DaVinci Resolve Super Scale vs Topaz Video on a Mac
If you already edit in DaVinci Resolve Studio, use Super Scale. It is part of the editor, so the upscale happens inside your project. Studio was $295, marked down to $236, when I read Blackmagic's page on 2 November 2026. Topaz Video is the specialist, with more than a dozen models, for $299 a year. The free Resolve lacks Super Scale, and Topaz lists no free plan. A third option for Macs is Crisp, which I make: on my M1 Ultra it took an 8-second 640×480 clip to 4× in 23 seconds.
Side by side
The first two columns were read from each vendor's own pages on 2 November 2026.
| DaVinci Resolve Studio | Topaz Video | Crisp | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A full editor, colour and audio suite. Super Scale is one of its AI tools. | A dedicated enhancer: upscaling, frame rate, stabilisation, SDR to HDR | An upscaler and restorer with a simple timeline editor |
| Price on its own page | $295, shown at $236 on sale | $299 a year, or $59 a month | $29 once |
| How you pay | One price, no monthly or yearly fee shown | Subscription; no one-time option listed | Once |
| Free version | The free Resolve, without the Neural Engine tools such as Super Scale | No free plan listed | Free to try, with a small mark |
| On a Mac | Blackmagic says Studio is optimised for Metal and Apple Silicon | Topaz requires macOS 13, an M-series chip, 16 GB of memory at minimum; no Intel Macs | Apple Silicon only, fully offline |
| Biggest output | Studio adds resolutions beyond 4K; Super Scale is pitched at 4K and 8K from HD | Its page says the newest models are built for up to 4K | 2×, 3×, 4×, 8× or 16× (the big steps are for small, old sources) |
Prices checked 2 November 2026 on each vendor's own page. Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve Studio page on blackmagicdesign.com shows "Was $295 Now $236". Topaz's pricing page, topazlabs.com/pricing, shows Topaz Video at $299 a year, $59 a month month to month, and Pro at $699 a year. A sale price can end without notice, so check it before you buy.
Sources, all read 2 November 2026: Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve, DaVinci Resolve Studio and What's New pages on blackmagicdesign.com; Topaz Labs' pricing page, Topaz Video page and Topaz Video system requirements on topazlabs.com and docs.topazlabs.com.
Super Scale: the upscaler inside your editor
Super Scale is part of DaVinci Resolve Studio. Blackmagic's Studio page lists SuperScale among the extra Resolve FX that Studio adds, next to AI UltraNR noise reduction and de-interlacing, and describes it as "high quality image uprezzing" for making 4K and 8K images from HD sources (read 2 November 2026). Version 21 adds AI UltraSharpen, which Blackmagic says to use with upscaled video to sharpen it at the higher resolution.
The case for it is simple. If you cut in Resolve Studio, it is already paid for, and you never leave the project you are editing. There is no second app and no export round trip.
The case against is also simple. It is one tool in a professional suite. If all you want is to make an old clip bigger, Resolve is a lot of program to learn for one feature, and the free version will not do it.
Topaz Video: the specialist you rent
Topaz Video does one job, which is making footage look better. Its pricing page names more than a dozen video models, from Proteus and Iris to Apollo and Chronos, plus Stabilization and SDR to HDR. On a Mac, Topaz requires macOS 13, an M-series chip and 16 GB of memory, and Topaz recommends 32 GB or more. Intel Macs are not supported (all read 2 November 2026).
Two things are worth knowing before you pay. It is a subscription: $299 a year, so three years cost three times that. And on a Mac, the Starlight Sharp, HQ and Fast models run in Topaz's cloud, not on your machine; its system requirements page says they are not yet supported on Macs for local processing. The $59 monthly plan includes 25 cloud credits a month, and they do not roll over (read 2 November 2026).
The third option, timed on my Mac
I build Crisp, so read this part knowing that. I don't have Resolve Studio or a Topaz plan on this Mac, so these are Crisp's numbers only, not a race. I took 8 seconds of the Viking 1 lander's first colour view of Mars (NASA/JPL imagery from a 1987 VHS release, 640×480 at 29.97 fps) and ran Crisp's Enhance on it at 2× and at 4×.
| Job | Output | Time | Per second of video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enhance, 2× | 1280×960 | 23.7 s | 3.0 s |
| Enhance, 4× | 2560×1920 | 23.0 s | 2.9 s |
| Enhance, 4×, compression blocks removed | 2560×1920 | 43.9 s | 5.5 s |
Measured on 2 November 2026 with Crisp 1.0.1808, the copy installed from the download, on a Mac Studio with an M1 Ultra and 64 GB of memory, macOS 26.3.1. Each time is from the moment the job started to the finished file. Other work was running on this Mac at the time, so a quiet one may be a little faster, and a MacBook Air will take longer. Nothing was uploaded and no account was used.
Two things happened that I didn't ask for. 2× took as long as 4×, because on tape and SD footage Crisp uses its larger detail model for both. And Crisp found the 3:2 pulldown left by the film-to-tape transfer and took it out, so the 29.97 fps tape came back at 23.976 fps, the film's own rate.
One thing I did have to ask for. The archive copy had been squeezed into small square compression blocks before I ever got it, and Enhance on its own kept them. Typing "enhance it and remove the compression blocks" into Crisp's prompt bar adds a deblock pass before the upscale. That is the third row, and the second half of the crop below.
Which one to pick
Prices in this list are as read on 2 November 2026.
- You already pay for Resolve Studio: use Super Scale. There is nothing else to buy.
- You use the free Resolve and upscale now and then: Studio at $295, or $236 while the sale lasts, buys Super Scale and the rest of Studio. Crisp costs less and does this one job, with simple edits.
- Your footage is damaged and the work pays for itself: Topaz, at $299 a year, has the most models of the three.
- You want it on your Mac, paid for once, with nothing uploaded: Crisp. The free copy exports with a small mark, so try a short piece of your worst clip before you spend anything.
Questions people ask
Is DaVinci Resolve Super Scale free?
No. Blackmagic lists Super Scale among the tools DaVinci Resolve Studio adds over the free version (read 2 November 2026).
Is DaVinci Resolve free for Mac?
The standard version is. Blackmagic says the free version works with virtually all 8-bit formats at up to 60 fps, and Studio adds 10-bit video, up to 120 fps and resolutions beyond 4K (read 2 November 2026).
Does Super Scale work on an Apple Silicon Mac?
Yes. DaVinci Resolve Studio runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, and Blackmagic says it is optimised for Metal and Apple Silicon (read 2 November 2026).
Is Super Scale as good as Topaz?
I haven't run both on the same clip, so I won't call it. The fair test is your own footage in each, watched at full size while it plays. A paused frame hides the flicker that separates upscalers.