I Built a Free Background Remover as a Side Project – Here's What I Learned

The Frustration That Started It All I kept needing to remove backgrounds from product images. Every tool I tried either slapped a watermark on the result, charged credits for basic use, or had a clunky UI that felt stuck in 2015. So I built my own: image-backgroundremover.site Here's the full breakdown — tech stack, decisions, mistakes, and lessons. What It Does 🖼️ Remove image backgrounds instantly (powered by remove.bg API) 🆓 1 free try without signing up (IP-limited) 🎁 3 more free credits after creating an account 💳 Pay-as-you-go credits or monthly subscriptions 🔐 Google OAuth login No watermarks on paid results. No hidden limits. Tech Stack Layer Choice Why Framework Next.js 16 Fast, full-stack, easy deploy Styling Tailwind CSS Rapid UI, no fighting CSS Database Cloudflare D1 Serverless SQL, free tier generous Auth Google OAuth Users trust it, easy to implement Payments PayPal Global coverage, easy API API remove.bg Best accuracy I found The whole thing runs on Cloudflare Work