When Does Clip Studio Paint Go On Sale?
For the last four years, Clip Studio Paint has gone on sale in the months of March, June, September, and November. The sales last six days. The price for the PRO edition drops from $49.99 to $25, and the EX edition goes from $219 to $109. An upgrade price point of $84 taking you from PRO to EX during the sale is no longer offered.
Prior performance does not indicate future results, but it seems pretty obvious that they time these sales roughly quarterly, with the last one of each year happening on Black Friday weekend. Keep those dates in mind for future sales, if you’re holding out for one.
History of CSP Sales
Here’s a list of the dates of the most recent 50% off sales for CSP:
2021
- March 10 – March 16
- June 16 – June 22
- September 1 – September 7
2020
- March 11 – March 17
- June 17 – June 23
- September 2 – September 8
- November 25 – December 1
2019
- March 14 – March 19
- June 20 – June 25
- September 4 – September 10
- November 23 – December 3 (Extra days!)
2018
- June 7 – June 12
- September 6 – September 11
- November 22 – November 27
(I only have the emails going back to June 2018. I can’t guarantee that there was a March 2018 sale. Also, North American distribution of Clip Studio Paint moved to Graphixly in the summer of 2018. I don’t know if that had any impact.)
The sales consistently end at 8:00 am (UTC/GMT), so adjust your expectations accordingly. That’s the middle of the night in America and 5:00 p.m. in Japan.
The Email Announcements
In the 2018 emails, the subject line read “5-Day Special Limited Discount!”
Starting in 2019, the sales went a day longer, so that changed to “6-Day Special Limited!”.
Since the June 2020 sale, it’s been “Get 50% off Clip Studio Paint! Sale starts now for 6 days only!”
They’re all accompanied with digitally painted images of cute girls, usually in softer coloring.
If you have a large archive of emails, you can search on those phrases to double check my work. If you see a sale from March 2018, please forward it over to me. I’d like to add it to the list.
Price Point Differences
Up until the November 2020 sale, there was also a discount on the upgrade price to go from PRO to EX. It was $84, which is the difference between the EX and PRO sale prices.
That level has not been included in any sale since. If you want to get EX on sale, you need to pay the full $109 sale price, whether you already have PRO or not.
Yes, this feels a bit like they’re nickel and diming you. But, if you’ve been using CSP Pro for any length of time, you’ve gotten more than $25 worth of value out of it already. And the desktop edition, at least, is not a subscription. You’ve been getting free upgrades for years. (The screen recording software I use, ScreenFlow, has annual updates that require a $39 upgrade.)
It’s slightly annoying, but it’s also a drop in the bucket.
During non-sales times, you can upgrade for the difference in price between the two versions. Right now, that’s a $169 upgrade.
Where Can I Buy Clip Studio Paint?
Whether on sale or at the full price, you can go to Clip Studio Paint’s website to buy the software. Full price is $49.99 for PRO and $219.00 for EX.
