Topaz Gigapixel alternative for occasional upscaling

Topaz Labs makes some of the most capable upscaling software available. Gigapixel offers a long list of models for different kinds of images, including generative models that redraw detail and a dedicated face recovery model, scales up to 16×, and runs locally on Windows and macOS with unlimited processing. It is now part of a family that also includes web and iPhone apps.

For photographers, studios and anyone who upscales every week, that control and unlimited local rendering are worth the price. If you need faces in small or old photos brought back, Topaz has a tool for it and we do not: we have no face model, and ours are not designed to reconstruct faces.

Topaz sells its apps as subscriptions. When we checked, Gigapixel on its own was $149 a year, and Topaz Studio, which bundles all their apps, was $69 a month or $399 a year. Topaz's documentation says trial versions of Gigapixel cannot save images and that refunds are available within 7 days.

If you need to enlarge a handful of photos for a print or two, that is a lot of software. PhotoRescue Pro costs $9.99 for a month with 200 credits, which you can cancel, and 3 credits a day are free without an account, so you can check the result on your own photo before paying anything.

We offer three main models and no settings. Enhance repairs grainy, smeared and chat-app-compressed phone photos at the same size. Upscale 4× and Upscale 8× enlarge photos up to 80 MP, and our print calculator tells you which one a print needs.

It runs in the browser, so it works the same on a phone, a Chromebook or an old laptop. The flip side: you cannot tune it, there is no face model, no 16×, and photos are processed on our servers (and deleted within 24 hours) rather than on your machine.

Benchmarks on someone else's pictures tell you little about yours. A fair test takes ten minutes:

1. Pick two or three photos you actually need to fix: the small one, the noisy one, the one with a face or text.
2. Run each through Topaz Gigapixel and through PhotoRescue at the same scale. Our free plan needs no account; results carry a watermark, which does not get in the way of judging quality.
3. Open both results side by side at 100% zoom, not fitted to the screen. Look at edges, faces, foliage and any lettering.
4. Ask two questions: does it look natural, and is it still the same photo? Extra crispness that changes a face or invents letters is not an improvement.