What Happens If an AppSumo Product Shuts Down?

If an AppSumo product shuts down, your lifetime deal ends with it, because AppSumo defines “lifetime” as the product’s lifetime, not yours. You may get something back, but only as AppSumo Credits (store credit, not cash) and only if the listing was covered by AppSumo’s We Got Your Back guarantee, the closure fell inside your coverage period (12 months for most purchases), and you emailed support within 30 days of the closure announcement. Plus members get 100% of the purchase back in credits on covered Select tools; everyone else gets 50%. Outside those rules, AppSumo’s terms don’t promise anything beyond the normal refund window.

Last updated 31 October 2026.

What “lifetime” means in AppSumo’s own words

Start with the definition, because most people miss it when you buy in a hurry. AppSumo’s help article What is a Lifetime Deal? (last updated 15 October 2026, read today) says it plainly: “‘Lifetime’ means the product’s lifetime, not yours.” The next line is the one that matters here: “If the product shuts down, the deal ends with it.”

The same article adds: “We don’t build these products, and we can’t control what happens on the partner’s side.” That is the honest shape of the marketplace. AppSumo sells the deal, but a separate company (AppSumo calls it a partner) runs the software, the servers and the support.

The Terms of Use (last updated 11 February 2025, read today) say the same thing in legal language. Section 5A says a lifetime deal will “give you access to the Product for the lifetime of the Product”. Section 8 describes AppSumo as “a marketplace composed of individual third-party sellers (our Partners)”, and Section 5E says partners “are responsible for providing you with customer and product support.” We found no clause in the terms that promises a refund or replacement when a partner closes. Section 12 goes the other way: “You release AppSumo from any claims related to items sold through our Services.”

So in practice, the legal floor is low. What sits above it is a separate, opt-in guarantee, and that’s where the real answer lives.

The We Got Your Back guarantee: what it actually pays

AppSumo’s help article We Got Your Back Guarantee (last updated 31 August 2026, read today) is the one page that deals with closures directly. It used to be called the Purchase Protection Policy. Here is what it says, in summary:

Three conditions sit on top of that table, and each one can cancel the payout on its own.

The coverage period. A closure has to happen inside the coverage period: 12 months from purchase for most buyers, including Plus Monthly and Plus Annual members, and 24 months for purchases made on an active Plus Pro Annual membership. The period is fixed on the purchase date. Purchases made before 31 August 2026 have the 12-month period.

The claim deadline. You have to email support@appsumo.com within 30 days of the closure announcement. Not 30 days from when you noticed the tool stopped working. If you’ve drifted away from a tool and only find out months later, the window may already be shut.

Credit, not cash. Don’t forget this one: the payout is AppSumo Credits. The Terms of Use (Section 5C) say “AppSumo Credits are a currency that can only be used on AppSumo” and “AppSumo Credits may not be returned or redeemed for cash.” Our guide to AppSumo credits covers how they’re spent.

One more detail from the help article: if you’re not a Plus member on the closure date, you get non-Plus protection, whatever you were when you bought. And the Plus refund policy page adds that purchases made before you joined Plus aren’t eligible for “retroactive ‘We Got Your Back’ coverage.”

Every listing says whether it’s covered

Coverage is not a blanket promise across the store. It’s a line on each deal page, and it varies more than you might expect. When we read 97 AppSumo listings on 29 October 2026 for our reviews, we copied that line down for each one. A few real examples:

• Stackby showed “Covered by ‘We Got Your Back'”, with a 30-day refund window.
• Formly showed “Not covered by We Got Your Back”, with a 60-day refund window.
• Several listings, such as AdaptlyPost, showed “Plus members are covered by our We Got Your Back guarantee”, which means non-members get nothing from the guarantee.
• SendFox’s listing showed no guarantee line at all on the day we read it.

Honestly, that last group is the reason to read the line before you buy rather than after. It turns out two deals that look identical on price and refund window can carry very different protection.

A worked example with real numbers

Here’s how the rules play out when you put real prices into them. These are hypothetical closures used to show the arithmetic; we have no information that either company plans to close.

Stackby, 3 codes, $327. Our review data (29 October 2026) shows Stackby’s 3-code tier at $327 one-time, a 30-day refund window, and a covered listing. Say the tool closed eight months after purchase.

• If you were not a Plus member on the closure date: 50% of $327, so $163.50 in AppSumo Credits.
• If you were a Plus member: 100%, so $327 in AppSumo Credits.
• Either way, only if you emailed support within 30 days of the announcement.

Now move the closure to month 14. On a normal purchase, the 12-month period has ended, so the guarantee pays nothing. Only a purchase made while on Plus Pro Annual (24 months) would still be inside the window.

Formly, Plan 2, $198. Formly’s Plan 2 was $198 one-time on 29 October 2026, refundable for 60 days, and the listing said it was not covered. If that tool closed at month eight, AppSumo’s guarantee wouldn’t apply at all. The refund window would have closed six months earlier. Your remaining options would be whatever the partner offered.

In practice, the gap between those two outcomes is the whole point. If you’ve bought both kinds of deal, your protection isn’t the same across your account. Same marketplace, same kind of purchase, very different result.

How to protect yourself before and after you buy

You can’t stop a company from closing. You can make a closure cheaper and less painful. Here’s what we’d do, based on what AppSumo’s own pages say.

1. Read the guarantee line on the listing. Covered, Plus-only, not covered, or missing. Screenshot it with the date. If you’ve already bought, check your order page while the listing is still up.
2. Note the product type. Select, LaunchPad and Radar are treated differently, and Radar gets nothing after the refund window.
3. Use the refund window properly. The refund policy (last updated 31 August 2026) gives a full refund “within the timeframe stated on the deal page (ex: 30 days, 60 days)”. Don’t forget that “unredeemed or unused tools cannot be refunded outside our refund window.” If you’re doubtful about the company, the refund window is your strongest protection, and it’s cash, not credit.
4. Check the founder’s track record. Look at the company’s changelog, how long it has been shipping, whether it sells its own plans outside AppSumo, and how it answers questions on the listing. A company that sells subscriptions on its own site has a business beyond the deal.
5. Export your data on a schedule. Most tools let you export to CSV, PDF or a standard format. Monthly exports cost ten minutes. A shutdown notice with a two-week deadline costs much more.
6. Watch your email and the AppSumo account email. The 30-day claim clock starts at the announcement. Skip the habit of letting AppSumo emails pile up.
7. Don’t build client work on a tool you can’t leave. If moving out would take days, keep a fallback plan ready.

What partners promise AppSumo

There’s one more page worth knowing about, written for partners rather than buyers. Understanding your commitment to Sumo-lings (last updated 28 August 2024, read today) says partners are “committed to offering continued access to Sumo-lings under their Deal Terms for as long as the tool is solvent.”

If a partner sells the company, “The acquiring party must honor and maintain all lifetime licenses”. And if a product “can no longer support Sumo-lings”, AppSumo says it may “clawback or invoice you for any partner payouts (minus refunds)” to “help cover any refunds we may extend to customers who’ve lost access to your tool.”

Read that carefully, because it turns out to be narrower than it sounds. It tells partners what AppSumo may do. It doesn’t promise buyers a refund. The word is “may”, and the buyer-facing promise is still the We Got Your Back table above. An acquisition, though, is not a shutdown: the new owner is meant to keep your licence alive.

Common mistakes when a tool closes

Assuming “lifetime” means forever. It means the product’s lifetime. The help article says so in eight words.

Missing the 30-day claim deadline. If you’ve stopped opening a tool, you may not see the announcement in time.

Expecting cash. Honestly, this one surprises people. The guarantee pays AppSumo Credits, and the terms say they can’t be redeemed for cash.

Not checking coverage before buying. The line is on the listing. Read it while it’s there.

Joining Plus after the fact. Coverage isn’t retroactive for purchases made before you joined, so joining the day you hear bad news won’t help that purchase. Our guide on whether AppSumo Plus is worth it covers what membership changes.

What to do if a tool you bought is closing

1. Read the announcement and note its date. Don’t trust your memory here. Your 30-day clock starts there.
2. Export everything: data, files, contacts, templates.
3. Check your order: purchase date, price, product type and the guarantee line.
4. Email support@appsumo.com with the product name, order details and the announcement date.
5. Pick a replacement before the shutdown date, not after it.

A short note on our coverage: our reviews quote each listing’s guarantee line and refund window as we read them on a given date. We read AppSumo’s pages and the partner’s own site; we don’t buy or redeem the deals. Our How we review page explains the method.

FAQ: AppSumo product shutdown questions

Do I get a refund if an AppSumo product shuts down?

Not a cash refund, as a rule. If the listing was covered by We Got Your Back and the closure falls inside your coverage period, you get 100% (Plus) or 50% (non-Plus) of the purchase back as AppSumo Credits. Credits can’t be redeemed for cash.

How long am I covered after buying?

Twelve months from purchase for most buyers, including Plus Monthly and Plus Annual members. Purchases made on an active Plus Pro Annual membership get 24 months. The period is fixed on the purchase date.

What if the company is sold rather than closed?

AppSumo’s partner page says the buyer of the company must honour all lifetime licences. In other words, your deal should carry over to the new owner, so it isn’t treated like a closure.

How do I claim the credit?

Email support@appsumo.com within 30 days of the closure announcement. Include your order details. Miss that window and, by AppSumo’s own wording, you aren’t eligible.

The short version

• “Lifetime” means the product’s lifetime: if the product shuts down, the deal ends with it.
• AppSumo’s terms promise nothing on closures beyond the refund window; the We Got Your Back guarantee is the only buyer-facing cover.
• Covered Select tools: 100% back in credits for Plus members, 50% for everyone else, within 12 months (24 on Plus Pro Annual).
• Credits aren’t cash, and you must email support within 30 days of the announcement.
• Read each listing’s guarantee line, use the refund window, export your data and check the founder’s track record.

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