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Test scope & comparison notes
These are recorded facts, not a unified ranking. Tested tiers and scope are not consistently recorded. Read pricing with its date and timing with its conditions. Privacy observations reflect visible flows and statements, not a security audit.
Cross-task capability coverage across selected products
Each product is scored independently per task edge; switch tasks below while keeping shared products selected| Task edge | Depositphotos | media.io | Switch / compare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Background removal | 69/100 2048 × 2048 · PNG | 62/100 2000 × 2000 · PNG | Active task |
| Image upscaling | 81/100 1024×1024 (JPG · 2.0x Unwatermarked) · Historical description; output not attached | 78/100 1024 × 1024 · PNG | |
| Object removal | Not tested in topic | 71/100 JPEG · Output attached | Compare in task topic → |
| Image generation | Not tested in topic | 75/100 JPEG · Output attached | Compare in task topic → |
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Browse this task →| Criterion | DepositPhotos Background Remover Background removal 69/100 Seven-aspect task score You can preview first, but registration is demanded at download; roughly 30 seconds end to end adds friction to getting the result. Tested export 2048 × 2048 · PNG Historical test · 2026-10-16 | Wondershare Media.io AI Background Remover Background removal 62/100 Seven-aspect task score Signed-in free Wondershare accounts export an unwatermarked transparent PNG for 1 credit (99.72% foreground recall), but guest use is blocked, curly hair edges retain background residue, and free-queue server wait was 26.1s. Tested export 2000 × 2000 · PNG Historical test · 2026-10-21 |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & rules | ||
| Pricing plans | This web background remover; excludes desktop software and stock subscriptions · 2026-10-20 Plan · source date Monthly / one-time Annual bill / period Quota & limits Free web tool2026-10-20 ↗ Free Free Free Officially free background removal with transparent PNG output Inputs up to 30MB; free export size and count not specified 1 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded. Inputs up to 30MB; free export size and count not specified Cancellation, sources & verification recordCredit packs remain valid for 1 year; subscriptions can be cancelled anytime in account settings Official plans and usage terms ↗ · 2026-10-20 Capture 1 ↗ | Media.io membership plans (Free Trial / Standard / Premium monthly and annual); USD · 2026-10-21 Plan · source date Monthly / one-time Annual bill / period Quota & limits Free Trial2026-10-21 ↗ Free Free Free 5 signup credits for new accounts (image upscaling costs 2 credits/run, allowing 2 free unwatermarked 2x PNG exports); pricing table also lists 3 daily check-in credits and 1 GB cloud storage. Standard Monthly2026-10-21 ↗ USD 10.99/month — Monthly 100 credits/month + 5 daily check-in credits (up to 100 images or 10 videos/month), watermark-free exports, and 20 GB cloud storage. Rules [1] Standard Annual2026-10-21 ↗ — USD 71.88/year Annual Billed annually at USD 71.88/year (USD 5.99/month equivalent); 100 credits/month + 5 daily check-in credits, watermark-free exports, and 20 GB cloud storage. Rules [2] Premium Monthly2026-10-21 ↗ USD 19.99/month — Monthly 400 credits/month + 10 daily check-in credits (up to 400 images or 40 videos/month), Turbo speed, watermark-free exports, 50 GB cloud storage, and 15% off extra credits. Rules [1] Premium Annual2026-10-21 ↗ — USD 119.88/year Annual Billed annually at USD 119.88/year (USD 9.99/month equivalent); 400 credits/month + 10 daily check-in credits, Turbo speed, watermark-free exports, and 50 GB cloud storage. Rules [2] 5 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded. The official pricing page lists Free Trial (5 free signup credits in the workspace where upscaling costs 2 credits/run, plus 3 daily check-in credits on the pricing table), Standard (USD 10.99/month or billed annually at USD 71.88/year, displayed as USD 5.99/month, with 100 credits/month + 5 daily check-in credits), and Premium (USD 19.99/month or billed annually at USD 119.88/year, displayed as USD 9.99/month, with 400 credits/month + 10 daily check-in credits and 15% off extra credits). Cancellation, sources & verification recordCancel auto-renewal anytime; the official pricing page states a 7-day money-back guarantee, and uploaded/generated files are automatically deleted within 7 days. Media.io official monthly/annual pricing and comparison table ↗ · 2026-10-21 Capture 1 ↗ · Capture 2 ↗ |
| Free & trial allowance on the test date | New registered accounts receive free trial download credits, after which Background Remover credit packs apply | New free accounts receive 5 signup credits and can claim 3 free credits daily via the header gift icon; background removal costs 1 credit per image |
| Cancellation & refunds | Credit packs remain valid for 1 year; subscriptions can be cancelled anytime in account settings | Cancel auto-renewal anytime; the official pricing page states a 7-day money-back guarantee, and uploaded/generated files are automatically deleted within 7 days. |
| Disclosure of costs & limits | Account requirement is disclosed only after processing when clicking Download | Generate button clearly labels 'Generate 1' and top header shows remaining credit balance before submission |
| Task quality | ||
| Measured fixture results | Edge error MAD: 0.1259 (Lower is better) · Global error SAD(k): 59.256 (Lower is better) · Foreground retention: 99.680% (Higher is better) · Background residue: 0.143% (Lower is better) | Edge error MAD: 0.1365 (Lower is better) · Global error SAD(k): 50.021 (Lower is better) · Foreground retention: 99.720% (Higher is better) · Background residue: 0.290% (Lower is better) |
| Fixture findings | The subject is largely preserved; translucent background halos remain around the curls. | Subject torso is well preserved (99.72% foreground recall), but outer curly hair strands exhibit visible background residue (mad_band = 0.1365, background leak = 0.290%) (37.6/65). |
| Original historical observation | Server generates a full 2048×2048 Alpha mask (99.68% foreground recall), though outer curly hair transition bands retain noticeable semi-transparent background halos (mad_band=0.1259, SAD(k)=59.26). | High foreground recall (99.72%) and unwatermarked RGBA PNG delivery, but peripheral curly hair retains visible background fragments (MAD_band = 0.1365, bg_leak = 0.29%) and free-queue server wait was 26.08s. |
| Suitable uses · historical assessment | Commercial users already in the DepositPhotos / VistaPrint ecosystem who value an explicit 'automatically removed after 7 days' retention policy | Existing Wondershare account holders needing occasional unwatermarked cutouts of simple-edge subjects |
| Result & output evidence | ||
| Delivery capabilities | ||
| Recorded export specifications | 2048 × 2048 · PNG · No watermark in test | 2000 × 2000 · PNG · No watermark in test |
| Historical specification note · not an official maximum | 2048×2048 (result panel displays 'Image size: 2048 × 2048 px' and S3 delivers a 2048×2048 alpha mask; clicking Download requires account sign-up) | 2000×2000 (from 2048×2048 PNG via upload confirm modal; 2048×2048 retained on JPEG input) |
| Watermark observation | None | No watermark (native RGBA transparent PNG) |
| Batch & API | Single-image web uploader + commercial API Suite | Single-image web workspace with one-click handoff to MediaAgent refinement or image-to-video animation |
| Recorded free-tier dimensions | 2048 × 2048 | 2000 × 2000 |
| Attached file dimensions | 2048 × 2048 · PNG | 2000 × 2000 · PNG |
| Speed & reliability | ||
| Timing observation | Network-observed server wait: 3.57s · End-to-end reference: 30.41s | Network-observed server wait: 26.08s · End-to-end reference: 26.08s |
| Date & fixture | 2026-10-16 · anchor_bgremove_v1 · US-West (California, AS2914) | 2026-10-21 · anchor_bgremove_v1 · US-West (California, AS2914) |
| Repeated tests & reliability | No standardized repetition count, success rate or variability range is recorded. | No standardized repetition count, success rate or variability range is recorded. |
| Interaction experience | ||
| Account requirements | Account required in this test | Account required in this test |
| Sign-in methods | Guests can preview only; clicking Download requires creating/logging into an account (Google / Facebook / Email) | Requires Wondershare account sign-in (supports email code or Google OAuth) |
| Manual adjustment | Manual erase / adjustment recorded in the historical flow | Not verified |
| Interaction observations | Clean upload and preview experience without ad clutter, but blocks guest download at the final step with a mandatory sign-up modal (Google / Facebook / Email). | Requires login before accessing the workspace, displays a persistent 50%-off subscription banner and an AI ad promo card above the creation list, and opens an 'Edit Uploaded Image' confirm modal on large PNG uploads (which outputs 2000×2000, whereas JPEG uploads retain 2048×2048); however, clicking the download icon directly saves the transparent PNG without extra paywall popups. |
| Background & reputation | ||
| Service lifecycle notice | Not verified | Not verified |
| Operator | DepositPhotos Inc. (Subsidiary of VistaPrint / Cimpress plc, NASDAQ: CMPR) | Publicly Listed Multimedia Software Giant AI Flagship (Wondershare, 300624.SZ) |
| Recorded origin | New York, USA (Publicly traded Cimpress group) | Shenzhen, China / Vancouver, Canada |
| Domain history record | Founded 2009 (17-year track record) | Publicly operating online service |
| Background & reputation assessment | DepositPhotos Inc. (Founded 2009 in New York, top-5 global stock photography marketplace acquired by public company VistaPrint / Cimpress [NASDAQ: CMPR] in 2021). | Operated by Wondershare Technology (300624.SZ), a publicly listed multimedia software company with established global presence. |
| External reputation record | Major commercial stock photography platform with strong enterprise compliance. | Not verified |
| Engineering & privacy | ||
| Processing location | Uploaded for cloud processing | Uploaded for cloud processing |
| Third-party tracking record | Google Analytics · Google Ads · Bing Ads · Pinterest Tag · LinkedIn Insight | Not verified |
| Engineering & privacy assessment | Workspace footer explicitly states its retention policy: 'Processed files will be removed automatically after 7 days'; distributes the 2048×2048 mask via AWS S3 (eu-west-1). | Submits cloud async jobs via POST vapi.media.io/v1/ai/create/mai_fs and polls POST /v1/ai/result/batch (server_s = 26.08s); workspace explicitly states free users' creations are kept for 7 days, and the page loads Sensors Data, Google Analytics, and Facebook Pixel. |
| Retention statement | Explicit retention period unconfirmed; inspect policy record | Explicit retention period unconfirmed; inspect policy record |
| Evaluation basis | ||
| Pricing transparency | 20 / 40 Landing page headlines 'Free online background remover' without disclosing upfront that an account is required; after processing, the card shows 'Image size: 2048 × 2048 px' and clicking Download triggers a 'To download this image, create an account' modal. | 20 / 35 Requires free Wondershare account sign-in (grants 5 signup credits plus 3 daily free credits claimable via the header gift icon). The generate button explicitly shows 'Generate 1' (1 credit per cutout) and exports an unwatermarked RGBA PNG within free credits, though guest trial without login is blocked. |
| Interaction restraint | 14 / 20 Clean upload and preview experience without ad clutter, but blocks guest download at the final step with a mandatory sign-up modal (Google / Facebook / Email). | 18 / 30 Requires login before accessing the workspace, displays a persistent 50%-off subscription banner and an AI ad promo card above the creation list, and opens an 'Edit Uploaded Image' confirm modal on large PNG uploads (which outputs 2000×2000, whereas JPEG uploads retain 2048×2048); however, clicking the download icon directly saves the transparent PNG without extra paywall popups. |
| Background & reputation | 24 / 25 DepositPhotos Inc. (Founded 2009 in New York, top-5 global stock photography marketplace acquired by public company VistaPrint / Cimpress [NASDAQ: CMPR] in 2021). | 18 / 20 Operated by Wondershare Technology (300624.SZ), a publicly listed multimedia software company with established global presence. |
| Engineering & privacy | 11 / 15 Workspace footer explicitly states its retention policy: 'Processed files will be removed automatically after 7 days'; distributes the 2048×2048 mask via AWS S3 (eu-west-1). | 11 / 15 Submits cloud async jobs via POST vapi.media.io/v1/ai/create/mai_fs and polls POST /v1/ai/result/batch (server_s = 26.08s); workspace explicitly states free users' creations are kept for 7 days, and the page loads Sensors Data, Google Analytics, and Facebook Pixel. |
| Task quality | 39.2 / 65 Transition band error mad_band=0.1259 · Global SAD(k)=59.256 · Foreground recall 99.68% / Background leak 0.143% | 37.6 / 65 On our 2048×2048 ground-truth matte (evaluated on the 2026-10-21 same-run 2000×2000 RGBA PNG export): boundary MAD_band = 0.1365 (19.1/35), global SAD_k = 50.021 (7.7/15), MSE = 0.006244, Grad_err = 0.03018, foreground recall = 99.72%, and background leak = 0.290% (10.8/15). Main portrait torso is preserved, but outer curly hair strands exhibit noticeable background residue and haloing (37.6/65). |
| Deliverable specifications | 20 / 20 True Alpha channel (8/8); Max deliverable spec: 2048×2048 (result panel displays 'Image size: 2048 × 2048 px' and S3 delivers a 2048×2048 alpha mask; clicking Download requires account sign-up) | 19 / 20 Clean unwatermarked RGBA PNG export (8/8); canonical 2048×2048 PNG upload exports at 2000×2000 (10,664,626 bytes, 95.37% pixel retention) after the upload crop confirmation dialog, while 2048×2048 JPEG input retains full 2048×2048 (11.0/12). |
| Processing speed | 10 / 15 Network-observed server wait: 3.57s (API mode: async; network upload 14.95s / end-to-end 30.41s shown for reference only, never penalized) | 3 / 15 2026-10-21 same-run CDP network timing: 26.08s server wait from POST /v1/ai/create/mai_fs (r4) to terminal POST /v1/ai/result/batch (r29) in the free queue (26.08s end-to-end, async_verified) (3.0/15). |
