Tools / AI Video Enhancers & Upscalers
Topaz Video
Desktop AI upscaling and restoration for low-quality footage
Disclosure: the Visit Topaz Video button may be an affiliate link — it supports the directory at no extra cost to you. Saving is private: it is stored only in your browser.
Facts checked · Nov 2026 — the pricing, free-plan and watermark facts on this page were checked against Topaz Video's official pages. See how we verify and the listing changelog.
Price alerts for Topaz Video
AI video tools change prices and credit rules without warning — Kling has raised prices roughly 3× before. Get emailed when Topaz Video's price, credits or free plan changes.
Our verdict
The quality benchmark for rescuing footage: desktop AI upscaling and restoration that runs on your own machine — demanding hardware, and no use at all if you need footage created.
Topaz Video at a glance
| Starting price | Topaz Video from $59/month (subscription) |
| Pricing type | Paid |
| Free plan | No — paid or trial only |
| Category | AI Video Enhancers & Upscalers |
What Topaz Video really costs
Topaz has moved from one-off license pricing to subscriptions, and its model is simple once you see it: you are renting the models, not the minutes. The Topaz Video plan includes unlimited local rendering, so the marginal cost of one more clip is your electricity and your time — there is no credits-per-second trap and no benefit in counting retakes. A small bundle of cloud video credits (25 a month on Topaz Video) covers jobs you choose to send to Topaz's servers instead.
Because local rendering is unlimited, per-minute cost cards would be meaningless, so none are published. The real cost calculation is hardware: a subscription on a slow machine produces slow masters, and heavy users should budget for the GPU before the plan. The web tier is the exception — it runs on monthly cloud credits (200 included), so cloud users should treat credits as their budget line.
Plan figures are from Topaz Labs' official pricing page, checked Nov 2026. Local rendering is unlimited on paid desktop plans, so no per-minute rate applies.
What is Topaz Video?
Topaz Video is desktop software for improving video that already exists. Its models upscale low-resolution footage to modern delivery sizes, sharpen soft images, remove noise, restore damaged or aged material and interpolate frames for smoother motion. Archivists use it to rescue old recordings; creators use it to lift phone or screen footage to a standard clients accept; production teams use it as a finishing step before delivery.
The defining choice is local processing. Your footage never has to leave your machine, rendering is unlimited once you subscribe, and there is no queue behind other customers — but your graphics card decides how fast a job finishes, and a weak one makes high-resolution work painfully slow. Topaz also sells cloud options, including a web video tier, but the product in our listing is the desktop application, and local rendering is still its center of gravity.
How Topaz Video works
- 1Download the trial first and test it on your own machine — the trial output is watermarked, but it tells you your real rendering speed, which no spec sheet can.
- 2Import the footage you want to rescue and preview a short section before committing to a full render.
- 3Choose an enhancement model for the job — upscaling, denoise and restoration, or frame interpolation for smoother motion — and set your output resolution.
- 4Render a short test segment and inspect it at full size; enhancement artefacts hide in previews and show in exports.
- 5Queue the full job, using batch processing when you have several clips with the same problems.
- 6Export the finished master and keep your settings noted, so matching footage later can be processed identically.
Core features
AI upscaling
Raise footage to higher resolutions for modern delivery. The desktop plan includes a library of video models — the pricing page lists names such as Proteus, Iris, Rhea and the Starlight family among them.
Restoration and denoise models
Models aimed at grainy, noisy or aged sources clean the image while upscaling, which is the archive-rescue work Topaz is best known for.
Frame interpolation
Generate intermediate frames for smoother motion or slow-motion effects, with models the pricing page lists under names such as Apollo and Chronos.
Unlimited local rendering
On the Topaz Video plan, local rendering is unlimited — your constraint is your hardware and your time, not a credit meter. The plan also includes a small monthly allowance of cloud video credits (25).
Batch processing
Queue multiple clips with consistent settings, the practical way to bring a whole archive or a season of footage up to one standard.
Cloud and web options
Beyond the desktop app, Topaz sells a web video tier with monthly cloud credits, and its Studio bundle combines all apps with a larger cloud allowance — useful when a job outgrows your machine.
The free plan — the full truth
There is no free plan for Topaz Video, and our listing is blunt about the alternative: a trial is available, and trial output is watermarked. Treat the trial as a hardware test rather than a quality sample alone — because rendering is local, the most important thing it tells you is how long your own machine takes on footage like yours.
That watermark is the honest limit of free use: you can verify that the models fix your footage and that your GPU keeps up, but nothing from the trial is publishable. Given that the paid product's value is unlimited local rendering, the trial answers the only real pre-purchase question — whether your computer is up to the work — before you spend anything.
- • No free plan — paid software with a trial
- • Trial output is watermarked and not publishable
- • Rendering speed depends entirely on your own GPU
- • Local rendering is unlimited on paid plans; cloud credits are a small monthly allowance
- • Enhancement only — the software cannot create footage that does not exist
Topaz Video pricing plans
| Plan | Price | Credits included | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topaz Video | $59/month | Unlimited local rendering; 25 monthly cloud video credits; full video model library | The desktop product in our listing — regular upscaling and restoration on your own machine |
| Topaz for Web — Video | $19/month | 200 monthly cloud video credits; web video workflows (upscale, interpolation, slow motion, SDR to HDR) | Occasional cloud enhancement without installing the desktop app |
| Topaz Studio | $399/year ($69/month on monthly billing) | All Topaz apps including Topaz Video; unlimited local rendering; 300 monthly cloud video credits | Professionals who also need Topaz's photo tools and a bigger cloud allowance |
Plan figures are from Topaz Labs' official pricing page, checked Nov 2026. Topaz previously sold this software under license pricing and now sells these products as subscriptions — our listing has been updated to match — and the pricing page states the listed tiers carry limited commercial use for organizations under $1M annual revenue, with higher tiers offering full commercial use.
Pros
- + Upscaling and restoration quality that cloud rivals struggle to match
- + Unlimited local rendering — no credit meter running while you work
- + Footage stays on your machine, which matters for private and client material
- + Batch processing makes whole-archive rescue practical
- + A watermarked trial still tells you your true rendering speed before paying
Cons
- − Needs a capable GPU; on weak hardware, renders crawl
- − No free plan — the trial is watermarked
- − It enhances footage only; it cannot generate a missing shot
- − Pricing has shifted to subscriptions, which one-off-license buyers may resent
- − Cloud credit allowances are small next to the unlimited local offer
Best for
- ✓ Archivists and creators restoring old or low-resolution footage
- ✓ Production teams upscaling deliverables to modern resolutions
- ✓ Users with a strong GPU who enhance video regularly
- ✓ Anyone whose footage cannot leave their machine for privacy reasons
Not ideal for
- ✕ Generating new video content from prompts or scripts
- ✕ Users on laptops without a capable graphics card
- ✕ One-off jobs where a cloud credit tool is cheaper than a subscription
Topaz Video alternatives
See all alternatives →TensorPix is the direct alternative in this category and the better pick when your machine is the problem: it enhances in the cloud from any browser, with credits that roll over for up to a year. AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI is the other desktop option, worth comparing for face refinement and colorization of old footage. Choose Topaz when quality and local control matter most and your GPU can carry the work; choose TensorPix when you would rather rent the hardware by the credit.
TensorPix enhances and upscales video in the cloud, targeting creators and businesses with low-quality archives or user-generated footage. Browser-based processing makes it accessible without a powerful local GPU.
AVCLabs Video Enhancer AI is downloadable software that upscales and restores video, including face refinement and colorization of old footage. It suits users who prefer a one-off desktop tool over cloud subscriptions.
HitPaw VikPea (formerly HitPaw Video Enhancer) is a Windows and Mac desktop app that repairs and upscales video with a picker of specialist AI models — portrait, general restoration, anime, denoise, color and more. It adds frame interpolation, stabilization, colorizing and SDR-to-HDR conversion, with optional cloud rendering and an API for developers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Topaz Video free?
No. It is paid software with no free plan. A trial is available, but trial output is watermarked, so use it to judge quality and your machine's rendering speed rather than to produce finished work.
How does Topaz Video pricing work?
As subscriptions, per Topaz's pricing page: Topaz Video is $59/month with unlimited local rendering and 25 monthly cloud credits; a web video tier is $19/month with 200 cloud credits; the Studio bundle is $399/year with all apps and 300 cloud credits.
Does Topaz Video run in the cloud?
Primarily it is desktop software processing on your hardware. Topaz also sells cloud options — a web video tier and cloud credits inside its plans — for jobs you prefer not to render locally.
Can Topaz fix very old or noisy footage?
That is its core use: denoise and restoration models work alongside upscaling. Results depend on the source — it improves damaged footage substantially but cannot invent detail that was never recorded.
Topaz Video or TensorPix?
Topaz processes locally with a higher quality ceiling and unlimited rendering, but needs your GPU. TensorPix runs in the cloud with rollover credits and no hardware demands. Your machine and your volume decide it.
What computer do I need for Topaz Video?
A capable graphics card is the practical requirement — rendering speed scales with your GPU. The watermarked trial is the reliable test: run your own footage on your own machine before subscribing.