Topaz Video (formerly Topaz Video AI 4) vs Riverside

Topaz Video upscales, denoises, and restores footage through a desktop app that also plugs into common video editors. You pick from named AI models like Proteus for general cleanup, Iris for faces, Apollo for frame interpolation, and Starlight for diffusion upscaling to HD or 4K. Local rendering is unlimited on paid plans, with a small monthly pool of cloud credits for select Starlight variants.

Compared with browser upscalers, Topaz Video targets long-form post-production work with model-specific controls for noise, compression artifacts, deinterlacing, motion blur, and SDR-to-HDR conversion. The Pro tier unlocks Starlight Mini, Sharp, HQ, and Fast locally on supported NVIDIA hardware, plus seat management and full commercial rights. Personal plans cap commercial use to organizations under $1 million in annual revenue.

Filmmakers, archivists, and creators use Topaz Video to rescue low-light clips, modernize VHS or archival film, and build smooth slow motion without duplicate frames. The app runs on Mac and Windows, and Topaz Studio bundles it with Photo, Gigapixel, Bloom, Astra, and other Topaz tools for one subscription.

Riverside is a video editing and recording platform built for remote podcasts, interviews, and webinars. It records up to 4K video and uncompressed audio locally on each participant's device, so spotty internet does not tank quality. After recording, you edit in a text-based timeline, generate Magic Clips, captions, and show notes, then publish to YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts from the same workflow.

Zoom and Google Meet optimize for live calls, not post-production. Riverside records separate tracks locally, then layers AI cleanup, filler-word removal, and clip generation on top. The trade-off is that it is built for creators who publish regularly, not for one-off internal meetings that never leave the call app.

Podcasters, marketers, and producers at companies like Spotify and The New York Times use Riverside for studio-style remote recordings. Founded in 2020 by brothers Gideon and Nadav, the product now lives at riverside.com while riverside.fm redirects to the same experience.