Is there a free trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator?
Yes. LinkedIn offers free trials of Sales Navigator Core and Advanced, and its plans and pricing page says they are open to members who aren't on any paid LinkedIn subscription and haven't used a LinkedIn free trial in the past 365 days. It adds that trial availability and features may vary by plan and region. You need a credit card to start.
Open the trial page
On the plans and pricing page, click Try Core for free or Try Advanced for free and sign in. LinkedIn says eligibility is determined when you sign in.
Or start from Settings
Click the Me icon, select Settings & Privacy, click Account preferences, and under Subscriptions & payments click Upgrade for Free. Pick the plan and follow the prompts. These steps are on LinkedIn's redeem a trial page.
Add a card and note the date
LinkedIn requires a credit card number for the trial. Then find your auto-renewal date: LinkedIn's auto-renewal page says it is shown in LinkedIn Admin Center.
Or buy in the app
The plans page says you can buy a single Advanced licence through the LinkedIn app on iOS or Android. LinkedIn sends its reminder email only for desktop sign-ups, so set your own reminder.
How long is it? LinkedIn's free trial help page says trial length may vary based on region or promotional terms, and its auto-renewal page says the card is charged one month from the date you signed up. An undated LinkedIn workshop page still says 30 days. Plan on one month and check the renewal date in Admin Center. For what to test during that month, use the 30-day plan in our guide to whether Sales Navigator is worth it.
Which way into a trial fits you?
It depends on what you pay LinkedIn for today and whether you've had a trial before. This table sets LinkedIn's rules, checked 4 November 2026, against the common situations:
| Your situation | Route | Free period | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free LinkedIn account, no LinkedIn trial in the past year | Core trial from the plans page | Charged one month after sign-up | Card needed; reminder email only if you signed up on desktop |
| A 1st-degree connection uses Sales Navigator | Ask them for a referral | First two months of Core | One redemption per member account (referral FAQ) |
| Team of two to five | Advanced trial or purchase online from desktop, up to five licences | Charged one month after sign-up | Only a purchaser admin can cancel Advanced |
| Paying for Premium Career or Business now | No trial while on a paid plan | None | Cancelled Premium runs to the end of its billing cycle |
| On a Premium free trial now | Switching plans ends the trial | None | Billing starts that day at the new plan's price (eligibility page) |
| Had any LinkedIn free trial in the past year | No trial | None | Test free search first, or pay for one month and cancel |
Two cautions from LinkedIn's multiple trials page. The 12 months are a minimum: if you've used a free Premium trial, you may not be eligible again even when more than 12 months have passed. And you can't switch between Premium plans for free during a trial, so pick Core or Advanced before you start. If you can't get a trial, our guide to finding leads on LinkedIn without Sales Navigator shows how far free search goes.
How do you get two months free with a referral?
Ask someone you're already connected to who has Sales Navigator. LinkedIn's Referral program FAQ, updated four months before our check, says anyone who signs up with a referral gets their first two months of Sales Navigator free, and that the referral discount is for Core. At Core's listed monthly price that is US$239.98 of list price (2 × US$119.99), against one month on a standard trial.
- Who can send it: a Sales Navigator user, unless their contract admin has turned referrals off. They sign in, click the Gift icon in the upper-right corner, search for your name and click Send, and you receive the link as a LinkedIn message.
- Who can receive it: up to 15 of the sender's 1st-degree connections who don't already subscribe to Sales Navigator, haven't used a LinkedIn free trial of any product in the past 12 months, and don't have another active Premium plan.
- Limits: each referral link can be used once, and the two-month offer can be redeemed once per member account.
Strangers trade these links in public. Of the 24 r/linkedin posts the Reddit archive returned for sales navigator trial in the title (January 2023 to August 2026, searched 4 November 2026), five are about two-month referral links (three give them away, one asks for one, and a removed one says it holds 14), such as a giveaway of 15 spare links in August 2026, and three more, two of them the same request posted twice, ask strangers for a trial. A link from a connection is simpler, since that is who the hub is built to send to. Copy this and change the names:
When will LinkedIn charge you after the trial?
One month after you sign up, unless you cancel at least one day before that billing date. LinkedIn's auto-renewal page, updated two months before our check, gives both rules and says billing dates follow the date and time the subscription was activated. The plans page adds a reminder email seven days before the trial expires, and the auto-renewal page says mobile purchases get no LinkedIn reminder, though Apple and Google may send their own. Here is the arithmetic for a trial started today:
What a missed date costs depends on the plan and on which price the trial converts to, so check the billing period at checkout. These are LinkedIn's listed US prices from the plans page, dated 27 September 2026, which it calls estimates that may exclude VAT or GST:
| If the trial converts to | First charge | If you cancel after that |
|---|---|---|
| Core, monthly | US$119.99 | The plan ends at the end of that month |
| Core, yearly | US$1,079.88, about nine times the monthly charge | The plan runs to the end of the paid year |
| Advanced, monthly | US$159.99 per licence; US$799.95 for five licences | The plan ends at the end of that month |
| Advanced, yearly | US$1,799.88 per licence | The plan runs to the end of the paid year |
The plan details behind these prices are on our Sales Navigator pricing page.
Why shouldn't you cancel the trial on day one?
Because LinkedIn's trial pages say ending a trial early ends Premium access at once, and its Sales Navigator page says saved leads, accounts and messages are removed as soon as you cancel. Cancelling on day one so you can't forget could cost you the rest of the month. LinkedIn's trial eligibility page says: "If you choose to end your free trial early, you will immediately lose access to Premium features." Its page on cancelling Sales Navigator, updated four months before our check, says messages, saved leads and saved accounts are removed as soon as you cancel, with no option to save them, and that buying again later starts a new account without that data. Cancelling a trial also blocks another one for at least 12 months. LinkedIn's wording isn't consistent, though: its cancel Premium FAQ repeats the immediate-loss rule for trials but closes by saying a cancelled plan, trial included, expires at the end of the billing cycle, and the two answers in one March 2026 thread split between losing access at once and keeping it to the trial's end. Plan on the stricter rule.
So cancel late, and in this order:
- Copy what you need. Put the names, companies and reasons for the leads you plan to contact into your own CRM or a spreadsheet by hand.
- Answer open InMail threads. LinkedIn says messages sent from Sales Navigator can't be read from your personal account after you cancel, and unused InMail credits don't move across.
- Cancel Core on desktop. From LinkedIn's Core cancellation page: click the Me icon, then Settings & Privacy, Account Preferences, and Manage Premium account under Subscriptions & payments. Click Manage Subscription to open LinkedIn Admin Center, click Purchases, select the subscription and choose Cancel free trial under Actions.
- Cancel Advanced on desktop. Sign in to Sales Navigator, click Admin, then Admin Center, then Purchases. In the Active tab, select the subscription and choose Cancel free trial. LinkedIn's Advanced cancellation page says only a purchaser admin can do this.
- Bought in the iPhone app? Cancel on your Apple device: tap your profile photo, then Premium features, Manage your subscription and Cancel subscription. LinkedIn's App Store page says it can't give billing support for App Store purchases.
To cancel a paid plan rather than a trial, see our guide to cancelling Sales Navigator. If the trial's job was to build a list of people worth contacting, Siela's Lead Finder is another route: paste your website, it suggests who to reach, and it saves every lead to its built-in CRM with the reason it was picked.
Is the free trial the full Sales Navigator?
Not necessarily. LinkedIn's usage and restrictions page says that on a free trial of Sales Navigator, certain features may be more limited than with a paid subscription, and it doesn't list which. Every Sales Navigator plan gets 50 InMail credits a month, yet two Reddit threads describe trial accounts that hit a sending limit while credits remained:
- A June 2025 thread reports a Core trial that stopped after 35 InMails while the screen still showed 65 credits, with the error "Send failed. You have reached the limit of InMail sends for this month."
- A June 2026 thread asks about an extra InMail limit on a trial with 95 credits left, on a new profile with few connections.
Treat two threads as anecdotes; they fit LinkedIn's wording that trial features may be more limited. If InMail is the main thing you want to test, send your most important messages first. Our guide to how InMail credits work explains when a reply returns a credit.
Can you get a refund if you forget to cancel?
Possibly, if you act within seven days and haven't used it since the charge. LinkedIn's refund policy, updated two weeks before our check, says Premium subscriptions, Sales Navigator included, may be refundable within 7 days from the date the subscription is charged without Premium usage, and that a previous refund may affect eligibility. For a charge on 4 December, that means asking by 11 December and not using Sales Navigator in between.
- App Store purchases: LinkedIn says all iOS refunds must be issued by Apple.
- European Union: for people using LinkedIn for themselves rather than for a business, the policy gives EU citizens a full refund during the 14 days after the subscription begins, but says the period starts on the first day of a free trial, so it is over before a one-month trial converts.
- Other local rules: on the same personal-use basis, the page lists separate terms for Brazil, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and India.
In one May 2026 thread, a user charged around US$112 for Core after a trial wrote that support refused a refund, citing premium usage, though the account was also linked to the company's Recruiter access. Put your own versions of 27 November and 2 December in the calendar on the day you start.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the Sales Navigator free trial?
LinkedIn's auto-renewal help says the card used for a Premium free trial is charged one month from the date you signed up, and its trial help says length can vary by region or promotional terms. A referral from a Sales Navigator user gives the first two months of Core free. Check the exact date in LinkedIn Admin Center.
Do you need a credit card for a Sales Navigator free trial?
Yes. LinkedIn's help pages say you must enter a valid credit card to start a free trial, and that the subscription converts to a paid plan automatically unless you cancel before the trial ends. If the payment is declined, LinkedIn suggests checking the card details or trying a different payment method.
Can you get a second Sales Navigator free trial?
Not within 12 months. LinkedIn says cancelling a free trial blocks another for at least 12 months, and its plans page limits trials to members with no LinkedIn free trial in the past 365 days. Another help page warns you may not qualify even after 12 months, so don't plan around a second one.
What happens to saved leads when a Sales Navigator trial ends?
If you cancel, they go. LinkedIn says messages, saved leads and saved accounts are removed as soon as a Sales Navigator account is cancelled, there is no option to save them, and buying again later starts a fresh account. If your company adds you to a corporate licence, you can move leads, accounts, searches and notes from a personal plan bought online, though some information doesn't transfer, if the corporate admin has turned on self-serve transfer.
Can I try Sales Navigator Advanced for free?
Yes. LinkedIn's plans page has a Try Advanced for free button alongside Core, and says you can start a trial or buy up to five Advanced licences online from a computer. For Advanced Plus, the page shows Request demo for pricing instead of a trial button (checked 4 November 2026).
Sources
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Plans and pricing (prices shown as updated 27 Sep 2026) (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Redeem your LinkedIn Premium trial (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Auto-renewals for Premium subscriptions after free trial (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: LinkedIn Premium free trial (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Sales Solutions: Hands-on Workshop, Getting Started with LinkedIn Sales Navigator (undated) (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Sales Navigator Referral program FAQ (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: LinkedIn free Premium trial eligibility (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Try multiple free Premium subscriptions (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Reddit r/linkedin: 2-month free trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator (posted 13 Aug 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Considerations before you cancel your Sales Navigator account (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Cancel LinkedIn Premium subscription purchased via Apple App Store (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Sales Navigator usage, limitations, and restrictions (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Reddit r/linkedin: Sales Navigator Core Trial at 35 InMails only (posted 20 Jun 2025; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Reddit r/linkedin: InMail limits in Sales Navigator free trial (posted 6 Jun 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: LinkedIn refund policy (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Reddit r/linkedin: charged after a Sales Navigator free trial, refund question (posted 26 May 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Cancel your Sales Navigator Core account (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Cancel your Sales Navigator Advanced account (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Cancel LinkedIn Premium subscription FAQ (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Sales Navigator Help: Transfer data from a single-user Sales Navigator subscription to a corporate account (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Understand InMail credits in Sales Navigator (checked 4 Nov 2026)
- Reddit r/linkedin: sales navigator free trial (cancelling before the trial ends) (posted 1 Mar 2026; checked 4 Nov 2026)