I have owned Topaz products from the beginning. I was so disappointed when they went to a subscription model as it feels like they are squeezing blood from a stone. I own every product. I just received an update renewal for $199 which I assume is for a year. I am absolutely appalled at the cost. I feel like there is a bait and switch operation going on. While I am willing to pay $50 for a continued renewal of something that was advertised as owning the product forever but it is really only for a year, $200/year is highway robbery. Shame on you.
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Coffenut, you do not have to renew and you will own the software through the latest version you have installed if you do not elect to pay the $199.
The $199 is to continue to receive the latest software updates. As an example I purchased Denoise and Sharpen when they were stand alone applications. They were discontinued, bundled into TPAI but still function perfectly with my lat version update in Dec 2023. I still use them today and they work perfectly, I own them both, they just don’t receive updates. Same applies to the current applications.
Hello.
This is not completely correct. Topaz products are also bundle with so-called patches/fixes that Topaz itself has broken (deliberately it seems) if/when a user license expires with issues to receive any sort of fix, the user will not get a fix to their issue, unless they pay up for a new license that Topaz has caused and not user error.
IMO, I think Topaz Labs take a glance at their concurrent users’ licenses expiration date to decide when and what date to release updates (with some intentional bugs to keep users coming back which is a never ending process).
After all my research (vetting users experiences and Topaz Labs calls to solutions for its users woes for over 6-years) I’m 99.989898% certain that Topaz business model is illegal in many territories with Topaz current business model.
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Well that is an interesting accusation it would be great to see the data you have to support the claim. Personally I have not had any issues regarding Topaz LLC business ethics and on several occasions would say they went the opposite direction to correct an issue but extending my license.
it would be great to see the data you have compiled though, it would be interesting to see how you vetted the information.
Have you not read this forum and other outlets? The evidence or proof supporting this is in every update and user feedback.
If I can take a moment to vet these concerns, well, it wouldn’t take nothing for a much higher firm to sweep through this thoroughly.
I continue to use DeNoise and Sharpen AI even though they were long ago discontinued. I am on the latest beta of the Mac OS and there are no “intentional” (or otherwise) bugs that make either of them unusable. I have not renewed my licence for Gigapixel, and 7.0.5 works just fine for my needs.
I probably won’t renew PhotoAI either when my licence expires at the end of this year, since I only need it occasionally for sharpening and see little or no improvement over SharpenAI anyway.
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Well, I can say that IMO, Gigapixel and its team, seems more dedicated and stable than definitely TVAi.
We are considering purchasing some seats for Gigapixel but time will tell overall on how Topaz business stability pans out a year or so from now because as of today, though IMO, Topaz has some very questionable practices right now.
You do not have to buy upgrades every year. I wait a couple of years and pay for a year’s upgrades of Gigapixel, which includes previous upgrades. I simply wait until I see an upgrade feature that is meaninful to me. If there were a “pet faces” recovery feature added, I would be glad to buy an upgrade. As it is, the version I now have will serve me for the foreseeable future.
Clearly what I thought, it is just conjecture on your part with nothing to support your statement. I do read the forums as well as many others and pay close attention to reviews. My overall view is that in the industry Topaz is positively reviewed, respected and has significant client base. While there are some disgruntled clients that is the norm with any if not all products/services.
How does that saying go, you can please some of the people some of the time but not all of the people of of the time.
Bickering with me doesn’t help and it will definitely not change the growing issues within TVAi even with or without your alleged claim that all is well on your part that clearly states a fanatic mindset (there’s ALWAYS one or four or so that will accept anything from a company 
) that you’ve conjured up.
Good luck with that and good day.
Bickering, again another interesting distortion but that appears to be your MO. I asked you politely to quantify your statement with facts. You have not provided facts but now have turned you sights on me since I have pursued that you support your claim and clarify what I believe is an inaccurate statement.
You do indeed own your license for life and once installed (facts below). Your claim is once your license expired that somehow Topaz “adds some intentional bugs” to harm the framework of the software. Without facts that sounds delusional.
I was simply stating the facts as I see them. Millions of users. Billions of files processed. ‍Used by pros everywhere. and literally hundreds of thousands of positive reviews. That doesn’t make me a fanboy it just makes me someone that calls out BS and replaces it with documented fact. My experience as well as many others I know using Topaz products have found their agreement to be supported by their action over several years. We own products that the license has expired and our software has continued to operate exactly as installed without bugs or self destructing.
Purchasing agreement clearly states:
For personal usage, your purchase gives you a permanent user license for the current (and past) versions of the program(s) plus one year of additional updates.
You can buy additional updates in one-year increments, but you are not required to buy upgrades to continue using the version(s) you already own.
And good day to you too 
