Best Photo Restoration Software to Restore Old Photos to Life

Brenda Peng  Updated on  October 23, 2025

Approved by Abby Poole  

“Seeking Suggestions for Photo Restoration Software. I'm on the lookout for recommendations for old photo restoration software. While I'm aware that mainstream photo editors like Adobe Photoshop offer such features, I struggle with using them efficiently. I'm particularly interested in AI photo restorer for working with old photographs. Any suggestions? :)” –Reddit

I think that almost everyone have some faded, torn old photos that still hold priceless memories. But thanks to modern photo restoration software, those images no longer have to remain damaged or dull. Today there is software to restore old photos back to as new as just shot, with vivid color and crisp quality. In this post, we will help you find the best photo restoration software that deliver stunning results, without advanced editing skills needed.

Top 8 Best Photo Restoration Software

To effectively restore an old photo and achieve desirable results, the software must go beyond simple filters. There are several key features that must be included in any truly great old photo restorer. Below are the essential capabilities we look for when choosing the ultimate photo restoration software:

• AI inpainting and repair: Automatically fills missing areas and removes scratches.
• Color correction: Restores natural tones or adds color to grayscale photos.
• Noise reduction: Remove noise, grain, blurriness, distracting scratches, creases, and dust spots.
• Face enhancement: Keeps facial details lifelike and expressive.
• Upscale resolution: Upscale low-resolution old photos to 4K, 8K, or higher resolution for print or future-proof archives.

Based on the above requirements, we’ve summarized the top 8 best AI photo restorers below:

Aiarty Image Enhancer

Price: Free trial available. $99.00 for lifetime license, with unlimited free upgrade for 3 PCs.

Aiarty Image Enhancer stands out as a strong contender in the field of AI photo restoration software, especially for old photos suffering from low resolution, blurriness, or film grain. Unlike traditional editors, it uses advanced deep-learning algorithms to analyze image artifacts, reconstruct missing details, and restore clarity with impressive precision.

As a modern software to restore old photos, Aiarty doesn’t just upscale images. It intelligently enhances existing pixel to dramatically increase resolution and sharpen fine textures such as faces, fabrics, and backgrounds. Users can upscale vintage or scanned photos up to 32K resolution while maintaining remarkable naturalness and detail fidelity.

Beyond resolution, Aiarty acts as a complete AI photo restorer by correcting faded colors and reviving lifelike tones, turning dull or yellowed photos into vivid, vibrant images. With its one-click restoration feature, even decades-old photos can look as if they were freshly captured with a modern camera.

Aiarty Image Enhancer provides consistent and reliable results when restoring different kinds of old photos. Below are several before-and-after comparisons that demonstrate how Aiarty effectively restores a wide range of old photographs — from grainy, time-worn images to severely faded or blurry shots. Each example highlights how the software brings forgotten memories back to life with clarity and natural color balance.

If you want to know how Aiarty restore old photos, check here >>

 

Pros:

• Automatically remove blur, grain, and artifacts common in old photos with precision.
• Upscale old photos to high-resolution output (up to 32K) for future-proofing.
• Restore natural tones and depth without oversaturation.
• No editing skills required; fast processing even on large images.
• Work well with scanned photos, digital archives, and portraits.

Cons:

• Free version has limited export quality or watermark restrictions.
• It lacks manual editing tools found in advanced photo restoration software like Photoshop.
• Not the best for repainting seriously damaged photos.

Verdict

Aiarty Image Enhancer is one of the best photo restoration software options available today for users who want effortless yet professional results. It excels at restoring vintage photos, improving sharpness, color, and resolution with minimal user input. While power editors may prefer Photoshop’s manual control, Aiarty’s AI-driven simplicity makes it an ideal AI photo restorer for everyday users, photographers, and digital archivists who want to revive old memories in seconds.

Adobe Photoshop

Price: Annual plan from Adobe, ~$263.88 per year for one desktop.

Photoshop remains the gold standard for digital imaging, and when used for old photo restoration, it offers unmatched control. With layers, masks, clone stamping, healing brushes, content-aware fill, plus newer Photo Restoration Neural Filters, it qualifies as high-end photo restoration software. It allows users to meticulously address every flaw, reduce grain, remove scanner tramlines, sharpen faces, etc. Meanwhile, there are plenty of tools and filters to help restore the color and quality of a faded old photo.

If you need professional-grade results and are willing to invest time and money, this is the solution. It is the ultimate reference point for old photo restoration Photoshop techniques. If you’re not sure about how to use Photoshop as an old photo restorer, Adobe itself even provides old photo restoration tutorials.

Pros:

• It offers full control, especially when manual correction is needed for tears, missing parts, color shifts...
• There is an extensive ecosystem of plugins that will help get professional restored photo quality.
• It offers high-quality AI photo restoration tools.

  Cons:

• It’s not as simple as one-click “AI photo restorer” tools.
• It will take time and effort to manually get the best restored photo quality. 
• It can be slow or crash on a computer with less robust configuration.
• High subscription cost for regular users.

Verdict

Adobe Photoshop is no doubt the most powerful and versatile photo restoration software for users who need full creative control and professional-grade editing tools. It offers unmatched flexibility for restoring old photos, whether you’re repairing severe damage, retouching facial details, removing scratches and stains, or rebuilding missing parts of an image. Though it may not be the fastest or easiest solution for beginners or users seeking one-click AI photo restorer results.

PhotoGlory

Price: $39.20 for the Pro Version with 1-year free updates

PhotoGlory markets itself as old photo restoration software for Windows, designed specifically to help restore vintage and damaged photos (e.g., scratches, dust, fading). It excels at removing scratches, creases, stains, tears, colorizing a black & white photo and restoring colors to faded & washed out images. One review remarks: “PhotoGlory really surprised me by its ability to restore old photos. It’s a fantastic program that can save you a lot of time from manually restoring old photographs.”  

It’s intuitive enough for beginners but powerful enough for detailed work. Compared to other best software to restore old photos, PhotoGlory occupies a niche of simpler, dedicated restoration rather than full pro workflows.

Pros:

• Specifically designed for old photo restoration tasks: e.g., remove scratches, fix fading.
• It’s budget-friendly pricing.

Cons:

• It works on Windows PC only.
• Some issues around licensing, version updates and customer support.
• Not as feature-rich or flexible as high-end editors like Photoshop + plugins.

Verdict

While its AI capabilities are less advanced than modern software to restore old photos, PhotoGlory excels in simplicity and precision. It’s a good choice if you have a handful of photographs with moderate damage and you want a dedicated “old photo restoration software” rather than a full edit suite or an online photo restorer.  

Topaz Photo

Price: $252 for the non-cancellable commitment year

Topaz Photo is one of the most popular and advanced AI photo enhancement tools on the market, widely used by photographers and restoration specialists. Known for its ability to upscale, denoise, and sharpen images with remarkable accuracy, it offers a comprehensive AI photo restorer toolkit for old or damaged photos.

As a photo restoration software, Topaz Photo excels with its specialized AI models designed for different restoration needs. Features like Dust & Scratch Repair, Denoise, Recover Faces, and Balance Color allow users to fix common issues found in aged photographs, including major scratches, dust spots, fading, noise, blur, and loss of facial details. It also offers a degree of manual control to adjust the output quality. This makes Topaz Photo particularly effective for restoring scanned prints, film photos, and old family archives.

Pros:

• Multiple AI models for specific photo restoration tasks.
• High-quality upscaling up to 600% with excellent detail preservation.
• Natural color and texture restoration, suitable for both digital and scanned photos.
• Flexible workflow with automatic detection and manual adjustments.

Cons:

• No free version available and high subscription cost.
• It’s high GPU demand and can be very slow on older systems.
• It requires manual tweak to get the best output.

Verdict

Topaz Photo is for sure one of the best photo restoration software for professionals and enthusiasts who need precise, high-resolution restoration results. Its powerful AI models can remove scratches, restore colors, and recover facial details with near-photorealistic quality. While it comes with a steeper price and learning curve than lightweight online AI photo restorers, its performance and reliability easily justify the investment.

Luminar Neo

Price: $159 lifetime license with one-year free updates

While Luminar Neo is best known as a creative image editor, its suite of advanced AI-driven tools also makes it an impressive photo restoration software for old and damaged photos. It’s particularly suited for users who want both artistic control and AI-assisted recovery in one platform.

With features like Enhance AI, Structure AI, and Relight AI, Luminar Neo can effectively restore clarity, contrast, and detail to faded or low-quality images. Its intelligent color correction tools can remove the yellow or sepia tints often found in aged prints, while the AI Denoise and Masking tools help reduce grain and selectively refine areas that need more attention. Compared to Photoshop, Luminar Neo delivers a much faster and more intuitive photo restoration experience, striking a perfect balance between automation and manual control.

Pros:

• Intuitive AI tools can effectively correct severe color casts or flat lighting in vintage photos.
• It offers more control than purely automated old photo restoration online, but much easier than Photoshop.
• Fast and smooth performance on modern hardware.

Cons:

• It doesn’t contain highly specific tools for complex physical damage repair.
• It can accidentally apply effects that make the restored image look overly edited rather than authentically restored.
• Requires moderate system resources for best performance.

Verdict

Luminar Neo is an outstanding choice for those who want to restore old photos while maintaining creative control. Its intelligent AI tools make it easy to revive faded memories with warmth, detail, and color accuracy. Although not a free or purely automated solution, it excels as an AI photo restorer that combines artistic flexibility with professional-grade restoration quality.

VanceAI Photo Restorer

Price: $ 99.90/year for 1 PC

As its name suggests, VanceAI Photo Restorer is explicitly built for the task of repairing and restoring old, damaged photographs. It can remove scratches, stains, and tears, repair damaged textures, and even enhance facial details in old portraits. One of its standout features is AI Colorization, which allows users to add realistic colors to black-and-white photos automatically.

Available as both a desktop photo restoration software and an old photo restorer online, VanceAI offers flexibility for different users. Its cloud-based online platform provides a convenient way to restore old photos online for free (with limited credits), while the desktop version offers more advanced control and batch processing capabilities. It shines as a one-click AI photo restorer that combines convenience, quality, and speed.

Pros:

• It’s designed to remove scratches, stains, and tears in old photos.
• It will colorize black-and-white photos with natural tones.
• It offers both online and desktop versions for flexibility.
• Fast processing with minimal user input required.

Cons:

• It can’t upscale old photos to higher resolutions.
• Online version has limited free credits and watermarks.
• Less manual control compared to professional editors like Photoshop.
• Results may vary on severely damaged or low-contrast images.

Verdict

VanceAI Photo Restorer is a highly accessible and efficient AI photo restoration software that makes bringing old photos back to life effortless. You can use the old photo restoration online free tool or the desktop version to get consistently impressive results that are enough for casual users and hobbyists.  

Remini AI (online)

Price: $0.99 for 7 days, up to 20 photos/week

Remini is a highly popular AI photo restorer online and for mobile, designed for users who want to enhance old or low-quality photos quickly and effortlessly. Its core AI technology specializes in reconstructing facial details with remarkable accuracy, making it an ideal choice for reviving faded portraits and improving clarity in personal or historical photos.

Remini excels at intelligently rebuilding lost details in old photos, especially in facial features such as eyes, noses, and mouths. Many users describe the results as “magical,” as Remini can transform pixelated or blurry faces into sharp, natural-looking portraits within seconds. However, while Remini is exceptional for enhancing clarity and correcting focus, it’s not a full-scale photo restoration software. It performs best as a facial detail enhancer, rather than a tool for repairing physical damage such as scratches, tears, or creases.

Pros:

• It offers exceptional facial detail reconstruction using AI.
• It’s great at fixing blurriness, grain, and focus issues in old photos. 
• It’s available both as a mobile app and online photo restorer.

Cons:

• Focuses mainly on faces; limited ability to repair background or deep physical damage.
• Free version includes watermarks and limited daily credits.
• Less suitable for professional or large-scale restoration projects.

Verdict

Remini is one of the most convenient and effective AI photo restorers for improving clarity in portraits and selfies. It’s the go-to photo restoration software for users who want fast, visible results without complex editing. While it’s not a comprehensive old photo restoration software capable of fixing severe damage, its ability to make low-resolution faces look sharp and lifelike is unmatched in its class.

Fotor Free Photo Restoration (online)

Price: $3.19 for month for 100 credits/mon

Fotor’s Free Photo Restoration tool leverages AI to tackle common vintage photo issues. Its interface is straightforward, guiding users to quickly upload their damaged images for automated repair. It performs competently in several key areas, including reviving faded colors and basic scratch removal. Beyond the old photo restorer features, there are a wide range of other image enhancing and editing features available. For many users with moderately aged photos, Fotor offers an excellent balance between automation and result quality, making it a strong candidate for the best photo restoration software for casual use.

Like other online AI photo restorers, users demanding professional precision or extensive manual control might find its automation limiting when compared to the fine-tuning possible in dedicated old photo restoration software.

See: best photo enhancers online

Pros:

• Simple and beginner-friendly interface.
• Effective AI for color correction and minor scratch removal.
• Many other editing tools are readily available after restoration.

Cons:

• Limited manual control and fine-tuning.
• Premium upgrade required for higher-resolution exports.
• Not ideal for heavily damaged or complex restorations.

Verdict

Fotor’s AI Photo Restoration Tool is a convenient and capable photo restorer for casual users who want to restore old photos online free with minimal effort. It won’t replace professional desktop software to restore old photos, but its speed, accessibility, and ease of use make it perfect for beginners or anyone seeking instant improvements.

Conclusion

Restoring old photos is no longer a task reserved for experts with advanced editing skills. Thanks to modern AI-powered tools, anyone can bring damaged, faded, or low-resolution images back to life with clarity, color, and emotional warmth. The best photo restoration software for you ultimately depends on your goals, skill level, and how much control you want during the process.

If you prefer one-click AI restoration with high-quality, consistent results across all types of old photos, Aiarty Image Enhancer stands out as a powerful choice. For users who want full manual control and professional precision, Photoshop remains the gold standard. Tools like Topaz Photo AI and Luminar Neo strike a balance between AI efficiency and manual fine-tuning, while more beginner-friendly options such as PhotoGlory, VanceAI, Remini, and Fotor make restoration accessible to anyone, whether on desktop or via old photo restoration online.

No matter which tool you choose, the most important thing is the memories you preserve. Each restored image becomes a piece of history passed forward. With the right software, those cherished moments, once faded or forgotten, can be revived with stunning clarity and shared for generations to come.

FAQs

1. Which software is best for photo retouching?

For professional photo retouching, Adobe Photoshop remains the industry standard due to its precision tools, layers, masking, and AI-assisted features such as Generative Fill and Neural Filters. For AI-assisted retouching with less manual work, Topaz Photo AI and Luminar Neo are excellent alternatives, offering smart enhancements, skin retouching, and detail recovery with far less effort than traditional editing.

2. Is there a free AI to restore old photos?

Yes. Tools like VanceAI’s online free mode, and Remini’s free version offer limited but effective old photo restoration online free options. These platforms allow scratch removal, color revival, and clarity enhancement at no cost, although high-resolution exports or advanced features may require upgrading.

3. How do professionals restore photos?

Professionals typically combine manual retouching techniques with selective AI tools. They often use Photoshop for tasks such as repairing tears, reconstructing missing areas, color grading, and detail blending. Specialized AI tools like Topaz Photo AI or Aiarty Image Enhancer may be used to upscale, enhance fine details, or reduce noise before the final retouching is done manually for a natural finish.

4. What is the best app for fixing photos?

For mobile users wanting quick fixes, Remini is one of the best apps for restoring clarity, especially in portraits. If you want both creative enhancement and restoration in one app, Luminar Neo provides a balanced mix of AI enhancement and artistic editing. For desktop users who need deeper restoration capabilities, Aiarty Image Enhancer and Topaz Photo AI offer more comprehensive results.