LinkedIn Recruiter is the most used recruiting tool in the world. But as with many of these popular tools, there is also a serious price tag.

Many recruiters are looking for a way to first try LinkedIn Recruiter before they pay for it. And that’s very understandable knowing that LinkedIn Recruiter can easily cost you $900 per single user per month, and in many cases even more.

Is LinkedIn Recruiter free?

No. LinkedIn Recruiter is a premium product of LinkedIn that needs a paid subscription. LinkedIn Recruiter costs start around $900 per user per month. This price is primarily dependent on your geographical location (LinkedIn has dynamic pricing) and the amount of InMails per month that you order. Learn more here on LinkedIn Recruiter pricing.

Is there a LinkedIn Recruiter free trial?

LinkedIn Recruiter does not have a free trial.

LinkedIn Recruiter Lite however, has a free trial but you have to be ‘eligible’ to get the free trial.

Good to know is that LinkedIn Recruiter Lite is a limited version of LinkedIn Recruiter. Read more here on LinkedIn Recruiter Lite limitations.

How long does the LinkedIn Recruiter Lite free trial last?

The LinkedIn Recruiter Lite free trial is active for 30 days from the moment you activate it. After this your subscription will automatically become a paid account and you will be charged monthly or yearly, depending on your billing.

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How to get my LinkedIn Recruiter free trial?

For the LinkedIn Recruiter Lite free trial you need two things; 

1. Be eligible for the free trial
2. A credit card

1. Be eligible for the free trial

The most important reason to be eligible for the free trial is to not have used the free trial before. You can only use the free trial once. At least if you’re using the same LinkedIn account.

You can also not use the free trial if your account is already on a premium subscription.

2. A credit card

For the LinkedIn Recruiter Lite free trial you need to insert your credit card details to be able to start the free trial. You have 30 days of no charge. After these 30 days your subscription will automatically be transferred to a paid subscription! So make sure to put a note in your calendar to cancel LinkedIn Recruiter Lite on time.

What free alternatives are there?

There are many free alternatives to LinkedIn Recruiter.

Since LinkedIn profiles are generally public, there are several 'talent search engines' that can find all LinkedIn profiles on the platform. That even includes the profiles that you could not find with LinkedIn  Recruiter Lite because of the   'out of network' limitation.

Here's an example of an alternative LinkedIn search engine.