Is IDM purchase a one-time payment? For how long is IDM license valid?
Why Lifetime license is called 'Lifetime' if it has only 3 years of free updates? What happens if I do not pay for updates?
We have 2 types of licenses:
1. IDM lifetime license.
IDM Lifetime license purchase is one-time payment. There are no any additional annual fees. The license will be valid for lifetime. It means it will never expire. When free updates period passes, you can purchase subscription for updates and it will be notably cheaper than purchasing a new license. Lifetime IDM license will work even if you decide to not pay for updates unlike one year license that stop working after one year.
You may not update IDM at all. Many users even now, when they have free updates option, use 2-3 years old IDM versions and are happy because they do not have tasks that require regular updates.
Note that starting April, 1st. 2016 it's guaranteed 3 years of free updates with the purchase of lifetime license. Note that in the past we guaranteed only one year of free updates, but did not enforce it. For 15 years while we were selling IDM, we never charged for updates. But we plan to do this in the future.
If you purchased IDM lifetime license before April, 1st. 2016, it was guaranteed one-year of free updates, but the updates may not become free only with the release of next major version 7.
If you purchased IDM lifetime license after April, 1st. 2016, it is guaranteed three-years of free updates.
Note that these conditions were stated during purchase and in IDM license that you have accepted during IDM installation.
2. IDM one-year license.
This license expires in one year after purchasing IDM. It means that IDM stops working and asks to enter a new product key in one year unless the license is paid and extended for another year. In general this license is one-time payment as well, unless you decide to make it a subscription during purchase process.