Umm - you don’t have to pay again. Your software works the same way it did on the day you bought it.
Sure, but finding the upgrade you just bought at considerable cost is already superseded by a newer version is seldom a good feeling.
Dxo always had a… peculiar way let’s say, of handling long standing customers.
Just take, for example, their pricing for multi softwares. If you’re a new customer and you buy two products at the same time, you get a rebate. But if you’re a long time customer of one of their product and you decide to purchase more, you get nothing but a kick in the butt.
And they regularly post rebate codes, typically for 10 to 15%, but guess what… They only apply to new customers while old faithful customers get, yes, you guessed it, a kick in the butt.
Dxo make nice enough software product, but as a company they are not likeable at all. They are, however, the least objectionable in the software world when compared to close competitors.
I agree but it’s the same with everything- always a new camera coming out, a new phone. At a certain point you have to ask what you need and make a purchasing decision. Sometimes the timing is unfortunate. We’ve all been there. No need to make a drama about it.
There’s no question that DxO’s customer policies leave much to be desired and are not friendly towards both newer users and long-term ones. Further, they have not improved in the 10 years I’ve been using their products.
Unfortunately buying any new non-subscription software comes with these risks even if a new version is announced well ahead of time. Brand new users will likely still not be aware that a new version is coming before purchasing.
Many software publishers seem to have a more lenient and flexible upgrade cost for those who have recently purchased the previous version of their software. I’ve always thought that software purchases within a month prior to a new release should be upgraded for free, and if purchased less than 3 months prior to a new release, the upgrade price should be more nominal and much lower than the full upgrade price. For anything over 3 months I would think that the full upgrade price may be more reasonable., although I’m sure many people might argue with that Unfortunately you have to draw the line somewhere.
Mark
Or a really big discount.
This happens only with new customers. They should do something to keep them happy.
This is not the point.
And DxO is not the worse.
I received by email several years ago a discount price avalaible one month for an other photo editor. I took it. At the end of this month the next version has been released without prior announcement.
They never see me again as the paying customer !
They could do that.
But I think they are aware that a significant portion of PL users are there because they don’t want to subscribe and are fed up with Adobe-style systems.
The imminent release of the next version was probably the reason the previous version was being offered with a discount.
Mark
Indeed. Not a good marketing I think. I was an old customer, I’m now a former one.
I can see how that would really annoy you unless the discount was extremely good and you were content using the previous version until the next version was released. But it also suggests that maybe you weren’t that committed to the software if you could so easily drop it. Its hard to give up something that is important to us over relatively small amounts of money unless our resources are very limited.
Mark.
Indeed I had other alternative. There are always some.
And maybe I still use it !
So was the software worth the money you paid for it, or not ?
you’re a funny guy, eh ?
Maybe, maybe not. I’m just trying to understand what the problem was with your purchase.
I rarely write reviews. Unfortunately, while I admire the software and technology, my first and most likely last experience as a DxO customer has left me deeply disappointed and is similar to the discussion here so maybe by sharing it will benefit others.
I purchased DxO PhotoLab 9 in late July 2026. Approximately five weeks later, on September 1, DxO released PhotoLab 10, requiring an additional paid upgrade to obtain the latest version. At the time of my purchase, I saw no indication that a major new version was just weeks away. Had I known, I certainly would have waited.
What makes this particularly disappointing is how impressed I am with DxO’s technology. As a wildlife photographer using a Nikon Z8, I was genuinely amazed by its RAW noise reduction, fine-detail preservation, and color processing. In fact, I was almost more excited about discovering what DxO could do with my photographs than I was when I purchased my camera!
I was looking forward to a long relationship with the company and had already enthusiastically recommended its software to numerous other photographers.
When I contacted DxO, I wasn’t asking for something unreasonable. I simply hoped the company would recognize the circumstances of a new customer who purchased its software only weeks before a major replacement and asked they consider a complimentary upgrade. I had not read the linked Ts&Cs as most purchasers do and assumed I would get at least a 3 month grace period for new versions.
Instead, I received repeated explanations that my perpetual license remains valid and that DxO has no obligation to provide future major upgrades. They even quoted their policy to me multiple times . FYI their policy qiuotes include an outdated 2016 French Law citation.
I understand their policy. My concern is not whether DxO has fulfilled the technical terms of its license. It is whether this is a fair and reasonable way to treat customers purchasing expensive software shortly before a new release.
DxO eventually offered a $50 discount toward the PhotoLab 10 upgrade, which I appreciate. However, the offer still requires me to spend more money soon after my original purchase so I have not accepted it.
I also discovered another customer’s publicly documented experience involving a July 28 purchase. In that case, DxO publicly acknowledged that its Customer Support Manager personally reviewed the complaint and proposed an exceptional goodwill solution. When I asked whether my situation had received similar management consideration, DxO declined to disclose who had reviewed my case.
After multiple exchanges, DxO has maintained its refusal to provide a complimentary upgrade or refund.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that PhotoLab 9 has stopped working or that DxO was contractually required to provide PhotoLab 10. Nor am I questioning the quality of its engineering. Quite the opposite: the software is outstanding, which makes this experience so frustrating.
I believe DxO could avoid situations like mine by clearly communicating its major-release schedule, warning prospective customers when a replacement is approaching, or providing a more generous upgrade grace period.
I hope DxO’s management will reconsider how it handles customers who purchase software shortly before a major new release. A little transparency and goodwill would go a long way toward turning enthusiastic first-time buyers into loyal, long-term customers.
I certainly understand that, as a new user, it’s extremely disappointing to purchase expensive software only to find that there’s a major new release only weeks away that will cost you a considerable additional expense to acquire.. You are far from the first person to run into this issue.
Historically a free upgrade to a new release of PhotoLab has only been available if the previous version was purchased less than a month prior to the release. A 3 month period would be much more reasonable and this have been brought to DxO’s attention for years. Thus far they have done nothing about it..
While it’s a little late to do you any good, DxO always releases the annual upgrade to PhotoLab’in a September/October timeframe every year.
For your future reference there is one more thing you need to understand. If you decline to purchase PhotoLab 10 at the upgrade price and instead wait until PhotoLab 11 is released, you will still be entitled to the upgrade price for that software. However, if you also decide to skip the PhotoLab 11 upgrade and wait for PhotoLab 12, you will not be entitled to the upgrade pricing when PL 12 is released. You will have to pay the full retail price as if you’re a new user. To get upgrade pricing on new releases requires not skipping more than one interim version upgrade, in other words, at least every two years..
Mark
Thank you for the info. It’s funny, but step back and it sounds like a subscription when you put it that way —- LOL
I don’t expect upgrades with a perpetual License, but want better customer service - quoting French Law to me is not what I am looking for when I reach out. So doubt I will be a long term customer.
One question, if you skip a year, doesn’t the upgrade price increase at that point?
DxO consider you a ‘current user’ for two years. That means as a user of PL9, you’ll be offered discounted upgrades for PL10 and, when it’s released next year, PL11.
That two year policy also applies to FilmPack and ViewPoint, but because they are released every other year that means users of the latest version only get a discount on the next release.
NB DxO are at liberty to change this policy whenever and in whatever way they choose.
The upgrade price is the same even if you have skipped a year. The upgrade price does increase over time, although it does not automatically increase every year.
The whole PhotoLab experience includes PhotoLab Elite, FilmPack, and Viewpoint. FilmPack and Viewpoint each come with their own standalone interface intended for those who use an alternative raw processor/editor to PhotoLab.
The features of FilmPack and Viewpoint are also built directly into PhotoLab, but are locked, hidden, and unavailable to PhotoLab users without the licenses to those products. The full PhotoLab experience requires all three products. I have always had licenses to all three and have no regrets, but it is a very expensive proposition. You will need to determine whether it is worth the expense.
Mark