Actually, I accidently bought Topaz Photo AI, which I didn’t want to purchase. I have emailed the email that you provided, and tried to cancel that part on the webpage. it says pending.
Hello Dakota,
I am confused by variations in the naming of the Topaz Photo software product !
Photo AI v4.0.3 which I currently own and just paid for 1 year upgrades 31 Aug 2025
Topaz Photo which is quoted in most nearly all of the Transition posts
Topaz AI 4 which has/is appearing most recently
What is Photo AI 4 ?
Is it identical to last week’s Photo AI v4.0.3 ? (which is quoted on the product sales web page)
Or is that the name of the new Studio version ?
Is it presumably subscription only ?
If it is perpetual is there an upgrade price for current users ?
Why has Topaz made such a dreadful mess of this whole transition ?
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I’m even more confused …
How and where did you get a version Topaz Photo 4 ???
Is/was that a totally full price new purchase or some sort of upgrade or a complimentary free version ? Is it subscription or perpetual ?
The current Topaz Products web page says Photo AI 4 but refers to new 4.0.3 which is current ..
Maybe I’m blind but can’t see a clear statement in the new Topaz Labs | *New* Photo AI 4™ | Every shot has potential. Make it perfect. page about whether it’s subscription or perpetual ???
Things are certainly confusing at the moment !!!
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Gee, I thought the info on the webpage that Dakota provided a link to (above) mentioned: Topaz Photo, Topaz Gigapixel and Topaz Video (to be honest I paid less attention to that name b/c I currently don’t do video…) as the renamed products (some with revised features or new models) that will be released on 9/16 as components of the Topaz Studio collection subscription launch.
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Ok. I see 
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Not everyone will be happy with this change?
It looks like the vast majority of customers are not happy with this change.
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Beta?
You are a betatester too. 
Starlight Mini will remain in Video AI (perpetual license) as-is
In the new Topaz Video product - Starlight is a Pro feature, but legacy Topaz customers will get access to this model as long as they maintain “founder” status with an active subscription. The new Starlight Mini optimizations and AMD + Mac support will be available in the new Studio version only.
Support should be able to get ya squared away! 
I think the process to enable auto-renewal is slightly different with Photo AI than the other products
Topaz Photo = a new product which will be available under a subscription license only and as a part of the Studio bundle. This will receive new AI models and features.
Photo AI 4 / v4.x+ = the application Photo AI with a perpetual license setup. We will no longer be selling this product but will continue to support it with some minor patch updates
Topaz Photo (Studio) isn’t launched yet. We’ll add a banner to our sales pages saying it is coming soon, but for now if you purchase Photo AI you get access to Topaz Photo (Studio) at a discounted price + founder status.
If the image editing technologies keep improving, then there is not much difference whether one has opted for a perpetual solution or a subscription.
If one wants to use new features, one should get new versions each year. Also, due to competition, it is also in Topaz Labs’ interests to continually improve their products.
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Ouch again
That is heavily betraying every AMD and/or Mac user here.
Starlight mini was introduced far before the license shift and support for other GPUs promised also by that time.
So, every user with a non NVIDIA card that bought a perpetual TVAI license or extended his existing license because of SL mini at the beginning of the year does NOT get a working perpetual SL mini license while the NVIDIA users have such?!
That cries for a refund for all customers without NVIDIA gfx cards as they paid the same but get considerably less - and which was also NOT told at the time SL mini was introduced.
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You are looking at a very small subset of Topaz’s customer base here. Plus people who are happy are less likely to post.
Everyone is about to vote soon. (With their wallets) Topaz is hoping to be the next Adobe, but could well end up being the next VMware.
The lack of polish, and abundance of bugs, in their updates has been mitigated by the ability to roll back to the last working version. I’m curious if the software-rental model will retain this option.
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They’ll still be able to use the model in the new app, they will have access there. It just won’t be perpetual.
Yeah the vast majority of feedback we’ve got on the studio change is indeed positive, especially outside the forums - it’s a great deal we’re giving out here but it is confusing.
Of course we understand the subscription isn’t for everyone, and we’ll make sure people can still use the perpetual license apps for as long as possible. We’re happy to talk to people here on the forums with questions and concerns.
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Here’s one of the problems for me - the website still lets you buy tpai 4.0.3 and says:
and not that there won’t be any more upgrades and only minimal (if any) updates.
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I might be wrong here, but what Topaz Labs seem to fail to understand is that the major “gripe” us protesters have isn’t as much about the subscription model as it is the fact that we’re sitting with anything between 1 and 11 (or more) months left of what we paid for staying with the previous/current subscription model and all we get for the remainder of the time we have left is a couple of maintenance updates.
This was not the case for someone who signed up a bit over a year ago and is now faced with the need of renewing - this person have seen a number of exciting stuff both for PAI and for GAI during that year.
Now if renewing just to get access to a special price and founders status that very same perpetual license that saw new and nice stuff the last year will be frozen in time at the very moment he decides to move on, left only with the memories of what he had.
There’s no way that a person in his right state of mind can deny that, but it is becoming increasingly clear that it’s very convenient to hide behind the mantra “but you get the new as long as you stay” - that’s just cheap way of cleaning yourself of responsibility for people who really do feel cheated.
And then on top of it people who are about to have their subscription run out gets talked into renewing for access to all the nice stuff that you will have - if you stay - but there is hardly one single word about the only sure and permanent thing they pay for is applications that - apart from perhaps getting a few minor fixes are completely frozen.
Me I lost interest in subscriptions with Adobe, so I might probably have moved on anyway, but what gets to me is that something that actually gave good value last time I re-upped only let’s me rent the improvements the next time
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They are trying to force us to use their subscription model instead of honoring their agreement and promise of our right to 12 months of upgrades that we have paid for. Piss poor way of doing business. Will never trust these people again with my money. I don’t do business with liars, dishonest people and businesses that cant be trusted.
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