Most online image tools follow the same pattern:

upload an image;

wait for a server to process it;

download the result.

That model works well. Cloud APIs are convenient, scalable from a developer experience point of view, and often give very consistent results.

But while building an open-source background remover, I kept running into a different question:

How far can image processing move into the browser itself?

Not just the UI. Not just cropping or resizing. Actual AI-powered background removal, export options, batch queues, and image composition — all running locally on the user's device.

This article is a practical comparison between cloud-based image processing and client-side AI image processing , based on the tradeoffs I encountered while building BG-Zero , an open-source browser-based background remover.

This is not a "cloud is bad" article. Cloud APIs are still the right answer for many products.…