Hotpot AI Photo Restorer vs Palette
Hotpot AI Photo Restorer
hotpot.ai
Palette
palette.fmSide by side
| Figure | Hotpot AI Photo Restorer | Palette |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $6/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 6 | 3 |
| Spec score · AI Image Enhancers | 9.1 (#2) | 9.0 (#4) |
| Integrations | The maker describes API integration into an app, website, or workflow, but the opened product and developer pages do not name prebuilt third-party integrations. | Palette documents Google Drive and Dropbox bulk workflows, iPhone Photos integration, and a Windows desktop application from Covenant using its engine. |
| Purpose | Photo Restorer uses AI to reduce signs of wear and restore old black-and-white or color photographs. | Palette colorizes photos with realistic colors after upload and filter selection. |
| Self-hosting | Hotpot offers self-hosted containers and says the SaaS and container APIs use the same specification, with the hostname changed for self-hosted deployment. | Enterprise customers can run Palette on their own hardware, including a container and API-key workflow that keeps photographs inside their network. |
| Support | Hotpot directs users who need help to contact the company through its Help page. | Enterprise customers are told they deal directly with Emil Wallner rather than a ticket queue, and data-processing agreements are available on request. |
| What it does | Hotpot’s browser-based restorer processes color and black-and-white photos to reduce scratches, sharpen colors, and enhance faces. | Palette uses AI to turn black-and-white or grayscale photographs into color images. |
Plans
Hotpot AI Photo Restorer
- FreeFree
- PremiumPrice not published
- FreeFree
- Credits$12, paid once
- APIPriced on request
- Commercial usePriced on request
In their own words
Hotpot AI Photo Restorer
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.
Palette
Palette colorizes uploaded photos after a user chooses a filter. Its web app offers more than 21 color filters, with descriptions and keywords available to fine-tune colors. Palette supports batch processing, and says a simple script can colorize over 1 million images per day. Its API supports automated and custom prompts, reference images, and up to 120 prompts for one image. The documented image limit is 4K resolution and 10MB per file. A beta Video API handles video-frame colorization in SD, Full-HD, and 4K. Palette documents integrations with iPhone photos, Google Drive, Dropbox, and other photo apps, as well as a Windows desktop application from Covenant that uses its colorization engine. Its API platform has changed to RapidAPI. Uploaded files are processed securely and deleted shortly after results are provided. The terms say users retain ownership of images and videos they create and may use them commercially without restrictions. Palette has a free trial credit and plans costing $49 once or $72 per year.