Discover the Best AI Upscalers Tailored to Your Specific Needs
- 10 minutes read - 2109 words
Table of Contents
AI upscalers have emerged as powerful tools to improve image quality and detail in the ever-evolving world of image enhancement.
AI has considerably advanced picture upscale technology in recent years, making it easier for low-resolution images to transform into professional, high-quality photos.
This guide compares the top 6 AI upscalers designed to address specific needs and preferences. This guide looks into their unique features, pros, and cons, enabling you to decide when to select the best AI upscaler for your projects.
Whether you’re a professional photographer, graphic designer, AI artist, or enthusiast, there’s an AI upscaler suitable to your requirements. AI image enhancers turn low - resolution images into high-resolution images while improving the quality.
Top 6 AI Upscalers by Use Case
The AI upscalers presented are designed to address specific use cases, including desktop usage, mobile, prompt-guided upscaling, and batch processing.
While each tool has its application, Photoshop is included as a reference since it is the most powerful professional image editing software. The selection is as follows:
- Topaz Photo AI - Desktop Upscaler
- Stable Diffusion 4x Upscaler - Prompt Guided Upscaler
- ESRGAN on Replicate - Remote Workhorse
- Photoleap App - Mobile Upscaler
- ESRGAN locally - Your local Power Upscaler
- Photoshop - The Workflow
Topaz Photo AI: The High-Quality AI Upscaler for Professional Photographers and Graphic Designers
Topaz Photo AI is an expert AI Image Upscaler and AI Image Enhancer with a maximum enhancement capability of 6x, making it an excellent choice for professional photographers and graphic designers looking to improve the quality of their images. This powerful tool is a desktop app that allows for automation and batch processing.
One of the main advantages of Topaz Photo AI is that it provides various features for improving image details, recovering faces, and changing light and color while keeping the image sharp. This makes it an excellent choice for those who want to improve their photos without sacrificing quality.
This Pro-level picture improvement program perfectly resolves blurred photos, and its AI models are accessible to improve photo quality in any situation. Topaz Photo AI is a user-friendly app that provides the high-quality output and dashes with an Autopilot feature that automatically applies noise reduction, sharpening, and other enhancements using artificial intelligence to detect and fix image quality issues.
Topaz Photo AI combines Gigapixel AI and other Topaz tools into one package.
Overall, Topaz Photo AI could be a great choice if you’re a professional photographer or graphic designer looking for a high-quality AI upscaler. Visit their website at https://www.topazlabs.com/topaz-photo-ai to learn more about their services.
Pros:
- Simple Ease of Use
- Very High Quality
- Batch Processing
- Regular Updates
- Auto Pilot
Cons:
- High initial price
- No API
- No Server Support
Stable Diffusion 4x Upscaler: Advanced AI Upscaler for High-Quality Images
Stable Diffusion is a specialist AI upscaler that offers server capabilities, automation, batch processing, and API capabilities, making it an ideal choice for advanced users looking for a high-quality upscaler. This powerful tool has a maximum enhancement capability of 4x and offers features that improve the details, recover faces, and sharpen and remove backgrounds without removing noise.
It offers Prompt Guidance; compared to other AI upscalers that do „super-resolution, “ a promptly guided upscaler can add details. Usually, it is expected that an upscaler is not adding or inventing facts.
Still, sometimes it can be interesting, for example, if an image is missing intricate details, and it does not matter if the final image’s details are accurate, for example, for visual storytelling.
One of Stable Diffusion’s main benefits is that you can run it locally or create your server-based solution. This allows maximum flexibility in implementing your workflow.
However, it’s important to note that the ease of use is reportedly hard, which may make it a challenging option for some users.
Overall, if you’re an advanced user looking for a powerful AI upscaler, Stable Diffusion may be your perfect choice. To learn more about the app and its features, visit https://huggingface.co/stabilityai/stable-diffusion-x4-upscaler .
Pros:
- High Quality
- Batch Processing
- Prompt Guidance
- Runs on the Server
Cons:
- Only for advanced users
ESRGAN on Replicate: The Powerful AI Upscaler for Advanced Image Enhancements
ESRGAN on Replicate is a specialist AI upscaler based - as the name implies - on ESRGAN. ESRGAN can be installed locally and is probably used in all AI upscalers except Stable Diffusion and Midjourney.
As such, ESRGAN is very versatile and can be used for API services, automation, batch processing on a local server, and embedded in applications., making it a powerful tool for advanced users looking to enhance the quality of their images. ESRGAN, as such, allows a maximum enhancement capability of 10x.
ESRGAN on Replicate (an AI API service) offers typical ESRGAN features to improve the details, remove noise, sharpen, recover faces, and remove backgrounds. ESRGAN is the workhorse of the AI Upscale „industry“ and, in that sense, also the benchmark for AI upscaling.
However, it’s important to note that the ease of use is only possible via Replicate’s API, which may make it a challenging option for some users. Despite this, ESRGAN on Replicate outputs images of medium quality with a fast performance that can handle large-scale processing.
If you’re an advanced user looking for a powerful AI upscaler for advanced image enhancements and automated upscaling, ESRGAN on Replicate may be a perfect choice. To learn more about the app and its features, visit their website at https://replicate.com/nightmareai/real-esrgan .
Pros:
- High Quality
- Runs on Replicate - no need to install it
- Batch Processing
- Scripted/Automated Processing
Cons:
- Advanced technical knowledge needed
Photoleap App - „Enhance“ Feature:
Photoleap App is designed for image enhancement and processing on the go. With features like auto-pilot, noise removal, sharpening, and detail enhancement, Photoleap can be a handy tool for users who require quick image enhancements.
Photoleap is a free photo editing software that has grown in popularity due to its low hardware requirements. This opens it up to a broader range of users who might not have access to more powerful editing software. While it may not produce as high-quality results as other software, it can still be helpful for essential image enhancement.
Photoleap allows users to enhance their images by adjusting brightness, contrast, and color. These essential tools can assist users in achieving the desired effect and improving their images’ overall appearance. The software’s user-friendly interface makes it simple for beginners to edit pictures.
One of Photoleap’s most notable features is its AI art tools. The software includes a “Enhance” AI Upscaler option that can be useful for preparing images for social media or as input for image-to-image, blend, or sketching. This feature employs artificial intelligence algorithms to boost image resolution, making it appear sharper and more detailed.
While the upscaling quality may not be the best, it can still be a valuable feature to have. It can assist users in producing higher-quality images from low-resolution images or photos taken with older cameras. Artists and designers who need to work with low-quality images can also benefit from the AI Upscaler feature.
In conclusion, Photoleap’s low hardware requirements and free availability make it a valuable option for basic image enhancement needs. Because AI art tools are included, it is a versatile option for users exploring creative possibilities. While the upscaling quality may not be the best, it can still be a valuable feature to have. Overall, Photoleap is a good choice for users looking for a simple yet powerful mobile photo editing tool.
Pros:
- Mobile App
- Easy to Use
- Free to Use (buying subscription recommended)
- Hardware Requirement is low
- Fits well into mobile AI workflows
Cons:
- Image quality is relatively low
Running ESRGAN locally: The Advanced AI Upscaler for Removing Noise and Improving Image Quality
ESRGAN Local is a sophisticated AI upscaler model with the server, automation, batch processing, and API functionality. This powerful tool offers features to improve details and sharpen and recover faces while removing noise and background. It has a maximum enhancement capability of 4x.
Real-ESRGAN is an AI model that uses learned patterns to improve image and video restoration.
The ESRGAN model can be fine-tuned depending on the use case to support image upscaling, improvement, and restoration. The default model may not have been trained on typical images of your situation. In this case, you could fine-tune the model for your pictures, for example, old family photos or a collection of comic images.
Face image enhancement is supported by unique models such as GFPGAN. The ESRGAN model can handle a variety of image formats during inference, including tiles, images with alpha channels, grayscale, and 16-bit ideas.
Fine-tuning a model necessitates using powerful resources such as multiple or advanced GPUs. This means that fine-tuning necessitates some advanced knowledge.
Running ESRGAN locally is a powerful AI upscaler solution that can improve image and video quality. It has noise reduction and faces sharpening features that can be fine-tuned for specific use cases.
Running ESRGAN locally on a computer is convenient for users who want to quickly improve the quality of their images and videos.
On the other hand, fine-tuning the model may necessitate advanced knowledge and resources, such as multiple GPUs.For more information on the app and its features, visit https://github.com/xinntao/Real-ESRGAN .
Pros:
- High Quality
- Runs on Replicate - no need to install it
- Batch Processing
- Scripted/Automated Processing
- Finetuning
- Maximum Customisation to your needs
Cons:
- Advanced technical knowledge needed
- Hardware requirements
Photoshop Neural Filter - Super Zoom - Filter:
Investigate Adobe Photoshop’s Neural Filter - Super Zoom, an AI-driven feature that allows for advanced image enhancement. This feature is available to professionals and amateurs via the popular Photoshop desktop application.
Super Zoom can upscale images up to 16x, ensuring that your photos maintain quality and detail even when significantly enlarged. It also includes AI-powered enhancements such as component refinement, noise removal, sharpening, and restoration of facial information.
Super Zoom includes scripting-based automation and batch processing capabilities, allowing for the efficient processing of multiple images and customization of the enhancement process to meet your specific needs.
Although the upscaling quality is relatively low, the feature’s performance depends on your hardware, making it a versatile option for users with high-performance systems.
While Photoshop is a powerful tool, the Super Zoom function is simple. However, it’s important to note that achieving optimal performance requires high hardware specifications, so ensure your system meets those specifications before diving in.
If you like to visit Adobe’s website and start using Photoshop, if you do already use Photoshop, it is called Super Zoom; you find it in the filter menu „Filter -> Neural Filter -> Super Zoom“
Pros:
- Convenient, Integrated into the Photoshop workflow
- Relatively high upscaling factor
- Batch processing using Photoshop scripts
Cons:
- No fine-tuning
- Only Subscription
- No API
- Relatively low quality
Visual Comparison
What is Replicate?
Replicate offers a platform for running machine learning models without understanding how they work. It provides a Python library and API for running thousands of models, including language models, video creation and editing, super-resolution, image restoration, and more.
Cog, an open-source tool, allows users to package machine learning models in a standard, production-ready container and deploy them at scale with automatic API and scaling features.
Replicate only charges for the time the code is running and scales up or down automatically based on traffic.
In the context of this article, ESRGAN is running on Replicate, but it offers much more use models and AI tasks.
Conclusions
The AI upscalers are presented to cater to various use cases and user preferences. Topaz Photo AI suits professional photographers and graphic designers, while Stable Diffusion 4x Upscaler is ideal for advanced users seeking high-quality images with prompt guidance.
ESRGAN on Replicate and running ESRGAN locally offer powerful AI upscaling for advanced image enhancements, while Photoleap App provides a mobile solution for quick image improvements.
Lastly, Photoshop’s Neural Filter - Super Zoom is a convenient option integrated into the popular image editing software.
AI image enhancers are a great choice if you want to enhance your images, turning low - resolution images into high-resolution images while improving the quality and allowing you to enhance the quality of images improving low-quality photos.
Consider your specific needs and technical expertise when choosing the right AI upscaler for your projects.
AI image upscalers and enhancers share the same technology as AI image generators, but instead of creating whole images, photos and images are just enhanced and upscaled.