Yes, AI can now repair creases, scratches and stains, sharpen soft faces and colorize black and white prints in one click. For most families we recommend Let's Enhance: its Old Photo mode repairs damage and colorizes, you can try it with 10 free credits, and paid plans start at $9 a month billed yearly. Always keep your original scan and compare faces before you share the restored copy.
One click restoration works well on typical faded and scratched prints today. Badly torn photos and tiny faces still need manual work, and every tool can invent detail, so the original scan stays the record.- Our pickLet's Enhance10 free credits (watermarked); Starter $9/month billed yearly, $12 monthly
- Best for faces and sharp detailTopaz Labs (Gigapixel)Topaz for Web Image $12/month or $109/year
- Easiest on a phoneReminiNot published; App Store reviewers report weekly plans over $10/week
- Upgrade pickAdobe PhotoshopPhotography plan $19.99/month on an annual plan
Let's Enhance: our pick
Best for most people restoring a box of faded, creased family prints in a browser.
Let's Enhance has a dedicated Old Photo mode. You choose it in the operations panel and click Enhance, and Let's Enhance says it repairs creases, scratches, tears and stains on damaged or faded photos and can colorize black and white originals Let's Enhance Old Photo ↗. An Authentic toggle controls color: on keeps the original look, off produces more natural colorization Let's Enhance restoration guide ↗.
The restored photo comes out as a clean 1 megapixel image, which is fine on a screen but small for a print Let's Enhance restoration guide ↗. Let's Enhance suggests running the result through its Prime upscaler, which enlarges 2 to 16 times Let's Enhance restoration guide ↗. Each run gives slightly different results, so the company suggests trying the same photo two or three times and keeping the best Let's Enhance Old Photo ↗ Let's Enhance restoration guide ↗. Files must be under 20 MB Let's Enhance Old Photo ↗. Let's Enhance says its model preserves identity, gender and age; that is the vendor's claim, so compare faces with your original Let's Enhance restoration guide ↗.
Pricing is simple. You get 10 free credits on signup, with watermarked results Let's Enhance pricing ↗. Starter costs $9 a month billed yearly or $12 monthly for 100 credits, Pro $24 a month billed yearly for 300 credits and Max $34 for 500 Let's Enhance pricing ↗. Unused credits roll over, up to 600 on Starter Let's Enhance pricing ↗. The help article does not say how many credits a restoration costs, so check your balance after the first photo Let's Enhance Old Photo ↗.
Why we like Let's Enhance
- One click repair of creases, scratches, tears and stains
- Colorizes black and white photos, with an Authentic option
- 10 free credits to try
- Credits roll over on paid plans
Where Let's Enhance falls short
- Restored output is only 1 megapixel before upscaling
- Free results are watermarked
- Credit cost per restoration not published
- Results vary from run to run
Topaz Labs (Gigapixel): best for faces and sharp detail
Best for blurry and soft photos where the faces matter most.
Topaz Labs built its name on sharpening and upscaling, and its web restoration tool now targets old photos directly. Topaz says it fixes blurriness, removes dust and damage, sharpens details and colorizes, and repairs fading and soft faces, with no editing experience needed Topaz photo restoration ↗. Topaz folded its Mosaic restoration app into Topaz Image Web, which includes Photo Restoration, a Face Enhancer that adds lost detail to faces, and Colorize Photos Topaz Mosaic ↗.
Topaz for Web Image costs $12 a month or $109 a year, with unlimited image rendering and exports up to 32 megapixels Topaz pricing ↗. That is enough for a large print of most family photos. The lower Topaz plans allow commercial use only for organizations under $1 million in yearly revenue, which does not matter for family use Topaz pricing ↗. Topaz says results come with no watermarks Topaz photo restoration ↗.
If you also want desktop software that keeps files on your computer, Topaz Photo costs $39 a month and Gigapixel $29 a month, both with unlimited local rendering Topaz pricing ↗. The pricing page does not mention a free trial Topaz pricing ↗.
Why we like Topaz Labs (Gigapixel)
- Restoration, face enhancement and colorizing in one web app
- Unlimited image rendering on the $12 web plan
- Exports up to 32 megapixels
- Desktop apps available if you want local processing
Where Topaz Labs (Gigapixel) falls short
- No free trial mentioned on the pricing page
- Desktop apps cost more than the web plan
- Mosaic users have been moved to a new app
Remini: easiest on a phone
Best for a quick fix of a blurry face from a phone photo of an old print.
Remini is the app most people find first. It has a 4.6 out of 5 rating from about 349,000 ratings on Apple's App Store Remini on the App Store ↗. Its photo restorer focuses on faces: Remini says its AI identifies faces and features even in blurry group photos from decades ago, and it removes blur, sharpens and cleans up grain Remini restorer ↗. Colorizing is a separate Color Fixer tool Remini restorer ↗. Reviews come from iPhone, Android and web users Remini restorer ↗.
Watch the billing. Remini's site and App Store page do not publish prices Remini restorer ↗ Remini on the App Store ↗. App Store reviewers report a weekly subscription of more than $10 a week Remini on the App Store ↗. Remini's terms allow weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly plans that renew until you cancel, say that deleting the app does not cancel, and say that cancelling mid period does not give a refund Remini terms ↗. Check the plan length on the purchase screen before you tap subscribe.
On privacy, the terms say your input and output images are yours, and that Remini uses content to improve its machine learning models only with your prior consent Remini terms ↗.
Why we like Remini
- Strong face focused restoration
- Works on iPhone, Android and web
- Very widely used, 4.6 stars on the App Store
Where Remini falls short
- Prices not published; reviewers report weekly billing
- No refunds for cancelling mid period
- Scratch and tear repair not described
- Colorizing is a separate tool
Adobe Photoshop: upgrade pick
Best for badly torn or stained photos that need AI plus hands on repair.
Photoshop combines AI filters with the manual tools a retoucher uses. Its Photo Restoration neural filter has sliders for image enhancement, face enhancement and scratch reduction, and Adobe pitches it as a one step way to bring vintage photos back Photoshop restoration ↗. The Colorize filter adds color, and Adobe suggests running it on a flattened copy and setting that layer to the Color blend mode Photoshop restoration ↗. For what the filters miss, Adobe recommends the Spot Healing Brush and Clone Stamp Photoshop restoration ↗.
Photo Restoration is still listed as a beta filter, while Colorize is a featured filter that lets you add focal points to guide the color in specific areas Photoshop neural filters ↗. Adobe says most neural filters run locally once downloaded, which keeps family photos on your computer Photoshop neural filters ↗.
The Photography plan, with Photoshop and Lightroom, is $19.99 a month on an annual plan and includes 1,000 generative credits; Photoshop alone is $22.99 a month Photoshop plans ↗. Both have a 7 day free trial Photoshop plans ↗. Expect a learning curve: this is the tool for the ten photos that matter most, not the whole shoebox.
Why we like Adobe Photoshop
- Scratch reduction and face enhancement sliders
- Colorize with focal points for control
- Manual healing and cloning for real tears
- Most neural filters run on your computer
Where Adobe Photoshop falls short
- Photo Restoration filter is still in beta
- Annual plan commitment
- Takes time to learn
Compare them
| Tool | Starting price | Free option | Scratch and tear repair | Face restoration | Colorize | Runs on | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Let's EnhanceOur pick | $9/mo billed yearly | 10 credits, watermarked | Yes, Old Photo mode | Vendor says identity is preserved | Yes, with Authentic toggle | Web | Most family photos |
| Topaz Labs (Gigapixel)Best for faces and sharp detail | $12/mo (Image Web) | Not stated | Dust and damage removal | Yes, Face Enhancer | Yes | Web, iPhone; desktop apps extra | Blurry faces and print size output |
| ReminiEasiest on a phone | Not published | Not stated | Not described | Yes, face focused | Separate Color Fixer tool | iPhone, Android, web | Quick phone fixes |
| Adobe PhotoshopUpgrade pick | $19.99/mo with Lightroom, annual plan | 7 day trial | Scratch reduction filter plus healing tools | Yes, face enhancement slider | Yes, Colorize filter | Desktop, filters run locally | Badly damaged photos |
| Aiarty Image Enhancer | $59/yr; $109 lifetime (sale prices) | Trial with limited exports | Not claimed | Yes, adjustable strength | Not claimed | Windows, Mac, offline | Offline blur and grain cleanup |
| Upscayl | Free | Free, open source | No | No, out of scope | No | Desktop | Enlarging after restoration |
Prices and features from each vendor’s site, checked Oct 9, 2026. Prices change often.
Who this is for
This guide is for anyone holding old family photos: faded color prints from the 1970s, black and white portraits with creases and cracks, water stained snapshots, or a blurry photo of a grandparent that you want to frame. It is also for family historians who want clean copies to share without losing what the original shows.
Our AI image upscaler guide answers a different question: how to make a decent image bigger. Restoration is a different job. You need a tool that repairs physical damage such as scratches, tears and stains, rebuilds soft faces, restores faded color or adds color, and does it without changing who is in the picture. Upscaling alone does not do that. Upscayl, a strong free upscaler, does not offer face restoration at all, and its maintainers say it is out of scope Upscayl face restoration ↗.
The stakes are also different. A product photo that looks a bit off can be reshot. A great grandmother's only portrait cannot, so we weighted faithfulness above polish.
Why you should trust us
We read each vendor's product pages, help articles, pricing pages and terms, and checked every price on October 12, 2026. We read the Library of Congress guide to scanning personal collections Library of Congress scanning ↗ and PetaPixel's report on an AI restoration tool that changed faces in family photos PetaPixel ↗. Every fact links to its source.
No vendor paid for placement, and our picks were chosen on merit.
How we picked
We started with the restoration tools that come up most for old photos: one click web tools, phone apps, desktop enhancers and full editors. We looked for tools that name the jobs restoration needs, not just enlargement.
Faithfulness came first. A tool that makes a face sharper but changes its shape fails this job, so we favored tools with controls, such as Let's Enhance's Authentic toggle Let's Enhance restoration guide ↗ and Photoshop's adjustable sliders Photoshop restoration ↗, and we flagged vendor claims about preserving identity as claims. We also weighed billing honesty, because restoration is often a one time project and a weekly subscription can run for months unnoticed Remini terms ↗.
- Repairs physical damage: scratches, creases, tears and stains
- Restores faces without changing who they are
- Colorizes, with a way to keep the original look
- Output large enough to print
- Clear prices and easy cancellation
- Privacy: where your photos go and whether they train AI
- Independent reports where they exist
Scan it right before you restore it
AI works best on a good scan. The Library of Congress suggests scanning 4 by 6 and 5 by 7 inch photos at 300 dpi, and at 400 or 600 dpi if you plan to enlarge them to 8 by 10 or larger Library of Congress scanning ↗. For color photos you plan to reprint, save at high quality Library of Congress scanning ↗. A phone photo of a print in a frame, with glare and a tilt, gives the AI less to work with and more to guess.
Keep two copies of your scans in separate places, with consistent file names, as the Library of Congress recommends Library of Congress scanning ↗. Then restore a copy, never the master file. The untouched scan is your family's record, and the AI version is an interpretation of it.
- Scan at 300 dpi for small prints, 600 dpi if you will enlarge
- Remove the photo from frames and sleeves to avoid glare
- Keep the untouched scan in two places
- Restore a copy, then compare it side by side with the original
What AI photo restoration can and can't do today
It can reliably clean dust, grain and fine scratches, fix faded color and sharpen soft faces on typical prints. Let's Enhance and Topaz both name damage repair, faces and colorizing in their restoration tools Let's Enhance Old Photo ↗ Topaz photo restoration ↗.
It can colorize, but the colors are a guess. Let's Enhance says its model infers the period and setting to pick colors Let's Enhance restoration guide ↗. A blue dress may come out red. If the real colors matter, use a tool with control, such as Photoshop's Colorize focal points Photoshop neural filters ↗, or keep the black and white version.
It can change faces. PetaPixel found that one AI restoration tool redrew family photos, adding hair, makeup and teeth and changing apparent ages until people were hard to recognize, especially when faces were small PetaPixel ↗. The lesson applies to every tool here: compare faces with the original, and turn face enhancement down or off for tiny faces in group shots.
It cannot rebuild what is missing. A large tear across a face or a missing corner needs manual repair, and anything the AI fills in is invented. Aiarty, for example, says its own software is not the best for repainting seriously damaged photos Aiarty restoration ↗.
Before you sign up
Do the cost math for your project. Restoring 100 family photos is a one time job for most people. On Let's Enhance, one month of Starter at $12 gives 100 credits Let's Enhance pricing ↗; on Topaz for Web Image, one month at $12 gives unlimited image rendering Topaz pricing ↗. Cancel when you are done. On subscription apps, check the billing period first: Remini's terms allow weekly plans that renew until you cancel, with no refund for a partial period Remini terms ↗.
Check where your photos go. Web tools upload your images. Photoshop's neural filters mostly run on your computer Photoshop neural filters ↗, and Aiarty runs offline on Windows and Mac Aiarty pricing ↗. Remini's terms say it uses your content to improve its models only with your consent Remini terms ↗.
- Try the free credits or trial on your hardest photo first
- Pay for one month, finish the project, then cancel
- Check the billing period before subscribing in a phone app
- Compare restored faces with the original scan
- Label restored and colorized copies when you share them
What to look forward to
Restoration is being folded into larger apps. Topaz moved its Mosaic restoration tools into Topaz Image Web, alongside face enhancement and colorizing Topaz Mosaic ↗. Adobe still lists Photoshop's Photo Restoration filter as a beta Photoshop neural filters ↗, so expect it to improve.
We expect more tools to add controls that limit how much AI changes faces, after reports like PetaPixel's showed what happens without them PetaPixel ↗.
The competition
Aiarty Image Enhancer$109 one time lifetime license for 3 PCs or 3 Macs (sale; regular $155)
Aiarty Image Enhancer runs offline on Windows and Mac and sells a $59 yearly license or a $109 lifetime license at sale prices, down from $85 and $155, with a 30 day money back guarantee Aiarty pricing ↗. Aiarty says it removes blur, grain and artifacts and has adjustable face restoration, but it does not claim scratch repair or colorizing and admits it is not the best for seriously damaged photos Aiarty restoration ↗.
UpscaylFree (desktop app)
Upscayl is a free, open source upscaler and a good last step for enlarging a restored photo. Its maintainers say face restoration is currently not in the scope of the project, so it will not fix damaged faces on its own Upscayl face restoration ↗.
Questions people ask
Can AI restore old damaged photos?
Yes, for typical damage. Let's Enhance's Old Photo mode repairs creases, scratches, tears and stains and can colorize black and white originals Let's Enhance Old Photo ↗, and Topaz's web tool removes dust and damage and repairs soft faces Topaz photo restoration ↗. Large tears across faces still need manual work in an editor like Photoshop Photoshop restoration ↗.
Is there a free AI photo restoration tool?
Let's Enhance gives 10 free credits on signup, with watermarked results Let's Enhance pricing ↗. Aiarty has a trial with limited exports Aiarty pricing ↗. Upscayl is fully free but only enlarges and does not restore faces Upscayl face restoration ↗. For an unwatermarked project, one month of Let's Enhance Starter costs $12 Let's Enhance pricing ↗.
Does AI photo restoration change faces?
It can. PetaPixel reported that an AI restoration tool from ON1 redrew family photos, adding hair, makeup and teeth and changing apparent ages PetaPixel ↗. Let's Enhance says its model preserves identity, but that is a vendor claim Let's Enhance restoration guide ↗. Keep your original scan and compare faces before you share.
Can AI colorize black and white photos accurately?
AI colorizing looks natural but the colors are a guess. Let's Enhance says it infers the period and setting to pick colors, and offers an Authentic toggle to keep the original look Let's Enhance restoration guide ↗. Photoshop's Colorize filter lets you add focal points to guide color in specific areas Photoshop neural filters ↗.
What resolution should I scan old photos at?
The Library of Congress suggests 300 dpi for 4 by 6 and 5 by 7 inch photos, and 400 or 600 dpi if you plan to enlarge them to 8 by 10 or larger Library of Congress scanning ↗. A good scan gives tools like Let's Enhance more real detail and less to guess Let's Enhance Old Photo ↗.
How much does Remini cost?
Remini does not publish prices on its restorer page or App Store listing Remini restorer ↗ Remini on the App Store ↗. App Store reviewers report weekly plans of more than $10 a week Remini on the App Store ↗. Its terms allow weekly to yearly plans that auto renew, and deleting the app does not cancel Remini terms ↗.
Where this comes from
Checked Oct 9, 2026. Vendor pages describe their own products; independent sources add outside views. Built from 17 sources: the makers' own pages plus independent reviews and user reports. We have not run our own hands on test yet; if we do, the results will appear here.
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