The remove.bg API moves to Leonardo.Ai on Dec 1, 2026. Migrate by changing one URL (scripts, Zapier, Make, n8n)

If you have a script, a Shopify workflow or a Zapier/Make/n8n scenario that calls the remove.bg API, put a date in your calendar: remove.bg's API page now says that starting December 1, 2026, background removal moves to Leonardo.Ai (part of Canva). Several reports also say unused pay-as-you-go credits expire on that day, so check your account before then.

You can follow the official path to Leonardo.Ai, self-host an open-source model, or switch to another pay-per-image API. This post shows the last option with a tool I built, and lists the others at the end so you can compare.

import requests r = requests. post ( " https://api.remove.bg/v1.0/removebg ", data = { " image_url ": " https://example.com/shoe.jpg ", " size ": " auto ", " bg_color ": " ffffff " }, headers = { " X-Api-Key ": " <REMOVE_BG_KEY> " }, ) open ( " shoe.png ", " wb " ). write ( r. content ) Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode Option 1: keep your code, change one URL I built a remove.bg-compatible endpoint: same path ( /v1.0/removebg ), same form fields ( image_file, image_url, image_file_b64, size, format, bg_color, crop, crop_margin, channels, roi, scale, position …), same response (the image plus X-Width, X-Height, X-Foreground-* headers, or JSON with result_b64 ), and the same error format. Only the base URL and the auth header change:

import requests r = requests. post ( " https://digitalni-produkty-pr--removebg-api-dropin.apify.actor/v1.0/removebg ", # changed data = { " image_url ": " https://example.com/shoe.jpg ", " size ": " auto ", " bg_color ": " ffffff " }, headers = { " Authorization ": " Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN> " }, # changed ) open ( " shoe.png ", " wb " ). write ( r. content ) Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode It runs on Apify as remove.bg API Alternative. You get the token from a free Apify account. Pricing is $0.005 per image plus a little Apify platform usage while the API server is running (the server starts on the first request and stops after a minute of inactivity). Failed requests are free. What it doesn't do: artificial shadows, and the type hint is accepted but ignored.

Using a client library (Python removebg, Node remove.bg, PHP mtownsend/remove-bg ) or curl? The migration guide on GitHub has a copy-paste snippet for each.

AI Background Remover takes a list of image URLs and returns a link to each result:

from apify_client import ApifyClient client = ApifyClient ( " <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN> " ) run = client. actor ( " digitalni.produkty.pro.zivot/background-remover " ). call ( run_input = { " imageUrls ": [ " https://example.com/shoe.jpg ", " https://example.com/bag.jpg ", ], " output ": " color ", # "transparent" | "color" | "mask" " backgroundColor ": " #ffffff ", " cropToSubject ": True, " paddingPercent ": 5, " outputFormat ": " jpeg ", } ) for item in client. dataset ( run [ " defaultDatasetId " ]). iterate_items (): print ( item [ " sourceUrl " ], " -> ", item [ " imageUrl " ]) Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode Parameter mapping (bulk Actor) remove.bg AI Background Remover image_url imageUrls (a list) bg_color=ffffff output: "color", backgroundColor: "#ffffff" channels=alpha output: "mask" crop=true, crop_margin cropToSubject: true, paddingPercent format outputFormat: png, jpeg or webp size=full always full resolution (up to 100 MP) Not covered yet: direct file uploads (pass a URL instead), background images and shadows.

Easiest: replace the remove.bg module with an HTTP request module that POSTs the same form fields to the Option 1 URL, with the Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN> header. The response is the image file, just like before.

For bulk jobs, Apify has official integrations for all three. Replace the remove.bg module with Apify → Run Actor, choose digitalni.produkty.pro.zivot/background-remover, map your image URL into imageUrls, and read imageUrl from the dataset item in the next step.

$0.005 per image, any resolution, with no subscription and no separate HD credits. Failed downloads are not charged. Under the hood it's ISNet (DIS), an open-source segmentation model, running on CPU at about 3–4 seconds per image.

Disclosure: I built both Apify Actors above, and they are not affiliated with remove.bg, Canva or Leonardo.Ai. If you need a remove.bg feature it doesn't have yet, open an issue and I'll look at it.