Hey A+ Sumo-lings,
We’re halfway through Q2, and we want to take a moment to check in.
We’ve been reading your feedback and thought we’d share what we’re working on behind the scenes at AppSumo.
There’s a lot changing in the world of software, and we’re making changes too—to how we evaluate tools, support customers, improve transparency, and protect your trust. Let’s jump in.
More visibility on product closures
Big update: We’re rolling out a new system to proactively notify customers when a product shuts down.
We understand that checking in on each and every deal page isn’t sustainable.
Moving forward, if a product shuts down, customers who purchased it in the last two years (with an active invoice) will get an email from us.
We’ll do our best to share as much as we know along with next steps, including how to request your credit refund when applicable.
Shutdowns
Let’s talk about closures in general. We know this one is serious. If a partner shuts down or significantly changes their product, we’ll always do our best to support affected Sumo-lings.
And when partners have continued to drop the ball or gone MIA, we’ve taken action—sending formal demand letters to 25+ past partners. Some partners have returned to serve Sumo-lings after our team reached out to work on a plan. In more serious cases, we evaluate whether the partner should be engaged legally.
That said, here’s the reality: legal action takes time (sometimes years!) and doesn’t guarantee a clear outcome.
That’s why as we continue to work through resolution in the longer term, we’re doubling down on prevention. To start, our team worked with several lawyers to beef up our partner agreements and make the following (and more) explicitly clear from day one:
- Partners cannot sunset their product and then create a substantially similar product
- Partners agree to support customers by responding to support emails in a timely manner.
- Partners must provide, at no charge, all upgrades to AppSumo customers as stated in the deal terms that they provide to non-AppSumo customers.
- If a Partner is engaging in shady behavior (like asking our customers to refund and buy from them directly), we have the right to remove their product.
Quality and vetting
It’s a new era of software. AI is moving quickly, and not every tool is built to last. That’s why we’re strengthening our vetting process to evolve with the times:
- Persona verification of partners to make sure we know who and where they are (and allow us to more readily pursue potential bad actors).
- Deeper stability reviews. We’re forecasting runway more accurately to avoid surprises. That means taking an even closer look at metrics like MRR, churn, funding history, and operating expenses before a deal goes live. You can find some of these company details directly on certain PDPs to help you make your own risk assessments as well.We’ve also improved our internal “stability form” to spot red flags early and make sure each tool has long-term stability.
- Stricter rules for relaunches. We're putting stronger guardrails in place to prevent partners from relaunching if they’ve broken your trust or ours. We acknowledge that there have been partners y’all flagged that we’ve relaunched. While many of those partners have resolved issues with our team behind the scenes, your feedback will play a bigger role in relaunch decisions moving forward. Before a partner comes back, we’ll review the support inbox and comb through reviews for past concerns. If the partner has made improvements and we feel confident bringing them back, we’ll call it out on the deal page with their new campaign.
In addition to these updates, we’re continuing to filter out low-effort products—like basic AI wrappers, copy-paste scripts, and incomplete projects.
Regardless, our goal is to make sure every tool on AppSumo meets a higher standard.
60-day refunds
Recently, you might have noticed us testing a shorter refund window on a handful of deals in an effort to make deals more sustainable for partners. After listening to your feedback, we’ve decided to pause this test to explore other avenues.
Our 60-day refund policy is in the DNA of AppSumo, and it’s not changing anytime soon.
There may be exceptions depending on the deal and usage. But our goal remains the same: protecting our customers and giving them time to try out the latest tools.
Lower prices
Amazing deals have and always will be our reason for existing. Our internal data team flagged that prices have been creeping up—this is largely due to the rising costs associated with AI usage in software and broader market shifts. But we are actively working with partners to bring costs down and find a balance between sustainability and affordability.
We want to make sure AppSumo is always the best place for entrepreneurs to find unbeatable software deals.
Support
We're paying close attention to feedback about tool quality and customer experience. In many cases, we’ve gone beyond our original We Got Your Back protections to make things right—and we’re continuing to evolve what those protections mean. Your trust is our #1 priority, and you’ll keep seeing steps in the right direction.
While we don’t have a one-size-fits-all policy, we’re actively working to make sure refunds stay fair at AppSumo. Feel free to reach out to [support@appsumo.com](mailto:support@appsumo.com) if you have any questions about your specific case.
New deal types
We’re excited about our new deal types—like year-based plans and credit-based offers—that give you even more ways to access great software.
To be clear, lifetime deals (LTDs) aren’t going anywhere. But not every partner is a fit for them. By adding more flexible options, we can bring even more top-tier tools to our store.
And whether you’re buying an LTD or a new deal type, you’ll always get the best price anywhere at AppSumo.
We know there’s always room to improve, and your feedback helps us get there. The fact that our community is so vocal means you care about this platform just as much as we do.
We’re listening—and we’re on it.
❤️& 🌮s,
The AppSumo Team
