I believe that Topaz will lose some customers in this new subscription model. Adobe’s photo editing software is losing market share, allowing others to take its place. Topaz should reconsider this new commercial strategy and exercise caution when implementing these changes, as they lack Adobe’s financial resources and cannot afford to lose clients if they want to survive in this market.
oh WoW! What!?! I too just opened the software after renewing my annual subscription! It updated Photo AI to 4.04 (I think it was), then I too received the offer as a founding member to upgrade and I quote “Your perpetual ownership and active license make you a Topaz Founding Customer, giving you access to the new app at no extra cost”. so I downloaded the new software. I got confused because the new app versions starts at 1 (and not 4) so of course I went to google to see what was happening as I was confused by the whole thing. I’m now going to go and look for what may be a subscription? I too only use the software adhoc, as much as I love it I do not want to pay a subscription fee and would happily uninstall it and go back to the old version. I’m still trying to work this out!
Ok so it appears that I’ve paid an annual fee with a generous discount, which is the same as what I paid for Topaz Photo AI. So there is no difference to pricing, and able to use the new version. Which is good. I’m very happy about this and being able to continue to use the software. I only hope that when the next annual yearly payment comes around it is continued at that price. So perhaps for those of you concerned about the subscription fee, double check your account details?
Hi Jodie,
Your price, is locked in and will remain the same for as long as you maintain your Auto-Renewal Subscription which means, no price increases for possibly years to come.
However, if you allow your Auto-Renewal Subscription to lapse for any reason and renewal at a later date there’s no coming back at this price you’ll have to pay the new current price of $199 or higher.
Yes, there’ll be things like Black Friday deals but, absolutely nothing will compare to the price you’re getting now.
Hope this helps
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Yes, thank you. That’s what I thought which is why I didn’t hesitate in upgrading. But then was concerned reading these comments that I may have been to quick (without looking more deeply). I just blindly paid, upgraded, upgraded again and then went searching to see what happened between the version change LOL. (obviously I haven’t been reading any emails or notifications that announced this new version (my bad). Again, thank you for clarifying, I do appreciate it and will definitely continue using the software 
Any questions please ask or if you prefer to contact Topaz Support here’s the link to contact Topaz Support directly
Topaz Support
help@topazlabs.com
Another difference is that Photo AI (legacy) did have a free trial period and the new one does not. So you cannot even test before you pay. Way to go, Topaz Labs.
The whole thing with the subscription policy that Adobe follows troubled me a lot before taking my final decision 1,5 years ago. I have no clue if DxO is better than LR or vice versa but in terms of cost is exactly the same thing for the first 2 years. I just checked how much DxO costs right now. They say that you can buy one licence for 239,99 euros. This price covers you for the first year. For LR I pay 15 euros per month, which makes 180 for one year. Then, DxO says that if you want to upgrade for the second year, you have to pay 119,99. In Total, for the first couple of years if you sum up 239,99 + 119,00=358,99/24=14.9 euros/month. This is exactly the money I pay for LR. Is a good deal on the third year. When you have to pay approximately 120 euros annually, which makes 10 euros per month.
Hi.
A very good point and may I add to that a simple generalizion
You pays your money and make your choice
Meaning, at the end of the day it’s entirely up to you which Photo Developing Software you use Lightroom, DXO, Capture One, ON1 or any other similar types of software Free, Paid or otherwise.
Before people go on about this is better than that or comparing apples to oranges.
They all have their Advantages and Disadvantages you’ll never get the be all and end all, of this type of software the truth is there’s very little to choose between any of them.
Meaning, (a double meaning, not quite) at the end of the day if you’re happy with your choice then, that’s all that matters.
Yes I know in your explanation you were comparing the prices but as I mentioned, I’m just generalizing, when you pay for something you get to decide what you receive, and you are responsible for the outcome of your decision.
Hence you pays your money you make your choice
I’m not a huge fan of subscriptions either, but the reality is that if you want to get new features and improvements, companies have to pay developers to create those. I’m not a huge fan of Adobe either, but they arguably have the best photo software on the market in LR and PS. Plus MANY updates throughout the year. Turn this around - would you be okay with working ongoing with only getting paid once?
As to Topaz, they are giving their existing customers the choice of keeping their legacy product or purchasing their subscription model. In fact, as a “legacy” customer, $163 bought their entire suite of eight products for the year. So why complain?
As to DxO, they’re not too dissimilar - I own PR4, but if I want the newer PR5, I have to pay $75 (Black Friday special) to upgrade just that one product.
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This is exactly the reason why it was required for us to move to a subscription model. We have plans to develop more powerful AI models, but this requires some planning and predictable revenues.
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