Long-time Issuu users are reporting being hit with unexpected charges, with little to no warning, or only realising once a payment of over £1740/$2250 per annum has been taken from their account.
Issuu Users FUMING Over 450% Price Hike!
Dean Cook • 18 February 2025
Independent publishers are in uproar after digital publishing platform
Issuu,
acquired by Italian technology company
Bending Spoons
in July 2024, slapped them with a staggering 450% price increase. The move, which saw the Premium and Optimum plans merged into a new "Unlimited" offering, has sparked accusations from its customers of "price gouging" and left many smaller publications scrambling for alternatives.
Adding fuel to the fire, Issuu's communication about the price changes has been slammed as "sneaky" and "unethical", eroding trust amongst its loyal user base.
Those attempting to downgrade to the entry-level "Starter" plan (£195/$252pa) are finding it severely limited, with key features like auto-detect hyperlinks missing and third-party ads now appearing on a paid service. One customer fumed, "It's like they're trying to force us onto the 'Unlimited' plan, no matter the cost!"
A screenshot provided by a user revealed that Issuu offer some users in the process of cancelling their account a last-minute 70% discount (circa £775/$972pa), implying it only gave him a three-minute window to "accept" or "decline forever" — a tactic described as "unfair pressure."
And if publishers dare to cancel? Issuu slaps a banner across all previously published work, effectively blocking access for readers. Even worse, external links to these publications, vital for articles and advertising, are rendered useless. One publisher lamented, "Issuu originally promised legacy issues would remain accessible, but now it feels like they're holding our content hostage!"
Issuu defended the price hike, claiming the changes will "support the development of the platform" and benefit all users. They acknowledged some negative feedback but highlighted "positive feedback" regarding new features. However, this explanation has done little to appease the growing anger.
Independent publishers are now rallying, airing experiences and complaints on
Reddit and review sites like
TrustPilot. Many are actively exploring alternative platforms like
BlueToad,
Yumpu,
FlipHTML5, and
Flipsnack.
One industry insider cautioned, "Issuu must listen to its users and restore its Premium service and pricing before they lose customers and harm its brand and reputation, which has taken years to build.
"This kind of price hike is unsustainable for many independent publishers and charitable organisations. We hope that Issuu reconsiders and supports the publishing industry."
UPDATE — 19 March 2025: On 19 March 2025, Issuu issued an updated inactivity and storage policy by email to its users. Issuu stated: "We’re also updating our inactivity and storage policy to be clearer. We’ll retain the Content (including flipbooks) for 12 months from the starting date of your inactivity, after which the Content may be subject to deletion.
"If you become an inactive user, you will receive an email notification before we delete your Content to give you the opportunity to back up such Content, before we delete it. An account is considered inactive if there has been no interaction with Issuu for 1 year."
How do we interpret this? Even if you are a paying subscriber and have not uploaded content within a 12-month period, your published Content may be subject to deletion.
UPDATE — 12 August 2025: On 8 August 2025, Issuu updated its refund requests page, stating "Issuu offers full refunds for annual subscriptions if the request is made within 60 days of the invoice date. For monthly subscriptions, refund requests are accepted within 20 days of the invoice date." While this is a positive development, it remains a request. You can request a refund using a link on the same page.
Issuu also highlights a note that "We send a renewal reminder email for all annual plans 30 days before the renewal charge. This reminder is sent to both your account’s primary email and billing email addresses." To us, this sounds like Issuu's way of saying it met its advance payment communication obligations. In typical instances, expecting a renewal charge similar to a previous amount would be acceptable. However, when a renewal charge has increased considerably, Issuu's communication to warn those who may neither have the budget nor the time to explore or prepare alternative options, which could significantly impact their business, has been woefully insufficient. Issuu should consider that its 30-day renewal reminder email may also be caught by the recipients' junk mail/spam filters, which could result in the customer not being aware until after the increased payment has been taken.
In our opinion, Issuu should have taken proactive steps to communicate in advance and secure a new agreement regarding its updated pricing and service options with each customer before the price increase took effect in 2024. Instead, it has damaged its relationship with its once-loyal customer base.
UPDATE — 29 August 2025: Could there be a hesitant move by Issuu to reinstate its Premium plan? Visiting its page 'Which Issuu plans are currently available?', it seems the Premium pricing option has returned for customers with existing accounts (you need to be signed in). If you don't have an account, the pricing page shows that the Premium option has been omitted from its line-up.
Issuu would do well to communicate clearly with all its customers, offering reassurance that current plans will continue and will not be upgraded without proper notice, and that a customer agreement is in place to acknowledge and accept any changes; otherwise, their current plan remains effective. At the moment, we have no confidence that this will be the case and would welcome communication from Issuu.
Issuu also states, "Please be aware that we’re in the process of updating our prices and plans. Make sure to always refer to the official communications you receive from us." How should we interpret this? Could Issuu be starting to repair damaged relationships and reinstate the pricing plans that worked well, or is it continuing with its price gouging, as customers have already voiced? We genuinely hope it's not the latter.
For us, we are now torn between two options: trusting Issuu that our Premium price plan will remain unchanged at renewal, or consider downgrading just in case. We hope that Issuu can clarify this situation soon.
Update — 1st September: As far as we can see, Premium has now been removed. It leaves us with no option but to downgrade in the hope that legacy issues remain.
UPDATE – 1 September 2025: We're providing an update regarding our long-standing digital publication partner, Issuu.
Our hopes that Issuu would reconsider its new pricing model were recently dashed. We received confirmation that our account will be automatically switched to their new Unlimited plan, which will result in a significant and unviable price increase for our business. Last year, our annual cost was $474pa/£350pa. The new plan will cost $188pm/£139pm per month, which amounts to around $2256/£1670 per year — a staggering 475% increase.
This dramatic price hike is unsustainable for our operations and forces us to transition away from the platform. We are deeply disappointed that Issuu seems to believe it can hold its customers' publications "hostage" by forcing them into an exorbitantly priced plan. We no longer have confidence in a partner that appears to prioritise its own "ambitious plans" and price over the needs and budgets of its loyal customers.
After many of you reached out to us in great stress, anxiety and despair, it allowed us several months to plan for this change. We have been actively migrating our clients to alternative solutions, minimising disruption for them, their readers, and their advertisers. In doing so, we have discovered several new platforms that are not only far better but also provide services that publishers actually use — at a price point comparable to Issuu's former basic offerings. Issuu's new pricing is simply indefensible. We cannot fathom how they concluded that merging their Premium and Optimum plans into the Unlimited plan was a great idea or provided any value for money.
In our opinion, the once-mighty, industry-leading digital magazine platform for more than a decade remains on a path of self-destruction.
#issuu #issuupremium #issuupricehikes #issuupricing
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