Please feel free to contact our support team, or DM me directly to continue this conversation.
I hear you—many of our long-time users have preferred the one-time purchase model, and I understand why this change feels frustrating, especially if you’re used to owning software outright.
We made the decision to move to subscriptions because it allows us to deliver continuous value—faster improvements, more frequent updates, and access to the latest features without requiring you to buy upgrades separately.
Our goal is to make sure the subscription feels worthwhile by providing ongoing enhancements and new capabilities. I know it’s a shift, but we really appreciate you sharing your thoughts—it helps us stay mindful of how these changes impact you.
Key points:
If you own 2 or more desktop apps with auto-renew enabled, you’ll get Topaz Studio at your current price for life.
If you own 1 desktop app with auto-renew enabled, you’ll get the Studio version of that app at the same price.
If auto-renew is off but you still have time left on your upgrade license, you’ll keep access to Topaz Studio (2+ apps) or the Studio version of your single app until your license expires.
You’ll always retain access to the apps you currently own, and can return to them if you cancel your subscription.
We’ll continue supporting the current products with maintenance updates.
I too renewed my registrations for PhotoAI and Gigapixel to extend to August 2026. I fully expect Topaz to honor the commitment to updates , both major and minor, for the period of my update. If this does not happen, my commitment to the company will come into serious question.
It does however feel like we already more or less figured out what you posted, and it seems too be abundantly clear that we who have time left of our 1 year of “free unlimited upgrades” - with the remaining time obviously being different between individual users - are left in the dirt with our pants down feeling that we just ran into a good beating.
We did not pay for maintenance updates. In my case I get to sit and watch (with GAI) how new models and functionalities gets introduced during the months I have left until mid February only to know that they are useless when my current time runs out.
That is not ok, and I’m not staying around for that kind of abuse. You really need to rethink that one and provide the same upgrades at least until September 2026. Anything else is just plain unacceptable.
On a finishimg note. I am fully aware of this not being the right part of the forum for this conversation, but maybe one of you could take the cue and move it then?
I purchased video ai and photo ai and I’m so pleased with them I’m pretty sure I will renew each year so I was delighted to read about my account being upgraded to ‘STUDIO’ and giving me access to other products.
After buying lemons like AVClabs it’s good to use products that are genuinely helpful.
No confusion but the one you create.
Or am I wrong in reading that my perpetual version of Gigapixel to which I paid for unlimited upgrades until mid February 2026 will not get anything more than maintenance updates meaning that whenever I stop my involvement in Topaz Studio I will no longer have access to functionality implemented after mid September?
It’s a simple yes/no question, and I’m not sure that hiding behind a conversstion over DM will benefit anyone else having similar questions.
The current desktop application, Gigapixel will continue to be updated until 9/16. After that point, we will continue to offer maintenance updates and minor fixes.
So I was right in my suspicions.
Thanks for confirming that the only updates of the perpetual versions will be smaller stuff no matter how long time one have left of the “free unlimited upgrades”.
I’m out!
The patch updates aren’t what will hurt us/you. Me I’m leaving for good if I don’t get the “unlimited free upgrades” I paid for in my perpetual product subscription until it runs out.
You’re of course free to move this comment wherever you like to… Kind of what I will as well unless someone takes a step back to realize that Topaz Labs are robbing a huge number of buyers and honor already paid for agreements.
If I understand this correctly, it boils down to these two facts:
No(!!!) current subscriber, regardless of when his/her subscription ends, will get Gigapixel 8.5 unless having paid an additional “subscription” for GPAI versions after 9/16
Current subscriptions, though meant to provide “owned” versions until subscription end, will be stuck at GPAI 8.4.2, no matter how many updates (not patches) are released within the remaining subscription period.
I consider this a breach of contract. Being in a foreign country myself, I hope some user from within the US will take legal action on that.
On September 16, we’re launching Topaz Studio, a subscription collection of all our apps. Studio will include 7 products, over 100 image/video AI models, unlimited cloud image processing, and local processing.
Because you own an active upgrade license to Photo Al, you get access to the new Topaz Photo, new pro-only models, and unlimited cloud rendering for images at no extra cost. On Sept 16:
Your Photo AI perpetual license remains yours forever.
With an active upgrade license, you’ll get access to:
Topaz Photo, including the upcoming Wonder AI model normally for Pro only.
Unlimited cloud rendering for images (non-batch).
Grandfathered auto-renewal price as long as your plan is active.
Founding customers with 2+ auto-renewing upgrade licenses get access to the whole Studio collection.
It is nice to be informed that something I bought and paid for is mine forever.
@Topaz: There is only one way to clean up this mess, which is making everyone that has a running subscription on the release day of Gigapixel 8.5 eligible for a non-expiring version of the update. Period.
As soon as all those subscriptions to “owned” apps have expired, feel free to roll out whatever model you want to. But in the meantime, you better deliver what you promised to. And that is neither patches nor anything that dies at the end of the subscription period.
Will I be able to distinguish between the perpetual license updates and the crap the Topaz Studio subscription throws in my general direction until my second license current subscription runs out in February 2026 (the other one dies mid December)?
The way I feel about this thing at the moment I really don’t want anything to do with Topaz Labs apart from the scraps that I will get in the shape of maintenance updates to my perpetual app versions until that runs out.
I’m really disappointed by this whole ordeal, and there’s very little that special gifts or founder status can do to fix that.
Hello everyone - this is quite the announcement and I know there’s a number of questions. We will do our best to help answer any questions here, and we will be aggregating some common questions for an FAQ and community post early next week.
Let’s try to keep the discussion on Studio centered here instead of on the release threads for our other products.
We’re super excited about the new Studio editions and offerings of our products, including new AI models, unlimited cloud rendering, and more.
To be clear - if you own an active subscription to a Topaz product, you will be considered a Founding customer, and will get exclusive access to some of our more powerful models in the Studio versions of the apps.
If you own more than one active license, you’ll be getting the full Studio bundle of all of our apps on launch day (this includes Bloom, the studio versions of Video AI, Photo AI, Gigapixel, and more).
You’ll still retain perpetual license access to your existing products, and they will receive maintenance updates for a period of time as we transition to our new Studio offerings.
There’s some really exciting updates coming for all of our desktop products, including new AI models and unlimited cloud rendering for images. And of course, the legacy/perpetual license versions of our products will still be around.
