Shutdown news · Updated September 20, 2026 · Based on remove.bg's and Leonardo.Ai's own published pages; plans change — verify before deciding.

remove.bg Is Becoming Leonardo.Ai: What Actually Changes (and What to Use Instead)

On December 1, 2026, the remove.bg website goes away. Website users are pointed toward Canva; API users toward Leonardo.Ai, which Canva also owns. If all you ever wanted was the old one-click background remover — no accounts, no suites, no subscriptions — here's what the move actually means for you, what stays the same, and your options.

If you used the remove.bg website

Your path is Canva, not Leonardo.Ai. Background removal becomes one feature inside Canva's design platform — and there, Background Remover is a Canva Pro (paid) feature. What changes for you:

• You need an account and a paid plan where previously you could do quick free cutouts with no signup.
• The workflow moves inside a design suite. Instead of a single-purpose page (upload → cutout → download), background removal becomes a step inside Canva's editor, alongside everything else Canva does.
• You're paying for far more than background removal. Canva Pro is a full design subscription. If cutouts were 95% of what you used remove.bg for, that's a lot of suite for one job.

If you used the remove.bg API

Your path is Leonardo.Ai. Per Leonardo's announcement, the API's capabilities carry over, plus extras like upscaling and scene generation, and there's a published migration guide mapping old parameters to new ones. What changes:

• New endpoint, new credentials, new billing. This is a real migration, not a redirect — inventory every service that calls the old API and cut over ahead of the deadline. (Developers: our API migration guide has the full checklist.)
• Existing Enterprise API contracts are not affected, per remove.bg's FAQ — this is about self-service users.
• You're now inside a generative AI platform. Leonardo.Ai is built for image generation; background removal is one capability among many. That's more surface area — more features, but also more account setup, pricing tiers, and product to learn.

What stays the same

• The technology lineage. remove.bg's parent company (Kaleido AI) has been part of Canva since 2021 — this is absorption, not a shutdown of the tech itself. Background removal as a capability isn't disappearing.
• The quality bar. Leonardo.Ai is positioning this as continuity ("everything you do today… you can do on Leonardo"), so API users should expect comparable cutout quality, not a downgrade.

"I just want the old remove.bg"

If your reaction to all of the above is that you never wanted a design suite or a generative platform — you wanted a page that removes backgrounds — you're the majority of remove.bg's website users, and the honest summary is: neither official path gives you that anymore. Canva gives you the feature wrapped in a subscription; Leonardo.Ai gives API users a new home but nothing for casual one-off use.

Your options, plainly:

• Canva Pro — the official website-user path. Paid, account required, background removal as one feature among dozens. Makes sense if you already live in Canva.
• Leonardo.Ai — the official API path. Right if you're a developer migrating an integration; overkill if you just want cutouts.
• A free standalone alternative — several exist; our honest comparison lays out free tiers, pricing, and privacy side by side. Deback is ours: no account, no watermark, full-resolution downloads — and the AI runs in your browser, so photos are never uploaded to a server, which none of the big tools can say.

Frequently asked questions

Is Leonardo.Ai the same as remove.bg?

No. Leonardo.Ai is a generative AI platform owned by Canva; remove.bg's background-removal API is moving onto it. The one-click website you knew is not being recreated there — website users are directed to Canva instead.

Will background removal on Leonardo.Ai be free?

Leonardo.Ai runs on its own credit/token system — it is not the old remove.bg free tier. Check their current pricing before assuming anything carries over.

Do I need to do anything before December 1?

Website users: pick a replacement and test it now (see the month-by-month checklist). API users: migrate credentials and traffic to Leonardo.Ai or another API well before the cutoff — and spend down any remove.bg credits (see what happens to credits).

I'm not a developer — should I care about Leonardo.Ai at all?

Probably not. Leonardo.Ai is the path for API integrations. If you used the website, your decision is between Canva Pro and a standalone alternative.

Is Deback affiliated with remove.bg, Canva, or Leonardo.Ai?

No. Deback is independent — not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.

A note on trademark use

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