What is PaperCut Software’s upgrade policy?

Major upgrades are released approximately annually with a number of minor enhancements offered throughout the year. We have a well established upgrade policy first introduced in 1999:

  • Upgrades are always optional and older versions are fully supported (see policy).
  • There are no mandatory annual fees.
  • Minor point releases within a version are free (e.g. version 9.0 to 9.1 to 9.2)
  • A small upgrade fee will apply for major releases (e.g. 8.X to 9.0). This is typically around 25% to 30% of the purchase price.
  • Customers who purchase within three (3) months of a major release receive a free upgrade
  • Current Premium Upgrade Assurance and Support customers will always receive free upgrades. We are committed to ensuring our annual upgrade assurance fee sits at, or below the industry standard of 20% of the license price per year.
For customers without current upgrade assurance and want further details please email us.

I’m a premium upgrade assurance (and support) customer, am I eligible to upgrade to PaperCut version 9?

All customers with current Premium Upgrade Assurance, or customers whom purchased the Implementation Pack within the last 12 months can upgrade immediately. You can tell if your premium support is current by checking the “Software updates available until” field in the “About” page. If your premium support is still valid, then your existing license will also work with version 9.

If you have any questions about your eligibility for upgrades, please email us.

I purchased version 8 just before the release of version 9. Can I upgrade?

If you purchased a PaperCut license within 3 months of major release then you are eligible to run this new version. You can check the date your license was issued in the “Issued On” field in the “About” page. If you purchased a version 8 license between October and December 2008 you are eligible to run version 9, and your license will automatically work with any version 9 release.

If you have any questions about your eligibility for upgrades, please email us.

How often do major updates come out?

We aim to issue one major release a year with a target date in the December to January period and have conformed to this goal for the past 4 years. As like all software applications, development schedules may change over time and hence future release dates may vary.

Should I upgrade?

From a “business” point of view, we are keen to see our customers upgrade. However we always leave the choice in your hands. Many software companies charge a yearly fee for access to updates. We prefer to provide the choice. In general, we recommend holding off on the upgrade if:

We recommend considering the upgrade when:

  • You find the new features useful and a worthwhile.
  • You are considering a hardware or server upgrade. Use this period to also upgrade PaperCut and bring your server up-to-date.
We’d also like to point out that money raised from upgrades goes back into product development and new features. Also once you have upgraded, you’ll automatically gain access to all future point release updates in that given version.