PhotoRoom vs Unsplash

PhotoRoom's API takes a product or portrait photo and returns a background-removed, background-generated, or otherwise edited image via a single multipart POST, authenticated with an x-api-key header per its docs at docs.photoroom.com — a separate GitBook site from the marketing homepage. A live CORS preflight against its segmentation endpoint reflected two different arbitrary Origin headers back with credentials enabled, so browser-side calls are supported directly. New accounts get a 1,000-image sandbox allowance for testing plus limited free production calls to the Remove Background endpoint, with paid plans covering higher volume and the full Image Editing API.

Unsplash's JSON API lets apps search, browse, and download from its library of freely licensed photos, returning dynamically resizable image URLs (powered by Imgix) alongside photographer and collection metadata. Nearly all real use is covered by a static Client-ID access key sent via the Authorization header — full OAuth is only needed for a handful of actions performed on a user's behalf, like liking a photo. New applications start in demo mode at 50 requests/hour and can apply for production approval to reach 1,000/hour, with attribution to the photographer and Unsplash required under the Unsplash API Guidelines.