Upscale Chat

Topaz Gigapixel vs Magnific vs Upscayl: which image upscaler should you use?

Choose Upscayl if you have a computer with a Vulkan-compatible graphics card and no software budget: it is free, open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence, and runs the Real-ESRGAN models on your own machine. Choose Topaz Gigapixel if you upscale client work regularly and want unlimited rendering on your own computer: Gigapixel Personal costs $29 a month billed monthly or $149 a year billed annually, upscales up to 6x, and allows commercial use for organisations under $1M in annual revenue; larger studios need Gigapixel Pro for full commercial use. Choose Magnific if you also want image, video and audio generation and a stock library in the same subscription: Magnific Premium costs $20 a month billed monthly or $14.50 a month billed annually, with 240K credits a year, the Magnific upscalers and a commercial AI licence. Upscayl is the cheapest of the three. Over a year, Gigapixel Personal on the annual plan ($149) costs less than Magnific Premium on the annual plan ($174). Prices in US dollars from each vendor's own page, checked 9 November 2026. Upscale Chat sells none of these tools and is not paid by Topaz Labs, Magnific or the Upscayl project.

This comparison is for photographers, designers and small studios choosing one image upscaler. It covers Topaz Gigapixel, Magnific and Upscayl, the free desktop app built on Real-ESRGAN. Prices and features come from each vendor's own pricing page or repository, checked on 9 November 2026.

How much does each upscaler cost?

Upscayl is free and open source, released under the AGPL-3.0 licence, according to its GitHub repository. Real-ESRGAN, the model family Upscayl runs, is also free under the BSD-3-Clause licence (Real-ESRGAN repository).

Topaz Gigapixel Personal costs $29 per month billed monthly, $19 per month on the annual plan billed monthly for 12 months, or $149 per year billed annually, according to Topaz Labs' Gigapixel page (as of 9 November 2026). Gigapixel Pro costs $54 per month on the annual plan billed monthly.

Magnific Premium costs $20 per month billed monthly or $14.50 per month billed annually, according to Magnific's pricing page (as of 9 November 2026). Premium+ costs $45 per month billed monthly or $33.75 billed annually.

Which is cheapest over a year?

Upscayl is the cheapest at $0. Of the paid tools, Gigapixel Personal billed annually costs $149 a year, while Magnific Premium billed annually costs $14.50 × 12 = $174 a year, so Gigapixel is $25 cheaper. On monthly billing, Gigapixel Personal at $29 a month costs more than Magnific Premium at $20 a month.

Where does each upscaler run?

Upscayl runs on your own computer: Linux, macOS 12 and later, and Windows 10 and later. Upscayl needs a Vulkan-compatible graphics card, and its README warns that many integrated GPUs do not work (Upscayl repository). Topaz Gigapixel includes unlimited local rendering on your computer and unlimited cloud image rendering, with 2 cloud images at a time on Personal and 4 on Pro (Gigapixel page). Magnific's pricing page sells a yearly credit allowance (240K credits a year on Premium) for its image, video and audio models, with API access billed by credits; it does not list local rendering (Magnific pricing). All as of 9 November 2026.

How far can each tool enlarge an image?

Topaz Gigapixel can upscale almost any image 6x, according to the Gigapixel page. Real-ESRGAN's portable app supports upscale ratios of 2, 3 or 4, with 4 as the default, and its Python script can resize to any final scale with --outscale (Real-ESRGAN repository). Magnific's pricing page does not state a maximum upscale factor.

Can I use the results commercially?

Topaz Gigapixel Personal allows personal and commercial use only for organisations under $1M USD in annual revenue; Gigapixel Pro adds full commercial use and seat management (Gigapixel page, as of 9 November 2026). Magnific Premium includes a "Commercial AI license" and states no model training on your data (Magnific pricing). Upscayl and Real-ESRGAN have no paid tiers or revenue limits; their licences (AGPL-3.0 and BSD-3-Clause) cover the software itself.

Who Upscayl is for

Upscayl is for hobbyists and small shops with a capable graphics card and no software budget. It gives you the Real-ESRGAN models in a desktop app at no cost. Its main limit is hardware: without a Vulkan-compatible GPU it may not run, and the underlying Real-ESRGAN repository was last updated in August 2024, according to GitHub.

Who Topaz Gigapixel is for

Topaz Gigapixel is for photographers and studios who upscale client work every week and want unlimited rendering on their own machine, with specialist models such as Standard, High Fidelity, Low Res, Text & Shapes, Art & CG, Recover, Redefine and Face Recovery. Its main limit is the licence: once your organisation earns $1M or more a year, you need Gigapixel Pro.

Who Magnific is for

Magnific is for creatives who want upscaling as part of a wider generation toolkit. Magnific Premium includes the Magnific image and video upscalers, image, video and audio generation models, Spaces for shared workflows, and a library of more than 250M stock photos, videos, vectors and PSDs. Its main limit is the credit allowance: heavy upscaling draws down the 240K credits a year, and credits can be topped up at extra cost.

Where the other options win

Magnific beats Gigapixel if you also need stock assets and image, video and audio generation in the same subscription; Gigapixel only upscales. Gigapixel beats Magnific on yearly price for upscaling alone and on unlimited local rendering. Upscayl beats both on price, but neither of the paid tools needs you to supply your own compatible graphics card for cloud work.

How should I test them on my own images?

Vendor demos use friendly images, so build a test set from your hardest files: a portrait with fine hair, fabric with a visible weave, a noisy night scene, and small text on a sign. Run each tool on the same set and look for oversharpened halos, plastic-looking skin and invented letters. Then compare the time each file took and what a month of your real volume would cost.

Sources

Checked 9 November 2026:

Next step

Install Upscayl first, since it costs nothing, and run your four-image test set through it; if the results fall short on your hardest file, run the same set through a Gigapixel or Magnific subscription before you commit to a year.