent, public download link directly to the image file in the run's Key-Value Store.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How does it compare to remove.bg or cloud APIs?

Most background removal APIs charge $0.20 to $0.90 per image and require monthly contracts. This actor runs local ONNX deep learning neural networks at just $0.008 down to $0.006 per image with zero monthly fees.

Are my images kept private?

Images are fetched and processed ephemerally inside your dedicated run container. Files are stored in your run's private Key-Value Store under your Apify account.

Can I use this with Claude Code or AI Agents via MCP?

Yes! You can invoke this actor from any MCP-compatible agent using the Apify MCP server to perform automated background removal and image editing within agentic workflows.

Notice of Non-Affiliation

This actor is an independent utility developed for the Apify platform. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by remove.bg, Adobe, Kaleido, or any other commercial image processing service.