Topaz Video details checked November 2026 · Updated 2026-11-02

AI Growth Kit vs Topaz Video

If you upscale video regularly and own a GPU that meets its minimums, Topaz Video is the cheaper choice past a low volume: its $299-a-year Personal plan renders locally with no per-minute charge, and the footage never leaves your machine. AI Growth Kit is the simpler choice with no GPU, no app to install and no subscription — a price per second from any browser, for an occasional file or when you also want to translate or subtitle the same video.

	AI Growth Kit	Topaz Video
Pricing model	Credits, no subscription needed. Packs: $9 for 200, $29 for 750, $59 for 1,800, never expiring. Plans: $19 a month for 600, $49 for 2,000.	Desktop subscription only. Personal: $59 a month with no commitment, $39 a month billed monthly on a 12-month commitment, or $299 a year paid upfront (about $24.92/mo). Pro: $699 a year, or $74 a month billed with an annual commitment — there is no month-to-month Pro option. Perpetual licenses stopped selling in October 2025 (existing owners keep theirs).
Free plan or trial	20 credits once, at sign-up (6 seconds of upscaling). No watermark.	None for the current desktop app — Topaz's own support forum confirms there is no free trial. Older, legacy Video AI builds can still be downloaded to test, but lack the newest models.
Where it runs	In the browser. No install, no GPU required.	A desktop app for Windows or Mac. Integrated graphics are technically supported, but Topaz's own system-requirements page says most processes won't run at a usable speed without a dedicated GPU.
Hardware needed	None — any device with a browser.	Windows: 6 GB VRAM minimum (NVIDIA, AMD or Intel), 8 GB+ recommended; its Starlight models need 10-20 GB VRAM. Mac: Apple Silicon with 16 GB+ RAM.
Where your file goes	Uploaded to our servers; the source video is deleted after 30 days, output kept until you delete the task.	Local rendering never uploads the file. Only its newer cloud ("Starlight") models send footage to Topaz, metered by monthly cloud credits that don't roll over (25 on Personal, 100 on Pro).
Max output resolution	4K, 3 credits per second (180 a minute).	8K.
Beyond upscaling	Nothing — one input, one 4K output.	Frame interpolation, stabilization, slow-motion and SDR-to-HDR conversion in the same app.
Commercial use	No revenue-based restriction, on any paid plan.	Personal covers commercial use only for organizations under $1M a year in revenue; Pro removes that cap.
Upload limits	MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 30 minutes per video.	No file-length limit for local rendering — your hardware and disk space are the only ceiling.
Other tools from the same account	Translation, subtitles, image and video generation, video extend and edit — all from the same credit balance.	None in this app. Topaz sells photo upscaling (Gigapixel) and its other apps separately, or bundled in a $399-a-year Studio plan.

Where Topaz Video is clearly better

Topaz is a desktop app, not a single tool: the same subscription that upscales also interpolates frames, stabilizes shaky footage and converts SDR to HDR, with output up to 8K against our 4K ceiling.

Local rendering is unlimited once you're subscribed — there's no per-minute charge, so the more you upscale, the cheaper each minute gets. And nothing uploads anywhere: for client work under NDA, that can matter more than the price.

Where AI Growth Kit is better

No GPU, no install, no subscription to size or cancel. Topaz needs a dedicated graphics card to run at a usable speed (6 GB VRAM minimum on Windows, or an Apple Silicon Mac) and currently sells no free trial for its desktop app; our Upscaler runs in any browser, with 20 free credits at sign-up and $9-$59 packs that never expire.

A single short job costs a fraction of Topaz's cheapest plan: two minutes of footage comes to $18 in credits, one time, no commitment. Topaz's cheapest month is $59 even if you cancel right after — and that's before your GPU is capable enough to make local rendering fast.

Commercial use has no revenue cap on any of our plans. Topaz's Personal plan only covers organizations under $1 million a year in revenue; going over that, or needing full commercial rights regardless of size, means Topaz Pro at $699 a year.

The same balance also pays for translation, subtitles and AI-generated video clips — Topaz Video does only upscaling and the effects listed above.

What it costs at three monthly volumes

Our rate is 3 credits per second (180 a minute); Topaz Personal is $299 a year, a flat $24.92 a month with no per-minute charge once you have hardware that can run it.

A single 2-minute clip, upscaled once: 2 × 180 = 360 credits, so two $9 Starter Packs (400 credits) for $18, one time, no subscription. Topaz sells no plan below Personal and no trial, so the same job costs $59 for that month even if you cancel right after.

10 minutes a month: 10 × 180 = 1,800 credits. The $49 Pro plan covers it with 200 credits to spare, cheaper than a $59 Power Pack for the same minutes. Topaz Personal's $24.92-a-month annual rate already undercuts both, and stays flat no matter how many more minutes you render that month.

60 minutes a month: 60 × 180 = 10,800 credits. The Pro plan's 2,000 credits cover the first 11 minutes for $49; the remaining 8,800 credits need about 4.9 Power Packs (8,800 ÷ 1,800 × $59 ≈ $288), roughly $337 a month in total. Topaz Personal is still $24.92 a month flat for the same 60 minutes, rendered locally — this is the volume where owning the hardware wins outright.

How to decide

Start from whether you already own hardware that meets Topaz's minimums, and how many minutes you upscale in a typical month.

Own a capable GPU and upscale often: Topaz Video, past roughly 6 minutes a month.
No GPU, an occasional file, or you also want to translate or subtitle the same video: AI Growth Kit.
The file can't leave your machine at all, or you need output above 4K: Topaz Video.

Choose Topaz Video if…

You already own a GPU that meets Topaz's minimums (6 GB VRAM on Windows, or an Apple Silicon Mac) and upscale often enough that its flat $24.92-a-month annual rate beats metered credits — past roughly 6 minutes a month at our best rate.
The footage can't leave your machine at all: local rendering never uploads anything, while our Upscaler requires an upload.
You need more than upscaling — frame interpolation, stabilization, slow-motion or SDR-to-HDR in the same app.
You need output above 4K, up to Topaz's 8K ceiling.

Choose AI Growth Kit if…

You don't own a GPU that meets Topaz's minimums, or want to upscale from a laptop, tablet or any browser.
The job is small or occasional: a $9-$59 pack is a one-time purchase, cheaper than Topaz's $59-a-month minimum (it currently sells no trial).
Your organization is at or above Topaz Personal's $1 million revenue cap and you don't want to pay for Pro just to remove it.
You also want to translate, subtitle or generate video from the same account and credit balance.

Questions

Is Topaz Video the same product as Topaz Video AI?

Yes, same lineage under a newer name. Topaz's desktop upscaler was originally Video Enhance AI, then became Topaz Video AI. Topaz retired that app in September 2025 — its last build was version 7.1.4, according to a Topaz Community post from that month — and replaced it with "Topaz Video," restarting the version number at 1.0 and moving to the subscription pricing in the table above. If you see "Topaz Video AI" in an old review or download link, that's the retired predecessor, not the app Topaz sells today.

Does Topaz have a browser-based option too?

Yes — Topaz for Web is a separate product that renders in the cloud instead of on your machine, from $19 a month (200 cloud credits) up to $59 a month (400 credits, full commercial use) as of October 2026. It's a different product from the desktop Topaz Video app this page compares, with metered cloud credits instead of unlimited local rendering.

Did Adobe's acquisition change Topaz Video's pricing or app?

Not so far. Adobe completed its acquisition of Topaz Labs on September 23, 2026, and said Topaz's apps continue as a standalone product under their existing pricing and branding.

Can I use both?

Yes. If you own a capable GPU, render routine upscaling jobs locally in Topaz for the flat subscription price; use our Upscaler for an occasional file with nothing to install, or when you also want to translate or subtitle the same video.