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Trevor.Dennis
Community Expert
Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 14, 2026
Question

Topaz Photo Ai Alternatives?

  • March 14, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 107 views

I have been using Topaz Photo Ai for a couple of years, and was super impressed right from the start.  At the end of the first year I was asked to pay for another year of updates, and decided to wait till some real changes in the app’s quality.  When I saw the Wonder model examples I thought the time to pay out had come, only to find they had switched to a subscription only payment model, with a commitment to a full year at significant cost!

I have found DXO PureRaw which gets good reviews and is attractively priced.  

I have also seen mention of OnOne NoNoise, and I know I can get similar sharp images from blurred originals with NB Gemini 3 so I love to hear if other people are in a similar position, or have experience with DXO Pure Raw or alternatives?

    1 reply

    AxelMatt
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 14, 2026

    I am in a similar situation. I came from Topaz SharpenAI and DenoiseAI which are great tools. Then both tools were integrated into PhotoAI which I’ve used a long time. Since last year Topaz released Topaz Photo and switched to a subscription only payment model. I'm currently benefiting from a low price, but that also means I can't use the full range of features.

    Yesterday I’ve take a look on my hard drive and see the the installation folder of Topaz Photo has a size of approx. 10GB. 

    I need and use only a little part (sharpening and sometimes denoising) of Topaz Photo. I have a lot of baggage that I don't need, and I'm even paying for it. 

    In the Topaz forum, I asked if it would be possible to offer a stripped-down version (e.g., only sharpening and noise reduction) at a lower price, as I don't need the other features.

    The only response I received was to cancel my subscription and go back to Topaz PhotoAI.

    I’m already use DxO’s PureRAW since it was released. Actual I’m use the recent version 6 and I’m very happy with this tool. It's amazing what this tool can bring out of noisy images.

    My solution for the future would be this: I'll use PureRAW for smoke removal and return to Topaz PhotoAI or SharpenAI for sharpening. I don’t renew the Topaz Photo subscription.

    I'll also try the sharpener from the Nik Collection; perhaps that's another option.

     

     

     

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
    Trevor.Dennis
    Community Expert
    Trevor.DennisCommunity ExpertAuthor
    Community Expert
    March 16, 2026

    This is my second try at answering this after losing a long reply yesterday. Grrrrrr :-(.   Fingers crossed.

    Axel, I can see you have been using Topaz for a good while.  I have licenses for Adjust, Simplify, Glow and Clean.  I was on the brink of committing to a year of Topaz Photo, and considering Studio for the video apps, but it’s a bit of money.   Just how good is the Wonder 2 model?  The examples are impressive, albeit a tad overdone (plastic looking in some areas).

    I’ve had some impossible results sharpening blurry images with NB Gemini 3 using a simple quote (change focus making everything sharp), but it arbitrarily replaces areas.  Does Topaz do the same with eyes and mouths, for instance?

    Fortunately, I am away from home till early April, with limited bandwidth, and don’t have the option of installing it on the laptop I have with me.  So, I am going to hold back on Topaz, and get DXO PureRAW when I can, and also give Ged’s suggestion a try.  Like you said, we’ll always have Photo Ai.

    I’d still love to know:

    • Other alternatives to Topaz Ai
    • Real world examples of Topaz Wonder 2 model
    • Where we’ll be natively with Photoshop in the coming months. Obviously have to wait for that answer.

    Thanks for your thoughts guys.

    AxelMatt
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 16, 2026

    ​@Trevor.Dennis I don’t have use functions as Wonder in Topaz Photo. So I don’t have any experience. At the moment I don’t see any cases for using Wonder and similar functions.

    If I really need to upscale a photo, I can resort to Gigapixel AI or Lightroom.

    I use only Topaz Photo for sharpening and denoising. Topaz Photo delivered good results here.

    The results from PureRAW are just as good, if not better. I think for denoising is a good alternative. 

    A alternative for sharpening can be the Sharpener from the Nik Collection. I’ve done some tests and the results are good, but the handling of Topaz Photo (AI) is much easier.

     

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
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