The complete image API for developers.
Background removal, super-resolution, face restore, sticker outlines, studio composites, batch processing, and 23 endpoints. ~200 ms per call. MIT licensed, self-hostable, 40× cheaper than remove.bg.
curl -X POST "https://useknockout--api.modal.run/remove" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
-F "file=@cat.jpg" -o out.png
OriginalCutoutBuilt on open infra · ship the credit, not just the call
SOTA quality. Real photos.
BiRefNet ranks #1 on DIS5K and HRSOD. We benchmark against remove.bg on hard subjects: hair, fur, glass, group photos.
Group photos
Multiple people, overlapping subjects, complex backgrounds. BiRefNet handles them in one pass.
One API, twenty-three endpoints.
Cover the full image-cutout, composition, and enhancement workflow without stitching together half a dozen vendors.
Enhancement
How it stacks up.
Most image APIs charge 20–40× more for half the surface area. We're open source on top.
| Feature | useknockoutOURS | remove.bg | Photoroom | Slazzer | ClipDrop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per-image cost (PAYG) | $0.005 | $0.20 | $0.10 | $0.10 | $0.05 |
| Free tier / month | 20 / mo | 1 / mo | 0 | 20 / mo | 100 / mo |
| Background removal | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Super-resolution | ✓ | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Face restore | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Sticker outline | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Studio composite | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Drop shadow | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Smart crop | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Silhouette portrait | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Inpainting | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Batch endpoint | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Node SDK | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| React SDK | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Python SDK | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| MIT licensed | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Self-hostable | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
Pricing and feature snapshot as of May 2026. Vendor pages may have changed since — open an issue if anything is stale.
Install in your stack.
Official SDKs for Node, React, CLI, and Python. Or hit the REST API directly.
npm i @useknockout/node
import { Knockout } from "@useknockout/node";
const client = new Knockout({ token: process.env.KNOCKOUT_TOKEN });
const png = await client.remove({ file: "./input.jpg" });Pricing
For reference — the same image on remove.bg is $0.20 at their PAYG rate.
Free
Best for: Eval, side projects, OSS
- ✓20 images / month
- ✓No card required
- ✓9 core endpoints (bg removal + edits)
- ✓Community support
Pay-as-you-go
Best for: Side projects, early startups
- ✓Per-image billing
- ✓Credits never expire
- ✓All endpoints — incl. AI upscale, face restore, colorize, e-commerce presets & batch
- ✓Email support
Volume
Best for: Production workloads
- ✓Volume discount
- ✓99.9% uptime SLA
- ✓Slack support
- ✓Usage dashboard
Enterprise
Best for: Compliance, BYO-cloud
- ✓Self-hosted on your VPC
- ✓Custom SLAs & DPA
- ✓Dedicated support
- ✓Private Slack channel