Topaz licensing question

I currently have Topaz Photo AI and Gigapixel AI.

My update licenses are not on auto renew. I've been signing up for updates year by year, sometimes as part of their Black Friday specials.

It appears that I won't be able to extend those again. Or switch to auto renewal.

I believe that means that if I went with the "founder's" thing for the new Photo and Gigapixel, I'd essentially be out of luck when my current upgrade licenses expire (late November for Photo AI, January for Gigapixel.) Topaz appears to offer a small discount for previous users to subscribe to the new apps. Still rather expensive.

Topaz seems to avoid explicit mention of that aspect of the new licensing.

Existing users subscribed to auto renewal are grandfathered in at the current rates.

Is that correct?

Hello Bob,

I'm offering this post in case it helps you - apologies if you already know these things !

The whole Transition thing is an incredibly confusing tangle !!!

There are a lot of contradictions in even the Topaz Staff postings and there are certainly inconsistencies in individual Topaz Community user posts.

I think the first Topaz post about these changes was on 6 Sep when they quoted 16 Sep as being the cut-off date for existing users with "active licences and a current auto-renewal updates package" to get the benefits of a "Founders deal".

Later they extended the deadline to 26 Sep saying that would be the cutoff for qualifying.

Variously the CEO, Eric Yang, and senior Topaz Staff have posted in the Community forums saying things like:

• "don't worry, contact https://account.topazlabs.com/ and we will help
• "If you have a question about how this transition impacts your account specifically, please contact us directly at [email protected] so we can assist you one-on-one."

If you go to Topaz Labs and log in via the head & shoulders icon in the top right hand corner you should see your previous existing account - click through to "My Products" and you should see any options for "Manage subscriptions" or "Extend 1 year" .....

This link should take you to any new Studio account(s) you may have been automatically offered ...

As I understand it if you want to belatedly enable 1 year support packages for your existing packages and you ask nicely asap you may get the "benefits to use the corresponding new Studio products free for one year plus free Cloud rendering ..." and also carry forward the much lower annual subscription rate thereafter ....

Although I'm bitterly disappointed at the end of perpetual licences I'm opting in for the chance to try the new stuff for a year to fully evaluate the new features ...

Hope this helps ...

I've been at my account page.

Gigapixel AI has an option to extend the upgrade license for 1 year.

Photo AI has no such option. (My current upgrades are paid through late November 2025.)

Pfui.

If what you want is a subscription going forward, contact Topaz directly and ask what your specific options are - and do it soon. If you don't want a subscription, just keep using what you have. It won't be updated with new features, but it won't stop working.

I've emailed Topaz support. I'll post back with their response.

Apparently yes and it looks they extended the dead line up to the 26th . No announce on their site just topaz communication on their forum .

Otherwise contact th support ,they are answering the same working day.

I'm a customer but I have not updated Photo AI since v1. There are a few longer threads about the new features and pricing so I didn't read every one. I logged in and I see the changes. Looks like Photo AI is now Photo with a few new features. I know Studio is back.

I see Photo is now $21 a month. That is pretty steep. A lot of people said they would never go subscription even with Adobe for $10 a month. Not sure if I get any breaks because I didn't press check out nor did I ask support about it. I got a deal for Photo AI v1. Well kinda of a deal. I had to purchase Gigapixel to get Photo AI for free. I never used Gigapixel. I've tried Adobe Super Resolution but currently I have no real need for it.

It seems like Photo is almost tying to be one stop editor but they do advertise it as an plugin for Adobe. If you aren't grandfathered in with the Adobe Photo plan for $10 a month then it's $20 a month for the 1TB Photo Plan. That's a total of $41 a month. That would be $31 a month but far too rich for me.

For those who weren't grandfathered into the $10 a month 20GB Photo Plan there is the Lr 1TB plan. No PS but Adobe added LrC to it for $12 a month. That's 33 a month.

Topaz Sharpen AI which has not had an update since 2022 still works with Mac Tahoe. I'll stick with that for now.

CrisL said:

Apparently yes and it looks they extended the dead line up to the 26th . No announce on their site just topaz communication on their forum .

Otherwise contact th support ,they are answering the same working day.

Click to expand...

I believe that the 26th is for a new purchase of perpetual licenses for their apps.

No response from them today. Are they off for Rosh Hashanah? ;-)

BobKnDP said:

CrisL said:

Apparently yes and it looks they extended the dead line up to the 26th . No announce on their site just topaz communication on their forum .

Otherwise contact th support ,they are answering the same working day.

Click to expand...

I believe that the 26th is for a new purchase of perpetual licenses for their apps.

No response from them today. Are they off for Rosh Hashanah? ;-)

Click to expand...

I just received an email from Topaz support.

BobKnDP said:

BobKnDP said:

BobKnDP said:

Hi Robert!

Tabitha here! Apologies for the delayed response time. We have seen higher-than-normal support volume.

You can use these links to opt into the plan until September 26th when our migration is complete!

• Auto-renewal: Gigapixel
• Auto-renewal: Photo AI

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with! Happy Editing!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I don't think I'm violating anything by quoting it.

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

BobKnDP said:

BobKnDP said:

CrisL said:

Apparently yes and it looks they extended the dead line up to the 26th . No announce on their site just topaz communication on their forum .

Otherwise contact th support ,they are answering the same working day.

Click to expand...

I believe that the 26th is for a new purchase of perpetual licenses for their apps.

No response from them today. Are they off for Rosh Hashanah? ;-)

Click to expand...

I just received an email from Topaz support.

BobKnDP said:

BobKnDP said:

BobKnDP said:

Hi Robert!

Tabitha here! Apologies for the delayed response time. We have seen higher-than-normal support volume.

You can use these links to opt into the plan until September 26th when our migration is complete!

• Auto-renewal: Gigapixel
• Auto-renewal: Photo AI

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with! Happy Editing!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I don't think I'm violating anything by quoting it.

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Fool that I am, I signed up for the subscriptions. They show up in my account. The payment dates are based on the expirations of my previous one-year updates.

Slightly better than I expected.

BobKnDP said:

BobKnDP said:

CrisL said:

Apparently yes and it looks they extended the dead line up to the 26th . No announce on their site just topaz communication on their forum .

Otherwise contact th support ,they are answering the same working day.

Click to expand...

I believe that the 26th is for a new purchase of perpetual licenses for their apps.

No response from them today. Are they off for Rosh Hashanah? ;-)

Click to expand...

I just received an email from Topaz support.

BobKnDP said:

BobKnDP said:

BobKnDP said:

Hi Robert!

Tabitha here! Apologies for the delayed response time. We have seen higher-than-normal support volume.

You can use these links to opt into the plan until September 26th when our migration is complete!

• Auto-renewal: Gigapixel
• Auto-renewal: Photo AI

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with! Happy Editing!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I don't think I'm violating anything by quoting it.

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Gigapixel AI is also incorporated into Topaz Photo...

No need to buy both.

Toermalijn said:

BobKnDP said:

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Gigapixel AI is also incorporated into Topaz Photo...

No need to buy both.

Click to expand...

You're saying that Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product) is incorporated into Topaz Photo (the currently available product)? Is Topaz Gigapixel (the currently available product) the same as Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product)? It presumably is not, and presumably it offers more than the resizing functions available in Topaz Photo.

ishwanu said:

Toermalijn said:

BobKnDP said:

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Gigapixel AI is also incorporated into Topaz Photo...

No need to buy both.

Click to expand...

You're saying that Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product) is incorporated into Topaz Photo (the currently available product)? Is Topaz Gigapixel (the currently available product) the same as Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product)? It presumably is not, and presumably it offers more than the resizing functions available in Topaz Photo.

Click to expand...

Topaz photo uses the same algorithms as Topaz Gigapixel...

This has been confirmed some time ago by the software engeneers.

Toermalijn said:

ishwanu said:

Toermalijn said:

BobKnDP said:

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Gigapixel AI is also incorporated into Topaz Photo...

No need to buy both.

Click to expand...

You're saying that Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product) is incorporated into Topaz Photo (the currently available product)? Is Topaz Gigapixel (the currently available product) the same as Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product)? It presumably is not, and presumably it offers more than the resizing functions available in Topaz Photo.

Click to expand...

Topaz photo uses the same algorithms as Topaz Gigapixel...

This has been confirmed some time ago by the software engeneers.

Click to expand...

I would agree with that. I thought Topaz was headed towards being a two app company. Photo and Video AI. They kept Giga as a separate app so there must have been enough interest in that alone which was cheaper than Photo AI. As we can see they have expanded their offerings.

I'm still really surprised that there is such a strong demand for upscaling apps. Are there that many out there printing posters? I really didn't understand the use of it mostly because I was never interested in it. I tried upscaling few times using Adobe which doubles the pixels to see if I could squeeze more detail out of my wildlife shots.

I found out that export size is crucial to its use for my applications. To get something out of it I need to crop lower than the final export size. I'd be cropping from 6000 on the long side to 2000 or less. That is a big crop. I'd then apply upscaling to bring it to 4000 on the long side and the export to 2048 or 3600 on the long side. So basically I have to crop too much to make it really worth it.

LrC Super Resolution just doubles the pixels. I know Gigapixel is a more sophisticated and has 1.5 option. I'm not sure SR in PS has more options than just doubling.

I tried out LrC SR for the first time.

Toermalijn said:

ishwanu said:

Toermalijn said:

BobKnDP said:

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Gigapixel AI is also incorporated into Topaz Photo...

No need to buy both.

Click to expand...

You're saying that Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product) is incorporated into Topaz Photo (the currently available product)? Is Topaz Gigapixel (the currently available product) the same as Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product)? It presumably is not, and presumably it offers more than the resizing functions available in Topaz Photo.

Click to expand...

Topaz photo uses the same algorithms as Topaz Gigapixel...

Click to expand...

But you first said Gigapixel AI, which is different.

Toermalijn said:

This has been confirmed some time ago by the software engeneers.

Click to expand...

Really? Maybe that useful info hasn't been passed to the marketing department, or we would see it stated somewhere that nobody who owns Topaz Photo should bother with Topaz Gigapixel.

ishwanu said:

Toermalijn said:

ishwanu said:

Toermalijn said:

BobKnDP said:

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Gigapixel AI is also incorporated into Topaz Photo...

No need to buy both.

Click to expand...

You're saying that Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product) is incorporated into Topaz Photo (the currently available product)? Is Topaz Gigapixel (the currently available product) the same as Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product)? It presumably is not, and presumably it offers more than the resizing functions available in Topaz Photo.

Click to expand...

Topaz photo uses the same algorithms as Topaz Gigapixel...

Click to expand...

But you first said Gigapixel AI, which is different.

ishwanu said:

This has been confirmed some time ago by the software engeneers.

Click to expand...

Really? Maybe that useful info hasn't been passed to the marketing department, or we would see it stated somewhere that nobody who owns Topaz Photo should bother with Topaz Gigapixel.

Click to expand...

Photo AI gigapixel ai, same algorithms.

Topaz Photo, Topaz Gigapixel, same algorithms.

Toermalijn said:

ishwanu said:

Toermalijn said:

BobKnDP said:

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Gigapixel AI is also incorporated into Topaz Photo...

No need to buy both.

Click to expand...

You're saying that Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product) is incorporated into Topaz Photo (the currently available product)? Is Topaz Gigapixel (the currently available product) the same as Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product)? It presumably is not, and presumably it offers more than the resizing functions available in Topaz Photo.

Click to expand...

Topaz photo uses the same algorithms as Topaz Gigapixel...

This has been confirmed some time ago by the software engeneers.

Click to expand...

Gigapixel AI (not the new Gigapixel) included features that were not present in Photo AI (not Photo).

Is my expectation that will continue incorrect?

BobKnDP said:

Toermalijn said:

ishwanu said:

Toermalijn said:

BobKnDP said:

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Gigapixel AI is also incorporated into Topaz Photo...

No need to buy both.

Click to expand...

You're saying that Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product) is incorporated into Topaz Photo (the currently available product)? Is Topaz Gigapixel (the currently available product) the same as Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product)? It presumably is not, and presumably it offers more than the resizing functions available in Topaz Photo.

Click to expand...

Topaz photo uses the same algorithms as Topaz Gigapixel...

This has been confirmed some time ago by the software engeneers.

Click to expand...

Gigapixel AI (not the new Gigapixel) included features that were not present in Photo AI (not Photo).

Click to expand...

Yes, I certainly got different, and usually better, results from Gigapixel AI than Photo AI.

That was the only reason to pay to get updates on both.

BobKnDP said:

Is my expectation that will continue incorrect?

Click to expand...

If so, the new rental Gigapixel will soon die.

BobKnDP said:

Toermalijn said:

ishwanu said:

Toermalijn said:

BobKnDP said:

I'd seen the pages before, but it was far from clear to me that they could be used for converting to auto-renewal. (It's still unclear, but I guess I can take their word.)

$99 for Photo AI, $64 for Gigapixel AI.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Gigapixel AI is also incorporated into Topaz Photo...

No need to buy both.

Click to expand...

You're saying that Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product) is incorporated into Topaz Photo (the currently available product)? Is Topaz Gigapixel (the currently available product) the same as Gigapixel AI (the no longer available product)? It presumably is not, and presumably it offers more than the resizing functions available in Topaz Photo.

Click to expand...

Topaz photo uses the same algorithms as Topaz Gigapixel...

This has been confirmed some time ago by the software engeneers.

Click to expand...

Gigapixel AI (not the new Gigapixel) included features that were not present in Photo AI (not Photo).

Is my expectation that will continue incorrect?

Click to expand...

READ: algorithm,,,,,features is something else.

AI model(s) is AI max in Topaz Photo, same as Gigapixel max.

Gigapixel might have more features/functionality, but AI models are the same.

There is a new update for Topaz Photo: 1.01

I still have the old Gigapixel Ai......

EDIT:

thread about gigapixel vs Photo


I concur with the last post, Since I have now Photo Ai and Topaz Photo with upscaling I see no benefit in a seperate Gigapixel application.

BobKnDP said:

I've been at my account page.

Gigapixel AI has an option to extend the upgrade license for 1 year.

Photo AI has no such option. (My current upgrades are paid through late November 2025.)

Pfui.

Click to expand...

If you are subscriber your annual rate is transferred to Photo. Photo AI will still work indefinitely but there will be no more upgrades. I have both Topaz Photo AI 4 and Topaz Photo on my computer and both work.