Self-hosted background removal that runs on your own hardware
remove.bg does the cutout in the cloud, one credit at a time. SnapOtter runs the same kind of AI locally, so product shots and photos of people never go to a third-party service.
Local AI, one-time bundle install
What most teams do today
You upload an image to an online background remover, it returns a cutout, and you pay per image or per credit. Every image you process is sent to the vendor's API first.
Why that's a problem for sensitive files
Background removal usually runs on the images you care about most: product photography before launch, headshots, user-uploaded photos. Sending those to a per-credit cloud API means a third party sees them, and the cost scales with every image at exactly the moment you want to batch thousands.
How SnapOtter does it privately
SnapOtter runs background removal with a local model after a one-time bundle install. Drop images in the UI or POST them to the API, get transparent PNGs back, and nothing leaves your network. No per-image credit, and a GPU is used automatically if you have one.
Self-host in one command
Process a file over the REST API
Last reviewed July 10, 2026. Commands match the current single-container image and REST API. Competitor references: remove.bg
Frequently asked questions
- Does it need a GPU?
- No. It runs on CPU and uses a GPU automatically if one is available for faster batches.
- Are my images uploaded anywhere?
- No. The cutout runs inside your instance, so the images stay on your infrastructure.
- Is it really free per image?
- Yes. After the one-time model install there is no per-image charge; you are bounded only by your hardware.
More self-hosted workflows
Deploying this across a team?
Audit trails, per-tool permissions, SSO, and air-gapped deployment for regulated environments. Talk to us about running SnapOtter as shared infrastructure.