Verified purchaser
SUPERMACHINE: Lifetime deal = SCAM
I purchased SUPERMACHINE as a lifetime deal on AppSumo, where the following terms were clearly advertised: “Deal terms and conditions: Lifetime access to SUPERMACHINE. All future Apprentice Plan updates. If Plan name changes, deal will be mapped to the new Plan name with all accompanying updates.” This promise is, in my view, being twisted in a way that effectively devalues the lifetime offer.
The introduction of the separate “Gem” system is the core of the problem: new, truly interesting and powerful models are only accessible through this additional artificial currency, while lifetime customers are effectively stuck with old, technically outdated models that can still be used with their existing credits. Gems feel like the silly fantasy tokens in Itchy and Scratchy Land: you exchange real money for play money, only to realize that without these tokens, the main attractions are off-limits. These are methods used in free-to-play mobile games.
The public explanations and justifications by the developer are particularly disappointing: instead of openly addressing the devaluation of the lifetime deal, they emphasize that they have to pay per generation for licensed models and that all users are treated the same in the Gem system. In practice, however, this means that those who originally financed the lifetime deal now face a paywall for the relevant innovations, which is hard to reconcile with the original lifetime promise.
This is exactly why people invest in a startup via AppSumo – they share the risk and rely on “lifetime access,” including future plan updates, rather than being effectively excluded later through internal currency acrobatics. If essential further developments are only usable with additional, recurring payments, this is no longer a lifetime deal but a retrospectively rebranded subscription model.
SUPERMACHINE may work for some use cases, but from a lifetime customer’s perspective, the current direction is non‑transparent, customer‑unfriendly, and destroys trust. To me, the overall package now feels like a scam, even if it might be described differently in legal terms.
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As a customer of Appsumo, I expressly request that those responsible no longer be allowed to offer software sales on this platform!
Rexxar
Dec 3, 2025We've been pretty clear on this. Please try Supermachine NextGen, a model we recently added to the credit system as we can run it on our own cluster in keeping with what we have always said. There will be new models for credits and commercial companies models / licensed models for gems.
I actually think that the pendulum is swinging back in favor of smaller models and we're about to have a renaissance in image generation in terms of open source. My question to you would then be, would you prefer Supermachine was still alive so you can benefit from the new innovations and use these new models as we add them like we have done with Supermachine NextGen or would you prefer we ran an unsustainable deal, let everyone go crazy and bankrupt the company and send out a heavy heart email?
I make no apologies for running a sustainable business and fully expect Supermachine to still be active many years from now, I can't say you can have the same confidence in many recent lifetime deals. I think it is rather counter-intuitive that Appsumo customers would prefer a business die than try and grow and bad mouth when it is treating your lifetime deal with the utmost respect and I will repeat what I have said before, gems are not part of any plan we offer, you are treated the same as our monthly / annual subscribers, there is no rug pull and there is no scam. This throwing of a tantrum mentality is absolutely bizarre. Do better.