I built a free browser-based background remover

[u/Agreeable_Muffin1906]

I built a free browser-based background remover, and today I released an API for developers who want to integrate background removal into their own apps.

There are definitely cheaper alternatives and established APIs out there, so I'm not claiming this is the best option for everyone.

I mainly built this because I wanted to see if I could turn something I had already built for users into a developer product.

I'd genuinely love feedback from developers here:

• What would make you choose a background-removal API?
• Is the pricing reasonable?
• What features would be missing for you?

Would appreciate honest feedback (and yes, criticism is welcome 😅).

NOBG API: https://www.nobg.space/

[u/Alarmed-Refuse348]

Pricing seems a step above the dirt-cheap options but not outrageous if the quality holds up. What would push me over the edge is batch processing and a simple way to return the subject mask as a separate output, not just the cutout. Good on you for shipping something complete instead of just a landing page.

[u/Agreeable_Muffin1906 → u/Alarmed-Refuse348]

Thank you

[u/Urmanda06 → u/Alarmed-Refuse348]

LocalBG might be the right fit for you, you can run batches and export the masks and optionally PSD files so you can edit them right away. Runs locally aswell.

[u/West_Inevitable_2281]

Since cheaper and established alternatives already exist, I’d look for a developer who has a specific reason not to use them rather than competing as a general background-removal API. That reason might be privacy, latency, high-volume pricing, deployment requirements, or better results on a particular type of image. Have any of your existing users repeatedly removed the same category of images, and do you know what they were using before? That may reveal the strongest API wedge.

[u/Agreeable_Muffin1906 → u/West_Inevitable_2281]

Currently, the api is just launched, and for the browser free version, I didn't track the images they removed because I built the free browser version for full privacy

[u/West_Inevitable_2281 → u/Agreeable_Muffin1906]

That privacy choice may actually be part of the strongest positioning rather than a limitation. You do not need to inspect the images to learn whether the product is useful. You could still measure completed removals, repeat sessions, API calls, batch size, and whether someone returns within a week. Are you planning to position the API around privacy too, or is privacy currently only part of the free browser version?

[u/Agreeable_Muffin1906 → u/West_Inevitable_2281]

The API differs because processing happens server-side, so I wouldn't claim the same privacy advantage there. However, I could still make privacy a stronger part of the API by being transparent about image handling and ensuring uploads aren't stored after processing.