Hotpot AI Photo Restorer vs ON1 Portrait AI

Hotpot AI Photo Restorer uses AI to reduce wear in old black-and-white and color photographs. It is designed to reduce scratches, sharpen faded details, and enhance faces. Style references include natural, cinematic, vintage, Polaroid, classic color, and several black-and-white finishes. The workflow is to upload a scan or photograph, choose or describe a finish, review the result, and download a copy. Color enhancement, batch processing, API access, web use, and self-hosted deployment are listed. The free plan costs nothing and allows two images daily. Commercial use is billed at $0.02 - $0.25 per image; API access requires payment with pricing by contact. AI may invent details, especially in damaged or unclear images, and results may be weak for groups of more than two people.

ON1 Portrait AI is desktop software for retouching portraits on Windows and macOS. Machine learning detects faces and applies retouching based on user preferences, with independent controls for each face. Tools include skin smoothing, blemish removal, teeth whitening, eye enhancement and face sculpting. Users can batch-process a folder of photos for proofing, and non-destructive edits can be revised later without changing the original image. Mask AI identifies people, animals, skies, mountains, trees, water and ground to create masks. The software supports RAW files, layers and masks, and works as a standalone app or a plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop Elements, Apple Photos, Affinity Photo, Capture One and PaintShop Pro. An owned Portrait AI license supports two computers; Photo RAW MAX provides access to ON1 apps in one editor. No free plan is listed, but a 30-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee are available. Activation requires an active account and high-speed internet.