Photo editing · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode Pixelcut?

YES· one-shottable

The job most people hire Pixelcut for is a cutout, an eraser and an upscaler, and open models do all three on an ordinary laptop: rembg or BiRefNet for the background, an inpainting model for the eraser, and Real-ESRGAN for upscaling. An agent wraps them in a small web page with batch export in one sitting. What stays behind is the generative side: AI backgrounds, generative fill and the third-party image and video models that the credits pay for, which you would call through an API and pay per image, plus the phone app you shoot and edit in.

$10/moprice

$120you'd save a year

one sittingbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeOne sitting; the first run also downloads the models

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Python 3.12rembg and the inpainting model install through pip.
The realesrgan-ncnn-vulkan binaryDownload it from the Real-ESRGAN releases for your OS; it needs a Vulkan-capable GPU to be fast.
Disk spacePlan for roughly 2 GB for the models.
An images API keyOptional, only for AI-generated backgrounds, billed per image by the provider.

Before you buildPixelcut Free already removes backgrounds and exports without a watermark within daily limits. Build only if you want batches, privacy or no daily cap.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a local photo cleanup and product-shot tool to replace Pixelcut. Requirements:

- Python 3.12 with FastAPI and one HTML page with a little vanilla JS: `python -m cutout` serves
http://localhost:4730 with tabs for Remove background, Erase, Upscale and Batch.
- Remove background: `rembg` with the `birefnet-general` model (use `isnet-general-use` under 8 GB
of RAM). Preview on a checkerboard, then export a PNG with alpha, or composite on white, a hex
colour or an uploaded image with a soft shadow made from the blurred alpha mask (Pillow).
- Erase: paint a mask on a canvas, then remove the marked area with `simple-lama-inpainting`,
falling back to OpenCV `cv2.inpaint` (Telea) when the model isn't downloaded.
- Upscale: run the `realesrgan-ncnn-vulkan` binary at 2x and 4x with a progress bar; without Vulkan,
fall back to Pillow Lanczos and say so on screen.
- Batch: drop a folder or many files, pick a preset (remove background on white at 2000x2000,
square 1080, marketplace 1600 on the long edge), run a worker pool sized to the CPU, and write
./out/<date>-<preset>/ plus a zip.
- Optional AI backgrounds: when IMAGE_BASE_URL, IMAGE_MODEL and IMAGE_API_KEY are in .env, a prompt
box asks an OpenAI-compatible images endpoint for a background and composites the cutout over it;
the product pixels are never regenerated. Warn about per-image cost before the first call.
- Never modify originals; save each batch's settings in job.json next to its output. No accounts,
no telemetry; the only network calls are model downloads and the optional image endpoint.
- Out of scope: generative fill, AI video, a phone app, templates, teams.
- README: model sizes, rough seconds per image on CPU and GPU, and how to install the upscaler binary.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Pixelcut.

Extend the photo tool in this folder. Requirements:

- `python -m cutout watch ./inbox --preset white-2000` watches a folder with `watchdog` and
  processes each new image once it has stopped growing for 2 seconds.
- Write results to ./out/watch/ with the original name plus the preset, and move the original
  into ./inbox/done/.
- Log failures to ./out/watch/errors.log and keep going.
- Update the README with a launchd and a systemd example.

Add custom export presets to the photo tool in this folder. Requirements:

- presets.json holds name, width, height, fit (contain or cover), padding percent, background
  and format (png, jpg, webp) with a quality setting.
- A preset editor in the page, and a `--preset all` batch option that writes one folder per preset.
- Refuse presets with a side under 100 px or over 8000 px.
- Update the README.

Add a comparison view to the photo tool in this folder. Requirements:

- After each operation show a draggable before and after slider, with the result on a
  checkerboard when it has transparency.
- Keyboard shortcuts: left and right arrows move between images in a batch, `a` accepts, `r` re-runs
  with the other model.
- Mark rejected images in job.json so a re-run only touches those.
- Update the README.

What you lose

Generative fill, expand image and AI backgrounds on a daily allowance
One credit balance that reaches many third-party image and video models
The iOS and Android apps for shooting and editing on the go
Team seats, shared work and monthly batch quotas
A commercial-use licence that covers the output

Why people still pay

Small sellers and creators pay for speed on a phone: shoot a product, drop the background and get a clean listing image in seconds, with AI backdrops and a commercial licence included. The credit pool also saves juggling accounts with several image-model providers.

Moatproprietary models execution polish

Do the math

Pixelcut or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time3h ×$/h

Pixelcut, 1 yr$120

Your own copy, 1 yr$35running + build session

You keep$85pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · Everything runs on your own machine for free; the optional AI backgrounds cost a few cents per image at an API provider. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Pixelcut

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Pixelcut

1The help pages we read describe no account-wide export: what you take with you is the finished images, which you save or download from the editor and batch exports.
2Download the projects you still need as image files before you delete anything; deleting the account removes stored projects, photos, collections, preferences, credits and teams for good.
3Pro includes up to 1,000 batch exports a month, so a back catalogue can be re-exported in batches while the plan is active.

2 · Cancel Pixelcut

1On the web, click your profile icon at the top left, open Settings, go to Billing and press Manage next to your billing details. A Stripe page opens with Cancel Subscription.
2On iPhone, cancel in Settings, your name, Subscriptions, Pixelcut. On Android, use Google Play, Payments and subscriptions, Subscriptions, Pixelcut.
3You keep every feature and your credits until the end of the current billing period, and Keep Pro or Resubscribe brings the plan back.

Pixelcut says it doesn't prorate refunds; Apple and Google decide refunds for store purchases, while web purchases can ask in Billing.
Deleting the account is separate and immediate: App Store subscriptions must be cancelled separately, while Stripe and Play Store subscriptions end with the deletion.
You keep your credits only until the end of the billing period, so spend them on advanced models first.
If you sell what you make, check the licence of each open model you swap in; some background-removal models are not cleared for commercial use.

Checked 2026-10-19 against Pixelcut's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

rembgOpen sourceMIT tool and library for background removal with a CLI and an HTTP server; several segmentation models to choose from.★ 25k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
CLI, WebVisit ↗BiRefNetOpen sourceMIT high-resolution segmentation model that gives sharp cutouts around hair and edges; a model to run, not an app.★ 4.3k · active Oct 2026 · self-host, real ops
CLIVisit ↗UpscaylOpen sourceAGPL desktop upscaler built on Real-ESRGAN models, with batch mode and no account.★ 51k · active Oct 2026 · they host it
macOS, Windows, LinuxVisit ↗

All 5 free alternatives to Pixelcut ›

The numbers

Pixelcut pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Free	$0	$0	Limited background removal, magic eraser, fast upscaler, generative fill and expand image; export without watermark.
Pro	$10	$8	Unlimited background removal and upscale, 600 AI credits a month for advanced models, generative fill, expand and AI backgrounds up to about 300 a day, 1,000 batch exports a month, 3-person team, commercial license.
Business	$30	$24	Everything in Pro with 3,600 credits a month, generative tools up to about 1,200 a day, 2,000 batch exports a month and a 10-person team.

Free tier: Most tools are capped, at around 3 uses a day for the heavier ones, and background removal, eraser and upscaling are limited rather than unlimited.
Billing: Monthly or yearly (20% off yearly). On the web it bills through Stripe and cancels from Settings; iOS and Android subscriptions bill through Apple and Google. Cancel any time and access runs to the end of the period; no prorated refunds.
Hidden costs: Advanced third-party image and video models spend credits, and the cost depends on the model (a video model charges per second). When the 600 monthly credits run out you can buy 2,000 more at a time or turn on automatic top-ups; the price isn't shown on the pages we read.
Source: www.pixelcut.ai

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Questions

Pixelcut, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

Free gives limited background removal, magic eraser and upscaling, and exports without a watermark.

Yes. An AI coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor can build a usable personal version in one session with the prompt on this page, running on your own machine.

About $10 a month on the Pro plan, $120 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

Generative fill, expand image and AI backgrounds on a daily allowance; One credit balance that reaches many third-party image and video models; The iOS and Android apps for shooting and editing on the go; Team seats, shared work and monthly batch quotas; A commercial-use licence that covers the output. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.