Ongoing product value and paid upgrades

Bad move. Completely understand a new model for new subscribers. Not so for long-term customers that have been told repeatedly that there would never be a charge for upgrades. I have purchased licensees for your products since 2008. I support legal action.

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I’m OUT!!! Not worth it. PS & LR for same price, no brainer. As stated, what is the legality??

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I must agree with the sentiment that most customers supported Topaz because of their lifetime free upgrade and support promise. Now they have decided to renege on this promise, then serious consideration should be given to quarantining their existing customer base from further costs, and implement this new yearly upgrade program on all new customers, from now on. That way y
Topaz are not breaking their promises to legacy customers.

I live in Australia and $99 p.a. cost translates to AUD$147!!! There’s no way I can justify this sort of expense with second tier products that are not my primary editor suite (Adobe). Even more so as a retired person with limited income and photography being a hobby, and not an income source.
So unless there is something incredibly worthwhile coming out from Topaz, I guess it will remain as it is now, on the current versions, for the very long, foreseeable future.

Gotta say, I’m pretty disappointed in the decision and proposed pricing structure. I do hope they will listen to their customers concerns and provide a more acceptable way to achieve their financial outcomes without alienating existing, loyal customers.

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The problem I have with this new business model is when I bought the software, it was with the understanding/promise it was a lifetime license with upgrades, like with previous Topaz/Topaz Labs software. The more I thought about this, and considering how much I have already invested in it for "lifetime licenses’ (several hundred dollars so far), going to yearly subscription is somewhat a slap in the face. It’s one of the reasons I stopped upgrading other software, it was just too expensive on a yearly method. Yes, I still use CS6E, and have succumbed to using Adobe’s ‘rental software’. and now having Topaz doing the same thing? I haven’t read all the replies yes, so don’t know if anyone from Topaz answered, but if we choose to NOT shell out the shekels for a tweaked ‘new version’, will that prevent the current versions installed from functioning?

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When having bought a product under specified conditions it can’t be possible to change those conditions if one of both parts of the contract won’t agree. This can’t be possible and some would call your announcement “fraud”, especially when I consider the high prices.

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OK, In answer to your quetion eric2. New Denoise AI and ON1 2020
Correcting DeNoise AI v2 install issues & using from Studio 1 & 2
Denoise AI v 2 - #3 by el48tel
Thankyou, Russ.

That ends up being almost $150 AUD, as bought all three of the products. What about Topaz Studio 2 and the ‘pro’ plugins/filters? Am I going to be charged for updates on those, too?

this news is unfortunate,as i have quitted adobe for about the same reason (subscription,payable upgrades),i will not update after the expiration date,i have almost all your products,
and was looking to buy new upcomming products like gigapixel video AI,as i have luminar and affinity,who’s upgrades are free
i will be using these programs if the topaz programs dont work on the newer OS anymore
i think you will lose many customers by doing this,and less people will have the intent of buying something from you
anyway,like i said,this is unfortunate

I have a myriad of Topaz products dating back to 2013. All paid for “in full.” Truthfully, I don’t use all that much of them, never have. There are a few programs I do like and use regularly (Denoise AI and Sharpen AI, and sometimes Mask AI) but I only use them as Plug-in’s to Photoshop. If I was a professional who made my living via photography and photo editing, I’d have no issue with what is being proposed. It’s the cost of doing business. But as a hobbiest, I doubt I’ll be willing to pay $99 a year for the use of the programs. Of the three I regularly use, only Denoise AI exceeds what I can do with vanilla Photoshop CC. What I love about Topaz is the speed in which it does what would take me longer to do in Photoshop. If I was a professional (i.e. time = money), yeah, I’d pay for that convenience. I’ll be curious what Topaz has waiting for us. What the hook is that’s going to make us want to pay the subscription fee.

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No, I don’t want ‘free upgrades’. I want the updates/upgraded that I paid for in the lifetime updates purchase. I have the entire Topaz Labs legacy plugins (got them before they were legacy) and got all the AI software, except the masking AI. When I bought them, they came with “lifetime updates”. That isn’t free. It’s what I paid for.

EDIT: My Mistake: I do have the masking AI. Same thing applies.

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hey maria,as i understand it,with every purchase you get one year of upgrades (all sort),after this year you must pay 99$ for another year of upgrades,but even when your not paying for new upgrades,your bought programs will continue to work,that is,so long microsoft doesnt change the OS too much
then the programs will stop working,i’ve would have been ok with paying something for big changes in the programs,but this is like adobe,instaid of monthly,a yearly SUBSCRIPTION
i will be looking out for other companies with AI functionallity,with free lifetime updates that is

i even left adobe because of this,and went to affinity photo,wich is equally as good as photoshop,but with no subscription and free upgrades

Hi. I just recently (in the last 2 months) purchased AI denoise and AI sharpen. A factor in the decision to buy, was lifetime upgrades. Given that you are breaching that agreement, I feel I have the right to breach my payment. How do I request a refund ?

You product is just too buggy to be paying this kind of money for, especially if you are moving to this pay for upgrades model. I know what software development is like when a company prioritizes receiving a revenue stream over their customers. You will focus the vast majority of your energies on the revenue producing new upgrades. You will release them well before they are really ready, and let users discover the bugs. You will fix the trivial/minor bugs in the current version. But you will only address the important/major bugs (like the vertical banding in AI sharpen) in your next version (if at all) - forcing customers to pay twice (or more) for software that should have worked in the first place.

This is not a model I want any part of.

Just do it. I use Topaz products. I want Topaz to be financially healthy and continue to develop software that I need. Thanks!

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fanzis software has also a great denoiser,and upgrades are free

I understand you wanting to go down this path, but I’m pretty sure that changing the contract with the customer like this is illegal (in Australia at least) unless you had some terms and conditions buried in there that allow it. Even if you did have something buried in the terms and conditions, in Australia at least, it wouldn’t stand up because of your advertising highlighting lifetime updates. Besides that, your products are pretty expensive for what they do, but I paid the price on the expectation that I was effectively paying up front for upgrades. As a result, allowing only 6 months of additional upgrades for existing customers seems a little unfair.

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I totally agree. I am also a long term user and I only use the products infrequently, so in this scenario I would be paying at least $10 each time I use a product!

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Oh my what a response. I hope topazlabs will take onboard the feedback.

You have a great community that like your software and want to see you succeed, and I’m sure will be glad to pay you more money, spread the word, and leave positive reviews to help bring Topaz Labs to more customers. But telling people they have 6 months left of “free updates” on their lifetime software, and have to pay $49 per app or $99 is nuts when you have sold your software on the basis of a standalone licence with lifetime upgrades.

My recommendation is to grandfather your current customer base, and offer a steep discount on the renewal. For example $49/ year for the whole suite at most.

Secondly, I would rethink the upgrade renewal prices anyways, as most of us have been willing to pay a premium for your apps (between $49 and $99) because they came with these lifetime updates.

I have most of your AI apps, and frankly a lot of them are gathering dust, but I’m happy with my purchase as I have them in case a project requires something. With a monthly renewal, this type of Buy in case you might need it impulse purchase will cause second thoughts.

At the $99 pricepoint, you are likely going to get some serious resistance when charging $49/year renewal, especially with photoshop adding more and more AI based features every year.

Lastly, if you were to cap the renewal price then it would encourage people to buy more of your products, even if they don’t necessarily need them but because they are included in the renewal deal.

So to sum up:

-Keep your existing customer base happy, you cannot put a price of the value such a big happy community can bring, and frankly you have been underutilising this asset. When was the last time you organised a review drive or competition asking customers to share reviews or posts on social media or asked for help with testimonials?

-Keep your word, if you sold something on a lifetime basis stick to it and focus on new customers for your new business model. If you do really have to generate renewal fees from your existing userbase make them feel valued by providing a grandfathered rate (for ex: 50% off the ticket price) and then deliver exponential value with your upgrades as bug fixes won’t cut it anymore…

Thanks and keep up the great work, hopefully we can find a win win situation here.

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That’s exactly how I feel. I bought 4 of their products because I liked the direction they were going. Gigapixel works amazing in some parts of the image but ruins other parts. I bought it because I thought in the Future It could be really good. Same org DeNoise. I specifically asked their customer service if I would have to pay for updates and they said no. That’s when I pulled the out my card and spent hundred of dollars. They are liars

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Not true. Their pages says: DENOISE projects 4 professional | Image Editing Software made in Germany | Photography Software made in Germany

Simple Pricing:

  • Upgrade now to DENOISE projects 2 professional from any previous version for only 79.- USD BUY NOW