# Best photo restoration software (2026)

> The best photo restoration software depends on how many photos you fix and how much control you want. One-click AI: Kenerate AI (Phota Enhance) — up to 4K, no subscription, no watermark; MyHeritage Photo Repair for family-tree users; Remini for phones on a weekly plan; VanceAI for batch work on Windows. Manual control: Photoshop's Photo Restoration filter (subscription) or GIMP's Heal tool (free).

URL: https://kenerateai.com/best-photo-restoration-software
Publisher: Kenerate AI (https://kenerateai.com)
Last updated: 26 September 2026

## Key facts
- Tools compared: 9
- Fastest: One-click AI (under a minute)
- Free manual option: GIMP Heal tool
- Checked: 26 September 2026

## Steps
1. Scan the print well first — Scan at 300 ppi for 4×6 and 5×7 prints, 400–600 ppi if you'll enlarge them, and keep the untouched scan.
2. Decide how much control you need — One-click AI tools (Kenerate, Remini, MyHeritage) for speed; Photoshop or GIMP when you want to fix every scratch by hand.
3. Check how you pay — One-time credits for a few family photos; a subscription only if you restore every week.
4. Test the same photo in two tools — Compare faces at 100% — does the person still look like themselves?

## In depth

### Why AI restoration took off
MyHeritage's Photo Enhancer processed a million photos in about ten days after it launched in June 2020 [1]; the company later added Photo Repair for scratches and tears, licensed from the DeOldify project [2]. Google made Photo Unblur free for every Google Photos user in 2024 [3]. Restoration went from a specialist retouching job to a one-tap feature in four years.

### What the AI is actually doing
Face-restoration research such as GFPGAN rebuilds eyes, skin and hair from a learned “face prior” [4]; scratch and stain removal is inpainting, filling damaged areas from their surroundings [5]. Both are educated guesses — excellent for family albums, but compare faces with the original before you print.

### Keep the original scan
Archival guidelines keep master scans untouched: FADGI says dust removal and colour restoration belong on a separate copy, never the master file [6]. Whatever tool you choose, restore a copy.

References:
[1] MyHeritage — Photo Enhancer: one million photos enhanced (2020): https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/06/myheritage-photo-enhancer-goes-viral-one-million-photos-already-enhanced/
[2] MyHeritage — Introducing Photo Repair (2021): https://blog.myheritage.com/2021/05/introducing-photo-repair-new-feature-to-automatically-fix-scratched-and-damaged-photos/
[3] Google — Photos editing features for everyone (2024): https://blog.google/products/photos/google-photos-editing-features-availability/
[4] Wang et al. — GFPGAN (CVPR 2021): https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.04061
[5] Bertalmio et al. — Image Inpainting (SIGGRAPH 2000): https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/344779.344972
[6] FADGI — Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials (2023): https://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/guidelines/FADGI%20Technical%20Guidelines%20for%20Digitizing%20Cultural%20Heritage%20Materials_3rd%20Edition_05092023.pdf

## FAQ
Q: What is the best photo restoration software?
A: For most people restoring a handful of family photos, a one-click AI tool is best: Kenerate's Phota Enhance works up to 4K with no subscription, MyHeritage suits genealogy users, and Remini suits phone users on a plan. For full manual control, Photoshop's Photo Restoration filter plus healing tools is the professional choice; GIMP is the free manual option.

Q: What is the best free photo restoration software?
A: GIMP is completely free for manual repairs. Hotpot.ai offers free restorations for non-commercial use. Kenerate, VanceAI, Let's Enhance and MyHeritage give some free credits or uses to try before paying.

Q: Can AI colourise black-and-white photos too?
A: Some tools do it as a separate feature — MyHeritage In Color, VanceAI and Picsart offer colorizing. Kenerate's Phota Enhance keeps black-and-white photos black-and-white but restores the colour of faded colour prints.

Q: Is Photoshop better than AI tools for restoration?
A: Photoshop gives the most control and the Photo Restoration filter speeds up the start, but a heavily damaged photo can still take hours by hand. AI tools finish in under a minute; check faces and fine detail either way.

Q: Do restoration tools keep my photos private?
A: Policies differ by vendor. On Kenerate, uploads and results are saved to your own private history.

## Related pages
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- Anime upscaler: https://kenerateai.com/anime-upscaler
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- Remove glare from photo: https://kenerateai.com/remove-glare-from-photo
- Restore old photos: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-restore-old-photos
- Denoise photos: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-denoise-photos
- Increase image resolution: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-increase-resolution-of-an-image
- Sharpen an image in Photoshop: https://kenerateai.com/how-to-sharpen-an-image-in-photoshop
- All upscaler alternatives: https://kenerateai.com/image-upscaler-alternatives
- Remini alternative: https://kenerateai.com/remini-alternative
- Let's Enhance alternative: https://kenerateai.com/lets-enhance-alternative
- upscale.media alternative: https://kenerateai.com/upscale-media-alternative
- Upscayl online: https://kenerateai.com/upscayl-online
- Bigjpg alternative: https://kenerateai.com/bigjpg-alternative
- VanceAI alternative: https://kenerateai.com/vanceai-alternative
- waifu2x alternative: https://kenerateai.com/waifu2x-alternative
- Magnific AI alternative: https://kenerateai.com/magnific-ai-alternative
- Topaz Labs alternative: https://kenerateai.com/alternatives/topazlabs-alternative

## Sources
- Kenerate AI (Phota Enhance): https://kenerateai.com/photo-restoration
- Adobe Photoshop — Photo Restoration filter: https://www.dpreview.com/news/3423100060/video-see-photoshop-s-new-photo-restoration-neural-filter-in-action
- MyHeritage Photo Repair & Enhancer: https://blog.myheritage.com/2021/05/introducing-photo-repair-new-feature-to-automatically-fix-scratched-and-damaged-photos/
- Remini: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/remini-ai-photo-enhancer/id1470373330
- VanceAI Photo Restorer: https://vanceai.com/old-photo-restoration/
- Let's Enhance (Old Photo mode): https://letsenhance.io/
- Hotpot.ai: https://hotpot.ai/restore-picture
- Picsart Photo Restoration: https://picsart.com/ai-image-enhancer/photo-restoration/
- GIMP (Heal tool): https://docs.gimp.org/2.10/en/gimp-tool-heal.html