AppSumo Pricing Explained (2026): Deal Tiers, Plus at $99/yr, Refund Windows and What Sellers Pay

By DealKeep Team · 2026-08-27

Short answer: most AppSumo software deals cost $49 to $99 per code, higher tiers are bought by stacking codes or picking a "License Tier", the optional AppSumo Plus membership is $99 a year, and most Marketplace deals can be refunded for any reason within 60 days (some say 30 on the deal page). Sellers pay nothing up front; AppSumo takes a negotiated share of each sale. Everything below is from AppSumo's own pages and help centre, checked on 22 August 2026.

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How deal pricing works

An AppSumo lifetime deal is priced as a one-time purchase for a plan that would normally bill monthly. Three things decide what you pay:

1. The entry price. Typically $49–$99 for one code, which maps to the vendor's lowest plan. A few deals start lower ($39) and enterprise-style tools start higher ($179+).
2. Tiers. Bigger plans are sold either as "License Tier 2 / 3 / 4" with their own prices or by buying more codes and stacking them. On the 20 deals we verify monthly, the ladder runs from one tier to ten: Katteb goes $39 to $390 across ten tiers, Writecream $59 to $295 across five, TruConversion $79 to $1,049 across six, Hedy AI is a single $179 tier.
3. The "original price". The crossed-out figure is the vendor's list price for a year (or more) of the subscription, not a price anyone paid for a lifetime licence. Writecream's $59 tier shows $1,440 struck through; Katteb's $39 tier shows $108. Use the struck price to judge what the deal replaces, never to judge the discount.

The part buyers get wrong: a lifetime deal buys the plan as it exists on the day you buy. New features, higher limits and new AI models are not promised. That is why the frozen-tier pattern matters more than the sticker price.

The refund window

AppSumo's refund policy gives a full refund "for any reason" within the window printed on the deal page — 60 days for most Marketplace deals, 30 on some. Five rules from the policy and its FAQ that decide whether you actually get the money back:

• Redeem inside the window. Unredeemed or unused tools cannot be refunded once the window closes. Buying and "saving it for later" is how most refunds are lost.
• Digital downloads are excluded. Templates, courses and other downloads are marked non-refundable.
• Self-service, 5–7 business days. Account → Purchases → Request Refund; money returns to the original payment method.
• Credits instead of cash are offered on some purchases at 1:1, not all.
• Excessive refunds can get an account limited or suspended, in AppSumo's own words.

If you buy more than a couple of deals a year, the window is the number to track — see how to track refund windows on AppSumo purchases.

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels

AppSumo Plus: $99 a year

Plus is the one recurring price on the site — $99 a year, billed annually, cancel any time, and non-refundable once you have used any of its rewards. What it includes, from the membership page:

• 10 % off every order, applied automatically
• $100 in coupons a year ($25 every 90 days)
• Free KingSumo and SendFox Tier-1 licences
• Early access, last call and extended access to sales
• The Sauce community and 50+ masterclasses
• VIP support with faster response times
• The We Got Your Back guarantee at the 100 % level (below)

The arithmetic: 10 % off covers the fee at $990 a year of purchases, and the $100 in coupons covers it on its own if you would have bought four things anyway. For a one-deal-a-year buyer it does not pay; for a stacker it usually does, and the shutdown protection is the part most people forget to price in. Our full take is in the AppSumo Plus review.

We Got Your Back: what happens if a tool shuts down

This is the pricing term nobody reads until they need it. If a Select tool (the premium, AppSumo-marketed tier of deals) shuts down within 12 months of your purchase:

You must be a Plus member before the closure is announced, you must write to support within 30 days of the closure date, and the cover is AppSumo credit, not cash. Outside that — a Marketplace deal, or a tool that goes quiet without an announced closure — there is no cover at all, which is what the Lifetime Deal Graveyard exists to document.

What sellers pay

AppSumo charges vendors no listing fee; it runs on a revenue share that is "negotiated based on your product category and expected performance", so the percentage is not public and varies by deal. Top performers are invited into Select, which adds dedicated marketing campaigns and priority placement for "a higher investment". AppSumo's own partner page puts a typical 60-day campaign at $40,000–$80,000 in sales for an average partner and $100,000–$400,000 for a strong one — its figures, drawn from its top half of partners.

Why that matters to a buyer: a deal that sells $60,000 in two months and then owes those customers support forever is a business that needs the lifetime cohort to convert into something else — upgrades, referrals, a monthly plan. AppSumo says that of the thousands of tools launched on the platform, "only around 5 % have gone under". We don't publish a rate of our own; we publish the names, and the signals that preceded them.

Frequently asked questions

How much do AppSumo deals cost? Usually $49–$99 per code for the entry tier, with higher tiers from roughly $100 to $1,000+ depending on the tool.

Is AppSumo Plus worth $99 a year? If you buy four or more deals a year, the coupons and 10 % discount cover it; the shutdown credit is the bonus. One deal a year, no.

What is AppSumo's refund policy? Full refund for any reason inside the window on the deal page — 60 days for most software, 30 for some; digital downloads excluded; redeem before the window closes.

Does AppSumo charge sellers? No listing fee; a negotiated revenue share on each sale.

The bottom line

AppSumo's prices are simple; its terms are where the money moves. Learn the tier ladder, set the refund date the day you buy, price Plus against your real purchase rate, and treat We Got Your Back as the narrow promise it is.

Track what you buy on AppSumo

DealKeep keeps every lifetime deal you've bought — AppSumo and everywhere else — in one place, with the refund window counting down from the day you paid, a duplicate check before you buy the next one, and a FounderTrack warning when a tool shows the signs that usually come before a shutdown. See the 20 best lifetime deals live right now, or start free and import your purchases in a couple of minutes.