Upscale Forge
AI image and video creative suite. Tiered subscription with browser-side ESRGAN for the free tier and a server-side pipeline for higher resolutions and AI generation. Pre-launch.
Problem
Image upscaling tools split between free and bad (browser-only quality cap) and expensive locked subscriptions on third-party servers. Photographers want both: high quality and control over their files.
Approach
Tiered subscription with a generous free tier (TensorFlow.js + ESRGAN in a Web Worker, runs entirely in the browser, zero server cost) and progressive paid tiers (server-side Replicate pipeline for higher resolutions and AI generation features).
Process
- ●Free-tier upscaling runs in a Web Worker so the UI never freezes.
- ●WebGL via OffscreenCanvas for GPU acceleration when available.
- ●Server pipeline for paid tiers: tile, upscale, stitch, denoise, face-enhance.
- ●Stripe Checkout, billing portal, webhook tier mapping all wired end-to-end.
- ●Multi-domain detection so the same codebase serves Upscale Forge and Portal747.
Outcomes
Engineering complete, pre-launch. Lessons on tier design: fragmenting the value proposition (image upscale, video upscale, image gen, video gen) made pricing confusing. Resolved by bundling into clear creative-suite tiers with credits, rather than feature-by-feature add-ons.