Cleanup.pictures
Cleanup.pictures is a browser-based AI retoucher that erases unwanted objects, people, text, logos and blemishes from photographs in seconds. Free use caps exports at 720 pixels, while a Pro plan restores full resolution.
What is Cleanup.pictures?
Cleanup.pictures is a single-purpose photo retouching tool that runs entirely in a browser. Its job is to make something disappear from an image — an object, a passer-by, a date stamp, a logo, a crack on an old print — and to close the gap convincingly. The technique is inpainting: instead of cloning pixels from a reference area the way a stamp tool does, the model infers what stood behind the masked region and rebuilds it. The FAQ makes that contrast itself, noting that a clone tool needs a background to copy from while the AI can work one out.
Using it takes three gestures. You drop an image onto the home page, paint over whatever should go, and download the result seconds later. No account is needed. One piece of advice recurs across the site: overflow the brush generously, shadows included, because a mask drawn too tightly leaves smears behind.
Two limits shape the free tier. Images of any size can be imported, but exports stop at 720 pixels, which rules out print work. The Pro plan lifts that ceiling, adds unlimited images and a high-quality refiner, and starts at three US dollars a month on an annual commitment. A wider ClipDrop Pro bundle opens the neighbouring tools — background removal, uncrop, relight, upscaling, text-to-image — none of which Cleanup.pictures performs on its own.
Developers reach the same engine through an API at clipdrop-api.co. A call is a multipart POST carrying the source image and a strictly black-and-white PNG mask of identical resolution, in either fast or quality mode. Ceilings are 16 megapixels and 30 MB per file, with 60 requests a minute per key, and a new account claims 100 free credits. Sample code is published for cURL, JavaScript, Python, Swift and Kotlin.
The tool belongs to ClipDrop, built by the Paris company Init ML and now part of Jasper — a banner says as much and points developers towards newer Jasper image models.
What it does
- Erase an unwanted object from a photograph
- Remove a person, a passer-by or a tourist from a scene
- Delete text, a logo, a watermark or a date stamp
- Repair defects such as scratches and cracks on old prints
- Soften blemishes and wrinkles on a portrait
- Depersonalise a room or a property before publishing a listing
- Call the same inpainting engine from another product through the API
When to use Cleanup.pictures / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Cleanup.pictures is the right fit.
When to use Cleanup.pictures
- Photographers stripping time stamps, passers-by or blemishes before delivering prints to a client
- Creative agencies remixing existing photography into new visuals at speed
- Real estate agents depersonalising and tidying property shots before a listing goes live
- E-commerce teams cleaning product photography for storefronts and social posts
- Developers who want a hosted inpainting endpoint instead of running a model in-house
When not to use Cleanup.pictures
- Video editors: the tool works on still images only
- Anyone after background removal, upscaling or text-to-image, which are separate ClipDrop tools
- Print-focused work on the free tier, where exports are capped at 720 pixels
- Teams needing shared seats, since a Cleanup subscription covers a single user
- Organisations that require EU data residency or a documented opt-out from model training
How to use Cleanup.pictures
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Open cleanup.pictures in a browser — no account required
- Drag and drop an image onto the drop zone, or click to pick a file
- Set the brush size to suit the area you want gone
- Paint over the object, person or text to remove
- Overflow the brush past the edges, shadows included
- Wait a few seconds while the result is computed
- Repeat on another area if anything remains
- Download the image — 720 pixels maximum without a subscription
- Move to the Pro plan for original resolution and the high-quality refiner
- For programmatic use, request an API key then POST image_file and mask_file to clipdrop-api.co/cleanup/v1
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Usable free of charge, with no account to create
- Learning curve of about ten seconds: drop, paint, download
- Results returned in seconds
- Inpainting quality pitched against traditional clone-stamp retouching
- Images of any size can be imported even on the free plan
- Documented API with multi-language samples and 100 free credits
- Low paid entry point at USD 3 per month on an annual commitment
Cons
- Free exports capped at 720 pixels, which blocks any print use
- Subscription is strictly individual, limited to one user
- Single-task tool: no cutout, no upscaling, no image generation
- Site and legal documents scattered across cleanup.pictures, clipdrop.co and jasper.ai
- Privacy policy still dated 21 June 2022 and issued by Init ML, while the legal notice names Jasper AI Global, LLC
- Data hosted on Google Cloud Platform in the United States, with no EU residency option
- No documented way to exclude uploads from model training
Pricing & Plans
A permanent free plan is available, offering unlimited images with exports capped at 720 pixels. Paid access starts with the Pro plan at USD 3 per month on an annual commitment, or USD 5 billed monthly, which removes the resolution ceiling and adds a high-quality refiner. The wider ClipDrop Pro bundle starts at USD 11, and API access is billed by usage at one credit per successful call.
- unlimited images
- exports limited to 720p
- unlimited images
- unlimited resolution
- high-quality refiner
- Cleanup plus remove background
- replace background
- uncrop
- generative fill and the other ClipDrop tools
- API — usage-based pricing
- one credit per successful call
- 100 credits granted on signup
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Cleanup.pictures handles your data.
GDPR overview
GDPR implementation is concrete rather than declarative. The privacy policy is written expressly under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and names Init ML SAS — Bobigny trade register 885 384 289, 211 rue Etienne Marcel, Montreuil — as data controller. It gives a legal basis and a retention period for every purpose, spanning contract performance, legitimate interest, consent and legal obligation, and lists the full set of data-subject rights, including complaint to the CNIL and post-mortem instructions. Transfers outside the European Union rely on adequacy decisions or Article 46 safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses and Binding Corporate Rules. Privacy requests go to privacy@clipdrop.co. Two gaps stand out: no Article 27 EU representative and no data protection officer is named, and the policy still carries an effective date of 21 June 2022.
Who owns the data?
Ownership of the platform stays with the vendor: the terms state that the applications, website, API, software, databases and supplied content are company property, and that the licence granted to users transfers none of it. Uploaded images are framed as the user's responsibility rather than the vendor's asset — personal or confidential content is uploaded and stored at the user's sole risk. The privacy policy names Init ML SAS, registered in Bobigny under number 885 384 289, as data controller, while the legal notice names Jasper AI Global, LLC as publisher. Images may be seen by company staff, hosting and cloud providers, the payment provider Stripe, and mailing providers.
Reuse rights
Nothing in the terms restricts what a user does with a cleaned image: the output is theirs to publish or sell, and they alone answer for it. The site adds one explicit caveat — watermarks normally signal restrictive copyright, so they should only be removed from images the user is licensed to use. Beyond the output itself, the terms forbid reselling, transferring or opening access to the service, its hosted information or the API, and prohibit uploading infringing content or material contrary to public order. Use is personal: the service may not be operated by a third party on the user's behalf, and using it to generate AI training data is expressly banned.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
Personal data is hosted for the duration of processing on Google Cloud Platform servers located in the United States, as stated in the privacy policy. Transfers outside the European Union are contemplated and covered either by a European Commission adequacy decision under Article 45, or by Article 46 safeguards including Standard Contractual Clauses, Binding Corporate Rules or an approved certification mechanism. The legal notice adds that the clipdrop.co website itself is hosted by Vercel Inc., 440 N Barranca Avenue #4133, Covina, California. A DNS lookup of cleanup.pictures resolves to 199.36.158.100, a Fastly anycast node — a delivery point rather than a storage location, so it says nothing about where images come to rest. No European data residency option is offered, and no subprocessor list is published beyond the categories and the two named third parties, Stripe and Google Cloud Platform.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Cleanup.pictures.
- Watermark removal becomes trivial, and the site itself warns it is only lawful on images you are licensed to use
- Retouching photographs meant to inform — news, insurance, expert reports — alters what the image is evidence of
- Depersonalised property shots can drift into misrepresenting what is actually being sold or let
- Uploaded images are stored on the vendor's cloud for service improvement purposes
- Without an account, images and texts are retained for two years under the privacy policy
- No documented option excludes your uploads from AI model training
- The terms place personal or confidential uploads entirely at the user's own risk
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Effectively none for the web tool: nothing to install, no account to create, and a single control — the brush. Anyone who can drag a file into a browser is productive immediately. The API asks a little more. A key must be requested by email from contact@clipdrop.co, and each call is a multipart POST carrying the source image plus a mask that must be a PNG, strictly black and white with no grey pixels, at exactly the same resolution as the image. Producing that mask is the only real engineering work.
Deployment
Behind Cleanup.pictures
Fundraising
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Alternatives
Tools that compete with or complement Cleanup.pictures.
Frequently asked questions
What is inpainting?
Do I need an account to use it?
What resolution can I export?
How much does it cost?
Is there a free trial?
What is the refund policy?
How many people can share one subscription?
Is there an API?
Can I remove a watermark?
Where is my data hosted?
Should you pick Cleanup.pictures?
Cleanup.pictures does one thing and makes it almost frictionless. There is no account, no installation and no settings panel: an image, a brush, a download. For a photographer clearing a time stamp, an agent tidying a room before a listing, or a shop owner rescuing a product shot, that economy of means is the whole appeal, and the inpainting quality holds up against the clone-stamp workflows it was built to replace.
The catch on the free tier is resolution, not usage. Images come in at any size but leave at 720 pixels, which is fine for the web and useless for print. Lifting that costs USD 3 a month on an annual commitment — a low enough entry point that the free tier reads as a demonstration rather than a product. Buyers should note that a subscription covers exactly one user, so a studio pays per person.
The governance picture deserves a closer look than the interface. Uploads sit on Google Cloud Platform in the United States, with no European residency option, and images from visitors without an account are kept for two years. The privacy policy is thorough and properly built on the GDPR, but it still dates from June 2022 and is issued by Init ML, the Paris company that created the tool, while the legal notice now names Jasper AI Global, LLC. Nothing states whether uploads feed model training, and no opt-out is documented.
Direction of travel matters too: the site declares that ClipDrop is part of Jasper and steers developers towards newer Jasper models. Cleanup.pictures still works well for occasional object removal. As the backbone of a professional image pipeline, it is worth checking where its owner intends to take it.
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Opens in a new window.