The 3 Best Image to Layers AI Tools in 2026

The same six questions were put to every tool. They decide whether a split is usable in real work, not whether it looks impressive in a demo, and they are why the three picks are three different tools rather than one winner.

1. How many layers, and how sensible. Does a poster with ten elements come back as ten layers, or as “foreground” and “background”?
2. Are the elements whole. When one thing sits in front of another, does the thing behind come back complete, or with a hole where the front object was?
3. Is the background repaired. After every element is lifted off, is what is left a clean picture, or a picture full of cut-outs?
4. Can you ask for one thing. If you only need the price tag, can you say so, or do you pay for and wade through the whole split?
5. Where the layers can go. Copy to the clipboard, PNG files, a layered PSD, or straight into Photoshop, Figma or Sketch, or do they stay inside the tool?
6. What it costs. Per layer, per image, per month, or in GPU time.

What was actually run. LayerGrab split seven images into layers: a coffee-shop poster, a headphones banner, an Instagram post, an isometric illustration, a presentation slide, a flat-lay photo and a two-person photo. All seven results are saved unedited and are the samples on the home page. The Qwen-Image-Layered public demo was tried three times with the coffee poster. The other eight, LayerPSD and Canva among them, need an account and in most cases payment, so they are described from their own product, pricing and help pages, each linked with the date it was read. Where a page is silent the table says so. If you run the same images through one of them, the layer names and timings on our side are the baseline to compare against.

LayerGrab is an AI tool that splits one image into up to 16 separate transparent layers, one per element, over a background that is filled in behind them, or pulls out just the object you name. It runs on layergrab.com and, with the same account and credits, as Photoshop, Figma and Sketch plugins and a Chrome side-panel extension. The Figma plugin is on Figma Community (approved October 1, 2026).

What we got. The coffee poster (880×1184 px) came back as 10 layers in 100 seconds: the headline, the “20% OFF” badge, four maple leaves, the cup, the drink, the whipped cream and the event line, over a filled background. The flat-lay photo of sportswear gave 15 layers in 148 seconds, one per item down to the wristband. The Instagram post gave 7, the illustration 9, the slide 11. Every layer had an English name we could search for, such as “Yellow +42% Year on Year Badge”.

Whole elements. In the poster, the pumpkin graphic sits on the cup. Split apart, the pumpkin is its own layer and the cup layer is a complete plain cup, not a cup with a pumpkin-shaped hole. In the illustration, the desk that everything stands on is one whole layer. This is the difference between a layer stack you can rearrange and one you can only hide.

Asking for one thing. Type what you want before splitting. “Separate the woman on the right” on the two-person photo returned exactly one layer plus the filled background, in 46 seconds, and cost two layers instead of a whole split. Details are on the separate one object page.

Where the layers go. Copy one layer and paste it into Figma, Photoshop or Canva; download it as PNG; download every layer as a ZIP; or export a layered PSD. In the plugins, the split arrives as a named group directly above the image, aligned to it. No other tool on this list puts the layers inside Photoshop, Figma or Sketch for you.

Price. Credits are charged per layer returned, the filled background included: 10 credits a layer on the basic plan ($12 a month for 1,200 credits), 8 on premium, or a one-time pack from $20. Every account gets one free One layer split (one element on its own layer, the gap behind it filled in), and one free full split in the plugins. If a split returns more than the balance covers, nothing is charged and the result is shown locked until it is paid for, so a low balance never pays for half a result.

Where it falls short. Text is pixels, not type; if you need the words back as editable type, LayerPSD below does that and LayerGrab does not. Shadows an object cast on the background are not carried with it. Two runs on the same image can split it slightly differently. And it is a hosted service: the image is sent to LayerGrab's servers, so it is the wrong choice if the picture must never leave your machine.

LayerPSD is a browser tool that turns a flat JPG, PNG or WebP into a layered PSD. It cuts each element onto a transparent layer and repaints the background behind them, so moving a layer leaves no hole. Its Auto mode finds up to 16 elements per pass and runs extra passes on busy images, up to four; or you ask for a fixed 3, 4, 6 or 8 layers and it merges the rest into them. Files can be up to 50 MB, and a pass takes about 56 to 138 seconds at 2K.

What sets it apart: text. Its page says “Regular-size text comes back as editable Photoshop type”, and gives a figure from its own test: 99% of 206 lines across 30 designs. Big decorative lettering stays a picture layer. If your job is changing the words on a poster while keeping it a real Photoshop document, this is the most direct route on the list. Exports are a layered PSD, a PSD with editable text, a ZIP of transparent PNGs, single PNG layers and PowerPoint (PPTX).

Price. One-time credit packs, no subscription: $9.90 for 100 credits, $24.90 for 300 and $49.90 for 700, valid for 12 months after your latest purchase. On its default model each output image costs one credit, so a background plus 4 layers is 5 credits and a full 16-element pass is 17; its Pro model costs 6.7 credits per output. There is one free try with a verified Gmail account: a 1K split into a background plus 4 layers, with PSD and ZIP export.

Where it falls short. It runs in the browser only; its pages mention no Photoshop, Figma or Sketch plugin. It is not for pulling one object out: its own page sends single-subject cutouts to a background remover. And its page is plain that fonts and repainted pixels may differ from the input.

Sources: layerpsd.com; layerpsd.com/pricing. Read 2026-11-12.

Magic Layers is Canva's built-in feature that turns “any flat image into fully editable design layers” so you can “select, separate, and edit individual elements”. It launched in public beta in March 2026. You reach it from the Canva home page or from Edit in the editor, then move, delete, resize, apply effects to or replace the elements.

What the help page says. It works with single-page PNG and JPG files. It does not support PDFs, vector graphics, multi-page documents or licensed images, and lists photo-realistic imagery under “results may vary”: it “works best with graphic designs, illustrations, and stylized visuals”. Images over 5,000 px on the longest edge are not supported. It draws on your Canva AI allowance; when you reach the monthly limit, you wait for it to reset or upgrade your plan. The page does not mention exporting the layers as files or as a PSD.

Where it fits. If your whole workflow is in Canva, this is the shortest path: no download, no upload, the elements land in the design you are already editing. If the layers have to leave Canva, or you work in Photoshop or Figma, it is the wrong tool, which is why we keep a separate Canva Magic Layers alternative page. For photos, Canva's Magic Grab (a different feature) lifts one selected object off a photo and keeps the background.

Sources: Canva help: Turn images into editable layers with Magic Layers, read 2026-11-12; PetaPixel, March 2026.

imagetolayers.com is a browser layer splitter that takes a JPG, PNG or WebP and promises to “separate subjects, objects, characters, and backgrounds, reconstruct plausible hidden areas behind overlaps”. Output is transparent PNG layers, a ZIP, or a PSD. It says most images take 60 to 120 seconds.

What the page says, and does not. There is no way to say which element you want before the split. It is honest about its limits: fine detail, heavy blur, extreme overlap and ambiguous boundaries may need editing, and reconstructed areas are “AI-generated estimates, not recovered original pixels”, which is true of every tool on this page. A Starter trial gives 20 credits once; Creator is $10 a month (12,000 credits a year) and Studio $30 a month. The page does not state how many credits one split uses.

Source: imagetolayers.com. Read 2026-11-12.

Image Layered (image-layered.app) splits a flat image into editable, transparent layers and exports a layered PSD, or a ZIP of transparent PNGs plus a composite, and rebuilds the background behind removed subjects. Uploads are JPG, PNG or WebP up to 10 MB, or pasted from the clipboard. Instead of a layer count, it offers a precision mode and custom-instruction presets, one of which extracts text as layers.

Price and limits. Each 2K split costs 5 credits, with the PSD and PNG exports included, and uploading and arranging layers is free. Sign-up includes credits, but the page does not say how many, and dollar prices are not on the page. It warns that very busy photos can merge small details into one layer.

Source: image-layered.app. Read 2026-11-12.

Not to be confused with Canva's or Codia's feature of the same name, magiclayers.net is a stand-alone site that splits a flat image into layers: a base image plus transparent PNGs, each named, described and positioned. You set a target of 2 to 15 images, the base included (the model “aims for your target and may return fewer”), and can optionally describe what you want back, such as every person, just the clothes or the headline.

Limits and price. One PNG or JPEG per job, up to 10 MB (larger images are downscaled), at least 512×512 px, one task at a time per account. Layers download as PNGs or as a layered PSD at no extra credit cost. Each output image costs 20 credits, the base included, and only returned images are billed; packs are one-time and do not expire, from $2 for 100 credits to $69 for 10,000. On the $17 pack (2,200 credits), a full 15-image split is about $2.30 and a two-image split about 31 cents. It says plainly that fonts, editable text, vectors and original effects cannot be recovered.

Source: magiclayers.net. Read 2026-11-12.

The one open model on this list. Qwen-Image-Layered (Qwen team, weights released December 19, 2025, Apache 2.0, 20B parameters) decomposes an image into a number of RGBA layers you choose, and any layer can be decomposed again. There is an official demo on Hugging Face Spaces, and the layers can be downloaded as a ZIP or exported to PPTX.

What we tried. On September 29, 2026 we uploaded the coffee poster to the demo, set Layers to 10 (the maximum; the default is 4) and clicked Decompose. Three attempts, including one at the default 20 inference steps instead of 50, all stopped with the same message: “The requested GPU duration (360s) is larger than the maximum allowed.” The demo asks for six minutes of GPU per run, more than an anonymous visitor is allowed on the free tier, so in practice it needs a Hugging Face login. We did not sign in, so we have no output to show.

What the documentation says. The prompt “is intended to describe the overall content of the input image” and “is not designed to control the semantic content of individual layers”, so you cannot ask it for the price tag. You control the count instead: 2 to 10 layers in the demo. Running it yourself needs a CUDA GPU and the diffusers pipeline. Once it is running, each image is free, which makes it the pick for research, pipelines, and images that must stay on your own hardware. There is more in our plain guide to Qwen-Image-Layered.

Sources: demo Space, still listed 2026-11-12; model card; README.

Codia's Magic Layers promises to “instantly separate backgrounds, objects, text, products, and visual elements into independent layers”. Upload a PNG, JPG or WebP (the page also names screenshots, posters, mockups and AI-generated images), and the result opens in Codia Studio as an editable canvas next to the original image, where you can select, move, hide or regenerate individual layers.

What the page says, and does not. It says Magic Layers can be tried free from the page, which makes it one of the easiest ways to see a split on your own image. It does not state a layer limit, a file-size limit, a price for continued use, or what export formats leave Studio, so check that before you rely on it for PNG or PSD files. There is no way to ask for one element before the split; you select it afterwards.

Source: codia.ai/magic-layers. Read 2026-11-12.

LlamaGen's layer splitter is aimed at illustration: you upload JPG, PNG or WebP artwork to separate characters, objects, text and backgrounds. Both of its modes return one PNG asset sheet, which the page says is not an editable set of transparent PNG layers; PRO Mode uses a higher-quality model for a cleaner sheet. Individual transparent PNG layers, a ZIP and a “starter PSD” come from a paid second pass.

What the page says. Clean illustrated subjects work best: full silhouette visible, simple background, clean outlines. It calls itself “not a shortcut for every crowded photo, sketch sheet, occluded pose, or dense layout”. A Quick first pass is 300 credits, PRO 600, and the second pass another 600; Quick Mode is available on free plans but uses credits. Dollar prices are on its plans page, not this one. A side-by-side with LayerGrab, row by row, is on LlamaGen AI Layer Splitter vs LayerGrab.

Source: llamagen.ai AI Layer Splitter. Read 2026-11-12.

Image Breakdown is an app in Krea's node editor that uses Krea's models to “split any image into editable layers with AI”. The workflow on the page: upload a JPG or PNG and choose an output type, run the segmentation, adjust layer boundaries and masks, then export PNGs or a layered format for your editor.

What the page says, and does not. Its pitch is mask control: cutouts you can refine before exporting. It does not state a layer count, whether hidden areas are filled, or a price; Krea's plans apply, and its page data lists a free tier. Because it is one node graph among many, it can change or disappear without notice in a way a product feature would not.

Source: krea.ai Image Breakdown. Read 2026-11-12.