10 Best AI Image Enhancers in 2024

Generative AI tools are all the rage these days, and one of the most fruitful implementations is AI image enhancement. This term covers tools specialized in:

• Overall image enhancement with various AI models;
• AI image upscaling to increase image resolution without pixelation;
• Utilities to denoise, deblur, and fix out-of-focus photos;
• AI-powered image restoration for old photos and compressed web downloads.

As tech companies rush into the arena of AI image enhancers, there are tons of choices available on the market. We tested and handpicked the 10 best AI image enhancers, each working efficiently for its targeted audience and scenarios.

How we pick the best AI image enhancers?

We listed the 23 most mentioned AI image enhancers and compared them against the benchmark of four different images: an AI-generated artwork, a photo taken on an iPhone X, a screen grab of anime, and a downloaded image that suffered from platform compression.

During testing, we took notes on the following aspects:

• Output Image Quality: Maximum resolution, perceptual quality, details, and texture preservation.
• Efficiency: Batch support, processing speed, and performance on average computers.
• Sustainability: Is it from a trusted developer/tech company? Will it keep updating and serving users? Is there technical support or communities for peer-to-peer help?

We then handpicked the 10 best AI image enhancers that outshine others in all or most of the above aspects. Below are detailed reviews for each one (You can also see the "Best For" section under each tool to make quick decisions).

10 Best AI Image Enhancers

1. Aiarty Image Enhancer

With the latest AI models and 6.78 Million images trained, Aiarty Image Enhancer emerges as the new leader in AI image enhancement and upsampling for 8K/16K and higher pixel dimensions.

Tailored for AI art, this image enhancer allows you to directly upscale low-res such as 512x768 to super huge sizes with details kept – and generate necessary details for better skin, hair, fabric, and other textures.

It also works for photos and digital images (especially those highly compressed web images). No matter it is a portrait, anime, landscape photos, paintings, 3D, or AI images from Stable Diffusion, MidJourney, or DALLE, you will find suitable AI models to enhance image quality.

AI-powered enhancing tech:

Aiarty has 3 built-in AI models to enhance images: More-detail for AI art and any picture that needs natural details after upscaling; Smooth Diff for clarity and smoother results and Real Photo for faithful photo restoration, such as pixelated, blurry, soft, and noisy images.

The AI auto-inference feature requires minimal user intervention and can save you hours of work.

Highlighted Features:

• 1X enhancement to fix images (deblur/denoise) without changing the resolution.
• AI upscaling and enhancing images to 2K/4K/8K/16K+.
• Keep details and generate a proper texture with "More Detail" model.
• Fix JPG-compression artifacts (pixelation, mosquito noise, color banding).

Speed & Hardware Requirements:

• Batch process 128 images in an hour on a commercial computer with AI inference.
• Optimized for Nvidia/AMD/Intel/CPU, it can run on average PC/Mac for a wider audience, while a high-end machine delivers higher performance.

On my potato PC (Intel Core i5-4430 GTX650 8G RAM), for 512x512 to 4096x4096 upscaling with More-detail model, it takes 1min21s, which is fast considering we are upscaling by 8X with details.

Free download Aiarty Image Enhancer for Windows or Mac:

2. Topaz Photo AI

Topaz Photo AI is another popular AI image enhancer despite its high price tag. It can be worked as both a plugin for Photoshop/Lightroom or as a standalone app. Powered by AI, this tool improves image quality in terms of noise reduction, sharpening, and lens correction.

It can scan and detect faces and subjects in the image, though it's tedious for users to manually select the undetected parts. After detection, the Autopilot algorithms in Topaz enter to identify image quality shortcomings. Face detection is a hit-or-miss scenario. There are some surprisingly good results, or it may totally mess up with the source image.

Topaz Photo AI can correct lens distortion and out-of-focus images. But it cannot fix color cast, underexposure, or white balance issues. You still need other image editing apps in the workflow. This app also helps you to upscale low-res images up to 600%, with outputs being DNG raw, JPEG, PNG or TIFF.

3. Adobe Photoshop (Firefly)

Photoshop is a professional design and precise editing tool from Adobe Inc. Now powered by Firefly, it has become one of the most popular AI image enhancers among designers, photographers, and advanced hobbyists.

Previously, enhancing images in Photoshop relied on traditional algorithms, which were less efficient. Methods like nearest-neighbor interpolation could introduce jagged edges, while bilinear interpolation often reduces contrast due to its method of averaging pixel color values.

4. Luminar Neo

Luminar Neo is a comprehensive photo editing software developed by Skylum, designed for photographers of all levels. It leverages artificial intelligence to simplify complex editing tasks and enhance images with ease.

The Sky AI feature, for instance, allows users to replace the sky in their images with a variety of options, creating a more compelling and dramatic backdrop; the Magic Light AI tool introduces customizable starbursts around point light sources; and the AI masking feature can analyze and auto creates layers for fine tuning and editing.

There are GenErase to remove objects with deep learning, GenExpand to extend the image and change aspect ratio, Upscale AI for 6x upsizing, and Supersharp AI for picture sharpening. Luminar Neo is more like Jack of all trades, but the lack of focus may result in certain feature being less powerful.

While Luminar Neo is versatile, its broad focus can sometimes mean that certain features aren't as robust. For instance, its noise reduction tool occasionally leaves colored blotches on images, especially those with high ISO settings.

5. Remini AI Image Enhancer

Remini is a multipurpose AI image enhancer that tops the US App Store recently. It includes a 4-dimension improvement for face enhancement, face glow, auto color, and background enhancement. Besides portrait and landscape photos, it also has an AI engine for old photo restoration.

Remini's AI can detect and sharpen details, adjust colors, and add clarity to images that might otherwise be lost due to poor lighting or camera shake. For portrait photos, it can reconstruct vague shapes, though the finished output can be hit-or-miss.

Previously, the image-enhancing features in Remini could be too strong for certain photos. Based on my test, it may add extra elements that appear unnatural on the face, such as facial hair or uncanny teeth. The good news is, that the updated version allows users to adjust enhancement strength.

Besides AI image enhancement, you can also have fun with AI photos that can generate photos of the user for multi-angles and poses. The latest version also supports video upscaling and quality fixes.

6. Waifu2X (Online Open-Source)

Waifu2X is a free image enhancer online, mainly for image upscaling, as its name suggests. You can free upscale images by 2X or 4X to enhance their quality. Waifu2X's upscaling model is CNN-based (Convolutional Neural Network), but it's not the same as those diffusion methods that will add extra details, the hallucination-esque elements upon upscaling. Waifu2X only upscales your image, and nothing else.

As a free open-source program, it was originally published by Nagadomi on github, and has several GUI online. Below are links for you to use this image enhancer.

http://waifu2x.udp.jp/ (OG, based on Nagadomi's work on Github)

https://waifu2x.booru.pics/ (better quality)

Waifu2X was originally designed to upscale anime work, still, you can upload photos and other digital images for enhancement. If the source image contains noise artifacts, you can enable the denoise option upon upscaling. Based on my test, we need to toggle this option with caution, because there can be counter effects if the source image doesn't contain any noise.

Sidenote: Waifu is the Japanese rendering of "wife", and it refers to a fictional character from anime or manga that a person particularly admires or has a strong affection for, to the point where they might affectionately claim the character as their wife. This probably explained what kind of images this program was initially aimed at.

7. Krea AI (Online)

Krea AI is a powerful tool that combines AI image generation, video generation, and image enhancement. It's a great free option for creative upscaling, which uses diffusion-based AI to enhance and add creative details to your images.

For those unfamiliar with creative upscaling, it involves enhancing images by increasing their resolution and adding creative details, like new elements. For example, uploading an image of an armored girl in Krea AI might change her makeup, skin tones, and overall color grading for a more creative look.

You can use prompts to guide the creative upscaling and even negative prompts to specify what you don't want. Krea AI offers various style models like "flat sharp", "strong", "reinterpretation", "oil painting", and "digital art". The chosen model will significantly impact the genre and aesthetics of the final image.

8. chaiNNer (Open-Source GUI)

Strictly speaking, ChaiNNer is not an AI image enhancer model but a GUI that offers node-based enhancing workflows, provided you have installed the corresponding models and dependencies.

You can connect processing steps (known as nodes) for different workflows and tasks. Initially developed as an AI upscaling GUI, ChaiNNer has evolved into a highly versatile and robust program for image processing.

Once you have installed dependencies such as PyTorch (2GB), NCNN, and ONNX, as well as enhancer models, you can start the node-based image upscaling and enhancement in ChaiNNer.

For instance, below are two models for different aims in the workflow. You can also find other open-source AI upscaling models on OpenModelDB and implement them into the ChaiNNer workflow.

For image upscaling: SwinIR-L model at https://github.com/JingyunLiang/SwinIR

For face restoration: CodeFormer model at https://github.com/sczhou/CodeFormer

9. Let's Enhance (Online)

Let's Enhance is a popular online AI image enhancer, especially favored by beginners thanks to its simple, user-friendly interface. It's perfect for those who need to quickly enhance and upscale a few images without any hassle.

The tool comes with built-in models tailored for different types of images and scenarios, such as photos, digital art, smart enhancement, and smart resizing. It maintains the original aspect ratio and can also handle custom sizes, offering flexibility for various needs. One of its standout features is the Light AI enhancer, along with a Tone enhancing utility.

The smart enhancement feature is designed for images that have been downsized or previously downloaded, helping to restore compressed artifacts. However, it's important to note that this model is most effective on slightly distorted images. If your picture has been heavily compressed, don't expect miracles.

10. Nero AI

Nero AI has carved out a niche for itself as an easy-to-use AI image enhancer on the market. This tool is ideal for users looking to upscale, restore, colorize, denoise, or remove backgrounds from their images.

In terms of photo enhancing and upscaling, it not only upres the image, but also alters it to some degree. For instance, it may recognize freckles as noise and remove them. Depending on your preference for such details, this feature can either be a boon or a bane.

The photo restoration function can fix old and damaged photos with deep learning. For black-and-white photos, Nero also helps you to color it.

Kistent Waung

Kistent Waung is a quality-driven writer who has extensive knowledge of the multimedia market. She started her journey managing and supporting content at Digiarty Software, where she shared her expertise on a range of multimedia products spanning AI and codec trends, software reviews, and comparisons. She's now a writer for aiarty.com, with a focus on AI technology.

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