Product photos rarely arrive camera-ready — different sources, different lighting, different backgrounds, all sitting side by side in the same ad.
Background Removal removes the background from your product images and centres the product, giving you a clean product cutout. — so across the whole catalog everything looks consistent and on-brand.
It's the simplest AI enhancement and until 15 January 2027, it’s free — and the fastest way to give your catalog an instantly more cohesive, premium look.
Key facts
Available in the AI tab of the Image and Video Template Editor
Available for Meta, Snapchat, TikTok. Google is not supported.
Works across catalogs, just like a regular template
Until 15 January 2027 no credits are used for Background Removal. After the promotion, one credit is used once per image, no matter how many templates, formats or catalogs use that image.
Once live, results appear in your ad preview on Meta and in Campaign Insights, just like any other template
Results get Smart Review recommendations to help you decide what's worth checking - see “Managing Your AI Enhancements: Review, Pause & Track Usage”
How to use it
Step 1: Add Background Removal to a template
Open the Image or Video Template Editor and create a new template (or open an existing one).
In the left panel, click the AI tab.
Select Background Removal, either from Start from scratch or Reuse existing.
Select the image position you want to apply it to — your main image or one of your additional images.
Click Add to canvas.
Preview
A preview without the background appears directly in the editor. Processing takes about 20 seconds; images already processed before load instantly.
Previewing is always free. AI credits are only used once the template is applied to a live ad. (Background Removal is free until 15 January 2027, so no credits are used even then)
The AI-enhanced layer is marked in the editor with an AI icon and a short description of the enhancement and image position.
Step 2: Apply the template to an ad
Save your template — it will show an AI badge in your template overview.
Click Apply and select the ads as you normally would.
Before confirming, you’ll see the estimated AI credit cost for this application. (Background Removal is free until 15 January 2027, so no credits are used even then)
Confirm by clicking Apply in the pop-up.
No ad downtime: Image processing then runs in the background. Until the AI-enhanced images are ready, your ads simply continue showing the original product images.
NOTE: For a catalog of around 1,000 SKUs, expect this to take hours rather than minutes.
Good to know
Credits are shared across all AI enhancements — Background Removal is free until 15 January 2027; standard price is 1 credit per image.
If you edit an already active template and add a new Background Removal layer, you may see a warning about credit usage. For image templates, we recommend saving it as a new template rather than overwriting the active one. Video templates must always be saved as a new template if you add or change an AI layer on one that’s currently in use.
For best results, start with your highest-impression products and with smaller product sets (ideally under 10,000 SKUs) — this gets you the most impact from a limited number of credits.
Want to measure the impact on performance? Ask your CSM about setting up an A/B test or Conversion Lift test comparing your standard setup against Background Removal.
Reviewing the results? Smart Review automatically highlights Background Removal outputs that may need a closer look, and explains why so you don't have to treat every image the same way. It works with both Manual review and Auto-approve, and it's free. See the Smart Review section in “Managing Your AI Enhancements: Review, Pause & Track Usage” to see how.
FAQ
Does previewing an image use credits?
No, previews are always free. Credits are only used once a template is applied to a live ad and Background Removal doesn’t use credits until 15 January 2027.
Does Background Removal work across all my catalogs?
Yes — like regular templates, it’s catalog-agnostic.
What happens if I run out of credits partway through processing?
Products that were already processed keep their AI-enhanced image. Products not yet processed will show the original main image instead — there’s no downtime for your ads. Processing resumes automatically once you top up your credits. Background Removal doesn’t use credits during the promotion, so it isn’t affected
Can I add Background Removal to a template that’s already live on ads?
Yes, but we recommend saving it as a new template instead of overwriting the active one, especially for video templates, where this is required.
Is Background Removal really free? Until when?
Yes, until 15 January 2027, for all clients; no credits are deducted and the 10,000 free credits stay untouched.
Will Background Removal stay free after 15 January 2027?
The pricing after the promotion hasn’t been decided yet. Unless announced otherwise, standard pricing (1 credit per image) applies after 15 January 2027.
Can I use AI Background removal for Google?
No. Background Removal is a feature inside Creative Factory (the Image/Video Template Editor, AI tab), and Creative Factory doesn’t exist for Google. Templates and creatives aren’t built in Ad Signals for Google, so there’s nowhere to add the feature.