TIER 1: TOP PERFORMERS ⭐⭐⭐
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4x UltraSharp V2 FP32 (51.8MB) - The gold standard for general-purpose upscaling
- Superior detail preservation across all content types
- Excellent handling of both photos and artwork
- Minimal artifacts, natural texture enhancement
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4x PurePhoto RealPLSKR (29.9MB) - Best for photographic content
- Exceptional on portraits and realistic images
- Advanced noise handling while preserving skin textures
- Recommended by multiple 2026 benchmarks
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4x ClearReality V1 FP32 (1.7MB) - Best lightweight option
- Surprisingly excellent quality for its tiny size
- Fast processing with minimal resource usage
- Great balance of quality vs. performance
TIER 2: EXCELLENT SPECIALISTS ⭐⭐
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4x Nomos8k DAT (89.9MB) - JPEG compression specialist
- Specifically trained for compressed image restoration
- Excellent on heavily compressed photos
- Recommended for social media/web images
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4x PurePhoto SPAN (1.7MB) - Another excellent lightweight
- Very similar quality to ClearReality
- Great for mobile/edge deployment
- Recommended for real-time applications
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4x LSDIR (67.2MB) - Large dataset trained
- Good general performance across content types
- Solid choice for batch processing
TIER 3: SOLID PERFORMERS ⭐
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4x UltraSharp FP32 (67MB) - Original UltraSharp
- Still excellent but superseded by V2
- Good for legacy compatibility
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RealESR-General WDN x4v3 (4.9MB) - Compact and efficient
- Recommended in multiple 2026 reviews
- Good balance of speed and quality
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4x Nomos2 HQ DAT2 FP32 (52.9MB) - High-quality alternative
- Similar performance to top tier but larger file size
TIER 4: SPECIALIZED/NICHE
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4x Upscayl UltraSharp (67.2MB) - Upscayl version
- Good performance but redundant with standalone UltraSharp
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4x Upscayl High Fidelity (67.2MB) - Upscayl variant
- Quality varies by source image
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2x Real-ESRGAN x2plus (67.2MB) - Only 2x scaling
- Limited by scale factor but good quality
TIER 5: AVOID/OUTDATED
13-42. Most remaining models fall into these categories:
- Outdated architectures (original ESRGAN variants)
- Overly specialized (JPG restoration models for specific compression levels)
- Redundant (multiple similar Upscayl variants)
- Limited scale factors (1x models for restoration only)
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS:
For General Use: Start with 4x UltraSharp V2 FP32 - it consistently ranks #1 in 2026 benchmarks
For Mobile/Limited Resources: Use 4x ClearReality V1 FP32 or 4x PurePhoto SPAN - tiny files, excellent quality
For Compressed Images: 4x Nomos8k DAT handles JPEG artifacts better than anything else
For Photography: 4x PurePhoto RealPLSKR is specifically optimized for photos and portraits
The field has matured significantly, with newer architectures like DAT2 and RealPLKSR clearly outperforming older ESRGAN-based models. File size doesn't always correlate with quality - some of the best models are surprisingly compact.