Background Remover API

Introduction

Background Remover separates the main subject of a photo from everything behind it and returns the subject on a fully transparent background. You send one image URL and get back a PNG with an alpha channel at the same width and height as the original, so the cutout lines up pixel for pixel with the source whenever you need to layer the two.

There is no prompt, no mask and no setting to tune: the tool decides on its own what the foreground is.

Key features

Transparency you can drop straight into a layout

The result is a PNG whose background pixels are fully transparent rather than painted white, so it sits on any colour, gradient or photo without a box around it. That is the format marketplaces, slide decks, design tools and web pages expect for product and portrait cutouts.

Nothing to write, nothing to tune

The whole request is a single image URL. Because nothing is phrased, there is no wording to get wrong and no second attempt caused by an ambiguous instruction, which makes the endpoint easy to run over a whole folder of catalogue shots in a loop.

Original dimensions preserved

The cutout comes back at the size of the upload rather than as a fixed square, so it can be placed back over the source, used as a mask, or handed to the next editing step without any rescaling.

Request parameters

Pricing

Prices are in credits, the same credits you use on the website (1 credit = $0.01). The hold is taken when the task is accepted and settled to the actual charge when it finishes; failed tasks are refunded.

Each task is rounded up to whole credits, so one run at the lowest tier costs 1 credit per image ($0.01).

For an exact number before you run, send the same body to POST /jobs/quote.

Use cases

Product catalogue and marketplace listings

Shoot products on whatever surface is at hand, then remove the backdrop and place every item on the same clean colour. A consistent background across a range of listings is the quickest visual upgrade a shop can make, and it no longer needs a studio sweep for every item.

Avatars, team pages and thumbnails

Isolate people from office walls, living rooms or street scenes to build profile pictures, speaker cards and video thumbnails with a branded background behind them.

First step of a longer edit

Cut the subject out before a composite: remove the background here, build a new scene with Image Expander, then layer the transparent PNG back on top of it.

Prompt guide & pro tips

Choose photos with a clear subject

The tool picks the foreground by itself. It is most reliable when one person or one object clearly dominates the frame and stands apart from the background in colour or light. When a picture holds several people or objects of similar weight, crop to the one you want before sending it, because the tool may keep more than you intended.

Check the fine edges at full size

Hair, fur, lace, smoke and glass are where cutouts are hardest. Inspect them zoomed in before publishing, especially when the background shares colours with the subject. A reshoot against a plainer backdrop fixes more than a second run of the same photo.

Keep the file as PNG

Transparency only survives in formats that support it. Store and forward the result as PNG; converting it to JPEG fills the transparent area with a solid colour and brings back the rectangle you just removed.

API quick start

Call the Background Remover API in three steps

1. Create an API key. Sign in to PopNow and create a key in the API console. Keys start with sk-popnow- and use the same credits as the website.
2. Send the request. POST /jobs/createTask with model popnow/background-remover-v1/edit and an input object that follows the parameter table. The response returns a task ID straight away.
3. Get the result. Poll GET /jobs/recordInfo with the task ID, or pass a callBackUrl and we post the result to it. Download the output links when the task succeeds.

# 1. Create the task. Keep the Idempotency-Key if you retry after a network error.
export IDEMPOTENCY_KEY="$(uuidgen)"
curl -X POST https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/jobs/createTask \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POPNOW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
  -d '{
  "model": "popnow/background-remover-v1/edit",
  "input": {
    "image_url": "https://media.popnow.ai/influencer/examples/marco.webp"
  }
}'

# 2. Copy data.taskId from the response, then poll until state is succeeded, failed, canceled or expired.
TASK_ID="TASK_ID_FROM_RESPONSE"
curl "https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/jobs/recordInfo?taskId=$TASK_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POPNOW_API_KEY"

Replace the prompt and any links with your own. The API tab has the response, polling and callback reference.

Background Remover API questions

More about Background Remover

Try it

Background Remover AI Background Remover onlineCreate images with Background Remover in PopNow

Docs

Background Remover model ID and input schema in the API docsPopNow API quickstart: your first request in five minutesImage generation guide for the PopNow APIWebhooks: get Background Remover results without polling