Eric,
I understand your changes. But I own DeNoise AI and Sharpen AI and Sharpen AI isn’t working properly. In particular, I can’t use the GPU acceleration option because it produces artifacts (vertical bars of noise across the image) that don’t show up in the preview and don’t appear when I disable the GPU. However, disabling the GPU makes the product so slow as to be unusable. I have reported this problem to Topaz support a few weeks ago but nothing has been done.
There is a thread at dpreview talking about a similar issue when enabling the GPU in DeNoise AI.
So I suggest, before you start thinking about how to get more money from your customers, you fix the product so that it works the way you say it supposed to work!
From a business perspective this was coming. All of my other photo software runs under this model, so as a consumer, I need to decide which software I really need to upgrade, otherwise the cost of all the upgrades together (i.e. Adobe, FForge, OnOne, etc) is too expensive to continue. Topaz AI products top my list and also two of the older products (which I use all the time) - Lens Effects and ReStyle. Will these older products be discontinued with no upgrades to them in the future?
…and thank you for all those years of free upgrades…
Pat
In general it makes sense, and as long as you continue to bring good products and improvements it’s fine with me. Maybe the wording is a little confusing (but I’m not native speaker to the English language). Paying for upgrades would suggest that you pay for the upgrade only (let’s say USD 10). What you technically want to sell now is some sort of subscription, that you can switch on and off with a year running time after any switch on. Maybe just a semantical difference, but ‘paying for upgrades’ for me rings a different bell…
Cheers, Hans
As a retired person on limited income, this is disappointing news. While I do understand the need to generate research and deployment income, it can be a hardship for some of us who are either not wealthy or a professional photographer.
One of the reasons I moved to Topaz in November of 2019 was the perceived commitment to avoiding the “rent-a-program” model of Adobe. I still have what are now ancient versions of Lightroom and Photoshop since I can’t afford the monthly rent. (Try buying a prescription when you are on Medicare).
My request is for you to consider how this will impact people like myself who are serious hobby photographers without unlimited resources.
If you are charging for upgrades, you also should be providing better tech support and materials. I’ve had a number of issues using your software and there are few options for guidance. This would align with goal two to improve the products.
Thanks for your thoughtful letter and best wishes for a successful future.
Upgrade pricing can be problematic if the price is 80% of the initial cost as some other photo software companies charge. When I see that, it seems like another form of a subscription service, especially if the new software has essential functionality improvements but few new features. I won’t purchase software if it has this subscription like aspect. Topaz Labs products are excellent but I don’t use them regularly as my images only need extra care in special situations. $99 a year for me would be too much for the use that I get and I don’t think I will continue.
I’ve been using your products since inception, plus I have bought some of the new ones. I makes me a little disappointed us ‘old faithfuls’ wouldn’t get free updates for a year from the time of this announcement since we were the ones who had to bear all the trials and tribulations while the products were being developed… For one, I feel AI mask still needs some work. I do agree that the company needs to make money, so hopefully the new plan will take it to great heights.
better have some pretty special features and capabilities coming out this year.
You’ve hit the nail on the head here: our whole challenge is making our products valuable and useful enough to be worth it for you to upgrade. Hopefully we can prove it to you in the coming months.
If you own one photo product, it’ll be $49.99 for another year (after your first year of free upgrades). If you own two or more photo products, it’s $99.99 max for another year on all of them.
I think you made a mistake on your email. " We’re Making Some Changes To Better Serve You". No, you’re not. Your making changes to better serve yourself, your profit. This does nothing for your loyal customers who made your company what it is today. You’ve made decent profit up to this point or your company would have closed; this is just greed.
I can understand the need to shift your paradigm. A program I use, in another space, not photo related, follow a similar model. They sell a one year upgrade license that provides all new features. Like your plan you also can use the last purchased release I definitely. However, they provide existing users, whether or not they have an upgrade plan to receive any relevant bug fixes, just not new features
Can completely understand the change in charging for “Major Upgrades”; however, I have 2 follow up questions:
Are code fixes to correct a bug in the software going to be considered “minor issues” and
Does this mean that Topaz will finally have time to actually FIX it so I don’t have to rotate all my photos to a portrait orientation before I can use the plugins while working in Photoshop; otherwise I get a solid black image - but then I’ll have to pay for it.
I cannot say I disagree, I just find the price point somewhat high considering how (for example in DeNoise AI) most updates were fixing serious artefacts bugs (which took you at least 2 years to almost fully eliminate)
You should at least divide between bug fixing and upgrade.
what you write makes sense and it’s totally clear that you can’t innovate forever without constant revenue.
You have my support here, your decision will, have no influence on my use cases. Quite the contrary, if you were forced to stop working and innovating, I would probably run into a problem at some point.
I love your products, and keep buying the latest topaz tools but this news is like a cold shower.
I understand the need for recurring revenue to fuel upgrades and improvements, but $49 per app or $99 for more than one, plus $199 a year for Video AI is getting out of hand.
This is a drastic change and many of us have bought the whole suite of Topaz tools on the basis of a lifetime licence. In the same way that Afinity photo, Afinity publisher, Afinity designer are sold. If we had known there would be a $49 or $99 renewal I’m not sure so many would have been so quick to jump on the apps in the first place.
I would recommend providing your early adopters with some sort of compromise, maybe cap the upgrade fee to $49 covering all the apps they have purchased as a thank you for having invested in you to help you build the suite in the first place. And then make it $49/$99 for new customers.
Also what is going on with the Video Enhance AI pricing of $199 and $199/year renewal
This is just converting Topaz products to a subscription service. I’m uninstalling all my Topaz Labs products and will use other more capable products.
I agree completely. Part of the reason I sometimes reach for the Topaz button vs On 1 is because of the free updates to the products which I purchased even in though some instances I far preferred the previous version. I will now have to think about this. If the entire suite of programs was offered for $99 a year that would be a different story.
I have used a wide array of Topaz products for many years. With this change, I have a couple of questions that I hope your ongoing information will make clear. First, it would be helpful to know exactly which of your products are current and which are being discontinued. Is the charge for upgrades taking effect immediately or am I able to still upgrade the products that I have? My second related question is do I own these products that I now have? Some of them have license keys. Are those still good? Will I be able to continue using these after the 6 month period? My third question relates to using your products on. Mac or with Lightroom. When I upgrade my Mac OS or when Lightroom upgrades, will I need to purchase a Topaz upgrade even if it had no additional features? Just wondering. An informational webinar or video might be helpful.
I did enjoy reading that it was “entirely your fault.” Not really sure what to do with that. But seriously, this really seems like a perfect time to recognize the value of grandfathering prior agreements. To me, it seems only fair, and perhaps, as someone else noted, legal.
Also, I was about a week away from purchasing a gift of your program suite for my young nephew as a graduation gift. I am seriously reconsidering that now because he won’t have the resources to keep current. In effect, you’ve lost a twofer with this act.
And this is still extremely cheap in comparison to other established products, e.g. DxO. I was suprised when I read about the $99 offer and, since I some of your product, especially Gigapixel and your new upscaler, open new professional opportunities for me, I would be willing to pay more.
Heck, I already stuff alreadyy $99 into Adobe’s Throat every MONTH, like several million others. If your software saves me an hour work per year, it’s already a benefit.
