What is Upscayl?
Upscayl is an AI image upscaler sold in two forms: a free, open-source desktop app for Linux, macOS and Windows, and Upscayl Cloud, a web service priced by credits. The site says the cloud service also offers AI image editing and text-to-image generation.
Who it's for
The desktop app suits people who want to upscale images on their own computer and have a Vulkan-compatible GPU. Upscayl Cloud suits people who want to upscale from a browser, phone or tablet without that hardware and accept paying by credits.
Pros & cons
Strengths
- The GitHub page lists the desktop app as free and open source under AGPL-3.0, for Linux, macOS 12+ and Windows 10+.
- The site says the desktop app upscales up to 16x, with multiple AI models, batch processing and a Double Upscayl mode that upscales an image twice; GitHub also lists custom models and a command-line tool (upscayl-ncnn).
- The privacy policy says images are not used to train AI models, and the terms say you retain full ownership of your content.
- The pricing page lists Pro with 300 credits a month, credit rollover while subscribed, priority support, upscaling up to 256MP, AI image generation and free access to new features and models.
- The credit selector offers 100, 300, 500, 1,000, 2,500 and 5,000 credits a month, so the subscription size can be changed.
- The terms list refund eligibility for duplicate or incorrect charges and for verified technical issues that blocked use of purchased credits, with requests typically reviewed in 3 to 5 business days.
Limitations
- The desktop app needs a Vulkan-compatible GPU; GitHub says it will not work with most integrated GPUs or CPUs.
- The Cloud free trial is 10 credits and requires filling out a trial application; no trial length is listed, and the pricing page gives no per-image credit costs.
- The pricing page shows Pro at $24.99 without saying whether that is the monthly or annual rate, and it marks the Annual toggle 'Up to 40% Off' without listing annual prices. Business (up to 512MP) shows no price and is marked 'Not available for 300 credits'.
- The terms say subscriptions renew automatically unless you cancel in account settings, and that unused credits after you cancel or renew, promotional or free credits, and dissatisfaction with output are not refundable. The pricing page says credits are lost on cancellation and history is lost after 1 month.
- Storage wording differs across pages: the homepage says 'unlimited' cloud storage, the pricing page says '6 months unlimited storage' for Pro, and the privacy policy says uploads are kept up to 1 day and outputs 180 days (AWS S3). The pricing FAQ answers did not load, and neither the terms nor the other pages read address commercial use of outputs.
Plans and pricing
- Desktop app: $0. Free and open source (AGPL-3.0); runs on your own computer and needs a Vulkan-compatible GPU.
- Cloud Free Trial: $0. 10 credits; requires a trial application. No trial length listed.
- Cloud Pro: $24.99 (billing basis not stated). 300 credits a month by default, rollover, priority support, 6 months of storage, up to 256MP, AI image generation. Annual toggle says up to 40% off.
- Cloud Business: Not shown. Same listed features as Pro with upscaling up to 512MP; marked not available for 300 credits.
- Cloud Custom: Contact us. Custom credit amount, priority email and chat support, unlimited storage.
Prices were read from the official pricing page on 2026-10-22. The page does not say whether $24.99 is a monthly or annual rate, lists no annual prices, and shows a 'NEW' one-time purchase option with no price or terms; the FAQ questions have no answers. Amounts are in dollars as listed. Confirm on the live pricing page.
Details checked October 2026 against the vendor's own pages. Prices and limits change, so confirm before you buy. Official pricing page ↗
Sources
This profile was compiled from these public pages. We have not run hands-on tests.
Upscayl — at a glance
Upscayl is an AI image upscaler sold in two forms: a free, open-source desktop app for Linux, macOS and Windows, and Upscayl Cloud, a web service priced by credits. The site says the cloud service also offers AI image editing and text-to-image generation.
Try Upscayl →