Best free chroma key tools in 2026: every option compared

You do not need to pay for chroma keying software. Not anymore. Several professional-grade tools handle green screen removal at zero cost, and the AI-powered options that appeared in 2025 have raised the bar for what "free" can do.

This guide covers every free chroma key tool worth your time in 2026. We tested each one and report the real strengths and limitations. We build one of the tools listed here (EZ-CorridorKey), so we will be upfront about that. But most editors will be best served by DaVinci Resolve's built-in keyer, and we will say so.

1. DaVinci Resolve (Delta Keyer + Ultra Keyer)

Type: NLE with built-in compositing (Fusion) Price: Free (Studio version is $295, but the free version includes full keying) Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux Link: blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve

The free version of DaVinci Resolve ships with Fusion, Blackmagic's node-based compositing environment. Inside Fusion you get two keyers: the Delta Keyer and the Ultra Keyer.

Delta Keyer

The Delta Keyer is the one to use. It produces broadcast-quality results on properly lit green screen footage. The workflow is straightforward: pick your green, adjust the matte, clean the edges.

What makes Delta Keyer competitive with paid alternatives:

☼ Pre-matte controls that isolate the green range before the main key pull, reducing spill from the start ☼ Fringe and edge controls that handle semi-transparent areas like hair and motion blur ☼ Built-in spill suppression that removes green contamination from skin tones ☼ Matte viewer for inspecting your alpha channel in real time

Ultra Keyer

The Ultra Keyer is simpler. It works well for clean, evenly lit footage where you need a fast result. For anything complex, Delta Keyer is the better choice.

Pros

☼ Professional-grade keying at zero cost ☼ Full node-based compositing environment for advanced cleanup ☼ Handles 4K and 8K footage ☼ Active community with thousands of tutorials ☼ Color grading, editing, audio, and delivery all in one application

Cons

☼ Fusion's node-based interface is intimidating for beginners. Expect a learning curve of a few days minimum. ☼ Performance depends heavily on GPU. Older cards will struggle with complex Fusion compositions. ☼ The free version lacks some Studio features (noise reduction, motion blur, stereoscopic tools), but keying is fully included.

Best for

Editors who want a complete post-production workflow. If you are already cutting in Resolve, there is no reason to look elsewhere for standard chroma keying. This is the best free option for serious video work.

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2. After Effects Keylight

Type: Compositing plugin (bundled with After Effects) Price: Included with After Effects ($22.99/mo Creative Cloud subscription) Platform: Windows, macOS Link: adobe.com/products/aftereffects

Keylight is not free in isolation. You need an After Effects subscription to use it. But Keylight itself costs nothing extra on top of that subscription, and many editors already pay for Creative Cloud. If you are in that category, you already own one of the best keyers available.

What Keylight does well

Keylight has been the industry standard broadcast keyer for over a decade. It was developed by The Foundry (the Nuke team) and licensed to Adobe.

☼ Single-click key pull works on clean footage with minimal adjustment ☼ Screen Matte controls give precise control over edge softness and clip levels ☼ Spill suppression is built in and effective ☼ Real-time playback on modern hardware ☼ Stacks well with other AE effects for edge refinement (Simple Choker, Refine Edge)

Pros

☼ Fast, predictable results on studio-lit footage ☼ Deeply integrated with After Effects' motion tracking, rotoscoping, and masking tools ☼ Extensive documentation and professional tutorials available ☼ Proven on thousands of commercial productions

Cons

☼ Requires a $22.99/month Adobe subscription. Not truly free. ☼ Struggles with unevenly lit screens and low-quality footage the same way any traditional keyer does ☼ After Effects is a heavy application. RAM and disk requirements are significant. ☼ No Linux support

Best for

Motion graphics artists and VFX compositors already working in the Adobe ecosystem. If you pay for Creative Cloud, Keylight is your first stop.

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3. OBS Studio chroma key filter

Type: Live streaming software with built-in filters Price: Free, open source Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux Link: obsproject.com

OBS Studio includes two relevant filters: "Chroma Key" and "Color Key." Both are designed for live streaming, not post-production.

How it works

You add a filter to your webcam or video source, pick the key color, and adjust similarity and smoothness sliders. The key is applied in real time during your stream or recording.

Pros

☼ Zero setup. Install OBS, add a filter, pick green, done. ☼ Real-time performance even on modest hardware ☼ Good enough for Twitch, Zoom backgrounds, and YouTube livestreams ☼ Open source with a large community

Cons

☼ Very basic controls. No matte refinement, no edge feathering, no spill suppression worth mentioning. ☼ Quality ceiling is low. Fine for a webcam at 720p. Not suitable for produced content. ☼ No frame-by-frame adjustment. What you set is what you get for the entire stream. ☼ Color key artifacts are visible on hair, translucent objects, and any area where green is not perfectly even.

Best for

Livestreamers who need a quick green screen removal and do not care about pixel-perfect edges. If your output is a Twitch stream at 720p, OBS gets the job done.

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4. GIMP + G'MIC

Type: Image editor + plugin suite Price: Free, open source Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux Link: gimp.org / gmic.eu

GIMP handles still images only. No video. But for thumbnails, social media graphics, and marketing materials shot on green screen, the combination of GIMP and the G'MIC plugin suite is surprisingly capable.

How it works

G'MIC is a massive open-source image processing framework with hundreds of filters. Its chroma key filter (under Colors > Chromatic Aberrations or via the G'MIC-Qt interface) lets you key out a color range and replace it with transparency or a new background.

☼ Select your key color with an eyedropper ☼ Adjust tolerance to control how much of the green range gets removed ☼ Clean up edges with GIMP's built-in selection and masking tools ☼ Export as PNG with transparency for compositing in other applications

Pros

☼ Completely free and open source ☼ G'MIC adds hundreds of processing filters beyond just keying ☼ Full manual control over the resulting alpha channel using GIMP's layer masks ☼ Cross-platform, lightweight, no subscription

Cons

☼ Still images only. No video processing. ☼ The G'MIC chroma key filter is basic compared to dedicated video keyers ☼ GIMP's interface has its own learning curve ☼ Batch processing is possible through Script-Fu but not user-friendly

Best for

Graphic designers, thumbnail creators, and anyone who needs to key a still photo without Photoshop. Pair it with GIMP's other tools for retouching and compositing stills.

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5. CorridorKey (original)

Type: AI-based keying tool (command line) Price: Free, open source (MIT license) Platform: Windows, Linux (macOS partial) Link: github.com/Corridor-Digital/CorridorKey

CorridorKey changed the game when it appeared in late 2024. Instead of traditional color math, it uses neural unmixing to separate foreground from background. The AI model understands what a green screen is at a conceptual level, which means it handles problems that defeat conventional keyers: uneven lighting, wrinkled screens, green spill on skin, and semi-transparent materials.

How it works

CorridorKey takes a video frame (or batch of frames) and a clean plate of the empty green screen. The neural network predicts which pixels belong to the foreground and generates an alpha matte. The quality on difficult footage is often better than what you can achieve with manual keying in traditional tools.

Pros

☼ Exceptional quality on poorly lit, wrinkled, or low-budget green screen setups ☼ Handles hair, smoke, glass, and other transparent/semi-transparent elements far better than color-based keyers ☼ Open source. You can inspect and modify the model and code. ☼ Active development community with regular improvements

Cons

☼ Requires Python, PyTorch, and a working CUDA environment. Installation is nontrivial. ☼ Needs 24GB+ VRAM GPU (RTX 4090 or similar) for full-resolution processing ☼ Command-line only. No GUI. ☼ Slow. Processing is per-frame, not real-time. A 30-second clip can take minutes. ☼ No integration with any NLE. You export frames, process externally, and import the alpha mattes.

Best for

Technical users with high-end GPUs who need top-quality keys on difficult footage and are comfortable with Python environments. Researchers and developers exploring AI-based compositing.

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6. CorridorKey forks (including EZ-CorridorKey)

Type: GUI wrappers, NLE plugins, and optimized versions of CorridorKey Price: Free / source-available (varies by fork) Platform: Varies

The CorridorKey community has built several forks that make the AI keying technology more accessible. Here are the notable ones.

EZ-CorridorKey by EZSCAPE

Type: Desktop GUI application Price: Source-available, free (work in progress) Platform: Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon via MLX) GitHub: github.com/edenaion/EZ-CorridorKey (4,000+ stars) Download: edenaion.gumroad.com

Full disclosure: this is our project. EZ-CorridorKey wraps the CorridorKey neural unmixing engine in a desktop GUI with batch processing support.

☼ Desktop interface with drag-and-drop. No command line required. ☼ Green screen and blue screen keying (v2.0) ☼ Six alpha generators: BiRefNet, GVM, VideoMaMa, MatAnyone2, Apple Vision MLX, and manual chroma key ☼ Batch processing for multi-shot workflows ☼ Runs on 8GB+ VRAM GPUs (RTX 3060 and up), a significant reduction from the original's 24GB requirement ☼ Source-available on GitHub. You can build it yourself and inspect everything.

This is a work in progress. Features are still being added. The GUI is functional but rough. Stability varies between releases. If you need a reliable production tool today, use DaVinci Resolve's Delta Keyer. If you want to experiment with AI keying without wrestling with Python, EZ-CorridorKey lowers that barrier.

Other notable forks

☼ OFX plugins for Resolve/Nuke: Community-built OFX wrappers that bring CorridorKey's neural unmixing directly into NLE timelines. Still experimental, but promising for users who want AI keying without leaving their editor. ☼ After Effects plugins: Similar approach for the Adobe ecosystem. Wraps the CorridorKey model as an AE effect. ☼ Optimized inference forks: Reduced-memory versions that use model quantization and tiling to run on lower-VRAM GPUs. Quality tradeoffs exist but results are often good enough for web content.

Pros (forks generally)

☼ Make AI keying accessible to non-technical users ☼ Lower hardware requirements than the original ☼ GUI interfaces remove the Python setup barrier ☼ Active development across multiple forks

Cons (forks generally)

☼ Most are early-stage software. Expect bugs and missing features. ☼ Fork fragmentation means no single "best" version. You may need to try several. ☼ Still slower than traditional keying. This is a batch process, not real-time. ☼ GPU is still required. CPU-only processing is impractical.

Best for

Users who want CorridorKey quality without the technical setup. Editors willing to tolerate beta-stage software in exchange for AI-powered keying on consumer GPUs.

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7. Blender compositor

Type: 3D creation suite with built-in compositor Price: Free, open source Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux Link: blender.org

Blender includes a node-based compositor with a Keying node designed for chroma key work. It is capable but not commonly used for this purpose because the workflow is slower than dedicated tools.

How it works

You load your footage as an image sequence or movie clip, add a Keying node, connect it to a backdrop, and adjust the settings. Blender's compositor supports despill, edge cleanup, and garbage matte generation through its node system.

Pros

☼ Free and open source with no restrictions ☼ Full node-based compositing with support for masking, tracking, and color correction ☼ Part of a complete 3D pipeline. Useful if you are already doing VFX in Blender. ☼ Active development and large community

Cons

☼ The compositor is slow. Rendering is not real-time, even on simple compositions. ☼ Video editing in Blender's VSE is functional but limited compared to Resolve or Premiere ☼ Keying quality is adequate but not on par with Delta Keyer or Keylight for complex footage ☼ The learning curve for Blender's compositor is steep if you are only there for keying

Best for

Blender users who need occasional chroma key work and do not want to install another application. 3D artists compositing CG elements over live-action green screen plates.

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How do the free chroma key tools compare?

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Frequently asked questions

Is free chroma keying good enough for professional work?

Yes. DaVinci Resolve's Delta Keyer produces broadcast-quality results that have been used in commercial productions, music videos, and television. The free version of Resolve includes the full Fusion compositor with no keying limitations. On clean, well-lit footage, the output is indistinguishable from paid alternatives like Primatte or Ultimatte.

The limiting factor is your footage, not the software. A $0 keyer on a well-lit green screen will outperform a $500 keyer on a wrinkled bedsheet every time.

What is the best free option for beginners?

OBS Studio if you just need a quick green screen for streaming. DaVinci Resolve if you are making videos and can invest a few hours learning Fusion.

OBS is the fastest path from "I have a green screen" to "it is gone." Two clicks and a slider. The quality is low, but for webcam streams it is fine.

DaVinci Resolve takes longer to learn but produces dramatically better results. Start with the Delta Keyer. Watch one tutorial. You will have a working key in under an hour.

How does AI keying (CorridorKey) compare to traditional keying?

Traditional keyers (Delta Keyer, Keylight) work by analyzing color values. They remove pixels that fall within a defined green range. This works well on clean footage but struggles with uneven lighting, wrinkled screens, green spill on edges, and semi-transparent materials.

AI keyers like CorridorKey use neural networks trained on thousands of examples. The model understands what a foreground subject looks like and can separate it from the background even when the color math gets ambiguous. The results on difficult footage are often significantly better.

The tradeoff is speed. Traditional keyers work in real time. AI keyers process frame by frame and can take minutes per shot. For clean footage, traditional keying is faster and just as good. For difficult footage, AI keying is worth the wait.

Do I need a powerful GPU for chroma keying?

For traditional keying (Resolve, Keylight, OBS): a mid-range GPU from the last five years will handle 1080p without issues. 4K may require a beefier card for real-time playback, but you can always render out.

For AI keying (CorridorKey and forks): yes, you need a dedicated NVIDIA GPU. The original CorridorKey requires 24GB+ VRAM (RTX 4090). EZ-CorridorKey and some optimized forks run on 8GB+ VRAM (RTX 3060 and up). AMD and Intel GPUs are not supported by most CorridorKey implementations due to CUDA dependency.

Can I use free tools for green screen on a phone or tablet?

The tools in this guide are desktop applications. For mobile green screen work, look at CapCut (free, includes a chroma key filter) or KineMaster (free tier with watermark). These mobile keyers are basic but functional for social media content.

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The bottom line

For most editors, DaVinci Resolve's Delta Keyer is the answer. It is free, professional-grade, and part of a complete editing and color grading application. Start there.

If you already pay for Adobe Creative Cloud, Keylight in After Effects is excellent and you already own it.

If your footage is difficult and traditional keyers are not cutting it, the CorridorKey family of AI keyers offers a quality level that was not available at any price two years ago. The tradeoff is speed and hardware requirements.

Everything else fills a niche: OBS for streaming, GIMP for stills, Blender for 3D pipelines.

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EZ-CorridorKey is developed by Ed Zisk at EZSCAPE, creator of DITHERON, CRTified, and Cucolori.