Hotpot AI Photo Restorer vs PhotoBoost
Hotpot AI Photo Restorer
hotpot.aiPhotoBoost
photoboost.aiSide by side
| Figure | Hotpot AI Photo Restorer | PhotoBoost |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $3.33/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 6 | 11 |
| Spec score · AI Image Enhancers | 9.1 (#2) | 9.0 (#5) |
| Spec score · AI Photo Enhancer Software | 9.0 (#2) | 9.0 (#3) |
| Spec score · AI Photo Editors | 9.0 (#8) | 9.0 (#10) |
| Spec score · Photo editors | 8.6 (#29) | 8.8 (#20) |
| Company legal name | Hotpot’s privacy policy identifies Panabee LLC as the entity responsible for its services. | The legal terms and privacy policy identify the maker as Smart Media Internet Marketing Ltd., company ID 514548544, at Sderot Hayahsut 11, Beer Sheva, Israel. |
| Documentation and support | Hotpot provides a centralized API reference and a separate self-hosting page; API access and custom bulk-creation details are handled by contacting the company. | The Tap Help Center includes sections for operation, privacy, quality, subscriptions, refunds, account data and troubleshooting, with support handled through the listed contact route. |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Praise: restoration quality | A hands-on reviewer described the restoration results as good for the tested photos. | Apple reviewers repeatedly describe impressive restoration and colorization of old blurry family photos, including images several decades old. |
| Support | Hotpot directs users who need help to contact the company through its Help page. | The privacy policy directs account or data requests to the support email from the address linked to the account. |
| System requirements | The product is presented as a web service, and the opened maker pages do not state specific browser, operating-system, processor, or memory requirements. | The desktop download page specifies macOS 11 or later, Windows 10 or later, and 64-bit Linux. |
| What it does | Hotpot’s browser-based restorer processes color and black-and-white photos to reduce scratches, sharpen colors, and enhance faces. | PhotoBoost uses AI to sharpen blurry images, restore old photos, recover faces, improve color and lighting, and upscale images by up to four times. |
Plans
Hotpot AI Photo Restorer
- FreeFree
- PremiumPrice not published
- FreeFree
- Credits$12, paid once
- APIPriced on request
- Commercial usePriced on request
PhotoBoost
- FreeFree
- Pro$39.99 a year
- Max$79.99 a year
- 200 credits$19.99 a month
- 700 credits$49.99 a month
- 1,500 credits$99.99 a month
- 3,200 credits$199.99 a month
- 200 credits$19.99, paid once
- 700 credits$49.99, paid once
- 1,500 credits$99.99, paid once
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.
PhotoBoost
PhotoBoost is an AI photo enhancer for sharpening blurry images, restoring old photos, improving faces, adjusting color and lighting, and enlarging images by up to 4×. Its listed tools also cover colorization, low-light enhancement, and video upscaling. The web app accepts JPG, JPEG, PNG, WebP, and HEIC images up to 45 MB and corrects orientation automatically. Desktop apps support macOS 11+, Windows 10+, and 64-bit Linux; the desktop page says they export at full resolution without web upload limits. Mobile apps are available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Its video tool describes 2× frame-by-frame upscaling, audio preservation, and MP4 export. Cloud enhancement uses credits, with the amount depending on the enhancement and output resolution. The free plan costs nothing and includes two introductory credits and cloud output up to 3 MP. Pro costs $39.99 a year and includes 100 credits each week, output up to 20 MP, and video upscaling up to 15 seconds. PhotoBoost says uploaded images are not used to train AI without separate explicit consent, and warns that results may be inaccurate or artificial.