remove.bg API Alternative: Drop-in Background Removal

The remove.bg API stops on December 1, 2026. This Actor gives you the same endpoint, the same parameters and the same responses (POST /v1.0/removebg). Point your existing code at a new base URL, swap the API key header, and you are done. No rewrite, no SDK, no monthly plan.

- https://api.remove.bg/v1.0/removebg          X-Api-Key: <REMOVE_BG_KEY>
+ https://digitalni-produkty-pr--removebg-api-dropin.apify.actor/v1.0/removebg
+                                               Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>

Pay per image: $0.005 per processed image plus a small amount of Apify platform usage. No subscription, no monthly minimum. Failed requests are never charged. roi and crop_margin work too, which some replacements silently ignore.

Quick start

1. Create a free Apify account and copy your API token from Settings → API & Integrations.
2. Replace the remove.bg URL with the URL above, and the X-Api-Key header with Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN> (or append ?token=<APIFY_TOKEN> to the URL).
3. Keep everything else: form fields, file uploads, Accept: application/json, the response headers and the error handling.

curl

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
     -F "image_file=@/path/to/file.jpg" \
     -F "size=auto" \
     -o no-bg.png \
     https://digitalni-produkty-pr--removebg-api-dropin.apify.actor/v1.0/removebg

Python (requests): the remove.bg sample with two lines changed

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://digitalni-produkty-pr--removebg-api-dropin.apify.actor/v1.0/removebg",  # changed
    files={"image_file": open("/path/to/file.jpg", "rb")},
    data={"size": "auto"},
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>"},                            # changed
)
if response.status_code == requests.codes.ok:
    with open("no-bg.png", "wb") as out:
        out.write(response.content)
else:
    print("Error:", response.status_code, response.text)

JavaScript (Node 18+)

const form = new FormData();
form.append('image_url', 'https://example.com/product.jpg');
form.append('size', 'full');
form.append('bg_color', 'ffffff');
const res = await fetch('https://digitalni-produkty-pr--removebg-api-dropin.apify.actor/v1.0/removebg', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.APIFY_TOKEN}` },
    body: form,
});
console.log(res.status, res.headers.get('x-width'), res.headers.get('x-height'));

Using a remove.bg client library

• PHP (mtownsend/remove-bg, Laravel): the endpoint is a public property, so no library change is needed:

$removebg = new RemoveBg('unused');
$removebg->endpoint = 'https://digitalni-produkty-pr--removebg-api-dropin.apify.actor/v1.0/removebg';
$removebg->header('Authorization', 'Bearer ' . $apifyToken)
         ->url('https://example.com/image.jpg')
         ->save('no-bg.png');

• Python (removebg) and Node.js (remove.bg): we have proposed a configurable endpoint upstream (api_endpoint / apiEndpoint plus headers): Python pull request, Node.js pull request. Until they are released, use the snippets above.
• Other libraries: if the base URL is hard-coded, fork the library and change it. Everything else stays the same.

Compatibility

remove.bg parameter	Supported	Notes
image_file (multipart), image_file_b64, image_url	✅	Exactly one source per request, same as remove.bg
size: preview (default), small, regular, medium, hd, full, 4k, auto	✅	Same megapixel limits, up to 25 MP. Same price for every size
format: auto (default), png, jpg, webp, zip	✅	zip contains color.jpg + alpha.png
channels: rgba, alpha	✅	alpha returns the matte
bg_color (hex 3/4/6/8 digits or color name), bg_image_url, bg_image_file	✅	Semi-transparent colors keep PNG transparency
crop, crop_margin (30px, 10%, 1–4 values)	✅
roi, scale, position	✅
type, type_level	⚠️ accepted, ignored	One general model for products, people, animals and objects. X-Type is always other
add_shadow, shadow_type, shadow_opacity, semitransparency	⚠️ accepted, ignored	No artificial shadows

Responses. Binary image with Content-Type, X-Width, X-Height, X-Foreground-Top/Left/Width/Height, X-Type and X-Credits-Charged. With Accept: application/json you get {"data": {"result_b64": "...", "foreground_top": ..., ...}}. Errors use the remove.bg shape {"errors": [{"title": "...", "code": "..."}]} with HTTP 400. When your spending limit is reached you get 402, like running out of credits. GET /v1.0/account is available so account checks do not crash.

Accepted request bodies: multipart/form-data, application/x-www-form-urlencoded and application/json. Maximum image size is 30 MB and 100 MP input.

Pricing

• $0.005 per successfully processed image, any size. Errors and failed downloads are free.
• Plus Apify platform usage for the time the API server runs (2 GB memory). It is roughly $0.0005 per image when you send images back to back. The server starts on the first request (about 10 seconds) and stops after 60 seconds without requests, and that idle minute is also usage.
• No subscription, no monthly minimum and no credit packs that expire. For comparison, many hosted alternatives charge $0.02–0.04 per image or require a monthly plan.
• Apify's free plan includes $5 of platform credit every month, enough to process several hundred images without paying anything.

For bulk jobs (thousands of URLs), the sister Actor AI Background Remover runs as a batch job with a flat $0.005 per image, takes a list of URLs or another Actor's dataset, and has no idle time.

No-code: Zapier, Make, n8n

If your scenario used the remove.bg module, replace it with an HTTP request module:

• Method: POST, URL: https://digitalni-produkty-pr--removebg-api-dropin.apify.actor/v1.0/removebg
• Header: Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>
• Body: form fields image_url, size=full, plus any other remove.bg parameters
• Response: the image file (binary), or JSON with result_b64 if you send Accept: application/json

Batch mode in the Console

You can also run the Actor normally with a list of image URLs (input form). Results are saved to the dataset with links to the processed images.

Quality

The Actor uses ISNet (DIS, Dichotomous Image Segmentation), an open-source high-accuracy segmentation model (Apache-2.0), at full resolution on CPU, about 3–4 seconds per image. It works best when the subject clearly stands out from the background, which is typical for product, catalogue, car and object photos. Hard cases include a dark product on a dark background or a very blurred background in similar colors. remove.bg's proprietary model is more polished on fine hair and glass, so test 20–50 of your own images first. It costs a few cents.

FAQ

Do I need to change my code? Only the base URL and the auth header (or add ?token= to the URL). Request fields, response headers, JSON and error formats stay the same.

Is the default output size the same? Yes. Like remove.bg, the default size is preview (0.25 MP). Send size=full or size=auto for full resolution, at the same price.

How fast is it? About 3–5 seconds per image when the server is warm. The first request after a pause takes about 10 seconds longer while the server starts. Up to 4 requests are handled per server instance, and more instances start automatically under load.

Can I limit my spending? Yes. Apify lets you set a maximum cost per Actor run. When it is reached, the API answers 402.

Where are my images stored? In API mode, images are processed in memory and returned in the HTTP response. Nothing is stored. In batch mode, results go to your own Apify storage.

Is this an official remove.bg product? No. See the disclaimer below.

More tools from the same developer

All tools with code examples: github.com/Phenixik/apify-actors

• AI Background Remover: bulk transparent PNGs, white backgrounds and masks
• Product Photo Prep: white-background, square photos for Shopify, Amazon and Etsy
• AI Image Upscaler: 2x / 4x Real-ESRGAN upscaling, no GPU
• App Icon & Screenshot Generator: every iOS, Android and PWA icon size from one image
• Website Screenshot: full-page, mobile and PDF screenshots
• Sitemap URL Extractor: every URL from a website's sitemaps
• Broken Link Checker: find 404s and dead links on your site
• PageSpeed & Lighthouse Audit: bulk Core Web Vitals and SEO scores
• Domain WHOIS & DNS Lookup: expiry, DNS, SPF/DMARC and SSL for many domains
• PDF Text Extractor: text, Markdown and RAG chunks from PDFs
• E-book Converter: Word, Google Docs or Markdown to PDF and EPUB
• RSS Feed Reader & Monitor: only-new-items feed monitoring
• ATS Jobs: jobs from Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby & more
• App Store Reviews: iOS reviews from 50+ countries

Disclaimer

This Actor is an independent, API-compatible alternative. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to remove.bg, Kaleido AI, Canva or Leonardo.Ai. "remove.bg" is a trademark of its owner and is used here only to describe API compatibility.

Support

Missing a parameter your integration relies on, or found a response that differs from remove.bg? Open an issue with a sample request and we will fix it quickly.