What is AppSumo?
AppSumo is a website that offers limited time deals on software, services, and other necessities for small businesses. There are a few other sites that do the same type of thing, but in my research, AppSumo seems to be the biggest, which means it gets the best products/deals and also has the best refund policy.
What types of products does AppSumo have?
On their website, you can break it down into categories. Just a few examples are design, marketing, productivity, social media, web development, stock photos, and sales. I’ve personally purchased lifetime deals to stock photo sites, contest and raffle software, social media posting software, and organizational software. Most deals list for $49, but some can be higher or lower. Many have codes that stack, so you can buy an extra code to get more features added to your plan.
AppSumo Case Study
In January 2019, I purchased a product called Promo Republic. I redeemed the codes in March 2019. It is a social media scheduling platform, where you can post to all your social networks in one place, saving you time and helping you to pre-schedule your content. I stacked 2 codes to get more benefits, so I paid $98. Here’s what the breakdown looked like when I bought the codes.
On the Promo Republic website, the nearest plan to what I have would end up being the agency plan, at $79 a month if paid yearly, or $99 a month if paid monthly. I can’t afford to pay $948 at a pop, so I always have to pay monthly. I’d be locked into that more expensive plan. This also doesn’t include white labeling, something the stacked codes on AppSumo did offer at the time that I purchased mine.
I’ve been able to schedule my posts on all my social medias, making things easier and less stress-inducing for three years. It posts directly to Instagram, which many post scheduling softwares still aren’t capable of doing, and includes Facebook groups and pages, plus options like LinkedIn and Pinterest as well. Over three years, I would have paid $3564 if I was on the regular Agency plan through Promo Republic themselves. Because I purchased a lifetime plan through AppSumo, I have saved myself $3466. That’s a steep cost savings, and not one you can turn away from if it’s a software you really need.
AppSumo Pros
The money saving bargains can’t be beat. If you’re looking for software and services to make your life easier, you’ll generally find something that will help at a price you’ll love. With such a wide range of options, there’s a little something for every aspect of business. It’s easy to start seeing the potential savings as you research, noticing just how much you’d be paying out of pocket versus the lifetime deals at AppSumo.
The 60 day money-back guarantee is great, because sometimes you’ll find a product doesn’t work exactly as you expected or needed it to. AppSumo makes it easy to request a refund and try something else, as they generally have a few different options for things. Being able to test a software for 60 days is a big help, because it allows you ample time to use all the functions, trying it in different scenarios for your actual business needs.
AppSumo works with a lot of younger businesses in addition to the more established ones. This gives you a chance to get in on the ground floor for some of these, with access to beta features and the ability to guide the tools into their final stages. Many are looking for feedback and more than willing to add suggestions to their roadmaps, and usually AppSumo customers are grandfathered in to any new features. This let’s you get a flagship new product at a steal, knowing that in the end it will be a robust, full-featured product that you helped tweak to your needs over time.
AppSumo Cons
With that, unfortunately, comes a caveat. It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally a service can go under. Sometimes you’re buying an early-stage product from a startup company, and it may be an amazing product, but they’re not able to turn it into a profitable product. Some may shutter completely, some may stop developing the product and you’re left with exactly what you bought in the beginning with no future upgrades planned. It is, unfortunately, a risk you take with purchases like these. Still, according to AppSumo, 92% of the companies who listed on their platform are still around 3+ years after their listings go live. This is rare, but it does happen occasionally. Do your research, know what you’re looking for, and be sure you can get your money’s worth if the product doesn’t make it for say, 10 years.
It can also be easy to overspend. Sometimes the deals seem so good that you may not need the product at the time, but you don’t want to lose out on the limited time deal, so you purchase it because you feel you may use it in the future. I have a few things I haven’t used much, but I purchased because I thought I’d be able to get some use out of them eventually. Be very careful not to overextend yourself and purchase too many things… the goal is to make your life easier, not harder. Keeping up with half a dozen bits of software when you only need one or two doesn’t make sense.
They are limited time, so you’ll find that things are there one day and gone the next, which leads to the overspending issue. The best thing to do is to read the reviews, read the questions/answer section, and check out the product itself. Really explore all your options to decide if this particular product is a good one for what you need and you’ll get enough use out of it to save you money in the long run. Will it reduce some of the work you currently do, or make your tasks easier? Will it help with certain aspects of your business? Is it cost-prohibitive to continue on monthly plans elsewhere if a lifetime plan with this particular software would work just as well as what you’re currently doing? Make your decision based on those things, not just on the cost itself.
AppSumo Summary
For me, I’ve gotten some great deals on AppSumo. I’ve replaced Buffer, Rafflecopter and ToDoist in my business suite with things I no longer have to pay for monthly. I download the DepositPhotos deal every time they run it, so I no longer worry about finding photos that are free to use, I know I have the stock license for my teasers and promo photos and I’m covered legally. It’s saved me a lot of money, time, and headaches while I’ve worked to grow my business. I’ve only had one “dud” so far, and that was really more of an issue of a stock site not having the types of things I was looking for personally, less of a full dud in and of itself… it was a huge stock site, it just didn’t cater to my needs. Everything else I’ve purchased has functioned exactly as I’ve expected it to, and every company is still going strong!
To get $10 for your first purchase, you can sign up with my affiliate link to try out AppSumo for yourself.
Mandi resides in Ohio, where she shares her workspace with two labradanes, two cats, and assorted squirrels. She’s an avid writer, reader and blogger who adores music. She can easily be bribed with peanut butter M&Ms, gemstones, hot lead singers, and gargoyles. You can find her books and social links on her website.