SquishyFile vs. Topaz Video AI (Free vs. $299 a Year)
The short answer
Topaz Video (formerly Topaz Video AI) is the stronger upscaler. It runs much larger AI models, adds noise reduction, deinterlacing, stabilization and frame interpolation, and goes up to 8K. It also costs $299 a year for the personal plan and wants a gaming-class graphics card. My SquishyFile video upscaler is free and runs in a browser tab, but it does one job: 2x or 4x resolution, with an AI model for videos up to 720p and AMD's FSR for larger ones.
Use mine to make a small, clean clip bigger for free in a couple of minutes. Pay for Topaz if you restore old or damaged footage regularly, work on client video, or need denoising and deinterlacing in the same pass.
Side by side
| SquishyFile | Topaz Video | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Personal $299/year or $59/month; Pro $699/year |
| Free version | Full tool, no watermark | Trial; exports are watermarked |
| Where it runs | In the browser, on your own GPU via WebGPU | Desktop app on your PC or Mac; separate paid web and cloud versions |
| Install | None | Desktop app, Windows 10/11 or macOS |
| Hardware | Any recent laptop or phone with WebGPU | Dedicated GPU, 6 GB VRAM minimum, 8 GB+ recommended; the newest models want 12 GB or more |
| AI models | One small model (IMDN) for 720p and under; FSR above that | More than a dozen (Proteus, Iris, Rhea, Artemis, Starlight and others) |
| Scales | 2x and 4x | Up to 4K and 8K output |
| Denoise, deinterlace, stabilize | No | Yes |
| Frame interpolation / slow motion | No (frame rate stays the same) | Yes |
| Anime mode | Yes, a line-art pass | Handled through model choice |
| Output | H.264 MP4 with the original audio | Many codecs including ProRes |
Topaz prices and requirements are as published in October 2026. Topaz moved new customers to subscriptions, and Topaz Video AI 7.1.5 is the last version perpetual-license owners can keep using.
Quality: where Topaz is clearly ahead
I'll be direct, because it saves you time: on hard footage, Topaz wins. Its models are far larger than mine and were trained specifically on video, including compressed, noisy and interlaced sources. Topaz also recommends different models for different damage, such as Iris for broadcast and interlaced video, Rhea for heavy motion and Artemis for badly degraded low-resolution archives.
My AI path uses IMDN, a network of about 100,000 parameters trained on high-resolution photos. I picked it because it's small enough to run on every frame inside a browser tab. It rebuilds edges and fine detail well on clean low-resolution video, like a 480p screen recording or a 720p clip that looks soft on a TV. It doesn't remove noise, fix compression blocks or repair tape damage. Above 720p, my tool switches to FSR 1.0, which is a fast, sharp scaling shader rather than an AI model. I explain that split in what FSR is.
If your source is a noisy VHS transfer, an interlaced DVD or a heavily compressed download, Topaz will produce a visibly better result. My tool will produce a bigger version of the same noise.
Where the free tool makes more sense
Cost per job. If you upscale a handful of clips a year, $299 is a lot to pay for a few minutes of work. Mine costs nothing because your own device does the processing.
Hardware. Topaz's desktop app wants a dedicated graphics card with at least 6 GB of video memory, and its newest Starlight models ask for 12 GB or more. Many laptops, and every phone, fall short. My tool runs on whatever GPU your browser can reach, including the integrated graphics in a MacBook Air.
Speed to a result. Topaz's heaviest models are slow. Reviewers report hours for a few minutes of 1080p on a high-end card. My tool is built for short clips and shows a one-frame preview with an estimate of how long the whole video will take on your device before you commit.
Nothing to install. On a work laptop, a school Chromebook or a borrowed computer, a web page is often the only option.
Anime and cartoons. My upscaler has a dedicated anime setting that sharpens, darkens and thins line art after upscaling. For a 480p DVD episode that you want on a big screen, it's a quick, free fix. More in how to upscale anime video.
Which one should you use?
| Your situation | Pick |
|---|---|
| A short, clean clip that's too small for the screen | SquishyFile |
| A screen recording with text that's hard to read | SquishyFile |
| Anime or cartoons from DVD | SquishyFile, anime setting |
| Old VHS or camcorder tapes with noise and interlacing | Topaz |
| Client work or anything you'll sell | Topaz Pro |
| You need slow motion or 60 fps from 30 fps | Topaz |
| No dedicated graphics card | SquishyFile, or Topaz's paid cloud version |
| You'll upscale once or twice a year | SquishyFile first, Topaz trial if it's not enough |
A sensible way to decide
Run a short section of your video through my upscaler first. Click a frame to preview it, drag the before/after slider, and look at faces, text and edges. If that's good enough for where the video is going, you're done and it cost nothing.
If it isn't, download the Topaz trial and run the same section. The export will carry a watermark, but you'll see exactly what $299 a year buys you on your own footage. Compare the two on the same frame, at the same size, on the screen the video is meant for. If you can't see the difference there, you don't need to pay for it.
Whichever you use, upscale before you compress, never after. If the upscaled file is too big to send, run it through the video compressor as the last step. And if you're not sure upscaling can help your video at all, does video upscaling actually work? covers what it can and can't do.
Sources
- VideoProc: Topaz Video review 2026 (pricing, perpetual-license status, hardware requirements)
- Nation.ai: Topaz Video AI prices, trial and limits (plans, trial watermark, model list)