Hotpot AI Photo Restorer vs SoftOrbits Photo Retoucher

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.

SoftOrbits Photo Retoucher uses AI tools to restore old and damaged photos, addressing imperfections, noise, and blur while colorizing black-and-white images. It can detect scratches, dust, and print damage; the maker says the process preserves film grain. A face-restoration model is intended for blurry, scratched, or low-resolution pictures, and the product page says images can be enlarged up to 800%. Generative AI removes unwanted objects and restores backgrounds, while brushes and cleanup layers support localized manual corrections. Batch processing can handle multiple pictures or a whole folder. Desktop restoration runs locally without an internet connection, and the maker says photos are not uploaded to a server. The browser tool supports PNG, JPEG, JPG, WebP, and HEIC. Severe damage or missing areas may need manual touch-ups; the maker says it has tested images up to 25 megapixels. The software does not control a scanner, but scanned photos can be opened for restoration. A free trial is available, and the online tool can restore a photo or two at no cost. The product is paid, with no free plan.