AppSumo Review

AppSumo has been described as “Groupon for software-as-a-service apps”, which is a pretty accurate description, if unhelpful if you’re not familiar with Groupon. Put simply, they offer massive discounts on software that would ordinarily cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, to the extent that you could potentially pick it up for about $40.

The catch is that a limited number of purchases are available for each of these amazing deals and, even when that number seems quite high, the stock is generally gone in a couple of weeks at most. You have to think fast and decide if a particular SaaS solution is what your business really needs. If you get lucky with your timing, though, you could get lifetime subscriptions for all the software you need to run a new business for a fraction of the cost it could have been. On the other hand, if you are an app developer, AppSumo gives you a way to very rapidly establish a userbase, albeit with limited income from sales.

Important features of AppSumo

At its core, AppSumo is a simple online marketplace, so its range of features is relatively limited. There are listings of deals with each showing a brief introduction to the software being advertised, a TL;DR summary of the main features and a fuller description of the software’s capabilities, perhaps including a video.

Further down each listing is the important part – the terms of the deal. Many of them are lifetime deals, though they will often have limitations. For example, you might get access to a customer relationship management system in perpetuity, but only for one user. In another case, you might find one or two features of the software limited when it would be unlimited for full-price customers. Fortunately, the limitations rarely hamstring the software completely and, if you’re a solopreneur, few of them should be a serious obstacle for you. However, it remains very important to check what exactly you are paying for.

Underneath this is generally the price tiers. It’s a common enough sales technique to offer three tiers – the ‘full bells and whistles’ package for a high [but still slightly discounted from the standard stock] price, the ‘bare bones’ price that is extremely low, but the software is extremely limited, and the middle price. Thanks to the way human psychology works, most people will inevitably go for the middle one, so that’s usually the one that offers the best value for money, with the right balance of good savings and a good software package. However, as ever, it’s important to check all of them to make sure that it’s the right deal for you.

One especially helpful feature is the user reviews, which are found at the bottom of each listing. Many of those who have already purchased the deal will share their opinions on the software and the terms of the AppSumo deal, giving you an idea of whether it really is as good as it seems. Because of the massive discounts available through AppSumo, a lot of the deals can seem too good to be true (and, to be fair, sometimes they are) – reading the user reviews will help to either confirm or alleviate that suspicion.

How does AppSumo work?

What if you’re coming at AppSumo from the other direction? If you have developed an app and want to get a lot of people using it quickly without spending a fortune in advertising, AppSumo gives you access to a community of over 1.5 million users, as well as an affiliate network of bloggers, YouTubers and influencers. It’s effectively instant tech-savvy feedback and word-of-mouth promotion that you can even earn money from.

In order to promote your software on AppSumo, you need to register to become a partner. However, this isn’t like eBay where you can stick any old broken ornament on there and hope that there’s someone out there gullible enough to buy it. There’s a process to becoming a partner, and a few basic requirements. For starters, your software needs to be live. This isn’t Kickstarter where you can sell people on your dream of what you think the software will eventually look like. It needs to be actually online and in a useable state, functioning as intended. AppSumo have a few other suggestions regarding the scale and stability of your business and your compliance with these may impact how good of a deal you can get.

Once you have submitted your partner application, you may have to wait for an update. The review process is handled manually to ensure that customers are getting good deals and not scams, but that inevitably means that sorting through the backlog of applications takes a while. Once you’ve done your first partnership and have earned a reputation as a trusted developer, subsequent applications should go much quicker.

Once you’ve had an interview, been accepted and agreed the terms of the campaign, there will usually be a period of two or three months before it starts. This is your time for preparation, and you’ll need it. When your campaign goes live, you will likely be flooded with enquiries, support requests, feedback and more. You will need to ensure that your servers are ready to take the sudden influx of users and that your staff are ready to field the influx of incoming messages.

AppSumo’s promotion of your software will happen in phases, which will help to make the flood of traffic a little more even. Their most loyal customers get told about your product first, followed by the rest in waves of emails. You will be mentioned a few times in email blasts over the course of the campaign and each time will likely create another wave of new customers.

Finally, two months after the last payment for the discount code, you will receive your earnings from AppSumo. It’s worth noting that, as AppSumo are doing all the marketing for you, their cut of the earnings is a fairly hefty 70%. Since this is predominantly a platform to get your software out there and talked about quickly and effectively, even getting 30% of the earnings could be called a win.

From a customer perspective, it’s worth noting that not all that glisters is gold. Even with the intensive partner review process, there are inevitably going to be a few bad deals on the site from time to time and, while paying just $40 for SaaS worth thousands is an amazing deal, $40 for something that’s worthless or unhelpful for you is a waste of money. Take the time to read the user reviews and do your due diligence before you buy. Fortunately, if you do pay for a deal that turns out to be underwhelming, AppSumo has a very generous 60-day refund period.

On the flip side of that coin, it is worth checking what software is available and possibly risking a purchase of something you might need in future but don’t need now. AppSumo is not like a clothes store where the same deals will inevitably pop up again in another few months. Many of the discount codes up for grabs are one-time-only deals that will never again reappear. If the price is right, it might be worth the gamble on the hope that your purchase will eventually become useful. After all, it is (usually) a lifetime deal.

AppSumo Affiliate Program

What if you’ve found a good deal and, try as you might, you can’t find a justification to buy it for yourself? Perhaps the software on offer is so far outside of your areas of interest that you can’t even envisage using it. Well, you could just ignore it, but do you know someone else who could find a use for the software?

Through the AppSumo Affiliate Program, you can earn a small kickback for bringing old customers back into the fold. We say ‘small’, but 10% is a pretty impressive return, given that many affiliate programmes offer about 5% at best. And that’s just for people who are already members of AppSumo. If you bring in a new customer, you get 100% of the value of their purchase, up to a maximum of $50. You just need to sign up for the affiliate programme and share the link you are provided.

AppSumo Plus and Briefcase

AppSumo has two bonus levels within its membership. The first – Plus – offers a range of perks including 10% discounts on most deal purchases and access to KingSumo Giveaway Pro. This is a SaaS developed by the owners of AppSumo that can help you to rapidly grow your mailing list. While joining AppSumo as a basic user is free, AppSumo Plus will cost you $99 per year.

Briefcase is the elite tier, granting access to specially curated software tools to help your business with sales, marketing, SEO, social media and more. Naturally, you also get the 10% discount on deal purchases, as well as receiving free coupons to further reduce the costs. This is a very powerful and convenient option if you’re starting a new business and helps to compress what could be a cost of hundreds of dollars per month for all of these tools down to just $49 per month.

AppSumo vs StackSocial

StackSocial is the only alternative to AppSumo that can be called a true competitor as they too feature an outstanding array of first-class deals. The main difference between the two is exactly who each is aimed at. AppSumo targets relatively small businesses – freelancers, bloggers, solopreneurs and online businesses, for example. StackSocial has a broader appeal.

Where StackSocial is severely lacking is, somewhat ironically, in the social aspect. Users do not have the opportunity to share negative feedback on deals, discuss concerns or ask questions. By contrast, the AppSumo community is very active and vocal. This provides an all-important element of social proof that means you can make purchases with significantly more confidence.

AppSumo vs PitchGround

PitchGround is a relative newcomer to the scene that AppSumo created and continues to dominate. It’s bold claim to fame is that their deals can sometimes be extremely generous. In some cases, you can have discounts of 97% off the standard price for software!

The downside to PitchGround is its relative youth. It has nothing like the popularity or userbase of AppSumo or even StackSocial, meaning that the deals that do come up, while excellent in terms of price, are usually for comparatively uninteresting and unremarkable software. Being the dominant player in this particular game, AppSumo’s deals are generally for outstanding software solutions, which are worth the few extra bucks you might have to pay for them.

Some final thoughts

Joining AppSumo as a buyer is a no-brainer – you get massive deals on useful software and a basic membership is free. What’s not to love? With a quick and simple sign-up, you could get unbeatable deals on all of the software you could possibly need to establish and streamline your small business.

As a seller, AppSumo is similarly extraordinary. It’s massive membership means that your software will be presented to well over a million potential users. It’s an excellent way to instantly gain a substantial userbase, as well as pivotal feedback. It can be a bit of a trial by fire as AppSumo members are mostly tech-savvy entrepreneurs and the sudden influx of new users will undoubtedly come as a bit of a shock to your systems, but if you have done your due diligence and are prepared to pay the commission, it’s worth it.