Best Free Image Upscalers 2026: 6 Options Compared

A free image upscaler uses a neural network to enlarge a picture and invent plausible detail, which is different from stretching pixels. Results are good on photos and illustrations at 2x to 4x, and less reliable at higher factors, where faces and text can turn strange. The first choice is local or online. Upscayl is a free open-source desktop app under AGPL-3.0 that runs on your computer, so your files stay private and there are no monthly credits, but it needs a reasonably capable graphics card to be quick. Real-ESRGAN and waifu2x are the open-source models behind many apps, usable from the command line if you are comfortable there. chaiNNer chains models into a node-based workflow for batches. Web services are easier: Upscale.media gives 3 free credits and 3 free downloads each month, and Bigjpg allows 20 images a month at 5 MB with up to 4x enlargement on shared servers. The trade-off is effort against limits. Online tools are instant but metered and upload your image, while local tools are unlimited but take setup. Always compare the result against the original at 100 percent before you trust it. Six options follow.

Upscayl

Free, open-source AGPL-3.0 desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. Runs locally without credits; speed depends on your graphics card. Upscayl Cloud is a separate product.

Price: Free (Free and open-source desktop app; Upscayl Cloud is a separate product whose terms were not captured) (Upscayl pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. AGPL-3.0 (open source).

Project activity: 51.2k GitHub stars · latest release v2.15.0 (Dec 25, 2024) · last commit Oct 5, 2026

Best for: Private unlimited local upscaling.

Real-ESRGAN

BSD-3-Clause open-source model and command-line tool behind many upscalers. Powerful and free, but expects command-line comfort and has no friendly interface.

Price: Free (Free and open source; portable executables for Intel, AMD and Nvidia GPUs need no CUDA or PyTorch) (Real-ESRGAN pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Windows, Linux, macOS. BSD-3-Clause (open source).

Project activity: 37.2k GitHub stars · latest release v0.3.0 (Sep 20, 2022) · No commits since Aug 6, 2024

Best for: Developers and scripted batches.

Worth knowing: Image and video restoration project; the repo includes a video inference script and portable executables that do not support every option of the Python script.

chaiNNer

Open-source node-based app under GPLv3 for chaining upscaling models and other image steps. Good for batches, but heavier to set up than a one-click app.

Price: Free (Free open-source node-based image processing app) (chaiNNer pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Desktop. GPL-3.0 (open source).

Project activity: 6.1k GitHub stars · latest release v0.26.1 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Custom batch pipelines.

Upscale.media

Web service with 3 free credits and 3 free downloads each month, plus one image a day without signup. Paid credits start at $7.99 for 60.

Price: Free (3 free credits and 3 free downloads each month; one image per day without signing up); paid from $7.99 per one-time, 60 credits (Upscale.media pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.

Best for: Occasional web upscales.

Worth knowing: Lowest paid price is the 60-credit package; larger packs cost less per credit.

Bigjpg

Web upscaler with 20 free images a month, 5 MB limit and up to 4x on shared servers. Paid plans raise size and enlargement limits.

Price: Free (20 images per month, 5 MB upload, up to 4x enlargement, shared slow servers, no batch); paid from $6 per 2 months (Basic plan) (Bigjpg pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.

Best for: Anime and illustrations online.

Worth knowing: Paid plans raise upload size to 50 MB and enlargement to 16x; Basic lists 500 images per month.

waifu2x

MIT-licensed upscaler best known for illustration-style images. Free and open source, but check the repository for maintenance before relying on it.

Price: Free (Free open-source upscaler for illustration-style images) (waifu2x pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Command line. MIT (open source).

Project activity: 28.2k GitHub stars · latest release v0.13.2 (Nov 18, 2018) · No commits since May 4, 2023

Best for: Anime-style art.

Which one to pick

• You want unlimited private upscaling: Upscayl
• You upscale one image now without installing: Upscale.media
• You script upscaling for many files: Real-ESRGAN
• You need a custom multi-step pipeline: chaiNNer