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remove.bg shutdown timeline: what happens before and after December 1, 2026

Koutuxia is a free background remover that runs in your browser. This page collects what remove.bg has officially said about the shutdown, with a source for each point; only the last section is about Koutuxia.

The home page, FAQ, API page and pricing page on remove.bg all carry the same banner: the standalone website stops on 1 December 2026 at 9:00 a.m. CET. Background removal moves into Canva, and the API moves to Leonardo.Ai. This page lists the official statements by date, then answers questions about subscriptions, credits, the API and plugins, with a source after each answer.

Timeline

Around 1 September 2026: the shutdown notice appears on remove.bg. The official pages do not give an announcement date. The Internet Archive's home page snapshot from 31 August has no banner; the snapshot from 1 September has it, and the FAQ snapshot from that day already carries the shutdown questions.

9 September: remove.bg updates its General Terms and Conditions; the page header reads "Last updated: 9th September 2026". A new sentence says all credits, including pay-as-you-go credits and monthly rollover credits, can be used until 1 December 2026 only, then expire and are non-refundable.

Between 11 and 13 September: remove.bg adds two FAQ entries saying the Photoshop plugin and the other integrations and plugins end on 1 December. The archive snapshot from 11 September lacks them; the one from 13 September has them.

From 1 November: on monthly plans, any final renewal on or after this date is free.

1 December, 9:00 CET (08:00 UTC): the website and accounts become inaccessible, the self-service API stops accepting requests, unused credits expire, and the Photoshop plugin and other integrations stop. Annual subscriptions end without another charge, and remove.bg refunds unused time past that date, pro rata, to the original payment method.

After 1 December: you can no longer download invoices or credit usage reports. Enterprise API contracts continue as normal.

If you only need a transparent PNG

A lot of people used remove.bg the same way: drop an image, download a transparent PNG, never create an account. That habit changes the most after 1 December. Canva needs a login and works inside a design; for its free-plan allowance, check Canva's own pages.

Koutuxia's free cutout does that one job. The model runs in your browser, the image is not uploaded to our server, and there is no account or image limit. It takes JPG, PNG or WEBP files up to 10 MB, and batch mode handles up to 50 images at a time and packs them into one ZIP. The first visit downloads the model; after that the browser uses its cache, and once you have done one cutout it keeps working offline. You can fix edges by hand, and hard images such as hair or mesh can use Maximum quality, which also runs locally and is several times slower. Pro, the cloud tier, does upload images; if you never switch to it, nothing leaves your browser.

The side-by-side with Canva and Leonardo, and how we measured the no-upload claim, are on the remove.bg alternative page. Migration steps by type of user are on the migration page. Koutuxia has no API, so API users should go straight to the API section there.

What 1 December means for each account type

Before 1 DecemberFrom 1 December, 9:00 CETDo you need to act?
Monthly planWorks as normal; a final renewal on or after 1 November is freeEnds on its own, no further chargesNo; cancel in the dashboard if you want to stop sooner
Annual planWorks as normalEnds; unused time refunded pro rata to the original payment methodNo
Pay-as-you-go and rollover creditsUsableExpire, no refundSpend any balance first
Self-service APIWorksStops accepting requestsMove to Leonardo.Ai or another API
Enterprise API contractWorksContinues as normalNo
Photoshop plugin and other integrationsUsableDiscontinuedChange your workflow
Invoices and credit usage reportDownloadable from the Account pageNo longer availableExport them now

Based on remove.bg's FAQ and the 9 September 2026 General Terms and Conditions, checked on 28 September 2026.

Three things to do before 1 December

Step 1 · Export invoices and the credit usage report

Sign in to remove.bg and download both from the Account page. The FAQ says you cannot download them after the shutdown.

Step 2 · Use your credits, or cancel early

Credits expire on 1 December with no refund, so spend any balance before then. Monthly subscribers who want to stop sooner can cancel at remove.bg/dashboard. Annual subscribers do not need to do anything; the refund goes back to the original payment method.

Step 3 · Pick a replacement and test it on a few images

If you only need transparent PNGs, try Koutuxia's free local cutout or Canva. If you design right after removing the background, use Canva. If you call the API, read the Leonardo.Ai change list on the migration page.

Who this page is for

FAQ

Can I still use remove.bg after 1 December 2026?

Not the standalone website. The FAQ says the website and accounts stop being accessible from 1 December 2026 at 9:00 a.m. CET. The background-removal technology continues in Canva, the API continues through Leonardo.Ai, and enterprise API contracts carry on. (Source: remove.bg FAQ)

What time is 9:00 CET in my time zone?

Europe is off daylight saving time in December, so CET is UTC+1 and 9:00 CET is 08:00 UTC. That is 3:00 a.m. in New York, 00:00 in Los Angeles and 16:00 in Beijing, all on 1 December. (Source: the time is from remove.bg's FAQ; the conversions are ours)

Will my monthly subscription keep renewing?

It keeps working until 1 December and then ends on its own. Any final renewal on or after 1 November is free. You can cancel earlier yourself at remove.bg/dashboard. (Source: remove.bg FAQ)

How much of my annual plan will remove.bg refund?

A pro-rata share. The plan keeps working until 1 December at 9:00 a.m. CET, then ends without another charge, and remove.bg refunds any unused time beyond that date to your original payment method. You do not need to request it. remove.bg has not published the exact calculation, so rely on its own notice for the amount. (Source: remove.bg FAQ)

Can I get a refund for pay-as-you-go credits?

No. The FAQ says unused PAYG credits expire on 1 December 2026 and recommends using them first. The General Terms updated on 9 September go further: all credits, including PAYG and monthly rollover credits, can be used until 1 December 2026 only, and unused credits are non-refundable. (Source: remove.bg FAQ and General Terms and Conditions)

I use the remove.bg API. What should I do?

It depends on your contract. Enterprise API customers are not affected. The self-service API stops accepting requests from 1 December; the official successor is Leonardo.Ai, also part of Canva, which publishes a migration guide, and you can also contact remove.bg's enterprise team. Both the request and the response format change, so plan for code changes; the migration page lists them. (Source: remove.bg FAQ, API page, Leonardo.Ai migration guide)

Is Canva's background remover free?

Check Canva's own pages for the free-plan allowance; we are not drawing a conclusion. Two statements you can compare: Canva's background remover page says to sign up for Canva Pro for unlimited usage, and the background remover page on Canva's China site says 25 uses within the first week after sign-up, unlimited after upgrading to its Pro, Business, Education or Nonprofit plans. The Affinity editor that remove.bg suggests for Photoshop users also needs Canva Pro for background removal. (Source: Canva Background Remover page, Canva China background remover page, remove.bg FAQ)

Does Canva work in mainland China?

Canva runs a separate China site, canva.cn (Canva可画), which shows a Chinese ICP licence number and has its own background remover: upload an image of up to 25 MB, sign in, and use the AI cutout button in the editor. remove.bg's FAQ points to the international canva.com. We have not checked whether accounts and features are the same on both. (Source: canva.cn background remover page)

Can I export my image history?

The FAQ only mentions exporting the credit usage report and invoices from the Account page; it says nothing about images. remove.bg's privacy policy says it deletes uploaded files shortly after offering the results for download. Do not count on old images being in your account; save anything you need to your own computer now. (Source: remove.bg FAQ and privacy policy)

How long will the Photoshop and Figma plugins work?

remove.bg's FAQ says the Photoshop plugin will not be available after 1 December and that its other integrations and plugins will be discontinued the same day. Its integrations page lists a Figma plugin and Zapier / Make automations. Our reading of that FAQ line is that these stop on the same date; remove.bg does not name them one by one. For Photoshop users, remove.bg suggests Affinity: the app is free, but its background removal needs Canva Pro. (Source: remove.bg FAQ and integrations page; the Figma and Zapier point is our interpretation)

What is the easiest thing to switch to?

It depends on what you do with the transparent image. If you keep designing afterwards, use Canva; that is where remove.bg sends you. If you only need a PNG and do not want an account or an upload, use Koutuxia's free local cutout, with batches of up to 50 images in one ZIP. If you use the API, follow Leonardo.Ai's migration guide or pick another service with a public API. The migration page covers each case. (Source: remove.bg FAQ; Koutuxia details on the alternative page)

Sources

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