9 Best AI Colorizers of 2024— Colorize Black & White Images

Artturi Jalli
14 min readDec 9, 2023

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Do you want to bring color to your black-and-white images easily?

Let me show you the best AI-powered photo colorizers. I tested each of them so that you don’t have to.

With these amazing modern tools, you can bring colors to any image in just seconds!

Disclaimer: This article is reader-supported. If you choose to pay for the tools listed in this article, I might earn a small commission at no cost to you.

1. Palette.fm

Try for Free with this link

Palette.fm is the best AI photo colorizer tool on the market.

In my experience, this tool gives the best and most accurate results. The colorized images are vibrant and high in quality.

To use the tool:

  1. Visit Palette’s website.
  2. Upload a picture.
  3. Wait for a couple of seconds.
  4. Enjoy the colorized image!

Here is my experience with the tool.

My Experience with Palette

Here is an example use of Palette to convert a black-and-white image to a colorized one.

I used this image as my input:

And here’s the side-by-side comparison of the input and output:

Pretty incredible, isn’t it? You can never tell that this image has been processed with AI.

Key Features

Let’s look at some of the features of Palette.fm:

  • Convert black and white images to colorful pictures.
  • Enhance colorized photos with cool and intelligent filters.
  • Free to try.
  • The tool is an online-based piece of software. No sign-ups or downloads are needed.

Pricing

  • Basic: $0.00/mo
  • Pro: $39.00/mo
  • Ultra: $79/mo
  • Mega: $169/mo

Try Palette for Free

2. Cutout.pro Photo Colorizer

Try FREE with This Link!

cutout.pro image colorizer

Cutout PRO AI Colorizer is another great AI colorizer. It can turn your black-and-white images into colorized ones in a blink of an eye.

Want to learn how it works? Just watch this 27-second clip I just made:

Whether you like the result of this tool more than other tools on this list depends on the image you’re colorizing.

To colorize an image with Cutout PRO:

  1. Head over to their website.
  2. Upload an image.
  3. Wait for a couple of seconds.
  4. Preview and download!

I like the fact that it’s so easy to use these tools. If you are just curious to see what AI can do to your old images, it’s really quick and streamlined to test. Better yet, the tools offer free trials.

My Experience with Cutout PRO

Here is an example of me colorizing a black-and-white stock photo.

Here’s the input:

Black & white image of a tree

And here’s the colorized version:

Colorful image of the previous image

The result looks decent.

The AI understands there is a tree, dry grass, and a sky. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be able to colorize the image in such detail.

If you compare the result for example with HotPot AI, you can see the colors are more vibrant in the HotPot result. Here it seems the colors are a bit more controlled. I also think especially the dry grass looks more realistic in Cutout PRO than in HotPot AI.

Key Features

  • AI-powered image colorization and enhancement.
  • Convert black and white images to colored ones in a matter of seconds.
  • Free trial, preview, and download.
  • Browser-based software with no installation or signups required.

Pricing

Cutout Pro pricing

You can try to colorize old images for free. Besides, you have three premium options for more rigorous use:

  • Free: $0/month
  • Subscription Plan: $0.099/credit (100 credits/month for $9.90)
  • Pay as you go: $0.49/credit

Try Cutour.pro AI Colorizer

3. Colorize.cc

Colorize CC AI image upscaler

Colorize.cc is an easy-to-use AI image colorizer software. There is no need to download the software to sign up for a website to use this tool. Better yet, you can try the tool for free!

The only downside as opposed to most of the tools on this list is the watermark that the tool generates for the output images. Other than that, I find this solution neat, and nice-looking, and I’m generally happy with the results.

To get rid of the watermark, you need to purchase a paid plan for the software. More on prices later.

There are two powerful AI engines you can use to colorize your images.

  • Model V1 for people.
  • Model V2 for other images, such as buildings, scenery, and transport.

To use the tool, enter their website, upload a photo, and enjoy the output! This is all it takes. You don’t need to use any editors, download software, or such.

My Experience with Colorize

Here is the same test I did with the other colorized tools. I converted a black-and-white image to a colorized one.

Here’s the input image:

Black & white image of the same tree

And here’s the result:

The process only took a couple of seconds and the results are great.

This image is right there when it comes to choosing the best tool from this list. It’s hard to rank these as the results are always great. But that’s not a surprize because all these tools use similar technology.

The only thing I dislike is the watermark that you can remove by subscribing to a paid plan.

Key Features

  • Two AI engines for image colorization.
  • Powerful AI colorization to convert black and white images to colorized photos.
  • Image enhancing capabilities for restoring colors.
  • Easy-to-use and accessible interface.
  • Watermarked output images with the free version.

Pricing

Colorize cc AI image upscaler

Besides the free plan, there are three paid options you can choose between. The benefit of the paid plans is more images to colorize and non-watermarked outputs.

The plans are:

  • Basic: $9/month
  • Standard: $29/month
  • Business: $99/month

4. Hotpot.ai

Hotpot AI image colorizer

Hotpot AI is an easy solution for colorizing old black-and-white photos. Besides, you can enrich the color of older colorized photos.

The tool is easy to use. All you need to do is head over to Hotpot’s website and upload a photo. Then wait a couple of seconds and you’ll have a nice colorized version of your image.

Hotpot colorizer is an ideal tool for someone looking to quickly and automatically add color to black and white images.

To do some fine-tuning, the tool lets you choose between colorization factors from 12 to 25. This can affect the quality of the generated image.

Also, there are multiple options as to what you can do with your images. You can erase, enlarge, clarify, fix the face, and sharpen your images too!

The best part is you can try this tool for free. It requires no technical experience to use.

My Experience with Hotpot AI

Here is an example of me colorizing a stock photo.

Here’s the input:

Black & white image of a tree (same as before)

Here’s the colorized version:

Colorful image of a tree

The result looks really good. The AI seems to understand what’s going on in the images. Perhaps the only thing I notice is that the colors aren’t so vibrant in the output image. But hey, pretty good job by AI, right?

Key Features

  • Colorize black and white photos.
  • Image enhancing capabilities.
  • Browser-based solution.
  • Free trial you can easily play with.

Pricing

Hotpot AI pricing

You can use Hotpot non-commercially for free. To use Hotpot’s image colorizer commercially, you need to buy credits.

  • 1,000 credits: $10/month
  • 2,500 credits: $25/month
  • 5,000 credits: $50/month
  • 10,000 credits: $100/month
  • 20,000 credits: $200/month

5. Img2Go.com

Img2Go AI photo colorizer

Img2Go is a free AI colorizer solution for turning black and white images into colorized ones with realistic colors.

This tool uses AI colorization techniques and deep learning algorithms to do wonders for your images.

Similar to other tools on this list, you can just enter their website, select an image, and wait for a couple of seconds to get a colorized outcome.

Besides being a great colorizer, you can use this tool to enhance the color of old but colorized images.

My Experience with Img2Go

Here is what the result looks like when I converted a black & white image to a colorized one.

Here’s the black-and-white image:

Black & white image of the tree

And here’s the colorized version:

To test this tool, I set the rendering factor to 40, which made it slow but would produce the best quality image.

To my eye, the result looks nice and by a quick look, you’d never guess it was a black & white image, to begin with!

As you can see, pretty similar results with all the other images thus far :)

Key Features

  • Online-based user interface.
  • Bring color to black and white images.
  • Enhance colorized images easily.
  • Easy to use with results in mere seconds.

Pricing

This tool is free to use!

6. Playback.fm

Playback FM AI image colorizer

Playback.fm is an AI image colorizer. You can use this tool to convert your black-and-white images to colorized ones with ease.

You can use the tool for free!

There are no limitations to the software. Also, it’s easy to use and get started with.

All you need to do is upload an image and wait for a couple of seconds. The AI will generate a colorized version of your photo in no time.

You can also use this tool to bring color to already-colorized images that lack the proper color.

The underlying AI algorithm recognizes the objects in the image and colorized them accordingly. This tool uses AI that has been trained with millions of images. More specifically, well-though deep learning and neural networks are the secrets of this tool.

My Experience with Playback

Here I tested the tool to produce a nice output image based on a black-and-white input image.

The results look nice to me, and not too different than what the other tools in this list were capable of.

Here’s the black-and-white version:

Black & white image of a tree

Here’s the colorized version:

Colorized version of tree

Key Features

  • Online-based software that is easy and free to use.
  • Add colors to any black-and-white images in seconds.
  • Uses the latest advancements in AI to colorize and enhance the images.

Pricing

You can use this tool for free!

Besides the free version, you can try Playback’s premium version for even more impressive colorization.

You can get the price information by colorizing an image and clicking the “Premium Colorization” button.

7. Picwish.com

Picwish AI image colorizer

Are you looking for an easy way to convert black-and-white images to colorized photos that look realistic and natural?

Picwish is a quick solution for turning old photos into images with natural colors. Picwish is known for its API developers can use to integrate the service into their apps.

Similar to other tools on this list, Picwish is easy to use. All you need to do is drop an image into the view and wait for the tool to run an AI algorithm on it. The result is an image with realistic and natural coloring.

If you’re a technical person and want to use their API, you should dig deeper into the API documentation.

My Experience with Picwish

Here is an example use of the tool I did on the same image you’ve seen throughout this guide.

BnW vs colorized version

I think the results look great. The AI that powers the tool can understand what is going on in the image and thus colorize the parts of it accordingly.

The only thing I don’t like about this tool is that you need to create an account to download the resulting image.

Key Features

  • Uses the latest advancements in AI to colorize old images.
  • Convert black-and-white images to colorful photos that look realistic.
  • Free to try.
  • Easy-to-use interface and quick results. You don’t need a technical background to use this tool.
  • API for developers who want to integrate this service into their apps.

Pricing

The demo version of the software is free to use. All you need to do is create an account to download the colorized images.

To use the API more extensively as a developer, here is the pricing table:

Picwish AI image upscaler pricing

The API is for those who are looking to integrate the service into their apps and websites.

8. Vance.ai

Vance AI image colorizer

Vance is uses advanced AI techniques to convert black-and-white images into colorful pictures.

This is a great and easy tool if you want to colorize images quickly. To use the tool, you don’t have to sign up or download a new piece of software. The tool lives online and is accessible through a simple UI via your browser.

To use Vance for colorization:

  1. Open up their website.
  2. Drag and drop images to the view.
  3. Give 5 seconds to the AI.
  4. Preview and enjoy the result.

My Experience with Vance

Here is an example where I turned a black-and-white image into a colorized scenery image.

Here’s the black-and-white input image I used:

Black & white image of a tree

And here’s the colorized version:

Colorized image of a tree

I find the result pretty awesome. Although I think the colors are a bit tame and “closer to black and white” than other tools produced.

Anyway, the AI sees what’s going on in the image and can colorize it.

Key Features

  • Online photo colorizer. There is no need to install a separate tool. Instead, this software lives online.
  • Free image colorization trial. Vance AI lets you try their photo colorization for free.
  • Datasafe uploads. The tool erases the uploaded images within 24 hours so they won’t live on a random server for years to come.

Pricing

Vance AI pricing

Besides the free plan, Vance AI has a credit-based payment system for power users:

  1. 100 credits: $4.95
  2. 200 credits: $6.95
  3. 500 credits: $11.45
  4. 1000 credits: $17.95

9. Colourise.com

Colourise.com AI image colorizer

Colourise is an online AI image colorizer you can use to add color to your pictures with AI.

This tool uses the latest advancements in AI to bring color to photos that lack it. It employs neural networks and deep learning algorithms for predicting what the image would look like in a colorized setting. To pull this off, the AI has to recognize what’s going on in the images.

The AI has trained with millions of colorized-non-colorized image pairs to be able to accurately predict the colors of the images.

You can try this tool for free either by using their sample images or by uploading and colorizing your images.

The tool is simple to use. Just drop an image into their web-based image colorizer and wait for the AI to do its job.

My Experience with Colourise.com

Here is an example of the colorization of a black-and-white image.

One major drawback to this tool is it didn’t allow me to use the image I use in all the other examples! The tool didn’t complain about anything, it just wouldn’t work.

Even though the results are great by using the sample image they provided, the tool didn’t work for me. This is why I placed it as the last option on this list.

Key Features

  • Easy-to-use interface.
  • Colorize black and white images with AI.
  • Try the tool for free.
  • The tool lives online. No need to install or sign up for anything.

Pricing

The tool is free to use.

How Do AI Image Colorizers Work?

As the name suggests, AI image colorized work by using Artificial Intelligence under the hood. The algorithms that run behind the scenes are powerful and complex. To understand how they truly work, you’d need to have a solid background in coding and maths.

To keep it short, I’m going to give a high-level overview of how the tools work.

An AI image colorizer takes a look at the input image and tries to recognize the objects in it. It must understand the picture fully to be able to colorize it. This is very similar to what you would do if you had to colorize an image. Without understanding what happens in the image, there is no chance for you to colorize it well.

The underlying AI has been trained with millions of images. It has seen a tremendous amount of images before and after colorization. The AI uses this training data as a basis to predict the colorized version of your input image.

How to Choose the Best AI Colorizer?

To choose the best AI colorizer, pay attention to the following features:

  • Quality. Make sure the tool produces reasonable results with different images.
  • User-friendliness. Choose a tool that is intuitive to use. On this list, you find solutions with which you should be able to colorize images with no experience in less than 30 seconds.
  • Affordability. Don’t pay for something that doesn’t work. On this list, all the tools come with free trials and affordable plans for power users.

Wrap Up

That’s it for the reviews!

To take home, these days you can convert old black-and-white images into colorized ones with the help of advanced AI techniques.

I think it’s quite a story that AI can retrospectively fix the shortcomings of the camera technology of the 1900s.

The best part is you don’t need any technical skills. Instead, you can let the AI-powered tools take care of the colorization in a matter of seconds with easy-to-use online-based tools.

Today, you saw a whole bunch of AI colorizers on this list. But I’m sure you can use any one of the above solutions with great results. If you prefer not to pay for the software, make sure to choose one that doesn’t produce watermarks on the result images.

Thanks for reading. I hope you found the right tools to bring your old images back to life.

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Artturi Jalli

Check @jalliartturi on YouTube to become a successful blogger. (For collabs, reach me out at: artturi@bloggersgoto.com)