Search Atlas offers a free trial to new customers only. Trial eligibility is tied to your account, not your payment method or subscription status. This means:
If you have never subscribed to Search Atlas before, you qualify for the free trial when you first sign up.
If you previously held an active subscription — even if it was paused, cancelled, or lapsed — you are not eligible for a new free trial when restarting.
Pausing and resuming a subscription is treated as a continuation of an existing account, not a new sign-up.
This policy ensures the trial is reserved for customers who have not yet experienced the platform.
If you paused your subscription and then restarted it expecting a free trial, a charge may have been applied because your account is recognised as an existing subscriber. Here is what typically happens:
When you resume a paused plan, the system restores your previous subscription and billing cycle immediately.
Because your account already used or bypassed the trial period, no new trial is granted.
Any promotional trial codes have their own separate eligibility rules and expiry dates — they cannot be applied retroactively to an existing account.
These charges are not errors in most cases; they reflect the standard billing behaviour for returning subscribers.
Before escalating, review any billing confirmation emails sent to the address associated with your account. These will show your current plan, payment dates, and recent charges, and will help you confirm the exact dates and amounts involved before requesting any review.
If you reviewed your billing information and still believe a charge was applied in error, our support team can investigate on the backend. To help them resolve this as quickly as possible, please have the following ready when you reach out:
The email address associated with your Search Atlas account
The date you paused your subscription and the date you attempted to restart it
The specific charge amount and date you are querying
Any promotional or partner code you believe should have been applied
Our team can verify whether a trial was previously used, whether a promotional code should have been applied, and whether a refund or credit is warranted based on your specific situation.
New account, first-time subscriber: You qualify for the free trial automatically at sign-up.
Returning subscriber who paused and resumed: Your previous billing cycle is restored; no new trial applies.
Unexpected charge after restart: This is typically expected behaviour, but our team can review your specific case if you believe an error occurred.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.