Step 1: Open the image
Drag the .png or .jpg onto app.svgsketch.com or use File > Open... (Ctrl+O). The image becomes the document, sized to its own pixels. Press T or click the Transform tool, then click the image to select it.
Step 2: Pick a method in the Image panel
Open the Image panel on the right. Its "Remove Background" section has a "Method" dropdown with three choices. "Flat color" is for a logo, a product shot or a scan on a uniform backdrop: it removes that color from the edges inward in one pass. "Subject" is for photographs: an image model running in your browser finds the person or object and keeps it. "Auto" checks the border of the image and picks between the two for you.
The subject model is downloaded once, about 4 MB, and then cached, so the first photo takes a few seconds longer than the ones after it. No pixels are sent anywhere; the model runs on your machine.
Step 3: Remove the background
Click "Remove Background". The image keeps its size and position and the background becomes transparent, which the canvas shows as its checkerboard. If the result is wrong, undo (Ctrl+Z) and try the other method: a busy backdrop defeats the flat-color pass, and a flat backdrop is faster and cleaner than the model.
An image that is already transparent is left alone, with a note saying so.
Step 4: Export a transparent PNG
Open the Export panel (Ctrl+Shift+E), choose PNG, and make sure "Transparent background" is on so the alpha channel is written to the file. Pick a scale preset or exact pixel dimensions and click Download. PNG export is free and does not need an account.
Step 5: Or turn the cut-out into a vector
A logo or an illustration with its background gone is the ideal input for Object > Vectorize.... Run it on the image to get editable SVG paths without a background rectangle to clean up afterward; our guide on how to convert PNG to SVG covers the settings.