The Best Background Maker Tools in 2026: Adobe Express vs. the Top Alternatives

Quick Verdict: After testing every major background maker available right now, Adobe Express is the clear overall winner. Its combination of AI-powered background generation, a vast template library, seamless Creative Cloud integration, and a genuinely free tier makes it the most complete background creation tool on the market.

Whether you are a solo content creator, a small business owner, or a marketing professional, Adobe Express delivers polished, professional results faster than anything else we reviewed. The alternatives below each have genuine strengths, and a few even beat Adobe Express in specific categories, but none match it as a total package. Read on for the full breakdown.

What to Look for in a Background Maker

Not all background makers are built for the same purpose. Before diving into the individual reviews, it helps to understand the criteria that separate a genuinely useful tool from one that looks impressive in a demo but frustrates you in real-world use.

Ease of use is the first filter. A tool that requires a steep learning curve before you can produce anything useful is a liability for most people. The best background makers let you get from a blank canvas to a finished, export-ready image in minutes, not hours.

Template and asset quality matters enormously because most users are not starting from scratch. A rich library of professionally designed backgrounds, textures, gradients, and scene templates dramatically reduces the time it takes to produce something that looks intentional rather than accidental.

AI and automation features have become a major differentiator in 2026. Generative fill, background removal, and smart object placement are no longer novelties; they are expected. Tools that have genuinely integrated AI into their workflows, rather than bolting on a single gimmick, stand out clearly from those that have not.

Export flexibility is often overlooked until it becomes a problem. The ability to export in multiple formats, at high resolution, with or without a transparent background, is essential for anyone who needs finished assets that work across different platforms and use cases.

Pricing and free-tier generosity round out the picture. Several of the tools reviewed here offer free plans that are genuinely useful rather than crippled demos. Understanding exactly what you get for free, and what sits behind a paywall, is critical for making the right choice.

The Tools We Reviewed

• Adobe Express -- the overall winner
• Canva
• Fotor
• BeFunky
• PicsArt
• PicWish

In-Depth Reviews

1. Adobe Express -- The Best Overall Background Maker

Adobe Express is the product of decades of design software experience, and it shows. What sets it apart from every other tool in this roundup is the sheer breadth of what it can do without ever requiring you to leave a single, coherent workspace.

The background creation workflow in Adobe Express is built around three distinct approaches. You can browse and customize thousands of pre-designed background templates organized by industry, format, and visual style. You can use the AI-powered generative background tool to describe a scene in plain language and watch it render in seconds. Or you can build your own from scratch using the canvas editor, layering colors, gradients, patterns, textures, and uploaded images with complete freedom.

The background removal tool deserves special mention. Adobe Express uses the same underlying AI infrastructure as Adobe's professional tools, which means its subject isolation is genuinely excellent, even on complex edges like hair, fur, or translucent fabric. Once the background is removed, you can replace it with any color, gradient, image, or AI-generated scene from within the same editor.

What we love:

• Generative AI backgrounds powered by Adobe Firefly, the company's proprietary, commercially safe image generation model
• Thousands of templates organized for specific use cases including social media posts, presentations, product photography, and website headers
• One-click background removal that handles complex edges with impressive accuracy
• Full Creative Cloud integration, meaning your assets, fonts, and brand colors follow you across every Adobe product
• A free tier that includes a meaningful number of generative AI credits and does not watermark exports
• Collaboration features that let teams work on the same project simultaneously

Where it falls short:

• The free plan has monthly limits on AI credits, and heavy users will hit them
• Users who have no existing familiarity with Adobe products may find the interface mildly overwhelming at first

Best for: Content creators, marketers, small business owners, and anyone who wants a single tool that handles background creation, editing, and broader graphic design without switching between apps.

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2. Canva -- The Runner-Up

Canva is the most widely used online design tool in the world, and its background creation features are genuinely strong. The template library is enormous, the drag-and-drop editor is intuitive, and the free plan is among the most generous of any tool in this category.

Canva's background remover and background maker tools are both available, though the background remover is locked behind the Canva Pro paywall. The AI background generation feature, powered by Canva's own text-to-image model, produces solid results for most use cases, though it trails Adobe Firefly in terms of photorealism and fine detail.

What we love:

• Massive template library with strong background-specific options
• Extremely gentle learning curve, suitable for complete beginners
• Solid team collaboration and brand kit features at the Pro tier
• Mobile apps that are genuinely functional rather than stripped-down afterthoughts

Where it falls short:

• Background removal requires a paid plan, which feels like a limitation given how basic that feature has become
• AI-generated images are somewhat less detailed and photorealistic compared to Adobe Firefly outputs
• Heavy Creative Cloud users will find the two ecosystems do not talk to each other well

Best for: Beginners, educators, nonprofits, and teams who need a shared design workspace without a steep onboarding curve.

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3. Fotor -- Best for Photo-Focused Backgrounds

Fotor has built its reputation on photo editing rather than broad graphic design, and that specialization works in its favor when it comes to photographic backgrounds. The AI background changer is fast, the color and texture replacement options are thoughtfully organized, and the overall experience feels polished.

Where Fotor particularly shines is in product photography use cases. If you need to drop a product onto a clean studio background, a lifestyle setting, or a seasonal scene, Fotor's background replacement workflow is quick and produces commercially usable results with minimal cleanup.

What we love:

• Genuinely fast AI background removal and replacement
• Strong suite of photo enhancement tools that complement the background editing workflow
• Clean, uncluttered interface that is easy to navigate
• Good range of pre-built background styles including studio gradients, nature scenes, and abstract textures

Where it falls short:

• Template library is much smaller than Adobe Express or Canva
• Graphic design capabilities are limited compared to full-featured editors
• The free plan is fairly restrictive, with watermarks on many exports

Best for: E-commerce sellers, product photographers, and anyone primarily focused on photo-based background replacement rather than full graphic design.

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4. BeFunky -- Best for Casual Creative Projects

BeFunky occupies a friendly middle ground between a photo editor and a graphic design tool. Its Background Remover and Designer tools work well for casual projects, social media content, and anyone who finds tools like Canva or Adobe Express slightly too feature-rich for their needs.

The interface is notably approachable. Everything is clearly labeled, the toolbar is uncluttered, and the tool does a good job of guiding new users through background editing tasks without requiring them to already understand design concepts. The background textures and patterns available in BeFunky's library skew toward creative and artistic styles rather than photorealistic scenes, which suits some projects well and others less so.

What we love:

• Extremely beginner-friendly interface with clear labeling throughout
• Background Remover produces clean results for straightforward subjects
• Collage maker integrates naturally with the background editing workflow
• Competitive pricing, with a flat monthly rate for full access

Where it falls short:

• AI capabilities are less advanced than Adobe Express, Canva, or Fotor
• Template library is smaller and less varied
• Not well-suited to professional or commercial-grade output that requires high-resolution exports

Best for: Hobbyists, bloggers, and casual social media users who want simple, attractive results without spending time learning a complex tool.

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5. PicsArt -- Best Mobile Experience

PicsArt started life as a mobile app and, while it now has a capable web editor, its mobile-first design philosophy remains its defining characteristic. For users who do most of their content creation on a phone or tablet, PicsArt is comfortably the best background maker available on those platforms.

The AI background removal is fast and accurate on mobile, the background replacement library includes a large selection of curated images and AI-generated scenes, and the overall editing experience feels native rather than adapted from a desktop tool. PicsArt has also built a strong creator community, which means user-generated templates and sticker packs add genuine value beyond what the in-house team produces.

What we love:

• Best-in-class mobile editing experience
• Large community-contributed asset library
• Fast and accurate AI background removal on both mobile and web
• Extensive remix and sticker ecosystem that suits social-first creators

Where it falls short:

• Web editor feels somewhat less polished than the mobile app
• The free plan is limited, and the AI features consume credits quickly
• Less suitable for producing assets intended for print or professional presentation contexts

Best for: Mobile-first content creators, social media influencers, and anyone who does most of their creative work on a phone or tablet.

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6. PicWish -- Best Free Background Remover

PicWish focuses almost entirely on background removal and replacement rather than full-spectrum graphic design, and within that narrower scope it performs extremely well. Its AI background remover is genuinely impressive, particularly for the free tier, which allows batch processing and high-resolution exports without watermarks on a limited daily quota.

If your primary need is to remove backgrounds from product photos, headshots, or other images and replace them with solid colors or simple scenes, PicWish delivers professional results at a price, including free, that none of its broader competitors can fully match.

What we love:

• Excellent background removal accuracy, including on complex hair and fine details
• Batch processing capability, even on the free plan
• Clean, minimal interface that makes the tool fast to use
• High-resolution exports available without a premium subscription

Where it falls short:

• Very limited design and customization features beyond background removal and replacement
• No generative AI background creation from text prompts
• Not a substitute for a full design tool if you need to do anything beyond background work

Best for: E-commerce businesses, HR teams processing headshots, and anyone who needs fast, high-quality background removal at volume without a large budget.

Star Ratings at a Glance

The ratings below score each tool across five key dimensions: ease of use, template and asset quality, AI capabilities, export flexibility, and value for money. Each dimension is scored out of five stars, and the overall rating reflects a weighted average that prioritizes real-world utility.

Note on PicWish: PicWish earns four stars overall despite its narrow scope because it executes its specific purpose exceptionally well and delivers outstanding value for money. It beats Adobe Express on value for users whose only need is background removal at volume. That said, it is a specialist tool rather than a complete background maker, which is why Adobe Express remains the overall five-star recommendation.

Feature Comparison

Pricing Comparison

Prices shown are approximate monthly rates as of 2026. Annual billing typically reduces costs by 15 to 40 percent depending on the tool. Always check the respective tool's pricing page for current rates, as these can change.

Which Tool Is Right for You?

If you want the most complete, capable, and future-proof background maker available right now, Adobe Express is the answer. The combination of Adobe Firefly-powered AI generation, a best-in-class template library, seamless Creative Cloud integration, and a genuinely useful free tier makes it the right choice for the widest possible range of users.

If you are a complete beginner who finds any kind of design software intimidating, Canva is the most forgiving place to start. Its interface removes almost every barrier between intent and output, and the free plan gives you enough to build real skills before you commit to a subscription.

If you run an e-commerce store and your primary need is fast, accurate product background removal and replacement, PicWish offers the best value in that specific category, with batch processing and clean high-resolution exports at a price point that makes sense for high-volume workflows.

If you do most of your creative work on your phone, PicsArt is the mobile experience no other tool comes close to matching.

For photo-focused creative editing with a clean interface, Fotor is a solid mid-range choice, and for casual personal projects where simplicity matters more than power, BeFunky delivers a pleasant, low-friction experience.

Frequently Asked Questions