The price anchor
| Cutaway | remove.bg | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 — no subscription | $9/mo (40 credits) |
| Annual | $0 after purchase | $108 |
| 5-year total | $24 | $540 |
| 10-year total | $24 | $1,080 |
Subscription figures from the vendor's published pricing ($9/mo (40 credits), ~$108/yr); the Cutaway column is the full price, paid once.
Break-even analysis
$24 pays for itself in under 3 months — then it's free forever.
- After 1 year: Cutaway has cost you $24 total — remove.bg has cost $108.
- After 3 years: Cutaway is still $24 — the subscription is at $324.
- After 5 years: Cutaway is still $24 — the subscription is at $540.
What you get for $24 once
- Drag & drop batches. Single images or whole folders — JPG, PNG and WebP.
- Before / after preview. Checkerboard view of the transparent result, per image.
- Flexible output. Transparent PNG, white/black, or any custom background color.
- Batch export. Pick a folder, hit one button, watch the progress bar.
- Full resolution, always. Your 6000×4000 photo stays 6000×4000. remove.bg's free tier caps at 0.25 MP.
- No renewal, ever. The license does not expire and there is no per-seat meter — $24 is the whole price.
Pricing questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — the full source is MIT at github.com/bensblueprints/bg-remover-mvp. Paying $24 gets you the signed installer, 1-click setup and updates instead of building from source.
Is the quality as good as remove.bg?
It uses the same class of segmentation model (U²-Net family via ONNX). On typical product shots and portraits results are comparable; on very fine edges like wispy hair, remove.bg's newest cloud models can still win. You get unlimited retries for free, though.
Do my photos get uploaded?
Never. Inference runs on your CPU via onnxruntime. Every AI model ships inside the installer, so the app makes zero network calls.
Is it fast?
It runs on your own hardware, one image at a time by design (predictable memory). A batch takes a few seconds per image on a modern CPU — no queue, no credits, no per-image anxiety.
Cutaway — $24, one time
Or get Cutaway plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.