When I bought Topaz Gigapixel I thought it was a lifetime license.
Now I’m told that to renew the license I have to buy it again.
They should only charge 15% of the license cost for customers who already bought it.
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You don’t have to renew the licence if you just want to continue to use the release version you’re currently using. You do have to renew if you want to use the new major version updates that come out after your licence expired.
This only applies to standard individual licences. Pro licences are an ongoing subscription.
Alan is correct. I no longer need GPAI on a regular basis, having upscaled all my old photos already. The latest version I have access to is 7.0.5 and I am happy with that so far (it even works on the beta of the new Mac OS 15.0). My “subscription” expired in January of this year.
Depends on when you bought it. Until late of 2019 Gigapixel was still advertised with a lifetime free upgrade and update license which was supposedly broken in early 2020 maybe. 
Hi. Here’s part of a statement from Topaz CEO Eric Yang.
Existing customers
Topaz Gigapixel AI, DeNoiseAI and Sharpen AI
For the listed products above, existing customers have an upgrade license starting from a year since they purchased. For example, if you bought DeNoise AI in November 2019, your upgrade license will last until November 2020.
That said, we thought it’d be unfair to immediately expire licenses for people that have purchased over a year ago. So for anyone in this situation, we’re extending a minimum 6 months of upgrade licenses. Even if you first bought our products years ago, the earliest you’d possibly need to pay for an upgrade is in August 2020.Starting soon, you’ll be able to see the remaining time on your upgrade licenses in your Account.
Why?
I know this is a major shift. We’ve offered free upgrades for so long that it’s become part of what we’re known for. I guess this change all comes down to a single core idea: to be truly useful to you, we believe we should be offering fewer products that go deeper rather than a buffet of shallow products.In other words, we don’t want to offer you novelties that you’ll stop using after a month. Instead, if you buy DeNoise AI, we want to help you handle noise reductionforever through our software.
This means constantly evaluating and adding the most promising cutting-edge noise reduction techniques, relentlessly improving integration with your workflow, and continually adding major new functionality like batch processing (just released!) and selections. You shouldn’t have to worry about noise reduction ever again… or at the very least, you should be able to rely on us to worry about it for you. Paid upgrades are necessary for us to support this kind of deep focus.Again, this was not a quick or easy decision to make, but we think it’s a necessary one in order for us to deliver massive value for you in the future. All I ask of you is that you give us a chance to prove this through our product improvements in 2020 and beyond.
Thanks so much,Eric Yang CEO, Topaz Labs
Here’s the link to the full article
You could always ask Topaz Support if there’s anything they can do to help
Here’s a link for Topaz Support
support@topazlabs.com
Hope this helps
There are many options now that include lifetime licenses. I won’t be using your software anymore.
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It’s not my software I don’t work for Topaz
Here the contract link for Topaz
Topaz Contact Page
Rebranding the Topaz-Software from the triple package to now Photo AI was really a “clever” trick.
AI for me is not really better (artefacts are even worse) but its a a “so called” NEW Product. And so we talk about a “new product” – that TOPAZ can sell again.
The new pricing is a bit too much for me. I‘m not interested to pay now every year 200 USD. I‘ll think its time to say good-bye and give DXO a chance.
Topaz Photo AI - Purchase Price = $199
Topaz Photo AI - Upgrade Price = $99.50
Black Friday Deal I guess around $80 give or take
Hi Jorge. As an owner of Gigapixel, Sharpen and Denoise AI you should have been able to download Photo AI for free
If you contact support they may be able to help you
Topazlabs Support
support@topazlabs.com
On Wall Street, they say that “pigs go broke”.
Topaz is getting a bit greedy. The desire to take in more revenue is understandable, but Topaz haas really been pushing its customers lately, and often for upgrades that provide little REAL benefit.
Good Friday 2024: Upgrade Photo AI in the US = $84. Auto-renewal not required.
Have to agree here. I thought it was a lifetime purchase and an expensive one too! Now I am being asked for a yearly licence. Without even being told, just when my “licence” has expired.
A terrible way to treat supposed loyal customers!!
Hi.
You’re posted here
Why TOPAZ does not give special price to renew license
Have you actually read anything here because, the answers you’re looking for are contained within the posts above.
Ahh, I see. Sorry.
It’s not the fact that you’re not giving a discount, it’s the fact that you have not told me that there would be a yearly licence to pay. This has been introduced without even telling me. Easy to email us, no? I checked my purchase - not a word about any future licences.
We have to come here, read all the posts and find everything out for ourselves. The fact that our purchases had no mention at all of any licence is irrelevant.
OK, I get it now, My mistake.
You don’t have to renew the licence if your happy to stay on the version you’re currently using. Renewing entitles you to install new major updates that are released after your previous licence expires.
Your Topaz account page tells you when your current licence expires, and has download links for the latest version you can use.
Hi.
Alan is correct that’s one of the many great things about Topaz unlike Adobe and other software companies once you stop paying Topaz won’t suddenly disable your Gigapixel AI and take it away from you.
On the contrary you can continue using the application for as long as you like and if you decide to return in the future using the same Login details you’ll still be offered an upgrade at the discounted renewal price.
Basically, you won’t be charged full price again and you’ll be entitled to the latest Gigapixel including future updates for one year, which includes new versions, and any minor updates thereafter, until the next major update release.
If on the other hand, you decide to stay, What’s this Subscription all about
Subscription in name only:
Don’t think of it as a Subscription, think of it more like an Auto Renewal Service.
Currently if you want the best price you’ll have to keep an eye on the Black Friday price and decide to purchase an upgrade.
With the Auto Renewal/Subscribe you don’t have to worry about any of that or when to upgrade.
Basically, Topaz will automatically renew your licence for you and in return give you a better then Black Friday deal for your loyalty
In addition to this you can cancel your subscription at anytime without fear of penalties. Although, you will have to continue with your current licence until your that licence expires, not for getting you’ll still be entitled to minor updates thereafter and as mentioned above you keep your working copy of Gigapixel AI
Hope this helps
No problem and thanks for the explanation! All good.
I think the pricing structure here is very odd. So, I don’t have much money and can’t afford to “upgrade” so I stick on my current software version, which should last for ever and I can use it to increase file sizes. All good, I pay $99. And that’s it.
If you’d have charged me $9.99 per month, and I get all the upgrades then I’m happy, and you would have, so far, received 14 x $9.99 = $139.86 with $9.99 coming in every month!
But now I’m feeling down on Gigapixel and thinking about what my options are and looking around at other options. I’m not going to spend another $65 or whatever. $9.99, I can cope with as it is all about cash flow for small businesses like mine.
I understand what you’re saying but, please allow me to break down the cost for the year in monthly terms
One year Subscription is $65 for the latest version with a whole year of major updates including newer versions when they are released and minor updates thereafter
In total over a year’s worth of product for $65
Sixty Five Dollars divided by Twelve Months Equals Five Dollars and Forty-One Cents per month
That has to be a bargain wouldn’t you say
Excellent explanation!
Looking forward to the $5.41 per month subscription 
