Paid
Palette.fm
AI colorizer for black-and-white photos, with filter presets and text descriptions to steer the colors.
BeginnerWeb
Krea Colorize
Krea's AI colorizer adds color to a black and white photo in a few seconds, free and without an account.
FreemiumBeginnerWeb
Overview
Krea Colorize adds colour to a black and white photo in one step. The AI reads what is in the picture, skin, sky, foliage, clothing and materials, then paints in the colours it judges each of those should be. Krea is direct in its own FAQ that these are the most likely colours and not the real ones, because a black and white file does not hold that information.
It is a browser tool, and it reads JPG, PNG, HEIC, HEIF and WEBP files up to 25 MB. Colorizing runs free without an account, a free account raises the download resolution, and the free plan draws on a daily allowance of compute units that resets each day. Commercial rights come only with Krea's paid monthly subscription.
Key features
✓Adds colour to black & white photos
✓AI reads skin, sky, foliage & clothing separately
✓Coloured result back in a few seconds
✓Runs free without an account
✓Reads JPG, PNG, HEIC, HEIF & WEBP up to 25 MB
✓Free account raises download resolution
✓One step, no settings
✓Sits alongside Krea's enhancer & photo editor
When to use
Use Krea Colorize if:
- You have a black and white family photo and want to see it in color in a few seconds.
- You want to try colorizing before committing to anything, since it runs free and without an account.
- Your photo is clean: a scan or print with no heavy scratches, tears or fading.
- Your file came straight off an iPhone. It reads HEIC and WEBP as well as JPG and PNG.
- You are colorizing for yourself, your family or a personal project, where a personal-use licence is enough.
- You already use Krea for other image work and want the colorized file in the same place.
When NOT to use
Skip Krea Colorize if any of these describe you:
- Your photo is scratched, torn or badly faded. Colorizing adds color and does not repair damage. Krea's own advice is to repair first with Krea Enhance, or use a photo restoration tool.
- The result is going into a business: an advert, a client job, or anything you sell. Krea grants commercial rights on its paid plans only.
- You need a say in the colors, because you know the real shade of a uniform, a dress or a brand. There are no color controls here. Palette.fm takes a typed description and colors specific objects to match.
- You need the true colors of the scene. No colorizer can recover them, as Krea states in its own FAQ. The output is a plausible guess, not a record of what was there.
- You want the largest file the tool can give you without signing in. Krea states higher-resolution downloads need at least a free account.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, to a point. Krea states you can colorize photos for free without an account, and that a free account unlocks higher-resolution downloads and more photos. Krea's free plan runs on a daily allowance of compute units that resets each day, and no card is needed. Commercial rights come only with the paid plans, which are monthly subscriptions.
No, and Krea says so plainly in its own FAQ. The AI works out the most likely colours from what it recognizes in the picture. It cannot recover the actual colours, because a black and white file does not contain them. So a dress the AI paints blue may have been green. The result is an informed guess, not evidence of what the scene looked like. There are no sliders or colour controls either, so if the result is off you rerun it or adjust the coloured file in Krea's wider editor.
No. It adds colour and does nothing else. Scratches, tears, fading and blur all carry through into the coloured version. A damaged photo also gives the AI less to read, so its colour choices get weaker. Krea's own advice is to run the photo through its enhancer first to restore detail, then colorize the cleaned-up file.
Not on the free plan. Krea grants a commercial licence on its paid plans, covering work like marketing, client jobs and products. Colorizing your own family photos to keep or print is fine for free. Restoring or colorizing photos for paying customers needs the paid plan, however small the job.
JPG, PNG, HEIC, HEIF and WEBP, which covers photos taken on an iPhone as well as ordinary scans. Files can be up to 25 MB each. It does not read RAW camera files, so export those to JPG first.
The colorizer is a browser tool. Krea does publish an iPhone and iPad app, from KREA.AI, INC., but that app is built around generating images and does not list the colorizer among its tools. Krea publishes no Android app, so Android users go through the mobile browser. Several apps on the Play Store use the Krea name and come from other companies, so check the developer before installing one.
Krea does not state a retention rule or a training rule on the colorizer's page. It states only that it processes uploaded photos to provide the result and handles them according to its privacy policy. It points you to that policy for the details on storage, retention and training. If the photo is sensitive or belongs to a client, read the policy before uploading.
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