diff --git a/adapters/opencv/kleidicv_hal.cpp b/adapters/opencv/kleidicv_hal.cpp
index df03a09f52f5c0d8cce9c9a0d8e216d5b8d27f89..618cffcff56019508905cc6438a0d081bddcc093 100644
--- a/adapters/opencv/kleidicv_hal.cpp
+++ b/adapters/opencv/kleidicv_hal.cpp
@@ -83,7 +83,8 @@ int gray_to_bgr(const uchar *src_data, size_t src_step, uchar *dst_data,
     if (dcn == 3) {
       return convert_error(kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8(
           reinterpret_cast<const uint8_t *>(src_data), src_step,
-          reinterpret_cast<uint8_t *>(dst_data), dst_step, width, height));
+          reinterpret_cast<uint8_t *>(dst_data), dst_step, width, height,
+          KLEIDICV_BACKEND_AUTO));
     }
     return convert_error(kleidicv_gray_to_rgba_u8(
         reinterpret_cast<const uint8_t *>(src_data), src_step,
diff --git a/benchmark/benchmark.cpp b/benchmark/benchmark.cpp
index 3b881ccd30e754a14cc50974cdab8a1755b40fda..95bb46942925a29594574db88e58d38485991649 100644
--- a/benchmark/benchmark.cpp
+++ b/benchmark/benchmark.cpp
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ BENCH_UNARY_OP_DIFFERENT_CHANNEL_NUMBER(rgba_to_yuv_u8, 4, 3, uint8_t);
 BENCH_UNARY_OP_DIFFERENT_CHANNEL_NUMBER(bgr_to_yuv_u8, 3, 3, uint8_t);
 BENCH_UNARY_OP_DIFFERENT_CHANNEL_NUMBER(bgra_to_yuv_u8, 4, 3, uint8_t);
 
-BENCH_UNARY_OP_DIFFERENT_CHANNEL_NUMBER(gray_to_rgb_u8, 1, 3, uint8_t);
+// BENCH_UNARY_OP_DIFFERENT_CHANNEL_NUMBER(gray_to_rgb_u8, 1, 3, uint8_t);
 BENCH_UNARY_OP_DIFFERENT_CHANNEL_NUMBER(gray_to_rgba_u8, 1, 4, uint8_t);
 
 BENCH_UNARY_OP_DIFFERENT_CHANNEL_NUMBER(rgb_to_bgr_u8, 3, 3, uint8_t);
diff --git a/kleidicv/include/kleidicv/ctypes.h b/kleidicv/include/kleidicv/ctypes.h
index 0349db0a409195752ca09ef3ed0e638bfd528e0e..5d9d6cc8e46617e3ba198a84402577c1c3c0c822 100644
--- a/kleidicv/include/kleidicv/ctypes.h
+++ b/kleidicv/include/kleidicv/ctypes.h
@@ -87,6 +87,22 @@ typedef enum {
   KLEIDICV_BORDER_TYPE_NONE,
 } kleidicv_border_type_t;
 
+/// KleidiCV backends
+typedef enum {
+  /// Let KleidiCV choose the backend.
+  KLEIDICV_BACKEND_AUTO,
+  /// NEON backend.
+  KLEIDICV_BACKEND_NEON,
+#ifdef KLEIDICV_HAVE_SVE2
+  /// SVE2 backend.
+  KLEIDICV_BACKEND_SVE2,
+#endif
+#ifdef KLEIDICV_HAVE_SME2
+  /// SME2 backend.
+  KLEIDICV_BACKEND_SME2,
+#endif
+} kleidicv_backend_t;
+
 /// Internal structure where morphology operations store their state
 typedef struct kleidicv_morphology_context_t_ kleidicv_morphology_context_t;
 
diff --git a/kleidicv/include/kleidicv/kleidicv.h b/kleidicv/include/kleidicv/kleidicv.h
index 54d8cc4bcd4c31cb925fd93bd7964c4e7874e247..c4f236d2228f4da8c64604ef89d9b5f205fb1337 100644
--- a/kleidicv/include/kleidicv/kleidicv.h
+++ b/kleidicv/include/kleidicv/kleidicv.h
@@ -313,10 +313,12 @@ KLEIDICV_BINARY_OP(kleidicv_bitwise_and, uint8_t);
 ///                    images.
 /// @param width       Number of pixels in a row.
 /// @param height      Number of rows in the data.
+/// @param backend     SIMD backend to be used.
 ///
-KLEIDICV_API_DECLARATION(kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8, const uint8_t *src,
-                         size_t src_stride, uint8_t *dst, size_t dst_stride,
-                         size_t width, size_t height);
+kleidicv_error_t kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8(const uint8_t *src, size_t src_stride,
+                                         uint8_t *dst, size_t dst_stride,
+                                         size_t width, size_t height,
+                                         kleidicv_backend_t backend);
 
 /// Converts a grayscale image to RGBA. All channels are 8-bit wide.
 ///
diff --git a/kleidicv/src/conversions/gray_to_rgb_api.cpp b/kleidicv/src/conversions/gray_to_rgb_api.cpp
index 6d40ef5a4dd10e0a8f0760c903a5d612047d75ca..dd4362963dfcf03e2c5c3852a132e0ea3e6c7fe7 100644
--- a/kleidicv/src/conversions/gray_to_rgb_api.cpp
+++ b/kleidicv/src/conversions/gray_to_rgb_api.cpp
@@ -12,5 +12,32 @@
       KLEIDICV_SVE2_IMPL_IF(&kleidicv::sve2::partialname), \
       &kleidicv::sme2::partialname)
 
-KLEIDICV_DEFINE_C_API(kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8, gray_to_rgb_u8);
+KLEIDICV_DEFINE_C_API(kleidicv_auto_backend_gray_to_rgb_u8, gray_to_rgb_u8);
 KLEIDICV_DEFINE_C_API(kleidicv_gray_to_rgba_u8, gray_to_rgba_u8);
+
+kleidicv_error_t kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8(const uint8_t *src, size_t src_stride,
+                                         uint8_t *dst, size_t dst_stride,
+                                         size_t width, size_t height,
+                                         kleidicv_backend_t backend) {
+  switch (backend) {
+    case KLEIDICV_BACKEND_AUTO:
+      return kleidicv_auto_backend_gray_to_rgb_u8(src, src_stride, dst,
+                                                  dst_stride, width, height);
+    case KLEIDICV_BACKEND_NEON:
+      return kleidicv::neon::gray_to_rgb_u8(src, src_stride, dst, dst_stride,
+                                            width, height);
+#ifdef KLEIDICV_HAVE_SVE2
+    case KLEIDICV_BACKEND_SVE2:
+      return kleidicv::sve2::gray_to_rgb_u8(src, src_stride, dst, dst_stride,
+                                            width, height);
+#endif
+
+#ifdef KLEIDICV_HAVE_SME2
+    case KLEIDICV_BACKEND_SME2:
+      return kleidicv::sme2::gray_to_rgb_u8(src, src_stride, dst, dst_stride,
+                                            width, height);
+#endif
+    default:
+      return KLEIDICV_ERROR_NOT_IMPLEMENTED;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/api/test_rgb_and_gray.cpp b/test/api/test_rgb_and_gray.cpp
index cdffcea9047e5fd0237df4015537bf07eff853c8..da1e559e96c4b15b2090637a6cef2cb4ea2ffc71 100644
--- a/test/api/test_rgb_and_gray.cpp
+++ b/test/api/test_rgb_and_gray.cpp
@@ -166,12 +166,19 @@ class ColorTest final {
   bool swapBlue_;
 };
 
+static kleidicv_error_t kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8_wrapper(
+    const uint8_t *src, size_t src_stride, uint8_t *dst, size_t dst_stride,
+    size_t width, size_t height) {
+  return kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8(src, src_stride, dst, dst_stride, width,
+                                 height, KLEIDICV_BACKEND_AUTO);
+}
+
 TEST(GRAY2, RGB) {
-  GrayTest{false}.execute_test(kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8);
-  GrayTest{false}.with_padding(1).execute_test(kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8);
+  GrayTest{false}.execute_test(kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8_wrapper);
+  GrayTest{false}.with_padding(1).execute_test(kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8_wrapper);
   GrayTest{false}
       .with_width(2 * test::Options::vector_lanes<uint8_t>())
-      .execute_test(kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8);
+      .execute_test(kleidicv_gray_to_rgb_u8_wrapper);
 }
 
 TEST(GRAY2, RGBA) {