AppSumo Beginner's Guide: Are Lifetime Deals Worth It?

Why Lifetime Deals Are Having a Moment

Inflation is hammering online businesses, and software subscriptions are no exception. We're seeing 20%, 30%, even 40% price increases on tools you need just to keep the lights on — email marketing platforms, scheduling apps, project management tools. None of it is optional, and all of it is getting more expensive.

Lifetime deals offer a different path. Instead of paying monthly or annually, you pay once upfront and use the software for as long as the company stays in business. It sounds risky, and plenty of people have a visceral reaction to the idea of trusting a startup with a one-time payment. But the math often works out far better than you'd expect, and the landscape has shifted dramatically in the last few years.

AppSumo is the biggest name in the lifetime deal space, and understanding how it works — the different programs, the best times to buy, and the pitfalls to avoid — can save you thousands of dollars on the software your business actually needs.

A Brief History of AppSumo

AppSumo was founded in 2010 in Austin, Texas by Noah Kagan. The origin story is a classic bootstrapping tale: Kagan found an image hosting tool called Imgur Pro, which paired well with Reddit before Reddit acquired it. He struck a deal with the developer to sell 200 licenses at roughly 50% off — about $13 per year instead of the regular $28.99.

Kagan gave $7 per sale back to the developer and kept the rest, running Reddit ads to move the licenses. Whether he actually turned a profit after ad spend is debatable, but the experiment validated something important: people want discounts on software. That single email campaign to his network planted the seed for what would become the dominant lifetime deal marketplace.

Are Lifetime Deals Actually Sustainable?

The most common objection to lifetime deals is that they're not sustainable for developers. And that's a fair concern — especially for tools with heavy recurring infrastructure costs. But the software landscape has fundamentally changed. When AppSumo launched, there were maybe a thousand SaaS companies in the world. By 2021 that number was 25,000. In 2024, estimates put it at 72,000 — or 175,000 if you include AI companies.

Software has become a commodity. Just like you can't tell the difference between brands of plain white bread once the toast is made, most scheduling tools, form builders, and email platforms deliver roughly the same core value. Organizations now use an average of 130 different applications, up from just 8 in 2015. With that much competition, there's less and less reason to pay premium prices for most categories.

Here's the practical math: say a tool would cost you $30/month, or about $300/year with annual billing. Over three years, that's $900. If you bought the lifetime deal for $150 on AppSumo and the company folds after three years, you've still saved $750. You spend another $150 on the next similar tool, and you're still way ahead. AppSumo themselves cite a statistic that 92% of SaaS companies fail within three years regardless of funding — so the question isn't whether a tool will eventually disappear, but how much value you extract before it does.

The Smart Way to Buy Lifetime Deals

The golden rule with lifetime deals is the same principle that applies to information products: just-in-time purchasing. Don't hoard tools you might use someday. Buy software that solves a problem you have right now, because no tool is immune to going out of business and you can't resell AppSumo purchases.

That said, the upside when you pick a winner is enormous. Take WebARX as an example — a WordPress security tool that appeared on AppSumo back in July 2018. Ten codes at $49 each, totaling $490, each covering 10 websites. WebARX has since rebranded to PatchStack, where comparable coverage now costs $89/month for 50 sites. Those 10 codes cover 100 websites, which would otherwise cost $178/month or $2,136/year. After nearly six years, that's over $12,000 in savings from a $490 investment.

One winner like that covers every dud you'll ever buy. And speaking of duds — always use AppSumo's 60-day refund policy. You get two full months to test any tool in your actual business workflow, then click a button for an instant refund if it doesn't fit. It's one of the most generous return policies in software, and there's no reason not to take advantage of it.

AppSumo Select: The Vetted Picks

AppSumo Select products are tools that AppSumo's team has personally vetted and deemed to meet a certain quality threshold. Think of it as a curated recommendation — the Select badge signals that someone at AppSumo actually looked at the tool and gave it a stamp of approval.

That said, Select isn't a guarantee of quality. Plenty of underwhelming tools make it through the vetting process. The badge is best used as a tiebreaker: if you're comparing two scheduling tools and one has the Select badge, start there. But don't buy something just because it's Select — always trial the tool against your specific use case.

Non-Select products (formerly called marketplace deals) are listed by developers who want exposure to AppSumo's massive audience. Anyone can apply to sell on AppSumo, and the platform takes a cut of each sale. Only a small subset of these marketplace listings get promoted to Select status, but that doesn't mean the non-Select tools aren't worth buying. Review counts and ratings (measured in AppSumo's signature taco rating system) are often a better quality signal than the Select badge alone.

AppSumo Originals: Built In-House

AppSumo Originals are a different beast entirely. These are tools built from scratch by AppSumo's own development team. TidyCal, their scheduling tool, is a prime example — it has over 400 reviews, a 4.5-taco rating, and costs just $29 for a lifetime deal.

Because AppSumo keeps 100% of the revenue on Originals (no developer cut to negotiate), these products are typically priced aggressively. They're also likely to remain available on the platform indefinitely and will almost certainly stay as lifetime deals, since AppSumo has every incentive to keep their own products accessible.

For budget-conscious buyers, Originals represent some of the safest bets on the platform. The company behind the tool is AppSumo itself, which has been around since 2010 and has a vested interest in keeping these products alive and competitive.

AppSumo Plus: Is the Membership Worth It?

AppSumo Plus is essentially Amazon Prime for software deals. You pay a yearly subscription and get 10% off every purchase, access to the AppSumo community, and early access to certain deals before they go live for everyone else.

The early access perk has become increasingly valuable. When a tool launches on AppSumo for a limited time, Plus members often get the first week at an additional discount before the deal opens to the general public at a higher price. But the real game-changer is a newer benefit that isn't even on the sales page yet: $25 in credits every 90 days. Over a full year, that's $100 back. The credits expire each quarter, so you need to spend them regularly rather than stockpiling.

If you're buying something on AppSumo at least once every three months, Plus is a no-brainer. Stack the 10% membership discount with your quarterly credits, and a $49 deal drops to roughly $20 out of pocket. For anyone who regularly picks up tools on the platform, the membership pays for itself quickly.

Last Call Events and Second Chances

Most AppSumo deals run for about one to three months before disappearing. Some return periodically — maybe twice a year — but many never come back at all. That's where Last Call events come in.

During Last Call, AppSumo brings back a selection of popular tools and makes them available exclusively to Plus members. You don't necessarily get a discount for waiting, but the strategic advantage is real: you've had months to watch the software mature, read updated reviews, and see whether the developer is actively improving the product. It's a lower-risk entry point.

Last Call is also useful if you bought a lower tier during the initial launch and want to upgrade. Maybe you grabbed one code but realized you need more capacity — this is your window to stack additional codes at the original price.

When to Buy: Sales and Stacking Discounts

AppSumo used to rarely run sales — the logic being that lifetime deals are already heavily discounted. But that's changed. They now run seasonal sales like spring break promotions with roughly 10% off sitewide, and their biggest annual event is Sumo Day every June, modeled after Amazon's Prime Day.

During Sumo Day, most products on the store get an additional discount, typically around 10%. And here's where it gets interesting: that discount stacks with Plus membership benefits. So you're looking at 10% off the sale price, plus your 10% Plus discount, plus your quarterly $25 credits. On a higher-tier purchase, those savings compound meaningfully.

The one limitation to know: you can only use one coupon code at a time. But sale pricing is applied directly to the listed price (not via coupon), so it stacks naturally with your Plus discount code. Credits function as a separate payment method entirely, so they layer on top of everything else.

LTDs vs. Subscriptions vs. Self-Hosting

Lifetime deals aren't the only way to save on software. Traditional subscriptions still make sense for mission-critical tools from established companies where you need guaranteed long-term support. Self-hosting is another option — running open-source tools on your own server gives you full control and eliminates per-user pricing entirely.

Self-hosting does come with real costs, though. Server expenses add up, and you need the technical commitment to maintain everything. Some businesses run 30+ self-hosted tools daily, but that's not practical for everyone.

The sweet spot for most small businesses is a mix: self-host your core infrastructure where you have the skills, subscribe to genuinely irreplaceable tools from major providers, and use lifetime deals for everything in between. Scheduling, signatures, form builders, basic email tools — these are commodity software categories where paying a premium subscription makes little sense when a $49 lifetime deal does the job.

Pro Tip for First-Time AppSumo Buyers

If you've never bought from AppSumo before, here's a small but worthwhile trick: visit the AppSumo homepage in an incognito or private browser window. A popup will appear offering 10% off your first purchase in exchange for your email address. Grab the coupon code from that email, then complete your purchase in your regular browser.

It's a simple move, but on a $49 or $99 deal, that extra 10% off adds up — especially if you're also timing your purchase around a Sumo Day sale or using Plus credits. There's genuinely no reason not to grab the new customer discount before making your first purchase.

Watch the Full Video

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