Deback

Developer migration guide · Updated September 17, 2026 · Facts below are from the providers' own pages; APIs change — verify against current docs before migrating.

remove.bg API Is Shutting Down: A Developer's Migration Guide

Self-service requests to the remove.bg API stop on December 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. CET. If your app, plugin, or pipeline calls api.remove.bg, here is what is changing, a migration checklist, and your options — the official Leonardo.Ai path, compatible APIs, and self-hosted routes.

What remove.bg itself says. A banner on their API page reads: "Starting December 1, 2026, background removal moves to Leonardo.Ai, also part of Canva." Leonardo.Ai has published a migration guide with a parameter mapping table. Existing Enterprise API contracts are not affected, per remove.bg's FAQ.

What exactly is changing

  • Self-service API requests stop December 1, 2026, 9:00 a.m. CET. Your current API key and endpoint stop working that day.
  • The official path is Leonardo.Ai (Canva-owned). It is a different product — a full generative toolkit, not just a background-removal endpoint — with its own request shape and pricing. Their API page lists pay-as-you-go billing with credits that don't expire.
  • Enterprise API contracts are not affected, per remove.bg's FAQ — if you're on one, confirm the terms with your account contact rather than following this guide.

Migration checklist

  1. Find every call site. Search your codebase for api.remove.bg and X-Api-Key. List every service that calls it — the checkout image pipeline, the CMS plugin, the cron job nobody remembers.
  2. Inventory the parameters you actually use. Most integrations use a handful: image_file or image_url, size, format, occasionally bg_color. That is your migration surface — everything else is noise.
  3. Pick your path (options below) and get credentials on the new platform now.
  4. Test against real traffic, not demos. Run your actual images — hair, fur, glass, product shots — through the new endpoint and diff the results. Edge quality is where providers differ.
  5. Plan the cutover. Put the new call behind a flag, dual-run both endpoints for a window, monitor error rates and output quality, then switch. Have a rollback ready.
  6. Do not migrate on November 30. Start in September or October. API migrations always surface one surprise; give yourself the calendar to absorb it.

Your options

1. The official path: Leonardo.Ai

Canva's designated successor. It has published a migration guide with a parameter mapping table (last updated early September 2026), and its API page lists pay-as-you-go pricing with credits that don't expire. Best fit if you want the vendor-blessed route and may use more of the generative toolkit later. Trade-off: it's a bigger product than a background-removal endpoint, priced accordingly — verify the per-image cost against your volume before committing.

2. A compatible API

If all you need is "image in, cutout out," a remove.bg-compatible API is the smaller change. Third-party reviewers describe PhotoRoom's API as remove.bg-compatible — same parameter names and response shape, so you swap the endpoint URL and API key and keep the rest. Verify compatibility against their current docs with your own test traffic before betting a production pipeline on it.

3. Self-hosted

Run the model yourself: the open-source rembg library or an ONNX segmentation model on your own GPU/CPU. Full control, no per-image fees, no vendor shutdown can strand you — at the cost of owning the infrastructure, scaling, and model updates. Best fit for high volume or strict data-handling requirements.

An honest note about Deback. Deback has no API — it is a free web tool that removes backgrounds one image at a time, in your browser. It is not a replacement for a pipeline. It is a good answer for the manual side of your workflow (support tickets, one-off seller uploads, testing what a cutout should look like) — free, no account, images never uploaded.

Frequently asked questions

When does the remove.bg API stop working?

December 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. CET, per remove.bg's own API page banner. Self-service requests stop; Enterprise contracts are unaffected.

Where do API users go?

Leonardo.Ai (Canva-owned) is the official path and has published a migration guide. Compatible APIs and self-hosted models are the other two routes — see the options above.

Will my integration break or just stop?

It stops: requests to the old endpoint will fail after the cutoff. This is a hard deadline, not a deprecation with a grace period — plan the cutover ahead of it.

Is there a drop-in replacement?

Third-party reviewers describe PhotoRoom's API as remove.bg-compatible (same parameters, swap endpoint + key). Treat that as a lead to verify against current docs, not a guarantee.

Does Deback offer an API?

No. Deback is a browser-based tool for one image at a time — free, no account, on-device processing. It fits the manual side of a workflow, not a pipeline.

For the manual side of your workflow

One-off cutouts without another API key, account, or upload — free in the browser.

Try it now

A note on trademark use

remove.bg, Canva, Leonardo.Ai, and PhotoRoom are trademarks of their respective owners. Product names appear here only to describe the API shutdown and migration options factually. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.