Same mission. Better platform. We’re bringing our members into the next chapter with Scale.gg. This is the story of why we rebuilt—and how we’re moving forward without shutting down the entire Groove platform or abandoning what you’ve built.
The free-account changes and lifetime-member guidance are different. Choose your section for the rules, next steps, and FAQ that apply to you.
Already on a qualifying paid subscription? You are not a restricted free member. Your active plan governs access. The five legacy-app creation limits still apply; an old free-plan record must not override your paid entitlement. Contact support if your access does not match your plan.
A heartfelt letter from the desk of Mike Filsaime
This is not a rebrand.
It is the platform Groove was always meant to become.
We faced a hard choice: keep adding to a platform built for an earlier era, or start again around modern software, AI, and the way marketers work now. We chose to start again.
For more than two decades, nearly everything I have done online has revolved around one idea: building better software for marketers. Scale.gg is not a sudden change of direction. It is the next chapter of a journey I have been on for my entire career.
Before I share that story, there is an important update to this letter. We originally described a plan to sunset the entire Groove platform. We’ve changed that plan. You have businesses, content, and customers on Groove, and moving forward with Scale.gg must account for what you’ve already built. GrooveSell, GrooveMail, and GroovePages will continue for eligible members. I’ve separated the details below for free members and lifetime members, along with the story of why Scale.gg remains our next chapter.
01 · The road here
I have been building toward this platform for my entire career.
I started with ButterflyMarketing, software customers downloaded and installed for themselves. Then came PayDotCom.com, a ClickBank competitor that allowed sellers to use their own PayPal account. That work continued through DealGuardian and, later, Kartra.
As a co-founder of the company behind WebinarJam, EverWebinar, and Kartra, I helped create platforms that changed how entrepreneurs sold online. Kartra became our first true all-in-one platform. After I sold my interest in that company, my dream was to build the next evolution of that idea. That dream became the original vision for Groove.cm.
Continue reading Mike’s letterClose Mike’s letterThe honest truth about Groove, AI, and why we chose to rebuild.02 · The honest truth
Groove’s potential became bigger than the product itself.
Our original in-house team did exceptional work. GroovePages and GrooveSell showed what the platform could be. But as the company grew, we expanded development outside the core team. Promises were made that were not delivered, progress slowed, and the legacy Laravel/PHP architecture became harder to evolve at the speed the market demanded.
ClickFunnels had become the leader. Then GoHighLevel reset the market again. While competitors moved forward, Groove spent years fighting its own foundation. We had to ask ourselves a bold and uncomfortable question: Do we keep renovating this platform, or do we start over?
The honest answer was that Groove, as it stood, could not compete at the level our members deserved. Improving the old platform would keep us tied to decisions made for another era. Starting over was harder—but it was the responsible choice.
“We were more in love with the potential of what Groove could become than the product it actually was.”
03 · AI changed the answer
Adding AI to old software was not enough.
Then AI changed what software could be. We had a second decision to make: bolt AI features onto legacy products, or rethink the products completely around an AI-first workflow.
Think about the difference between adding an AI button to traditional presentation software and building something like Gamma from the ground up. One improves the old workflow. The other reimagines it. We did not want to put a chatbot inside GroovePages and call it innovation. We wanted to reconsider what pages, campaigns, support, content, and customer operations should look like when AI is part of the foundation.
That is why Scale.gg leads with ClickCampaigns.ai, our flagship campaign operating system. It is why AI runs through PageBuilder, BlogBaser, HDHelpDesk, ChatBaser, and the rest of the suite. Scale.gg is designed to work with the CRM you already use while giving you an AI-powered marketing platform around it.
04 · The rebuild
Agentic coding made it possible to build the platform again.
Long before I was known as a marketer, I was a programmer. I studied Computer Science and Business Administration at the New York Institute of Technology. From ButterflyMarketing and PayDotCom.com to WebinarJam, Kartra, Groove, and every product since, software has always been at the center of my work.
Agentic coding changed what a focused team could accomplish. Over the last 12 months, my partner Matt Serralta and I have been able to rebuild the platform from the ground up, recreate the core applications Groove members depended on, and expand far beyond the original promise. The available Scale.gg products you can explore below are live now, while anything still in development is identified clearly.
Most importantly, your qualifying GrooveLifetime entitlement still matters. The designated Scale benefits for your plan are separate from the free-account changes in this letter. This is not a demand for every paid or qualifying lifetime member to buy a new subscription, and it does not mean every historical Groove purchase includes every Scale app.
05 · The promise fulfilled
Scale.gg is the product Groove was meant to become.
We are proud of Groove.cm. We poured passion into the brand, the products, and the community around them. But if we are honest, the product never fully lived up to the founders’ original vision—and over time, that gap hurt the brand.
We are moving forward with Scale.gg because we are ready to stop selling the potential and deliver the platform itself. What Groove could have been is now Scale.gg: modern, AI-powered, built around the work marketers do today, and better than we could have imagined when the Groove journey began.
This is not a rebrand. This is the completion of the new Scale.gg platform—and the beginning of what comes next.
06 · What changed
Moving forward should not mean abandoning what you built.
That is why we changed the original full-platform shutdown plan. The move toward Scale.gg is still our direction. But you are not starting from a blank page. You have websites, customers, memberships, stores, and years of work on Groove. Those businesses matter.
GrooveSell, GrooveMail, and GroovePages are staying available for eligible members, and we will continue improving them. We are not retiring these three products under the earlier shutdown plan. Your normal account entitlements and plan limits still apply; this transition does not add a blanket ban on creating in these products.
There are two different issues to explain. Free accounts without a qualifying paid entitlement need to upgrade for general management access. Separately, new top-level projects in five legacy apps move to their Scale replacements, including for paid and lifetime members. Existing properties remain manageable with eligible access.
We poured our hearts into Groove. You put your own work into it too. Scale.gg is how we carry that original vision forward, and this revised plan is how we keep the businesses already built on Groove in view as we do it. Thank you for being part of this journey.
For accounts without a qualifying paid or lifetime entitlement
Free members:how this affects you.
Groove is ending free general-purpose business management—not free affiliate participation. If your account is free, including a previously whitelisted free account, here is what changes for you.
What stays free
Signing in and using GrooveSell’s affiliate tools to promote other vendors’ products.
Free registration for that affiliate participation.
Profile, account and security settings; billing and billing history.
Pricing and upgrade options, support, product updates, and logout.
What requires an upgrade
The normal dashboard and general product-management tools.
Managing your own products, vendor sales reports, and your own affiliates.
Managing your pages, email, memberships, blogs, videos, webinars, and stores.
Exporting your Groove data.
Your existing business keeps running during the upgrade period.
Seeing the access gate does not itself delete your content or immediately turn off your customer-facing assets. But continued operation is not free owner-management access. You need a qualifying upgrade to regain restricted management tools. The FAQ below explains the difference.
For restricted free members
Your upgrade option and deadline
Pro is $95 per month or $795 per year, billed annually. It includes the Scale app suite in the current Pro offer and 2,500 Scale credits per month. Eligible Groove management and access to existing data are restored while the qualifying paid membership remains active.
Upgrade by December 31, 2026 at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time.
Without upgrading, your Groove data may be permanently deleted and become unrecoverable. This can include websites, domain configurations, settings, payment settings, products, funnels, checkouts, email data and leads, videos, webinars, blogs, stores, memberships, and courses.
December 31 is the upgrade deadline—not the start of management restrictions. The warning does not mean every account is automatically erased at midnight, and it does not promise indefinite free hosting or a post-deadline recovery window.
These answers apply to accounts without a qualifying paid or lifetime entitlement.
What is the free-account access gate?
It is the upgrade screen shown when an account without a qualifying paid or lifetime entitlement tries to open restricted management tools. You can still sign in, but the normal dashboard, product management, vendor tools, and data export require an upgrade. Restricted links and bookmarks lead to that screen. The restriction starts when the updated access rules reach your account—not on December 31. Previously whitelisted free accounts are included.
Will my existing business stop when I see the free-account access gate?
No—not simply because that screen appears. During the upgrade period, your existing published websites and domains, blogs and posts, stores, products, funnels, checkouts and payment flows, memberships and customer access, videos and embeds, scheduled webinars, email campaigns and automations, rebills, fulfillment, webhooks, and background jobs continue operating. The gate does not itself delete your data. You still need to upgrade to regain restricted management access. This is not a promise of indefinite free hosting after the deadline.
Can I still sign in, register, and use Groove as an affiliate for free?
Yes. Free registration and affiliate participation remain available for promoting other vendors’ products. You can also use your profile, account and security settings, billing and billing history, pricing, support, product updates, and logout. Affiliate access is different from vendor access: it does not include managing your own products, your own affiliates, or vendor sales reports. Billing history is not vendor reporting.
Can I manage my business or export its data without upgrading?
Not with a restricted free account. Existing customer-facing activity continuing during the upgrade period does not give you free owner-management access. Managing Groove pages, email, memberships, blogs, videos, webinars, stores, vendor tools, and exporting data require a qualifying paid entitlement.
What does upgrading restore—and what does it not restore?
A qualifying paid upgrade restores eligible Groove management and access to your existing data while that membership remains active. GrooveSell, GrooveMail, and GroovePages remain available under normal plan limits. It does not restore new top-level creation in GrooveMember, GrooveBlog, GrooveWebinar, GrooveVideo, or GrooveKart: new memberships, blogs, webinar campaigns, videos, and stores move to their Scale replacements. With eligible access, you can still add courses inside an existing membership and publish posts inside an existing blog. Cloning or importing a shared top-level asset is not a workaround. A subscription does not purchase new unconditional lifetime rights.
What does the December 31 deadline mean for my free account?
Upgrade by December 31, 2026 at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time to preserve eligible account access and your data. Without upgrading, your data may be permanently deleted and become unrecoverable. This is a risk warning, not a statement that every account is automatically erased at midnight. There is no promised extension or guaranteed post-deadline recovery window. The deadline is not the start of the management restrictions.
What if my account says “free” but I already paid?
A qualifying paid or lifetime entitlement must not be overridden by an old free-plan record. Contact support to review your purchased access if the gate does not match it. Do not assume you must buy again simply because the account still has a free-plan label.
Already paid, or unsure how your account is classified? Ask support to review your access. An old free-plan record must not override a qualifying paid or lifetime entitlement.
For members with a qualifying Groove lifetime entitlement
Lifetime members:how this affects you.
Your purchased entitlement still matters. The free-account changes do not redefine your qualifying lifetime plan or create a blanket requirement to buy a subscription. Here is what continues, what changes for new projects, and how to get help with your access.
You are not being asked to buy again simply because of this update.
The free-member upgrade deadline is not a blanket renewal deadline for qualifying lifetime members. Your purchased plan governs your access and limits. If an account-access gate blocks something your entitlement covers, contact support for a review.
Three core Groove products stay available.
GrooveSell, GrooveMail, and GroovePages continue for eligible members and are still being improved. GrooveSell includes normal vendor functionality where your entitlement covers it. Normal plan limits apply; this transition adds no blanket creation ban in these three products.
Five legacy apps: keep managing existing work. Start new projects in Scale.
These creation limits apply to paid and lifetime members too. They are separate from the free-account access restriction.
GrooveMember
Existing work: Manage and edit existing memberships, including adding courses inside them.
Where supported, cloning or importing a shared top-level asset also counts as new creation. An upgrade does not remove these restrictions. Your existing data is not automatically migrated, and replacement-app access depends on your entitlement.
The promise fulfilled
Your lifetime access carries forward.
GrooveLifetime members receive free, lifetime access to the designated Scale apps replacing their Groove apps, along with the additional products listed below.
Your access follows your qualifying lifetime plan and its designated benefits. This applies to the designated apps—not every app in the complete Scale.gg suite.
These answers apply to qualifying lifetime entitlements, not restricted free accounts.
Do I need to buy Groove again to keep my qualifying lifetime access?
No. The free-account changes do not redefine your qualifying lifetime entitlement or create a blanket requirement to purchase a subscription. Your purchased plan still governs your access and limits. If a general account-access gate blocks something your entitlement covers, contact support for an account review.
Does the free-member upgrade deadline apply to my lifetime access?
The December 31, 2026 upgrade deadline is for restricted free accounts without a qualifying paid entitlement. It is not a blanket renewal deadline for qualifying lifetime members. A free-plan label left on your account does not override your qualifying lifetime entitlement.
Are GrooveSell, GrooveMail, and GroovePages being retired?
No. These three core products stay available and continue to be improved for eligible members. GrooveSell vendor functionality remains available with the appropriate entitlement. Normal plan limits apply; this transition does not add a blanket ban on creating in these three products.
Can lifetime members still create new content in the five affected legacy apps?
You can manage existing assets with eligible access. You can also add courses inside an existing GrooveMember membership and create and publish posts inside an existing GrooveBlog blog. But new top-level memberships, blogs, webinar campaigns, videos—including uploads and clones—and stores move to their Scale replacements. These creation limits apply to paid and lifetime members too. Buying an upgrade does not remove them.
Why do I see a notice when I click “create new” if I am a lifetime member?
A creation notice in one of the five affected legacy apps explains that new projects have moved to a replacement app. That is different from the free-account access gate, and it does not by itself mean your lifetime access has expired. If your general dashboard or existing-content management is blocked despite a qualifying entitlement, contact support to review the account.
Does my Groove lifetime purchase include every Scale.gg app?
Not automatically. Your Scale access follows your qualifying plan and its designated benefits. This update does not grant every Scale app to every historical Groove purchase, and it does not remove qualifying benefits merely because free-account rules are changing. Ask support to confirm the access attached to your plan.
Will my existing sites and data move to Scale.gg automatically?
No automatic migration happens under these creation restrictions. Eligible members can continue managing the existing Groove assets described above. New projects in the five affected categories belong in the replacement apps. Do not assume a one-click transfer or identical features; contact support about your particular setup.
“We understand people are running their business. We will work with everyone to make sure they are never interrupted.”
The next chapter
Groove built the foundation. Scale.gg takes it forward.
The reason we built Scale.gg has not changed. Our plan now makes room for the businesses already running on Groove, with clear account-access rules and a place for your next project.
