Best AI photo editors

An AI photo editor fixes or changes a photo you already have: it removes objects, swaps backgrounds, cuts noise, upscales, or rebuilds a scene you describe. Some of the best tools are free and already on your phone; others are paid desktop software. Each pick lists price and free options as the vendor stated them in October 2026.

How these picks were chosen

We used published facts: vendor pricing pages, the AI features each vendor names, the platforms it runs on, device requirements and stated limits such as monthly generative credits or export caps. We did not edit a test set of photos or score results. Prices are quoted with their plan name and billing term, and every source is listed at the end.

1. Adobe Photoshop

Best for: generative edits with full manual control · Price: Photoshop US$22.99/month, annual plan billed monthly (as of Oct 2026) · Free plan: no; 7-day trial and a free mobile app

Photoshop's AI tools run on Adobe Firefly. Generative Fill and Generative Expand add, expand or remove content from a text description, and the Remove Tool takes out people and objects. Harmonize blends a pasted object into a new background by matching light, shadows and color, and Rotate Object turns and scales objects in place. Photoshop runs on desktop, web and mobile, and the mobile version has a free tier.

Generative credits decide how much AI editing you get. The Photoshop-only plan includes 25 credits a month. The Photography plan, at US$19.99 a month on an annual plan, bundles Photoshop with Lightroom and includes 1,000 credits, so for most photographers it is the better buy. Creative Cloud Pro includes 4,000 credits at a regular US$69.99 a month.

Limits: 25 monthly credits on the Photoshop-only plan run out quickly if you use generative tools daily. The prices above are for annual plans billed monthly.

2. Adobe Lightroom

Best for: photographers editing many photos · Price: Lightroom (1TB) US$11.99/month, annual plan billed monthly (as of Oct 2026) · Free plan: free mobile app

Lightroom's AI is aimed at volume. Generative Remove, powered by Firefly, deletes objects even on complex patterns. Assisted Culling scores a shoot for sharpness, focus and open eyes so you can discard the weak frames. Lens Blur adds a portrait-style background blur to any photo, Dust Removal finds sensor spots, and Generative Upscale uses Topaz Gigapixel for up to 4x enlargement. Quick Actions handle skin retouching and blemish removal.

The Lightroom (1TB) plan includes 250 generative credits a month. The Lightroom mobile app for iOS and Android is free, with premium features by subscription.

Limits: Generative Remove needs Lightroom or Lightroom Classic 7.3, or Lightroom Mobile 9.3, or later. Adobe gives access to generative tools with a membership or a free trial.

3. Google Photos

Best for: free AI fixes on your phone · Price: free (as of Oct 2026) · Free plan: yes

Google made Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur and Portrait Light available to every Google Photos user without a subscription in 2024. The Android editor also lists Best Take, AI Enhance and Auto Frame, which "uses AI to fill in parts of a picture or expand as needed". Since September 2025, eligible Android devices in the US can use conversational editing: tap "Help me edit" and describe the change.

Limits: Android needs at least 3 GB of RAM and Android 8.0, and some features need 4 GB or 6 GB. On iPhone, editing with Ask Photos requires iOS 18, 3 GB of RAM, a personal Google account and age 18 or over, and it is rolling out to select countries only. For prompt ideas to use with Google's AI image editing, see our Gemini photo prompts.

4. Apple Photos Clean Up

Best for: removing distractions on a recent iPhone, iPad or Mac · Price: free with Apple Intelligence (as of Oct 2026) · Free plan: yes, on supported devices

Clean Up is built into the Photos app. You mark a distraction and Photos removes it. It costs nothing extra on a device that supports Apple Intelligence.

Limits: it needs an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 or later, iPhone Air, an iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later, or a Mac with M1 or later. Apple Intelligence takes up to 8 GB of storage, or up to 14 GB on the newest Pro models. Clean Up does not work on devices bought in mainland China. Apple says expanded access to some features "will be available for a fee in the future".

5. Photoroom

Best for: product photos for online stores · Price: Pro $8/month, billed yearly (as of Oct 2026) · Free plan: yes

Photoroom is made for sellers. Its core tools are a background remover, retouch, AI Product Fixer, AI Shadows, AI Fill, AI Expand and an image enhancer, and higher plans add AI fashion models, AI backgrounds and video. It runs on the web, iOS and Android, with a Shopify integration from the Max plan.

Pro includes 1,000 exports a month and Max, at $25 a month billed yearly, 3,000. When you hit the cap, exports pause until the next billing cycle unless you upgrade.

Limits: the free plan gives 100 exports a month, a low limit on AI image generation, no batch mode and no commercial use. A batch of 10 images counts as 10 exports.

6. Pixelcut

Best for: background removal, erasing and fills on a budget · Price: Pro $10/month, or $8/month billed yearly (as of Oct 2026) · Free plan: yes

Pixelcut covers the common AI edits: background removal, a fast upscaler, generative fill, image expansion, AI backgrounds and a "Pro Eraser". It runs in mobile and desktop browsers and in iOS and Android apps, and offers an API. Pro includes 600 credits a month, unlimited background removal and upscaling, and up to 300 generative fills a day.

Limits: on the free plan, background removal, upscaling and generative fill are "Limited" with no number given. Free exports have no watermark.

7. Luminar Neo

Best for: a desktop editor you buy once · Price: one-time purchase plans; see Skylum's pricing page for your region (as of Oct 2026) · Free plan: no; 7-day trial

Skylum sells Luminar Neo as one-time purchases rather than a subscription. Its generative tools are GenErase, GenSwap and GenExpand, alongside Sky AI, Restoration, background removal and an AI Assistant. It runs on macOS and Windows, works as a plug-in for Photoshop, Lightroom and Apple Photos, and has mobile apps for iOS, Android and ChromeOS. The trial lasts 7 days with no credit card, and Skylum offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Limits: each plan includes one year of access to the AI tools; after that, the generative tools need a Luminar Prime subscription. The web version is listed as "Coming Fall 2026". On a Mac it needs macOS 12 or later and at least 8 GB of RAM, with 16 GB recommended.

8. Topaz Photo

Best for: denoising, sharpening and upscaling · Price: $39/month or $199/year (as of Oct 2026) · Free plan: no

Topaz Photo is a specialist. Its tools are Denoise, Sharpen, Upscale (with its Wonder and Standard Max models), Recover Faces, Remove, lighting and color balance, and dust and scratch removal. It runs on Mac and Windows and as a plug-in for Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Capture One and Affinity, with unlimited local rendering on your own computer.

Limits: Topaz staff confirmed in April 2026 that there is no trial, only a 48-hour refund policy. The standard license limits commercial use to organizations under $1 million in yearly revenue; Topaz Photo Pro, at $599 a year, carries full commercial use.

Editing with a chatbot

General AI assistants also edit photos when you upload one and describe the change. Gemini's Nano Banana model can edit part of an image or combine several images, and ChatGPT accepts image uploads on its free plan. They are good for creative changes, but Gemini's free downloads are 1K resolution, so for full-size results the dedicated editors above are the better choice. Ready-made instructions are in our Nano Banana prompts, ChatGPT photo prompts and AI headshot prompts.

Edit the attached photo. Keep the person's face, pose and clothing exactly as they are.
Change only: [remove the people in the background / replace the sky with a clear evening sky / make the background a plain light gray studio wall].
Match the light direction and color of the original. Do not crop. Keep the resolution as high as possible.

Which one to pick

• Free, on your phone: Google Photos on Android or iPhone, Apple Photos Clean Up on a recent Apple device.
• Serious editing: Adobe's Photography plan, which bundles Photoshop and Lightroom with 1,000 credits a month.
• Selling products online: Photoroom, or Pixelcut for a lower price.
• Old, noisy or small photos: Topaz Photo.
• No subscriptions: Luminar Neo, keeping in mind the one-year limit on its generative tools.

To create a new picture rather than fix one, see AI image generators. For phone apps by task, see best AI apps.

FAQ

What is the best free AI photo editor?

Google Photos gives every user Magic Eraser, Unblur and Portrait Light at no cost, and Apple Photos Clean Up is free on supported devices. Pixelcut's free plan exports without a watermark, and Photoroom's allows 100 exports a month for non-commercial use.

Which AI photo editor removes objects best?

All eight remove objects. Photoshop's Remove Tool and Generative Fill and Lightroom's Generative Remove are designed for complex backgrounds; Google Photos' Magic Eraser and Apple's Clean Up handle quick fixes for free.

Is Photoshop's AI included in the subscription?

Yes, through generative credits. The Photoshop plan includes 25 a month, the Photography plan 1,000 and Creative Cloud Pro 4,000.

Can I edit photos with AI without a subscription?

Yes. Google Photos and Apple Photos Clean Up are free, and Luminar Neo is sold as a one-time purchase, though its generative tools need a subscription after the first year.