What you will do: see what the free trial includes, find out when your trial or plan ends, understand exactly what changes when it ends, and renew. The free trial lasts 30 days and needs no card.
Time: about 5 minutes to read; renewal takes as long as the purchase.
You need: an administrator account on the server, and your welcome email from Prixl (it shows your organisation name and Org ID).
What the trial includes
The trial monitors your server and emails you just like a paid plan, with some limits:
| Feature | Free trial | Paid plans |
|---|---|---|
| Security audit (Hardening tab) | View only: you see every check, but there is no button to apply fixes | One-click fixes, each with a Revert |
| Manual IP blocks | 3 a day | More per day |
| “Block this IP” link in alert emails | Not included | Included |
| Prixl Guard Secure Access | Not included | With the Warden + Guard plan (shown as the Business Guard plan) |
| Alert recipients | 1 address | More addresses |
| Weekly User Activity Report | Not included | Included |
| Event history | Shorter | 30 days |
For plans and prices, see the pricing page.
Steps
Check when your trial or plan ends
- On the server, double-click the Prixl Warden Dashboard icon on the desktop and click Yes at the Windows permission prompt.
- On the Overview tab, find the Plan card. It shows your plan name and “Valid till” with the end date. If the plan has already ended and you are in the grace period, it also shows “(grace)”.
- Watch your inbox. Warden emails your admin addresses 14 days and 7 days before the end date (“[Warden] Plan expiring soon for” your Org ID, with the days left) and on the day itself (“[Warden] Plan expired for” your Org ID).
While your plan is current, the dashboard shows no expiry banner, so the Plan card and the emails are the places to look.
Renew
- Go to How to buy and follow the steps there. Keep your Org ID handy: it is in your welcome email under “Your Organization Details” and in the subject of each licence notice.
- Once your renewal is confirmed, open the dashboard from the desktop icon.
- If a licence banner is showing with a Refresh License button, click it. Warden fetches the updated licence from Prixl.
What happens when a plan ends
Warden does not stop the moment a plan ends. It moves through stages, and the dashboard shows a banner for each one. The dashboard keeps opening in every stage.
When the free trial ends
- First 3 days after the end date (grace): everything keeps working. A yellow banner reads “Licence expired N day(s) ago. All features still active. Admin actions will be paused if not renewed soon.”
- After those 3 days (expired): a red banner says cloud monitoring is paused. Warden stops sending your server’s events to Prixl, so you stop receiving alert emails about them. The firewall rules Warden has already put in place stay on the server.
If your organisation has a longer grace period
The grace period is set for each organisation. With Warden’s default grace settings it works like this. To confirm your own organisation’s grace period, contact support through the contact form.
- First 7 days (grace): everything keeps working, with the same “All features still active” banner. Alert emails carry a banner saying the licence has expired and when alerts will stop.
- Up to 30 days after the end date (paused): the banner says that new Guard peers, peer revocation and hardening changes are paused. Monitoring, alerts and existing protections continue. Reverting hardening fixes and switching the Guard connection method still work, as recovery actions.
- After that (expired): cloud monitoring is paused, as described above. Hardening rules stay in place.
- Reminder emails go out 7 and 30 days after the end date, with a subject starting “[Warden] URGENT: Warden license in grace period”.
Check it worked
- The licence banner has gone from the top of the dashboard.
- The Plan card on the Overview tab shows your plan and the new “Valid till” date, without “(grace)”.
- If you moved to a paid plan, the Hardening tab no longer shows the “View only” notice, and step 2 of the wizard offers an Accept & Apply button.
If something goes wrong
- The banner stays after you renewed: click Refresh License again a few minutes later. If it still shows, contact support through the contact form with your Org ID.
- You did not receive the expiry emails: they go to your Warden admin addresses. Check spam and the list under Settings, Alert Recipients.
- The banner says “No license file found” or mentions a signature or token: see Troubleshooting Warden.
Next
- Previous: Updates and checking your version
- Next: Uninstall Warden
- Back to all Prixl Warden guides