30 best free trials for products and subscriptions
From films and TV to classic novels and delicious snacks... Free trials give you all of the perks at none of the cost. We've listed all of the best offers for you.
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There are so many free trials nowadays – it's almost not worth paying for anything. After all, add up all the trial periods of movie streaming services and you could be watching films for months without so much as a penny leaving your bank account.
Of course, while they give so much, free trials also have a sting in the tail. If you forget to cancel them, you could be charged full price for a membership.
So, with that in mind, we've listed all of the best free trials available to you right now. We've also included how long they run for, how much the service usually costs and if you need to cancel to avoid paying.
Best free trials
Best free subscription trials in the UK
Here's our pick of the best free trials:
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Amazon Prime Student
Trial length: Six months
Normal cost: £4.49 per month or £47.49 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
With a free trial of Amazon Prime Student, you'll get most of the same benefits as a fully paid-up member of Amazon Prime. Plus, you'll get some exclusive student-only offers throughout the year.
That means unlimited free next-day delivery, full access to the Prime Video selection of films and TV (including their Premier League games), Prime Music and more.
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Apple TV+
Trial length: Seven days
Normal cost: £4.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
There's a seven-day free trial of Apple TV+ available to all new customers. It will get you full, unlimited access to the streaming service.
However, you can also get three months free when you buy a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod or Mac. You'll also get free access to Apple TV+ if you have an Apple Music Student plan.
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YouTube Premium Student
Trial length: One month
Normal cost: £6.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
YouTube Premium has the feature we've all been begging for for years: the ability to listen to YouTube videos while the app is closed.
What's more, there are no ads and you can also download videos (music or otherwise) to watch offline. But mostly, we're excited about playing music in the background.
You can also check out the non-student subscription since it has two free months instead of one. If you do start paying for it, it is almost double the price though.
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BritBox
Trial length: Seven days
Normal cost: £5.99 per month or £59.99 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
A BritBox free trial will get you full access to the platform's collection of British TV shows and films. This includes The Inbetweeners, Doctor Who and Love Island, plus a whole host of other content from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
And, unlike live TV, you won't need a TV Licence to watch BritBox. Although, as we always point out, students usually don't need one anyway.
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BFI Player
Trial length: 14 days
Normal cost: £4.99 per month or £49 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Sign up for a free trial of BFI Player and you'll find that it's packed with classic and cult films. Some of them even have BFI-exclusive introductions from the nation's favourite film critic: Mark Kermode.
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MUBI Students
Trial length: 30 days
Normal cost: £5.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Another one for fans of cult and indy cinema, MUBI adds a new film to stream every single day. This includes past classics and modern masterpieces. With your trial membership, you can watch as many as you like.
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Spotify Premium Student
Trial length: One month
Normal cost: £5.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Sign up to Spotify Premium and you'll get ad-free streaming. On top of that, you can download songs and podcasts to your phone and listen to them offline.
And if you're happy to keep paying for a membership, just make sure you specifically sign up for a free trial of Spotify Premium Student. That way, you'll get a big discount on the usual subscription fee.
But don't worry if you're not eligible – we have loads more tips on how to get a cheap Spotify subscription.
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Apple Music Student
Trial length: One month
Normal cost: £5.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
You'll need to verify your student status with Apple in order to get a trial of Apple Music Student, but it's definitely worth signing up for that rather than the basic plan (£9.99 per month).
As we touched on earlier, in addition to all the music you'll be able to stream, a Student account will also get free access to Apple TV+.
What's more, if you decide not to cancel your trial, you'll get all of this for £5.99 per month. That's half the cost of a normal plan, which doesn't even come with Apple TV+. No-brainer.
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Audible
Trial length: 30 days
Normal cost: £7.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Audible members get one credit per month to buy any audiobook, regardless of price. This title is yours to keep, even if you cancel your Audible membership or free trial. If you're not happy with the audiobook, you can return it for another credit.
You'll also get unlimited access to Audible Original Podcasts, plus the option of listening to your audiobooks offline.
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Kobo
Trial length: 30 days
Normal cost: £6.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Similar to Audible, Kobo's 30-day trial gives you one credit. You can exchange this for a free audiobook. Even if you cancel your subscription before you start paying, the book you choose is yours to keep.
At the time of writing, TopCashback and Quidco are offering cashback for enrolling on the free Kobo trial. It's only around £1.50, but it's a super easy way to get a free audiobook and some free cash.
Want more tricks? Check out our guide to getting free audiobooks. -
YouTube Music Student
Trial length: One month
Normal cost: £4.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Confused by the fact that YouTube has YouTube Premium and YouTube Music? Yeah, we were too.
The key difference is that YouTube Music is purely for music and therefore has a lower monthly cost than YouTube Premium.
Of course, it goes without saying that we're only interested because they offer a one-month free trial. This will give you all the same ad-free, downloadable listening privileges that paying members get to enjoy.
Similar to Youtube Premium, the non-student subscription gives you a two-month free trial compared to only one month on the student subscription.
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SoundCloud Go and Go+
Trial length: Seven days for Go, 30 days for Go+
Normal cost: £5.99 per month for Go, £4.99 per month for Go+ for students
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
SoundCloud Go lets you save an unlimited number of tracks for offline listening, as well as taking away the ads you'll hear between every few tracks.
SoundCloud Go+ does both of these as well as giving you high-quality audio and unlocking access to the full catalogue of tracks on the platform.
Given the choice, we'd definitely recommend signing up for a SoundCloud Go+ trial. It's longer, offers more and, if you're a student, is cheaper than the standard Go membership once your free trial ends.
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TIDAL
Trial length: 30 days
Normal cost: £9.99 per month for Premium, £19.99 per month for HiFi
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
When it comes to free trials, there are a fair few music streaming services out there. But, what sets Jay-Z's pet project, TIDAL, apart from most others is that its HiFi subscription gives you "lossless audio". In other words, incredible sound quality.
This 30-day free trial is just for Premium. If you like what you find once you've signed up, it may be worth paying full whack for HiFi.
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Headspace Plus
Trial length: Two weeks if you sign up for an annual plan, one week if you sign up for monthly
Normal cost: £9.99 per month or £49.99 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
The basic version of Headspace is free, but a paid-for subscription unlocks the full library of meditations and courses, including sleep sounds and bedtime exercises. It's ideal if you're looking for ways to fall asleep fast.
That said, as we explained earlier, if you already have Spotify Premium Student, you can get Headspace Plus for free as part of your subscription. And that's fully free, not just a trial.
Don't know which service to stick with? Check out our guide to the best music streaming sites in the UK.
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Readly
Trial length: One month
Normal cost: £9.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Readly is host to almost 5,000 magazine titles. With your free trial, you'll have access to digital issues of them all (online and downloadable for offline reading).
You even get the option of having up to five profiles on your account.
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Kindle Unlimited
Trial length: 30 days
Normal cost: £7.99 per month
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
You'll need to sign in to your Amazon account to view your specific offer for a free trial of Kindle Unlimited, as some users are offered 60 days or more.
That said, as far as we know, all new Kindle Unlimited users are entitled to a 30-day free trial. The trial gives you unlimited access to over one million titles, plus thousands of audiobooks and even some magazine subscriptions.
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Blinkist
Trial length: Seven days
Normal cost: £9.99 per month or £59.99 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
If you're looking for a super productive way to read non-fiction books, you should check out Blinkist. This service provides professional book summaries, showing you the essential information from the world's best non-fiction books in less than 15 minutes.
The free trial of the premium subscription gives you unlimited access to over 5,500 books, exclusive podcasts and more.
You have seven days to cancel before you automatically roll onto a paid subscription. If you cancel, you'll automatically get the free version of Blinkist. This gives you access to one pre-selected book per day.
If you're looking for any non-fiction recommendations, check out our guide to the best financial books. -
The Athletic
Trial length: Seven days
Normal cost: £7.99 per month, £59.99 per year, or £29.99 per year for students
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Since launching in 2019, The Athletic has really shaken up football coverage in the UK.
With your seven-day free trial, you'll get full access to the platform's exclusive content from some of the country's top football writers.Frustratingly, you can't get a free trial with the student or monthly subscription. Instead, once the free trial is up, you'll need to cancel your annual plan and then sign up again as a student.
It's worth it though, as students can get their membership half-price for up to four years.
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The Week
Trial length: Six weeks (six issues)
Normal cost: £38.99 every 13 issues (digital only), £41.99 every 13 issues (print only), £46.99 every 13 issues (digital and print)
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
As the name suggests, The Week is a weekly publication covering the news from the last seven days.
You can get free trials of the publication in print or digital form, or both together. Whichever one you go for, the first six issues are completely free. The Week promises to refund you for any unmailed issues should you decide to cancel.
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Perlego
Trial length: Seven says
Normal cost: £12 per month or £96 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Any student knows that textbooks aren't exactly cheap. But with Perlego, you can read as many academic textbooks as you want.
From architecture and computer science to literature and medicine, Perlego has a huge selection of topics. In total, there are more than 900,000 texts available!
The seven-day free trial lets you read as many books as you want. After that, you'll automatically be rolled onto a paid subscription, so make sure you cancel in time if you don't want to pay.
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Tastecard
Trial length: 60 days
Normal cost: £47.88 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
You may have heard of Tastecard before, with the service famous for offering massive discounts at a whole host of major high street restaurant chains. But did you know that Tastecard can also get you money off cinema tickets and days out, too?
Sign up for your free Tastecard now for all of these benefits. Just remember that you can also use it for discounts on takeaways.
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Graze
Trial length: One box
Normal cost: £4.49 per box
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Each Graze box contains four snacks, all of which you'll get to choose yourself. They're typically pretty healthy, but there are some chocolatey delights thrown in too.
There's no extra charge for delivery, and you can cancel your subscription after receiving your first box. However, you will get 20% off the next three boxes if you stay subscribed.
They're not quite free, but you can save a huge amount of money on recipe boxes by using the offers for new customers. -
Outplayed.com
Trial length: £40 of initial profit
Normal cost: £29.99 per month or £250 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? No.
Outplayed is an online service and community to guide you through something called matched betting. Matched betting is one of the best money-making methods we've ever come across, but it can be time-consuming.
We suggest reading our own free guide to matched betting first. Once you understand the concept and have made your first profit, take advantage of the no-risk free trial at Outplayed, which will make life much easier.
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PlayStation Plus Premium
Trial length: Seven days
Normal cost: £13.49 per month, £39.99 per three months or £99.99 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Think of PlayStation Plus as being like the Netflix of PlayStation games. Rather than having to buy each game individually, PlayStation Plus lets you stream hundreds of titles on-demand via the cloud.
The service is available on PS4 and PS5. New games are added to the platform all the time, including a whole host of PlayStation exclusives. And you can access it on your free trial.
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Nintendo Switch Online
Trial length: Seven days
Normal cost: £3.49 per month, £6.99 per three months or £17.99 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
As well as unlocking online gaming, your seven-day trial of Nintendo Switch Online will also get you free access to the service's growing library of NES and SNES titles. Many of these can also be played online.
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NordVPN
Trial length: 30 days
Normal cost: £8.79 per month, £43.08 for one year or £59.76 for two years
Hidden costs: Payment may be taken before the plan renews, but this will be refunded if you cancel before the end of the trial
Cancellation required? Yes.
If you're looking to browse the internet securely and privately, you should look no further than a VPN (Virtual Private Network). NordVPN is one of the biggest and best VPN providers out there, and you can now get a 30 day free trial of the service to try it for yourself.
The NordVPN free trial gives you all the same features as a full membership, including compatibility across pretty much every operating system you can imagine (yep, even mobiles) and the option to use it on up to six devices at any one time.
And if you're keen to keep using the service once your free trial is over, it may be worth signing up again, using the NordVPN student discount to get 15% off.
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LinkedIn Premium
Trial length: One month
Normal cost: Varies
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
LinkedIn is great for finding a job, and it's even more effective when you have a Premium subscription. With this, you'll get insights into how your CV stacks up against those who have already applied, plus the ability to message people you're not connected with (including recruiters).
Unlike most other companies, LinkedIn regularly offers more than one free trial per customer. If you already used a trial of LinkedIn Premium a while ago but want to move jobs again, check if there's another month of free service waiting for you.
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Smol
Trial length: One box of nine capsules
Normal cost: £5.30 for 24 washing capsules, £5.80 for 30 dishwasher capsules
Hidden costs: £1 for postage of each capsule type
Cancellation required? Yes.
Smol produces planet-friendlier, cruelty-free washing machine and dishwasher capsules. And you can try both of them in free trial boxes.
And we've got a little tip. If you're not fussed about using bio or non-bio washing capsules, you can get a free trial of both. Just remember that you'll have to pay £1 postage for each separate set, even if you order them at the same time.
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Waldo
Trial length: 10 days
Normal cost: From £12 per box
Hidden costs: £2.95 shipping
Cancellation required? Yes.
Before committing to a paid subscription, Waldo gives you a chance to try their contact lenses for free. They'll send you 10 pairs to try. While the lenses themselves are free, you will have to pay for shipping.
Waldo also offers a 20% student discount, so make sure to use it if you want to continue your subscription. For alternatives, check out our guide to the best and cheapest contact lenses.
Did you know that when you buy glasses online, you can sometimes get a free trial of the frames first? -
Strava
Trial length: 30 days
Normal cost: £6.99 per month or £47.99 per year
Hidden costs: None
Cancellation required? Yes.
Strava is an app that combines exercise with social media. You can track your runs, swims, bike rides and more and share them with your friends.
The regular app is free to use, but you can try the premium version to unlock some extra features. These include training logs, being able to set goals, advanced metrics and more.
The free trial lets you use these features for 30 days. And if you decide to become a paying premium member, make sure to use the 50% student discount.
The free stuff doesn't end there. We've also got a whole host of ways to get free money too.
All information was correct at the time of writing.
