Interpolate vs Topaz Video AI
Topaz retired its perpetual licence in October 2025 and now sells subscriptions only. Interpolate smooths and upscales video on your Mac for £39 paid once. This page is an honest account of where it replaces Topaz — and where it plainly does not.
The short version
Topaz Video AI is a broader tool than Interpolate, and it costs a great deal more. Both interpolate frames and upscale video; Topaz additionally denoises, stabilises and restores faces, and its upscaling goes further than ours. If you need that restoration toolbox, Topaz earns its price and you should buy it.
But a large share of people reach for Topaz to do one thing: make footage smoother, or make slow motion that does not judder. If that is you, you are renting a suite to use a single feature — and since October 2025 you cannot stop renting without losing access.
Side by side
| Interpolate | Topaz Video AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £39 once | $299/yr, or $59/mo month‑to‑month |
| Licence | Perpetual — keeps working forever | Subscription; access ends when it lapses |
| Frame interpolation | RIFE, 2× or 4×, up to 4K | Several models (Apollo, Chronos, Aion) |
| Video upscaling | Real‑ESRGAN, 2× or 4×, up to 4K out | Yes, with more models and no fixed ceiling |
| Denoise / stabilise / face recovery | No | Yes |
| Platforms | macOS only | macOS and Windows |
| Processing | On your Mac, always | Local rendering, with optional cloud credits |
| Free tier | Yes — 1080p, 2×, no watermark | Trial only |
Topaz figures read from their pricing page on 25 September 2026. Prices change — check theirs before deciding, and tell us if this table has gone stale.
Upscaling is slow, and you should know that first
Every output frame is generated, so upscaling a clip takes far longer than playing it — on the order of two seconds per 1080p frame on an M‑series Mac, and it climbs steeply with output size. A minute of footage is an hour of rendering, not a coffee break. This is true of Topaz too; it is the nature of the work rather than a shortcut we took. Queue it and come back.
Where Topaz is genuinely better
- Restoration. Denoising, stabilisation and face recovery are real features with no equivalent here.
- Deeper upscaling. Ours caps at 4K output and ships one model; Topaz has more models and no fixed ceiling.
- It runs on Windows. Interpolate is a Mac app and always will be.
- More interpolation models. Topaz ships several and lets you pick per clip; Interpolate ships RIFE and keeps the choice simple.
- It is a mature, established product with a long track record on difficult footage.
Where Interpolate wins
- You buy it. £39 once, yours permanently. No renewal is needed to keep using it.
- Roughly one‑eighth of a single year of Topaz, and it does not recur.
- Try it properly first. The free Lite tier does 1080p at 2× with no watermark and no time limit — run your own footage through before paying.
- Two jobs, one price. Smoothing and upscaling share the same queue, progress bar and per-clip frame-rate readout.
Which to choose
Buy Topaz if you need denoising, stabilisation or face recovery, want to upscale beyond 4K, work on Windows, or want to pick between models per clip.
Buy Interpolate if you are on a Mac, you want smoother motion, fluid slow motion or a bigger clip, and you would rather own a tool than rent a suite for the parts of it you actually use. Read the full Interpolate page for what it does in detail, or take the free tier for a run first.
Questions
Is Topaz Video AI still a one-time purchase?
No. Topaz retired the perpetual licence in October 2025, and as of September 2026 its pricing page lists subscriptions only — $299 a year billed annually, $25 a month on an annual commitment, or $59 month-to-month. A Pro tier with full commercial rights is $699 a year.
Is Interpolate a full replacement for Topaz Video AI?
It covers two of Topaz's jobs: frame interpolation and video upscaling. It does not denoise, stabilise or restore faces, and its upscaling tops out at 4K output with a single model. If you bought Topaz to smooth footage, make slow motion or enlarge a clip, Interpolate covers that. For restoration work, it does not.
Does Interpolate process video in the cloud?
No. The RIFE engine is bundled in the app and everything runs on your Mac — decode, interpolate, encode. There is no upload and no connection required. Topaz also renders locally on its subscription plans, so on privacy the two are comparable; the difference is what you pay and for how long.
What happens to Interpolate when my updates window ends?
Nothing. The version you bought keeps working permanently — the two-year window governs access to new builds, not the right to run the software. Renewing for £19 re-opens access to newer versions and is entirely optional. A lapsed window never disables what you already own.
Does Interpolate run on Windows?
No, it is macOS only, and that is a real advantage Topaz holds — Topaz Video AI runs on both Mac and PC. If you work across both platforms, or share a licence with someone on Windows, Topaz covers a case that Interpolate simply does not.
How much footage can I process?
There is no cap and no credit system on either the free or paid tier — you are not metered per minute or per render. Interpolate Pro handles input up to 4K with a batch queue. The free Lite tier is limited to 1080p input, one clip at a time.