Contents
Takes about 30 seconds
Who wrote this, and why trust it
We make a photo restorer, so we are not a neutral party and you should read this knowing that. What we can offer instead of neutrality is sourcing. Every MyHeritage number below was read off the MyHeritage help centre on 3 November 2026, every number about us comes from our own pricing, and where MyHeritage is the better buy, this page says so and explains when.
One measurement is worth putting up front, because it frames the whole decision. We pulled the MyHeritage search cluster on 3 November 2026: of the hundred most-searched MyHeritage phrases in the United States, worth about 687,000 searches a month between them, exactly two are about photographs. That is 0.3 percent. The rest is DNA kits, record searches, logins and the brand name itself.
That is not a criticism. It is the single most useful fact about MyHeritage for anyone weighing it up as a restorer: you would be buying a genealogy company, and the photo tools ride along.
What the MyHeritage photo tools are
There are four of them, and they are separate tools rather than one button, which matters when a photograph has more than one thing wrong with it.
- Photo Enhancer
- Sharpens faces on a photograph that is otherwise intact. This is the one people mean when they say MyHeritage made an old portrait look clear. It works on the face and leaves the rest of the frame roughly as it found it.
- Photo Repair
- Targets physical damage: scratches, creases, tears and the marks left by an album corner. A print that has been folded usually needs this before the enhancer is any use.
- In Color
- Adds colour to a black and white photograph. If this is the only thing you want, our own guide to colorizing black and white photos covers what to expect from any of these tools, ours included.
- Deep Nostalgia
- Animates a still face so it moves and blinks. It is the tool that made MyHeritage famous outside genealogy, and it has its own section below.
All four are unlimited on the Complete plan. The free account allows a small number of uses and several animations, which is enough to judge the quality and not enough to work through a box of prints.
What MyHeritage costs
The tier that carries the photo tools is the Complete plan, at $149 a year per the MyHeritage help centre on 3 November 2026. It renews. That price buys the whole platform: tree, historical records, DNA matching and the four photo tools together.
Two things worth knowing before you compare it with anything. MyHeritage prices vary by region, and it runs introductory offers often enough that the first year is frequently cheaper than the renewal, so the number you pay at sign-up is not necessarily the number you pay next year. Check the renewal price, not the offer.
The comparison people actually want is not $149 against our prices, because the two are not the same product. It is this: if the family tree is something you want, the photo tools are effectively free and this is a good deal. If you only have a drawer of photographs and no interest in records, you are paying a genealogy subscription to fix photographs.
| Pack | Photos | Price | Full 1080p | No watermark | Never expires | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 10 | $6.99$0.70 each | Full 1080p: included | No watermark: included | Never expires: included | Buy |
| Plus | 25 | $16.99$0.68 each | Full 1080p: included | No watermark: included | Never expires: included | Buy |
| Probest value | 50 | $29.99$0.60 each | Full 1080p: included | No watermark: included | Never expires: included | Buy |
| Studio | 100 | $54.99$0.55 each | Full 1080p: included | No watermark: included | Never expires: included | Buy |
| Max | 250 | $109.99$0.44 each | Full 1080p: included | No watermark: included | Never expires: included | Buy |
One credit restores one photo. Every pack includes the same everything: nothing is held back for the larger ones, and the only difference is how many photos you get.
Ours are credit packs, bought once. One credit restores, colorizes or sharpens one photo; an animation costs 3. Nothing renews, and credits do not expire. At the Max pack that is $0.44 a photo.
Is MyHeritage free?
Partly, and the distinction matters more here than with most tools. You can create an account, build a family tree and run a small number of photo-tool actions plus several animations without paying anything. That allowance exists to show you the quality.
What you cannot do on the free tier is work. The allowance is measured in a handful of photos, not a shoebox, and once it is gone the tools ask for the Complete plan. So the honest answer to "is MyHeritage free" is that the tree is usable free and the photo tools are a trial.
We are not free either, and we say why on our page about free photo restoration: every restoration costs real money to run, which is why tools that advertise themselves as free usually recover it with watermarks, small output sizes or a card at the end. Ours starts at a one-time credit pack with no subscription.
Deep Nostalgia, and what it actually is
Deep Nostalgia is the most searched MyHeritage photo feature by a wide margin, and it is worth being precise about what it does. It takes one still face and applies pre-recorded driver footage to it, so the head turns, the eyes move and the mouth shifts. The result is a plausible human movement. It is not a recording of how that person moved.
People find that either moving or unsettling, and both reactions are reasonable. What it is not is evidence. Nothing in the clip tells you anything about your relative that the photograph did not already contain.
We animate photographs too, at 3 credits each, and the same caveat applies to ours. If animation is the main thing you came for rather than a MyHeritage question, our guide to animating old photos is the page to read instead of this one.
Us against MyHeritage, point by point
| Point | MyHeritage | RestoreYourPhoto |
|---|---|---|
| What you are buying | A genealogy platform. Family tree, historical records, DNA matching, with the photo tools included. | A photo restorer. That is the whole product. |
| Price | Complete plan, $149 a year, renewing. | Credit packs from $6.99, bought once. |
| What happens when you stop paying | The tools stop. It is a subscription. | Nothing. Credits you already bought stay, and they do not expire. |
| Restoration | Photo Enhancer, Photo Repair and In Color, unlimited on Complete. | Repair, colorize, sharpen, de-blur and de-noise, one credit each. |
| Animation | Deep Nostalgia, unlimited on Complete. | Animation costs 3 credits. |
| Where results live | Attached to the person in your family tree, which is the real advantage. | In your account for 30 days, then gone. Download what you want to keep. |
| Sign-up | An account, and the photo tools sit behind the paid tier. | An account, then a credit pack. |
MyHeritage figures from its own help centre, 3 November 2026. Ours from our pricing, which is the same everywhere on this site.
The row that decides it for most people is the second one. A subscription is the right shape when you use something all year, and the wrong shape when you have one box of photographs and a free weekend.
What our restorer gets wrong
A comparison that only lists the other side's weaknesses is an advert. These are ours, and most of them apply to MyHeritage and every other AI restorer in this category too.
- Very small or very damaged faces get invented. When the detail is not in the file, the model fills it in from what faces usually look like. On a face a few dozen pixels across, the result can be a convincing stranger. Always compare at full size.
- Colorizing guesses colour. Skin, sky and foliage are reliable because they are constrained. A dress, a uniform or a painted wall is a plausible invention. If the real colour matters to your family, treat the output as an illustration.
- Text and fine patterns suffer. Signage, medals, lace and printed captions are where rebuilt detail looks wrong first.
- We have no family tree. Results live in your account for 30 days and then they are gone. Download what you want to keep. MyHeritage genuinely beats us here, and if that matters, see the last section.
- Your photo is uploaded. Processing happens on a server, which is also true of MyHeritage. If a photograph must never leave your machine, you need desktop software, not either of us.
If a restoration does not come out right, we refund unused credits within 30 days.
Cancelling a MyHeritage subscription
Cancel through whoever bills you. A subscription bought on the MyHeritage website is cancelled in your account settings, under the subscription or billing section, by turning off auto-renewal. One bought through an app store is cancelled in that store, because the store is the biller and MyHeritage cannot stop it for you.
Two details that catch people out, and they are true of annual subscriptions generally rather than being specific to MyHeritage. Access continues to the end of the period you have already paid for, so cancelling early costs you nothing. And the renewal is charged in full on the renewal date, so the time to act is the week before it, not the week after.
This is the part that pushes people towards buying credits instead. There is nothing to cancel when nothing renews.
When MyHeritage is the right answer
Sometimes it is, and pretending otherwise would make the rest of this page worth less. Pick MyHeritage if any of these is true.
- You want the family tree anyway. Then the photo tools cost you nothing extra and this is not a close call.
- You want restored photographs attached to people. A portrait that sits on the right person in a tree your family can browse is worth more than the same file in a download folder. We do not offer that and are not planning to.
- You will restore photographs all year. Unlimited beats per-photo pricing once the volume is high enough and spread across months.
Pick a restorer instead if the photographs are the job: a finite pile, a deadline, no interest in records, and no wish to remember to cancel something in eleven months. If you want to see the whole field rather than these two, our comparison of photo restoration apps puts seven of them side by side on published pricing, and says which one we make.
Questions people ask
How much does MyHeritage cost?
The tier that carries the photo tools is the Complete plan at $149 a year, per the MyHeritage help centre on 3 November 2026. That is a renewing subscription to the whole platform, records and DNA matching included, not a price for the photo features on their own. Prices vary by region and MyHeritage runs frequent introductory offers, so the first year is often cheaper than the renewal. Check what the renewal costs before the first year ends.
Is MyHeritage free?
Partly. You can build a tree and use a small number of photo-tool actions and several animations without paying. The photo tools are not unlimited on the free tier: you get a taste and then a prompt to subscribe. If the photographs are the only reason you are there, you will hit that wall quickly.
Can I use MyHeritage photo tools without a subscription?
For a handful of photos, yes, within the free allowance. For a shoebox, no. The allowance is designed to show you what the tools do and then convert you to the Complete plan, which is reasonable, but it means "free" is a trial rather than a tier you can live on.
Is MyHeritage Deep Nostalgia free?
There is a free allowance of several animations, after which it needs the paid plan. Deep Nostalgia animates a still face: it moves the head and eyes using driver footage, so it is a plausible movement rather than a record of how that person actually moved. Nothing you see in the clip is evidence about the person.
What is the difference between MyHeritage Photo Enhancer and Photo Repair?
Enhancer sharpens faces on a photo that is basically intact. Repair targets physical damage: scratches, creases and tears. In Color adds colour to black and white. They are separate tools in the same suite, which is why a badly damaged photo usually needs more than one pass.
Do I need a family tree to use the photo tools?
No, but the tree is the reason the tools are good value there. Restored portraits attach to the person they belong to, so the work compounds into something your family can browse. Without a tree you are paying a genealogy subscription for a photo editor.
How do I cancel a MyHeritage subscription?
In your MyHeritage account settings, under the subscription or billing section, turn off auto-renewal. Access continues to the end of the period you have already paid for. Cancel before the renewal date rather than after it: like most annual subscriptions, the renewal is charged in full and is awkward to undo. If you subscribed through an app store, cancel it there instead, because the store is the biller.
What is the best MyHeritage alternative for photos only?
That depends on whether you want the tree. If you do, nothing here beats MyHeritage, because the tools are included and the results attach to real people. If you do not, you are looking for a restorer rather than a platform: ours is one, with credits from $6.99 bought once, and there are others compared side by side on our best photo restoration apps page.
Will the restored photo look like my relative?
Usually, and this is the question worth asking of any AI restorer including both of these. Models rebuild detail that is no longer in the file, so on a very small or very damaged face they are guessing, and a guess can quietly change someone. Compare the restored face with the original at full size before you print it or hand it round the family.
