Lifetime deals
AppSumo
The largest lifetime-deal marketplace for SaaS tools — the default starting point for bootstrapped founders shopping software.
About AppSumo
AppSumo is the dominant SaaS lifetime-deal marketplace, founded in 2010 by Noah Kagan. The catalog rotates weekly with new featured deals plus a deeper back-catalog of evergreen offers. Categories span productivity, marketing, AI tools, design, support, and developer tools.
The core promise is a one-time payment for what's normally a SaaS subscription, typically marketed as 'lifetime' access at 60-95% off retail. The catch is that 'lifetime' means the lifetime of the vendor, not yours — if the company shuts down, the lifetime ends with it. AppSumo's refund policy (60 days, no questions asked) is the practical insurance against that risk.
For early-stage startups, AppSumo is most useful for tools you'd otherwise pay $20-100/month for indefinitely, where a $59 lifetime payment compounds quickly.
At a glance
- Deal type
- Lifetime deals
- Typical discount
- 60-95% off list price
- Catalog size
- Massive catalog
- Refund window
- 60 days
- Refund policy
- 60-day no-questions refund window
- Category focus
- productivitymarketingai-toolsdesigndeveloper-toolssupportanalytics
Best for
- Bootstrapped founders who want to swap recurring SaaS bills for one-time payments
- Teams shopping for productivity / marketing / AI side tools
- Anyone willing to test inside the 60-day refund window before committing
How to use AppSumo well
- Treat the 60-day refund as your real evaluation period. If you haven't actually integrated the tool into your workflow within 60 days, refund it.
- Check the vendor's main website before buying. If they still sell the product at full price elsewhere, the lifetime is more credible. If AppSumo is the only place it's listed, ask why.
- Stack with other tools strategically: a $59 password manager + $69 form builder + $79 email tool can replace $200/month of recurring subscriptions if the use case is real.
- Read the reviews on the deal page, not just the star count. Look specifically for reviews from people 6+ months after purchase, those tell you if the tool is still actively developed.
- Don't buy speculatively. The deal will come back. Buy when you have a current problem the tool solves.