Which AI upscaler should you actually use?
Seven popular upscalers, compared on what decides the result: whether they invent detail or preserve it, where they run, what they cost and the job each one suits. Every price links back to the vendor page it came from.
150 px sourceFull detailThe quickest way to see creative vs faithful upscaling is on your own image. Upsampler’s free image upscaler (our product) runs both kinds of model with no sign-up and no watermark. Download each result and compare them blind in our A/B tool.
The comparison
“Creative” means the model generates new detail, usually with a diffusion model. “Faithful” means it reconstructs what the pixels imply and adds as little as possible. Here’s why that matters.
| Tool | Approach | Runs on | Free option | Paid pricing (as listed) | Size limits (vendor-stated) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magnific magnific.ai | creative | Web app; ComfyUI node, plugins and MCP listed on plans | Not checked | Premium plan $20/mo, or $14.50/mo billed annually; Magnific image and video upscalers included | Not stated on the pricing page | AI art and concept work where invented detail is the point |
| Topaz Gigapixel topazlabs.com | faithful | Desktop app for Mac and Windows (standalone or plugin) | No free tier listed | $29/mo month-to-month, $19/mo on an annual commitment, or $149/yr (first-year sale prices also shown) | “Image upscaling up to 16x pixels” per Topaz | Photographers, batch jobs, print work, files that must stay on your machine |
| Upsampler (our product) upsampler.com | faithfulcreative | Web app and API | Free image upscaler with no sign-up or watermark (Real-ESRGAN and SeedVR2 models) | Pay as you go at $0.04 per credit, or Pro $15/mo with 1,000 credits; image upscales cost 0.25–1 credit per output megapixel | Paid tools accept inputs up to 100 MP | Trying faithful and creative passes side by side without installing anything |
| Krea krea.ai | creative | Web app, plus plugins for Photoshop and other apps | Free plan: 100 compute units a day, limited upscaling | Basic plan listed at $9/mo | Paid plans: image upscaling “up to 22K” | People already generating images or video in Krea |
| Let’s Enhance letsenhance.io | faithful | Web app and API | 10 free credits on sign-up; output up to 8 MP, watermarked | Starter $12/mo, or $9/mo billed annually, for 100 credits (1 image = 1 credit) | Up to 256 MP output on Starter and 512 MP on Max | E-commerce images and print-on-demand files at large sizes |
| Clarity Upscaler github.com/philz1337x/clarity-upscaler | creative | Self-hosted (Stable Diffusion based, AGPL-3.0) or hosted at clarityai.co | Free to run on your own GPU | Hosted version: pricing not checked | Depends on your hardware | Tinkerers who want a Magnific-style creative upscale locally |
| Upscayl upscayl.org | faithful | Desktop app for Linux, macOS and Windows (open source, AGPL-3.0) | Free desktop app; a paid cloud version also exists (not checked) | Free (desktop) | Up to 16x per upscayl.org | Free offline upscaling with Real-ESRGAN-family models |
Read on each vendor’s pricing or product page on 14 Nov 2026. Several vendors were running Black Friday promotions that day, so regular prices are quoted where both were shown. Prices change often, so confirm before you buy. Sources: Magnific, Topaz Gigapixel, Upsampler, Krea, Let’s Enhance, Clarity Upscaler, Upscayl.
How to choose in a minute
You want more detail than exists
Pick a creative upscaler and keep creativity moderate. Expect skin, fabric and foliage to be re-imagined.
People · portraitsIt must still look like them
Use a faithful model, and only add face restoration at low strength. Check the eyes and teeth at 100%.
Products · textLabels and logos must survive
Stick to faithful models. Creative passes garble small type first. Don’t upscale past what the marketplace needs.
PrintYou need a set size in inches or cm
Work out the pixels you need first, then upscale once to that size, not by a round 4× because it’s the default.
Scans · archivesRescue a family photo
Scan at a high ppi, clean up dust and damage first, upscale faithfully, and keep the untouched scan as your archive copy.
Line art · animeFlat colour and crisp lines
Use anime-tuned models (Real-ESRGAN anime, waifu2x-style). General creative models add unwanted texture.
Pick by job
| Job | Approach | Typical scale | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midjourney / SD / Flux render to print or 4K | Creative, low to medium | 2–4× | Repeating textures, new “details” in hands and text |
| Phone photo of a person | Faithful + light face restore | 2× | Waxy skin, changed eye shape, teeth |
| Product shot with a label | Faithful | To the marketplace size only | Misspelled or melted lettering |
| Scanned 1970s print | Restore, then faithful | Scan high, upscale 1.5–2× | Film grain being read as detail and “sharpened” |
| Anime frame or line art | Anime-tuned faithful | 2–4× | Painterly texture appearing in flat colour |
| Game texture or pixel art | Nearest-neighbour or pixel-art model | Whole numbers only (2×, 3×, 4×) | Blurred pixel edges from smooth scalers |
Why there’s no leaderboard here
Comparison sites love a ranked list with scores to one decimal place. We don’t publish one, for three reasons. Upscaler quality depends heavily on the input: a 512 px render, a phone selfie and a scanned print behave completely differently. Creative models give a different result every run. And a downscaled preview hides most of the differences that matter. Instead, the test method explains how to run a fair comparison, and the blind A/B tool lets you judge results on your own images without knowing which tool made which.
Questions people ask
Which AI image upscaler is best?
There isn’t one winner. It depends on the job. For AI art, where new detail is welcome, creative upscalers such as Magnific, Krea or Clarity do the most. For real photos, product shots and anything with text, faithful models such as Topaz Gigapixel, Let’s Enhance or Upscayl change less. Upsampler offers both. Test on your own image with the blind A/B tool before you pay for a plan.
Is there a good free alternative to Magnific?
Yes, if you accept some trade-offs. Clarity Upscaler is open source and Stable Diffusion based, and you can run it on your own GPU. Several web tools have free tiers too. We list them, with their limits, in free AI upscalers.
Can an AI upscaler recover detail that was never captured?
No. Faithful models reconstruct plausible edges and textures from patterns they learned in training. Creative models generate new detail. Neither can read a number plate that is four pixels wide. For evidence, documents or anything factual, treat upscaled detail as a guess.
How much should I upscale?
Upscale to the size you actually need for the screen or the print, and no further. 2× to 4× usually looks natural. Beyond about 4× in one pass, especially from small sources, most models start to show texture artefacts. Work out the size you need with the print size calculator.
Why are there no quality scores on this site?
A single score would be misleading. Results swing with the input image, the settings and, for creative models, with each run. We publish an open test method instead, so you can make a fair comparison on your own images.