Tool profile
Upscayl: cost, fit and limits
Upscayl is an AI image upscaler made by AI Corp that offers a free open-source desktop app for Linux, macOS and Windows plus a paid cloud service, for users who want to enlarge images locally or rent capacity for large jobs.
What to know first
Upscayl has two halves. The desktop app is free and open source, runs on your own machine and needs no account. The cloud side adds credits: a trial with 10 credits that requires an application, Cloud Pro with 300 credits a month at $24.99 (currency code not stated), and a custom tier by contact. The home page advertises upscaling up to 16x, and the pricing page lists cloud sizes up to 256MP on Pro.
Upscayl at a glance
| Maker | Upscayl, India |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Entry price | $24.99 per month (Cloud Pro, 300 credits) |
| API access | No |
| Category | Best AI Image Upscalers in 2026, rank 11 of 12 |
| Website | upscayl.org |
Who Upscayl is best for
Hobbyists and students
The desktop app costs nothing and has no stated usage cap, so you can enlarge as many images as your computer can handle without an account.
Privacy-conscious users
Processing on your own machine keeps files off any server, and the cloud privacy policy states that uploads are not used to train models.
Occasional large jobs
Cloud Pro rents upscaling up to 256MP for one month at a time, which beats paying for a desktop licence you only use twice a year.
Upscayl plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop app | Free | Free and open source desktop upscaler for Linux, macOS and Windows, with no account named as required on the pages read. |
| Cloud Free Trial | $0 (currency code not stated) | 10 credits to test the cloud service. Requires a login and a trial application rather than instant access, so allow some lead time. |
| Cloud Pro | $24.99 (currency code not stated) | 300 credits per month with rollover, priority support, six months of storage, upscaling up to 256MP and AI image generation. |
| Cloud Custom | Contact us for pricing | Custom credit amount, priority email and chat support and unlimited storage. Business tier is not available at the 300 credit level. |
Checked October 2026.
What Upscayl does
- Local desktop upscaling
- The open-source desktop app runs on Linux, macOS and Windows and advertises enlargement up to 16x on the home page, using your own graphics hardware.
- Custom model support
- The desktop app lets you add your own models, according to an earlier look at the download page, which suits users who already trained or downloaded specialized upscalers.
- Cloud credit plans
- Cloud Pro includes 300 credits a month that roll over while the subscription runs. Tiers from 100 to 5,000 credits are listed, though most have no published price.
- Large cloud output sizes
- Cloud upscaling reaches 256MP on Pro and 512MP on Business, which exceeds what many consumer graphics cards can produce locally in a single pass, whatever the file.
- Cloud storage window
- Paid cloud plans keep files for six months, while the history of free trial upscales is lost after one month according to the Cloud pricing page.
How Upscayl handles your data
Upscayl's cloud privacy policy states that uploaded images are not used to train AI models and that inputs are kept for about a day, per the vendor's privacy page. The cloud pricing page adds that upscaling history is lost after one month and that paid storage lasts six months. The desktop app processes files on your own computer, so nothing is sent to a server. Hosting region and certifications were not stated on the pages read, so the vendor's policy was not checked for those points.
Where Upscayl falls short in practice
- Cloud price is vague. The $24.99 Pro figure has no billing period or currency code on the page, and most subscription credit tiers from 100 to 5,000 per month carry no published price.
- Credits vanish on cancellation. Subscription credits do not roll over after you cancel and are lost, so stockpiling credits before leaving a plan does not work as a workaround.
- Quality depends on your hardware. The desktop app uses your own graphics card. Older machines may be slow or run out of memory on large files, which pushes you toward paid cloud credits.
- Cloud trial is gated. The free cloud trial needs a login and an application, so it is not an instant test of the cloud pipeline on your own difficult files.
Works with
Alternatives to Upscayl
Upscayl: common questions
Is Upscayl really free?
The desktop app is free and open source for Linux, macOS and Windows. The cloud service is separate: a trial with 10 credits requires an application, Cloud Pro is $24.99 with 300 credits per month, and a custom tier is quoted by contact. The licence name was not confirmed on the pages read.
What is the difference between the Upscayl desktop app and Upscayl Cloud?
The desktop app runs on your own computer and costs nothing. Cloud runs on the vendor's servers, bills in credits, supports output up to 256MP on Pro and adds storage and AI image generation. Choose cloud when your graphics card cannot handle the file size you need.
Does Upscayl use my images to train AI models?
The cloud privacy policy states that uploads are not used to train models and that inputs are kept for about a day. The desktop app processes files locally, so it never sends them anywhere. Hosting region and security certifications were not stated on the pages read in November 2026.
How many credits does Upscayl Cloud Pro include?
Cloud Pro includes 300 credits per month, with rollover while the subscription is active, priority support, six months of storage and upscaling up to 256MP. Credits are lost after cancellation. The page shows a price of $24.99 without a billing period or currency code, so confirm both at checkout.
How large can Upscayl enlarge an image?
The home page advertises AI-powered upscaling up to 16x. For cloud output, the pricing page lists 256MP on Pro and 512MP on Business. Desktop limits depend on your own graphics hardware and are not published as a single figure on the site.