I bought PL8 on Aug 2. PL9 was released on Sept 2. DXO is demanding full upgrade cost from me after owning the software. In the past they have taken care of customers who recently bought the software with a discount or free upgrade.
Not so this time!
The response from support was not in the least bit apologetic and had a decidedly f-you tone to it.
“ On 2 September, 2025, we released DxO PhotoLab 9. Please go to our release notes found here to see what is new in DxO PhotoLab 9.
At this time, there is no discount planned for this software, and no free upgrade will be provided. We invite you to upgrade to DxO PhotoLab 9 in your customer account at this time, the pricing available is our currently offered pricing for this upgrade.”
I’m regretting giving this chintzy, money grubbing company my business. They obviously don’t value their customers or have any sense of good will.
Are there others in the same boat? Please speak out!
Ah that is unfortunate as according to what I have found here:-
Where it says "I recently bought DxO PhotoLab, am I eligible for a free upgrade or anything else?
This information applies to versions: 8
If you purchased DxO PhotoLab from August 03, 2025, you should have received an email with a personalized limited-time offer if you agreed to receive our offers and announcements (Newsletter). Unfortunately, no exceptions will be made for purchases prior to this date."
It looks like you missed out by less than 24 hours…what exact time did you buy it? Because I wonder if you can press your case harder with a dispensation by DxO depending on that timing?
well nothing personal just business … in an ideal world a company might offer some gliding path from 0% to 100% off price based on calendar days from your purchase before new version release - but that again requires some $ invested to develop, test and support this … hard cut off is simple and already implemented
You have my sympathy, Pete. We’ve all had to learn DxO’s upgrade path at some point. For me, it was when I bought Optics Pro 9 and then saw version 10 come out a short time later with new features that I wanted. I decided that since I was going to buy it eventually I might as well go ahead and get it shortly after release. I believe it was on sale at the time. I still felt like I was doubling down, but only that one time. In the long run, I’d be saving by upgrading at least every other year - and I’ve been happy with that. DxO has since stuck with an annual release schedule, give or take a few weeks. They no longer offer the frequent 30%-off sales that they once did, but have been offering Black Friday sales, regular bundle pricing that’s just as good, and other occasional discounts. Given how buggy and incomplete PhotoLab 9 is on initial release (per the release notes), I think it’s wise to wait to upgrade anyway. We bought PhotoLab 8 with the intention of using it - so we might as well use it until PL9 is more mature (or maybe even wait for PL10). Just my opinion.
I recommend to wait until Black Friday anyway. That’s when I have upgraded for each of the past few years. It gives me both a better price and also the advantage of less release bugs.
Although it’s mostly the price for me, not so much a worry about bugs. I find PhotoLab very stable, including twice this year exporting non-stop for about four days and nights two batches of 12000+ raw files with XD2s rendering quality. It has crashed for me, but very rarely, probably less than once a month.
Hi,
if you follow this forum it should be clear that somewhen in September the new Version shows up.
So it was your decision to buy early August, and I guess noone gave you any promises for a free upgrade.
There is always a “no one gave you any promises” and “it was your decision, you should had researched” guy showing up when someone asks for [what used to be] common decency.
Stay tuned for the “no one is holding a gun to your head” guy.
Well they are right. He bought version 8 and DXO made no promises. And where does it end? One month? Two months? Three months? Four months? Five months?
I mostly agree, but those waiting for Black Friday discounts should keep in mind that DxO has been trimming those discounts steadily over the past few versions/years, and last year’s BF discount for people upgrading PhotoLab 6 on 7 to PL8 was only US$10 (and PL9’s prices are $20 higher than PL8).
We never know what they’re going to do, whether they will even have a BF promotion this year, but the trend has unmistakably been to lower, not higher, discounts. Full version buyers of PL8 got a $50 discount for a week starting before BF 2024.
And OP Peter, I do sympathize. We see these complaints on this forum every single year. It doesn’t pay to be a midsummer buyer of this software, and they don’t warn you of the relevant dates.
I purchased DXO PL8 on August 27th, barely a week or so before PL9 was launched - and I have had the exact same response upon asking about a free upgrade…
“…At this time, there will be no free upgrade will be provided. As you have recently paid for DxO PhotoLab 8, a one time use discount code will be emailed to you to either reduce the cost of upgrading to DxO PhotoLab 9 or can be used on any other software, but may only be used once for a limited time. etc etc…”
Extremely aggrieved at this poor response, and no email offer received to date. It would really make a difference to be offered a free upgrade or at least one for a nominal cost; this would help me feel appreciated as a (brand) new user. The response really doesn’t sit well with me as good customer support.
What on earth does haggling about prices have to do with “customer support”? You knew what you were buying and you got exactly what you bought. DXO doesn’t owe you anything. They are a commercial company, they can sell their products as they see fit while you are free to buy or not to buy.
Customers who recently purchased a quite expensive product are entirely justified in being told they must pay a full upgrade fee to upgrade, along with those of us who’ve enjoyed the PL8 for an entire year.
DxO knows when it has new software in the works, will have had release dates planned for some time, and it is a business decision to sell a product it knows will soon be outdated at full price while offering no discounted upgrade path to customers who would likely have waited 2… 3… 4… weeks if they had been better informed.
DxO’s revenue leapt $10m from 2023 to 2024. That’s little compared to Adobe’s but still giant progress for DxO. They can afford a more generous upgrade path for recent customers.
When “what software do you use?” comes up on social media or in person for me, I’d love to sing DxO’s praises. Their software is pretty good. Instead, I’m forced to give the warts-and-all review of their customer support and business approach, and I imagine many in this thread are too. (Not just their upgrade path, but also e.g. putting Lumo masking in a separate module when it should be part of the core application).
They could buy great publicity with a token move that’d cost them little. Instead they’re buying bad publicity, and that’s their choice as a commercial company.
If you have no arguments, play the man not the argument. You lost already.
P.S.: Not everyone is obsessed with money. Not everyone only does things for money. You mustn’t automatically assume everyone is just like you. And some people here on the continent try to show respect for people who hold different opinions, rather than accuse them of being paid to voice a certain opinion. But respect and common decency seem to have long left the island where you live.
In your eagerness to declare a “loser” (?!) you ignored the arguement. It’s still there, if you want to address it, rather than me. If not? Well that speaks volumes.
P.s. part of the arguement is absolutely about money: DxO seems to be keen on making as much of it as possible, at the cost of good will and customer service. I and those above disagree with this, where you seem keen to make excuses for it.
I have been in the software business a long time. While it is true that DxO made no promises, and can justify the upgrade charge, their lack of emotional intelligence on this topic is astounding–and one of the main reasons I have not jumped ship from LrC.
DxO seems to operate using physical world analogy. Assume I purchase a coffee maker and the next day an improved model becomes available. While disappointed, I don’t assume a free or low-cost upgrade is due. So, for expensive items, I research the near-term update possibilities and include that in my decision process.
Things can be different (and for many products are different) in the world of software. But, why should this be? For this we have to look at cost.
All products have fixed costs and variable costs. Product development, whether for a coffee maker or software, is a fixed cost. It does not matter how many copies are sold, a million spent on development allows production of any number copies. Variable costs, however, apply to each unit produced. For a coffee maker, variable costs are significant and include material, labor, packaging, shipping, etc. For software, the variable costs are much lower and include delivery (mostly electronic these days), transaction fees, license management, etc.
This difference in variable costs allows a software company considerable flexibility that the coffee maker manufacturer does not have. They can provide upgrades at significantly reduced price (for DxO, this is historically about ½ price). The low variable cost also means software providers could provide free upgrades for recent purchasers (say 6–12 months). Many software providers do this as a matter of good will.
