Is remove.bg safe?
remove.bg is a legitimate Canva-owned service. Its policy gives no exact deletion time, and its website is closing, so it is worth knowing the options.
The short answer
Yes, remove.bg is legitimate and widely used. It belongs to Canva: its privacy policy names the operator as Canva Austria GmbH in Vienna, the company behind Kaleido, remove.bg, Unscreen and Designify. Using it will not harm your computer, and the policy says uploads are deleted shortly after processing.
On the website every cut-out is made on its servers, so each photo is uploaded. For a product shot that is rarely a concern. For a picture of your children, a selfie or anyone who did not agree to it, the policy is worth reading before you drop the file in.
What remove.bg’s policy says
As of October 2026, per the remove.bg privacy policy (last updated 16 July 2025) and pricing page:
- Deletion. Files are uploaded, processed, offered for download and then deleted “shortly after”. The policy gives no exact time.
- Location. Data is stored and processed in Europe and in any other country where the company, its affiliates or service providers have facilities.
- Analytics. Cookies served by Google Analytics collect limited usage data.
- The site is closing. The pricing page says the standalone website will no longer be available from 1 December 2026, with background removal moving to Canva.
What that means for your photos
Short-lived storage is the norm for upload tools, but “shortly after” is not a number, so for private photos the safest copy is the one that is never uploaded.
The move to Canva is the other thing to weigh: if you rely on remove.bg’s site, check the pricing page for what replaces it after 1 December 2026.
If you are looking for a replacement, see the remove.bg alternative guide.
Cutting out a photo without uploading it
Stayput’s background remover runs an open segmentation model inside your browser tab. Your photo is not uploaded, the result is at your photo’s full resolution, and there are no credits or watermark. Use Make background transparent for a PNG with a see-through background, or White background for marketplace-ready product shots. To hide a face instead of cutting it out, use Blur image.
remove.bg’s own model is very good at difficult hair and busy scenes, and it offers an API, desktop apps and a Photoshop plug-in for bulk work. For a quick cut-out of a private photo, a local tool avoids the upload.
How to check where a photo goes
Open your browser’s network panel, drop a photo into any background remover and look for an upload about the size of the file; or, once one photo has run and the page has had a short wait, turn on airplane mode and try again. Does this website upload my files? walks through both checks.
Questions
Is remove.bg legit?
Yes. It is a Canva brand, operated by Canva Austria GmbH in Vienna, Austria, and is one of the best-known background removers.
Does remove.bg keep my photos?
As of October 2026, its privacy policy says uploaded files are deleted shortly after processing, without giving an exact time.
How can I remove a background without uploading the photo?
Use a tool that runs the model in your browser, such as Stayput’s background remover. After the model and its runtime have downloaded once, it works with the network switched off.