Whilst I understand the reasons. I have to agree with the OP. The biggest reason I bought the whole suite was because it had free upgrades for life. I will not but further upgrades at $99 per year. It is enought that I have to pay so much for Adobe.
Having sold it me as free upgrades for life I expect that to be honoured. New customers can buy the software knowingly under the new arrangements.
There are many many photo processing software suites out there and whilst Topaz is good you have just lost its USP.
I understand why this is necessary. You make great products, and I agree that’s it’s better to develop current products maximally, than continually being forced to make new ones just to get some money in
As a 45 year retired software developer (Tandem, Cisco, HP) I fully understand. As a keen amateur photographer I understand as well. The incredible updates to the “AI” product line surely take a lot of R&D, testing iterations etc.; and folks like I used to be don’t come cheap! :0) As long as you avoid the Adobe model, I will be with you; your software is simply too valuable for me to do without (even as an amateur). Keep up the great “AI” efforts.
I have all AI products as well as all other Topaz software for years. I think, Topaz should present this policy at the moment we buy. Now, we have no choice. The question is who tell us what is major upgrade and what is less important ?? From the other hand, for example in case of Sharpen AI I prefer previous version then the last one. How can I return to indicated version ?? Shouldn’t we have chance for example 2 weeks, to check if upgrage is worth 99$ ?? Otherwise we buy like a blind man. I’m also curious about new product: Video Enhance AI, which till end of Feb cost 199$ and later 299$. If upgrage policy will be the same I must think if it is worth to buy. Many doubts.
I agree with the new policy but with an exception. The single upgrade is too steep. I would support $29.99. Also, the $99 upgrade fee for all products for a year is only acceptable if several of the products see a major upgrade during that year. The tendency on our end will be to wait until several products are upgraded before paying the $99 and also to be more critical of what constitutes an upgrade worth our $99.
I agree with your letter that you need financial support to create upgrades.
You have great products. I own most of them.
Please be sure that all products are accessible through a single gateway whether it be Studio, PSCC, or Lightroom Classic.
While I can understand the reasoning laid out, I have been using Topaz Labs products since the first Adjustment before Adjust 5 and one reason for my continued use was the fact that upgrades were provided as they were developed. I have paid for the AI versions since they were a not upgrades as much as New Versions rather than upgrades.
I am very disappointed by this decision. One of the reasons I bought ALL your products was because of the free upgrade policy. I bought them all before I retired knowing that in retirement money would be short. I can no longer unreservedly recommend your products to others (and I know as a strong advocate many friends and colleagues have bought some/all of your products).
Looks like you will be loosing me as a customer. I might pay for an occasional upgrade of about $10. I have most of the products that you offer. It will simply be too expensive for me to continue using your software. I will simply spend more time learning the Adobe products that I have been using for years.
Adios eventually!
I’m hugely disappointed with this news. The unique selling point you had was ‘your free upgarade policy’. Which part of this wording did I not understand? Your initial prices were a bit high but I thought that this was to help include the ‘free’ updates. I bought all of your product as i am retired and need to plan my monthy outgoings with care. I will have to stop using your products if you go ahead with this unfair change of policy. I also have to live with the guilt of recommending your product to friends. I felt as though your company had a good product and an ethical outlook. I am really sad at you changing direction mid-stream. Please reconsider this decision and look after those clients that came on board early on and backed your company and products with their hard earned money…
Anybody else notice the newest product: Video AI? Special price is $199, but you also have to pay an annual maintenance fee (if you want updates) of $199 per year !!! Essentially you have to re-buy the product annually.
I was thinking of buying the product, but with that type of annual fee there is no possibility that I will even consider it.
Sorry, your new maintenance fee just lost you a new product sale.
Hey guys … time to look at replacing the CEO … this one is killing new product sales
As a software developer who used to run my own software company, I know that free updates may be a unique selling point but are not a realistic business model.
This scenario needs to be considered:
If Topaz stick to offering free updates and, as a result, ceased developing or went bust who would win? Nobody. After a while your current products would no longer work on your computer and, if Topaz actually ceased trading, then you wouldn’t even be able to install them on a new computer as the installers rely on internet downloads and licensing servers to activate them.
If the above scenario actually happened then we might be praising Topaz for their moral correctness yet lamenting that they should have changed their policy to prevent going bust…
As has been pointed out several times, this change affects only 4 products and nobody is being forced to upgrade after August. It’s not a change to a subscription model because in a subscription model the software stops working if you cancel it.
The reality seems to be this: if Topaz continued to offer free upgrades then we’d get no upgrades at all as they won’t be able to afford to produce them.
Whilst I wish they could continue that policy I accept that I’d rather pay for upgrades than end up with nothing…
You are missing something in your analysis of setting the $99 per year maintenance fee … which is close to the annual subscription fee for Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop
The Adobe subscription products are used with every single photo I take. The products are multifunctional and even include mobile products and Adobe Portfolio web hosting.
The Topaz AI products are single function and are used only in situations where special enhancements are needed. My usage is far less than 1 out of every 50 photos that I process. Based on that analysis, since Adobe charges 12 x 9.99 or about $120 per year … a fair price for your annual maintenance would be 1/50 x 120 or about $2.50 per year!!!
Based on that analysis don’t be surprised when your sales plummet. I don’t think there is anybody who will find that the annual fee you set is reasonable
A real bad news and bad idea. A big mistake. What a pity!
I purchased all your programs individually. I’m not a professional user, I use your software sporadically but I was always sure of being able to do something professional (the best possible). Now it won’t be possible anymore, there will be something better. 99 dollars may seem few, but they are not. With little more I can make subscriptions (which I hate!) to a complete audio and video suites which for an average user like myself can be enough.
I was waiting for some other good software to come out, but with such a variable commercial policy, I don’t think I will trust you to buy other products. It is a trust and if it fails …
Should I reinstall a software in the future, will all the various modules of the previous versions be guaranteed and always available for download?
Well this is typical,
Another company that refuses to stand by their original agreements. With you being the CEO of Topaz Labs, I’m sure one of the reasons you went into this business is because you were tired other companies not fulfilling their promises to their customers.
I totally agree with ( Carstenbock), (SPDF1957-147138) and other disappointed customers,
The purchase agreement in your contract stated I would receive a free “Lifetime” free Upgrade with free Support. I’m really trying hard to wrap my mind around your professionalism & loyalty you are showing towards your customers. Depending on your future decisions you’re most likely losing yet another customer.
I’ve let this news sink in and read most of the responses. Please note that I am not a native English speaker.
I understand the business decision, but am also very disappointed by the broken promise of free upgrades forever.
I may fall in a special category of users, but am probably not alone. I am not a professional user and purchased the full suite at the end of last year (full disclosure: Black Friday deal). I already owned a lot of products and purchased the suite to support Topaz Labs after receiving a free upgrade for Adjust AI. I respect the company and decided to buy as a token of support. I barely use the tools, but the promise of free upgrades and respect for this promise led to my decision to buy (a good business case for my needs!)
In other words:
I have no ROI as I don’t use the products professionally in any way and don’t use the products very often
I paid more than I would have because I didn’t need to worry about costs of future upgrades
I wanted to support Topaz Labs, because I truely respected your position on upgrades
I am a customer that wanted to give you my money and could still follow the route of the broken promise of free upgrades. As I want Topaz Labs to survive and thrive, I propose the following:
a differentiation between customers before and after the change and a a much better deal for the ‘before’ customers
a lower upgrade price for non-pro users
an option for refunds for previous buyers because of the broken promise
In the end I understand the decision but am also convinced that the proposed option(s) are not fair towards your loyal customers.
I don’t mind paying a upgrade fee if it helps Topaz to survive!
But we just payed an upgrade for Cubase and Wavelab (a complete digital music recording studio with hundreds of sophisticated plugins ) and mastering application *€ 59.99 for Cubase and *€ 99.99 for Wavelab.
We payed € 100.- for an Capture One 20 upgrade. (a complete RAW editor with tons of plugins/functions)
In case of Topaz Labs and the AI collection we talk about 4 single function plugins that need $ 99.00 (and take a loooooong time to process on my iMac i5 3.7gig 6cores 64gig and a 8 gig graphics card!
to upgrade each year. That’s a ridiculous price!
You’re right, it’s in all our interest to have Topaz labs continue to grow and have financial stability to develop their products:
But I think the three big sticking points are:
-Topaz labs apps are not cheap, we are talking about $49-$150 applications, and many of us buying the whole range as well as bundles worth $300+
-Changing the rules of the game once someone has bought the product, especially with only 6 months notice
-Not providing any benefit to early adopters and existing customers
It just sounds like Topaz Labs have run out of apps to revamp to AI and now need a way to secure additional revenue to keep going.
Now everyone needs to make money to pay the bills and fund development and there is nothing wrong with thath. But I think Topaz Labs would get a much more positive response if they did the following:
-Acknowledge the feedback provided in the thread
-Provide current customers with an added discount (for example grandfather current customers with 50% off the renewal prices in perpetuity) to reward their loyalty and sweeten the deal.
-Provide a roadmap of what they are planning to achieve in terms of upgrades to the existing apps
I too have quite a few of Topaz products. Lets face it no company can continue by giving free update forever. Lets face it I want Topaz to continue with their great products and webinars. Come on folks it costs money.
I understand the reason for this and appreciate the heads up. As a long time user I am not surprised this is happening. I hope you are going to be able to improve on your products in the future.
Yes, it does cost money to continue to develop a product. However, as many others have correctly pointed out, people have bought the products based on lifetime free upgrades. Reneging on this once the product has been bought is a breach of contract. Lifetime free upgrades should apply to existing customers who bought on that basis. New customers, however, can be charged for upgrades.
