Who publishes this index and are they in it?

Retouch Atelier publishes it, and yes — Retouch Atelier is in the table, and is not the cheapest entry in it. Every other comparison of this kind in the category is written by a provider that ranks itself first. This one is sorted by price, carries a source link and a date for every figure, and separates rates confirmed on a provider's own page from rates only reported by a third party.

Sourced, dated, and updated quarterly

Retouching price index.

Q: How much does ghost mannequin retouching cost?

Published starting rates on 2 November 2026: Path lists ghost mannequin from $0.89 per image and Retouch Atelier lists it from $1.00 per image. Third parties report Hello Edits at $0.49 to $0.69 and Clipping Path Zone from $0.49, though those figures were not confirmed on the providers' own pricing pages. Complex garments with interior structure cost more than the starting rate everywhere.

Q: Why do published retouching prices vary so much?

Because the headline number is rarely comparable. Four things move it: turnaround tier, image complexity, order size, and what the price includes. One provider charges five different prices for the same edit depending on whether you want it in six hours or ninety-six. A starting price at standard turnaround and a rush price for a difficult frame can differ by several times on the same service.

Q: Is a cheaper per-image rate actually cheaper?

Not reliably, and this is the reason the index carries an exclusions column. The per-image rate does not price rework, the time spent writing a specification that should already exist, or the cost of a category page that has to be reshot because the set drifted. A rate two cents lower on a set of five thousand images saves one hundred dollars, which one rejected batch erases.

Every published per-image rate we could read off a provider's own pricing page, with the source, the date we read it, and — the column that actually decides cost — what each headline price leaves out. Last read 2 November 2026. Next review 1 February 2027.

Written by Retouch Atelier, so read it accordingly: we are in the table, and we are not the cheapest entry in it. Every figure is linked to its source so you can check it rather than take our word for it, and rates we could only find reported second-hand are kept separate from rates we read ourselves.

Confirmed on the provider's own pricing page

Published starting rates, sorted by price.

Starting prices, for standard turnaround and ordinary complexity. Sorted low to high within each service — not ranked, and not ordered to flatter anybody.

Service	Provider	Published from	What the headline price excludes
Clipping path	Path	$0.39	Standard 24h turnaround; faster tiers cost more. Priced per complexity. Custom rates above ~100 per order or ~1,000 per month.
Clipping path	Retouch Atelier	$0.50	24–48h flat, no rush tier published. Under 500 images a month declined.
Ghost mannequin	Path	$0.89	As above. Interior reconstruction on complex garments is above the starting rate.
Ghost mannequin	Retouch Atelier	$1.00	24–48h flat. Full image-by-image QC on a new account's first three batches.
Background removal	Path	$0.89	Per complexity; additional size or format copies 20¢ per file at standard turnaround.
Product / general retouching	Path	$0.69	Standard turnaround. Complexity assessed per order.
	Pixelz	$0.95	Stated as a starting price on the Professional plan ($95). Enterprise pricing is not published.
	Retouch Atelier — apparel	$1.00	24–48h flat. Unlimited revisions as published.
Drop shadow	Path	$0.25	Standard turnaround.
Colour change / variants	Path	$0.99	Per complexity.
Image masking	Path	$1.19	Per complexity. Hair, fur and translucency sit above the starting rate.
Image masking	Multi-clipping path (Path)	$1.19	Per complexity.
Jewellery / watches	Retouch Atelier — jewellery	$2.00	24–48h flat. Macro cleanup at 100% zoom.
Jewellery / watches	Retouch Atelier — watches	$2.00	As above.
Symmetrical edit	Path	$2.99	Per complexity.
Vector conversion	Path	$3.99	Per complexity.
High-end beauty / editorial	Retouch Atelier	up to $30.00	The top of our published band. Priced by the frame, not by the batch.

Sources, read 2 November 2026: pathedits.com/pages/pricing · pixelz.com/pricing · our own rates and the full cost guide.

Figures are what each provider published on that date and may have changed since. If you find one out of date, write to atelier@retouchatelier.com and we will correct it at the next review and credit the correction.

Reported, not confirmed

Second-hand figures, kept separate on purpose.

These were reported by third-party comparison pages and we could not confirm them on the provider's own pricing page. They are here because leaving them out would make the index look tidier than the market is — but they are not the same class of evidence as the table above, and they should not be quoted as though they were.

Provider	Service	Reported	Reported by
wearview	Per image, on credit plans	from $0.19	wearview.co unconfirmed
Clipping Path Zone	Ghost mannequin	from $0.49	picvisual.com unconfirmed
Hello Edits	Ghost mannequin, 24h	$0.49–$0.69	helloedits.com listing unconfirmed
Pixelz	Ghost mannequin / enterprise catalogue	$1.50–$3.00	picvisual.com, wearview.co unconfirmed
Category band	Basic neck joint / background removal	$0.50–$3.00	colorexpertsbd.com unconfirmed
Squareshot	Per image	~$40.00	wearview.co unconfirmed

Note what the spread tells you: a category where published figures run from 19¢ to $40 for notionally the same thing is a category where the number on the page is not the product. The exclusions column in the first table is where the actual difference lives.

How to read any of it

Four things move a per-image price, and only one is on the page.

Turnaround tier. The clearest finding in this index: Path publishes five turnaround options — 6, 12, 24, 48 and 96 hours — and the price moves with the clock. A quoted "from" price is the slow-lane price. Our own 24–48 hours is flat and carries no rush surcharge, which makes us dearer at the bottom of the band and cheaper in a hurry.
Complexity. Every provider in the first table prices per image after looking at it. A solid cotton t-shirt and a lace bodysuit are not the same job and no honest rate card pretends otherwise.
Order size. Most providers move to unpublished custom rates above roughly a thousand images a month, so for a catalogue buyer none of the published numbers is the number you will pay. Treat this table as a way to shortlist, not as a quote.
What the price includes. QC layers, revision policy, whether a written specification exists, who checks a peak batch. These never appear on a rate card and they are what decides the real cost.

The arithmetic worth doing before optimising a rate: two cents an image across five thousand images a month is a hundred dollars. One rejected batch that has to be reworked, or one category page that ships looking like patchwork, costs more than that. The cheapest supplier and the lowest total cost are frequently different suppliers.

Comparing against one provider in particular? Pixelz, compared honestly — including when to stay with them.

Method

How this index is built, so you can argue with it.

Primary evidence only in the first table. A figure appears there if we opened the provider's own pricing page and read it. Everything else goes in the second table, labelled.
Every figure carries a date. Prices change; an undated price table is worthless within a quarter.
Sorted by price, not by preference. We are in it, and we are above the market leader on comparable services. That is the honest position and hiding it would make the rest of the page untrustworthy.
Empty beats guessed. Where an exclusions cell could not be filled honestly for another provider, it stays as what we could confirm rather than an inference about their business.
Corrections are welcome and credited. Including from the providers listed.

Reviewed quarterly. Last read 2 November 2026 · next review 1 February 2027. When a price changes, the old figure stays below with its old date, because a sourced price history is worth more than a snapshot.

FAQ

Retouching prices — questions

How much does product photo retouching cost per image in 2026?

Read off providers' own pricing pages on 2 November 2026, published starting rates run from about $0.25 for a drop shadow to about $3.99 for vector conversion. Clipping path starts around $0.39, background removal and ghost mannequin around $0.89, and general product retouching around $0.69 to $0.95. These are starting prices for small orders at standard turnaround, and most providers quote custom rates above roughly a thousand images a month.

How much does ghost mannequin retouching cost?

Path lists it from $0.89 per image and we list it from $1.00, both read on 2 November 2026. Third parties report Hello Edits at $0.49 to $0.69 and Clipping Path Zone from $0.49, neither confirmed on their own pricing pages. Garments with interior structure cost more than the starting rate everywhere.

Why do published retouching prices vary so much?

Because the headline number is rarely comparable. Turnaround tier, image complexity, order size and what the price includes all move it, and only the last one tells you anything about quality.

Is a cheaper per-image rate actually cheaper?

Not reliably. The per-image rate does not price rework, the time spent writing a specification that should already exist, or a category page that has to be redone because the set drifted. That is why this index carries an exclusions column rather than just a number.

Are you in your own index?

Yes, and not at the top of it. On comparable services we are above both Path and Pixelz on published rates. We would rather publish that than publish a comparison in which we happen to win.

Why publish this at all?

Because every other comparison in this category is written by a provider that ranks itself first, and none of them dates or links its figures. A buyer deserves one table they can check. If it costs us a few price-led enquiries, those were not the enquiries we are built for.