Cleanup.pictures Review 2026: Free 720p Object Remover, $5 Pro and an Orphaned App

What cleanup.pictures is in 2026

Cleanup.pictures is a single-page web app for removing things from photos. The page title promises to "Remove objects, people, text and defects from any picture for free", and the FAQ adds that it "is also useful to remove any unwanted text, logo, date stamp, or watermark." It does one job. Background removal is not part of it, and the FAQ sends you to Clipdrop for that.

The history explains the loose ends. Init ML, a Paris startup founded in July 2020, built both cleanup.pictures and Clipdrop. Stability AI bought Init ML on 7 March 2023, and Jasper agreed to buy Clipdrop from Stability AI in a deal announced on 22 February 2024. Cleanup.pictures came along but never got a redesign: /pricing, /terms, /privacy and /api all return the same home page, and pricing is just a section of it.

The legal operator is still Init ML, a French company registered in Bobigny. The shared Terms cover "Clipdrop.co & Cleanup.pictures", but the support contact is now [email protected]. So the fair description is that cleanup.pictures is run by Init ML, the Clipdrop company Jasper bought, and support goes through Jasper.

How the editor works

You upload a photo, paint over what you want gone, and the app sends the image and the mask to its servers, which return a filled-in version. The editor code carries an HD mode and a "refiner" option, and the processing runs on Google Cloud in the US.

It works well on the kinds of shots the site shows off: an empty snowfield with a rock in it, a bathroom photo for a property listing, a stamped watermark, a product photo with a stray object. Soft, repeating backgrounds such as walls, floors, sky and grass are the easy case for any tool like this. Busy patterns, faces and text crossing complex edges are where these tools usually leave smears.

Pricing: free, Pro, and three different numbers

The free plan offers unlimited images, but exports are capped. The FAQ says: "Export will be limited to 720px for the free version. There is no size limit for the Pro version." 720 pixels is fine for a social post or a marketplace listing. It is too small for print or for a photo you want to crop later.

Pro is where it gets confusing, because the page lists three different prices:

• The pricing card says Pro is "3 starting from", with no currency sign, and lists unlimited images, unlimited resolution, a high quality refiner and a free trial.
• The FAQ says "$5 per month or $36 per year ($3 per month)".
• The upgrade dialog shows a crossed-out $60 next to the yearly option, and the real amount is pulled from Stripe at checkout.

So the best reading is $5 a month or $36 a year, but we could not confirm the amount the Stripe checkout actually charges. Check the figure on the payment screen before you confirm. For history only: the discontinued iOS app charged $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year in 2023.

Two more limits apply. "Each cleanup subscription is individual and limited to 1 user", and the shared Terms allow "up to 2 devices (1 mobile and 1 desktop) per Account." The trial lets you test HD output for free, and the site calls it a "free look period".

Cleanup.pictures vs Clipdrop's own Cleanup tool

Clipdrop has its own Image Cleanup tool ("Remove objects, defects or people in seconds") from the same team, inside a larger suite. The pricing card on cleanup.pictures even advertises it as "ClipDrop Pro", "11 starting from", covering Cleanup, background removal and replacement, Uncrop, generative fill and "a lot of other tools".

• Free use: cleanup.pictures allows unlimited images at 720px. Clipdrop's free plan caps Cleanup at 20 per 24 hours (Text Remover at 50).
• Paid use: cleanup.pictures Pro is listed at $5 a month or $36 a year. Clipdrop Pro was US$15 a month when we checked on 29 September 2026, with High Resolution Cleanup capped at 1,000 per 24 hours and queue skipping.
• Scope: cleanup.pictures only removes things. Clipdrop adds background removal, upscaling, relighting, Uncrop and more.
• Maintenance: Clipdrop is the product Jasper still points people to. Cleanup.pictures has not changed visibly since 2022.

If all you ever do is erase objects, cleanup.pictures is the cheaper way to do it, and its free tier has no daily cap. If you also cut out backgrounds or upscale images, Clipdrop Pro covers all of it under one subscription. Our Clipdrop review goes through that plan in detail.

The API is really Clipdrop's, and now Jasper's

The API card on cleanup.pictures says "Usage-based pricing" and points to the Clipdrop Cleanup API. That API takes a JPG or PNG "with a maximum resolution of 16 megapixels and a max file size of 30 Mb", offers a fast mode and a quality mode ("the equivalent of the HD mode"), and bills one credit per successful call. Signing in gives you 100 free credits.

Past that, the docs say to "Contact Jasper.ai for more credits", and Jasper's developer docs say image API access "is available for customers on the Jasper Business plan with an API subscription." That is fine for a large team that already pays for Jasper. For a developer who just wants pay-as-you-go object removal, it is a dead end.

Refunds, renewal and cancelling

The cleanup.pictures FAQ and the shared Clipdrop Terms don't fully agree, so here is what each one says.

• Refunds on cleanup.pictures: refunds are given "in the rarest cases such as technical difficulties, platform incompatibilities or other unforeseen circumstances", in full if the subscription is under 14 days old and prorated after that.
• Refunds in the Terms: only a contact address, [email protected], typo included. The Terms also say EU consumers lose the right of withdrawal once digital content has been supplied and they have waived it.
• Auto-renewal: "The Subscription is tacitly renewed for successive periods of the same duration."
• Notice period: cancel "at the latest 7 days before the end of the current Period for a Monthly Subscription and 1 month before the end of the current Period for an Annual Subscription."
• Account deletion: "The termination of the Services will result in the deletion of the User's Account."

In practice, cancel through the "manage subscription" section of your account menu at least a week before a monthly renewal, or a month before a yearly one. Don't count on a refund unless something is actually broken.

What happens to your photos

The privacy policy is Clipdrop's, dated 21 June 2022, and Init ML is the data controller. It says the company may "store your photos on our cloud for service improvement purposes". Without an account, "images, photographs and texts are retained during two year." With an account, data is kept for as long as the account exists, and personal data may be archived "for probationary purposes for a period of 5 years." Hosting is on Google Cloud Platform in the United States.

The policy doesn't say whether uploads are used to train AI models, and the Terms don't say who owns the edited images you download. The Terms do forbid users from using the service to generate AI training data. If you handle client photos, people's faces or anything confidential, a two-year retention period for an anonymous upload is the detail to weigh.

Verdict: who should still use it

Cleanup.pictures is still a quick, no-signup way to erase a stray person or a date stamp from a photo, and its free tier has no daily limit. For quick web images at 720px it does the job and costs nothing.

Pro is harder to recommend. The page can't agree on its own price, the FAQ still talks about apps that no longer exist, the refund promise in the FAQ is looser than the Terms, and support now goes through Jasper for a product Jasper doesn't promote. If you need full-resolution output often, look at Clipdrop Pro or a maintained alternative first. If you only need it for a month, pay monthly, check the price at checkout, and cancel at least 7 days before renewal.

• Good for: occasional object and text removal on web-sized images, for free.
• Fine for: cheap full-resolution cleanup if you accept an unmaintained product.
• Skip if: you need background removal, a working API without a Jasper contract, a mobile app, or clear answers on data use.

Frequently asked questions

Is cleanup.pictures still free in 2026?

Yes. The free plan offers unlimited images with export capped at 720px. Full resolution requires Pro.

How much does cleanup.pictures Pro cost?

The FAQ lists $5 per month or $36 per year. The pricing card says "3 starting from" and the upgrade dialog shows a crossed-out $60 a year, and the checkout price is loaded from Stripe, so confirm the amount on the payment screen.

Is there a cleanup.pictures app for iPhone or Android?

No. Both mobile apps were removed from the stores in early 2024. The tool now works only in a web browser.

Can I get a refund?

Only in limited cases. The FAQ offers a full refund within 14 days, or a prorated one after that, only for problems like technical faults or incompatibility. The Terms give just a refund email address and remove the EU withdrawal right once the service has been used.

How do I cancel a subscription?

Use "manage subscription" in your account menu. Under the Terms, monthly plans must be cancelled at least 7 days before the period ends and yearly plans at least 1 month before, or they renew.

Does cleanup.pictures keep my photos?

Yes, for a while. The privacy policy says photos may be stored for service improvement, and kept for two years if you have no account or for as long as your account exists if you do. It doesn't say whether they are used for AI training.

Is cleanup.pictures the same as Clipdrop Cleanup?

Same company, different product. Both come from Init ML, now part of Jasper, but Clipdrop's Cleanup sits inside a bigger suite with a 20-a-day free cap and a US$15 monthly Pro plan, while cleanup.pictures is a standalone remover with unlimited free use at 720px.

Can I remove watermarks with it?

Technically yes, but the FAQ says to "Only remove watermarks on images for which you have an explicit license." Stripping a watermark from someone else's photo can breach copyright.

Key takeaways

• Free: unlimited images, export capped at 720px, no signup needed to try.
• Pro is listed at $5 a month or $36 a year, but the page shows three different figures, so check the checkout price.
• The mobile apps were pulled in early 2024, and the site has not changed visibly since 2022.
• Clipdrop's own Cleanup tool caps free use at 20 a day, but Pro (US$15 a month) adds background removal and more.
• Subscriptions auto-renew; cancel 7 days before a monthly renewal or 1 month before a yearly one.
• Uploads may be kept for two years without an account, and the policy is silent on AI training.