I Cancelled My LinkedIn Premium — Here’s Exactly What Happened
After two years of paying for LinkedIn Premium, I finally cancelled my subscription last month. I was curious whether I was actually getting value from the monthly fee, and I wanted to test what I’d genuinely miss versus what was just nice-to-have noise. Here’s my completely honest account of the cancellation process, what disappeared, and whether I came crawling back.
For the complete breakdown, I covered everything in our LinkedIn Premium: The Complete 2026 Guide — worth reading first if you are new to this. But this is my personal experience walking through the actual cancellation and living with the consequences for 30 days. For more, see Can I See Who Searched.
How I Cancelled (The Exact Steps)
The process took me less than five minutes. I went to my Profile, clicked Settings and Privacy, selected Subscriptions, and found my Premium plan. LinkedIn asked me why I was leaving — I selected “Too expensive” because it was honest. Then I confirmed the cancellation. No waiting period, no retention calls. It was done immediately.
What Disappeared Right Away
The moment my subscription ended, I lost access to several features:
- InMail messages — I could no longer send direct messages to people outside my network
- Advanced search filters — my search results became basic again
- salary insights — the data disappeared from job listings
- Profile visibility controls — I reverted to standard visibility
- LinkedIn Learning access — I lost my courses mid-way through one
- Priority customer support — I was back to standard support only
What I Kept After Cancellation
This surprised me. I kept more than I expected:
- My complete profile — nothing was deleted or hidden
- My connection list — all 3,200+ connections remained
- My past messages and conversations
- My article and post history
- My endorsements and recommendations
- Basic search and messaging with connections
Essentially, I kept everything I created. I just lost the premium conveniences layered on top.
What I Genuinely Missed
After 30 days without Premium, I missed exactly two things:
- InMail messages — I wanted to reach out to three people I didn’t know well enough to connect with first. Without Premium, I had to send linkedin connection requests instead and wait for acceptance.
- Advanced search filters — I found myself limited when sourcing connections by specific job titles and company sizes. The basic search felt restrictive.
What I Did NOT Miss
Honestly, most of it:
- LinkedIn Learning felt like feature bloat for me personally
- Salary insights were interesting but not worth the monthly cost
- Profile visibility settings made no real difference to my engagement
- The “Who viewed your profile” data was genuinely useless
The Pause Option I Didn’t Know About
I learned after cancelling that LinkedIn allows you to pause Premium instead. If you’re uncertain, you can pause for up to three months without losing your subscription. I wish I’d done this first.
Did I Re-Subscribe?
I did. After 30 days, I reactivated Premium — but only the basic tier, which costs $39.99 monthly instead of $79.99 for Premium Plus. I specifically wanted InMail back for recruiting purposes. For my use case, that justified the cost. But I now know exactly what I’m paying for and what’s genuinely working.
If you’re on the fence, my honest advice: cancel for a month. You’ll learn more about your actual needs than any feature list will tell you.
Related reading: Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It in 2026? 4 B2B Experts Share Their Real ROI | Can Linkedin Premium Be Shared?
