Upscale an Image 2× Before You Buy a Larger Jump

When twice is the right amount

A 1600-pixel frame that needs to sit near 3000 is a 2× problem. A 400-pixel crop that needs to become a poster is not, and you should know that before you celebrate a clean slider. Write the target edge down. Divide by the edge you have. If the ratio is under two, 2× plus a crop may already be enough, and a larger mode is a way to spend credits on texture you will scale back down in the layout.

2× is the upscale guests can run, one credit, three repairs a day shared with denoise and unblur. No account and no card. The preview is full quality and has no watermark. The download on Guest and Free plan is capped at 3,200 px on the long edge, so a 2× of a 1200-pixel photo displays in the preview and downloads smaller than the model wrote. That is deliberate. The print file is the paid download.

Input limits still apply. A guest file can be 6 MB with a 2,000 px long edge. Free plan allows 8 MB and 2,560 px. You do not need Pro merely to try 2×. You need Pro for 4×, for face restore, for a batch of twelve, and for a download that is not capped. Studio is 8× and a batch of forty.

What 2× will not do

It will not read a letter that was four pixels tall. It will not put back an earring the crop never contained. It will not denoise a night photo by itself. If the defect is speckle, run denoise and then decide whether 2× is still required. If the defect is motion or missed focus, unblur is the other guest mode. Stacking them without looking is how a file gets a plastic face and a halo in one afternoon.

A finished 2× you dislike does not return the credit. A job that fails does. There is no subscription to refund on the free tool. If you later subscribe, you can cancel anytime and the fee is not refunded. Credits on paid plans do not roll over. The 2× result is deleted after 24 hours with the upload, on every plan, so download it if the slider was honest.

Free pages show ads. Pro and Studio are ad-free. The comparison with tools that do run ads, or that allow one free image a day only after you parse a credit shop, is on the compare hub. Use 2× as the test those pages describe: one file, one slider, then a decision.

A last look at whether twice was the whole job

Divide the edge you need by the edge you have. If the ratio is under two, this page is the whole repair and 4× is a way to invent texture you will shrink again in the layout. If the ratio is four, still look here first. A bad 2× is a bad 4× that costs less to discover. Guests can run that test three times a day. The download they keep is capped at 3,200 px, which is a judgment file. The print file is the paid one.

2× of noise is larger noise, so denoise a night shot first. 2× of a screenshot glyph can change the glyph, so crop the type out. 2× does not rebuild a face. If the only problem left after a clean 2× is that a delivery spec says 4K, do the division on that page. A 1920-wide file at 2× is already there, and only the paid download keeps it.

What to keep beside the slider

Twice the edge is four times the pixels, which is enough for a layout that is a little short and not enough for a poster from a thumbnail. Do the division, then spend one credit. Guests can. The preview can be larger than the 3,200 px download. That split is how you judge a print without taking the print file. Denoise first if the small file is noisy. Crop type out of a screenshot. Do not expect a new face. If 2× is already inventing along a diagonal, 4× will invoice you two credits for a louder version of the same mistake. Ads stay off the tool while you make that call, and a failed 2× returns the credit.