LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 810 million members worldwide. While anyone can create a basic LinkedIn profile for free, LinkedIn also offers several premium subscription options that provide additional features and benefits.
But is the paid version of LinkedIn worth the cost? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll examine the key differences between LinkedIn’s free and premium offerings to help you decide if Premium is right for your needs.
LinkedIn Free vs Premium
Here’s a quick overview of what you get with LinkedIn’s free vs paid memberships:
Feature | LinkedIn Free | LinkedIn Premium |
---|---|---|
Create profile | ✅ | ✅ |
Connect with others | ✅ | ✅ |
Join groups | ✅ | ✅ |
Search profiles and jobs | ✅ | ✅ |
Send connection requests | ✅ | ✅ |
See who viewed your profile | ❌ | ✅ |
InMail messages | ❌ | ✅ |
Apply to jobs with easy apply | ❌ | ✅ |
Profile badges | ❌ | ✅ |
Unlimited profile searches | ❌ | ✅ |
As you can see, Premium unlocks several advanced features like seeing who’s viewed your profile, sending InMail messages, easy job application, and unlimited profile searches.
Benefits of LinkedIn Premium
Here are some of the key benefits that come with a LinkedIn Premium subscription:
InMail Messages
One of the biggest perks of Premium is getting InMail messages each month. These let you directly contact anyone on LinkedIn, even if you’re not connected. This helps you reach high-value prospects like recruiters and hiring managers.
With a free account, you can only message your 1st-degree connections. InMail breaks down that barrier so you can get your message in front of the right people.
Profile Views
Premium shows you a list of who has viewed your profile recently. This gives you insight into which companies and people are interested in you.
You can use this information to focus your networking and job search efforts. It’s a great way to identify hot prospects.
Easy Apply
Applying for jobs is streamlined with Premium’s Easy Apply feature. With one click, you can submit your existing profile as your resume when applying to certain positions.
This saves you time from having to redo your profile in the format of a traditional resume document.
Profile Badges
Premium members can display badges on their profile highlighting their skills, achievements, and credentials. This helps showcase your qualifications to employers.
Badges available include skill endorsements, course completions, volunteer work, veteran status, and more.
Unlimited Searches
Want to take a deep dive into researching companies, groups, and professionals on LinkedIn? With Premium, you get unlimited profile searches.
This removes viewing caps so you can send as many connection requests as you want when expanding your network.
LinkedIn Premium Pricing
LinkedIn offers four paid subscription options. Pricing varies based on the features included and length of membership. Here’s an overview of LinkedIn’s premium plans:
Plan | Price Per Month | Best For |
---|---|---|
Premium Career | $29.99 | Active job seekers |
Premium Business | $49.99 | Business networking |
Premium Sales | $64.99 | Sales professionals |
Premium Hiring | $99.95 | Recruiters and HR |
The Career plan focuses on job hunting tools, while the Sales and Business options provide additional features tailored to salespeople and promoting a business brand. The Hiring plan has recruiter-specific tools.
You can save money by paying annually rather than month-to-month. For example, Premium Career drops to $19.99/month if billed annually.
LinkedIn also offers a 30 day free trial so you can test Premium risk-free.
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It for Job Seekers?
For most job seekers, the Career Premium plan is the best option. Here’s a deeper look at whether the features are worth the $29.99 monthly investment for your job search.
InMail Messages
Being able to directly email recruiters, hiring managers, and other influential professionals can significantly increase your chances of landing an interview. If you use your InMails strategically each month, this feature alone can make Premium worthwhile.
Easy Apply
The one-click apply feature saves you time compared to filling out lengthy job application forms. However, you can still upload your resume when needed for positions that require it. Easy Apply is most useful for quick screening calls and interviews.
Profile Views
It’s helpful knowing which companies view your profile, especially if you notice repeat views from the same employer. But you may be able to get similar insight by looking at your profile traffic analytics using LinkedIn’s free account settings.
Badges
Displaying badges can enhance your profile. But relevant skills, certifications, and volunteer experience can still be highlighted effectively in your profile summary and experience sections without badges.
Unlimited Searches
Searching profiles and companies without limits enables more comprehensive research. But free members can still do fairly extensive searches within the bounds of their allotted monthly views.
So is Premium’s career-focused plan worth it? The ability to message key contacts with InMail and quickly apply to jobs using Easy Apply make the $29.99 per month investment pay dividends for serious job seekers.
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It for Sales Professionals?
Let’s examine the value of upgrading to Premium for LinkedIn users focused on sales.
InMail Messages
Contacting prospects directly with InMail can help book more sales meetings. You can use your monthly credits to message leads at target companies.
Profile Views
Seeing which accounts are looking at your profile allows you to identify companies doing research for potential partnerships or services. You can then proactively reach out to capitalize on their interest.
Lead Recommendations
Premium Sales surfaces lead recommendations matching your target criteria. This makes it easy to discover new accounts and contacts open to your product or service offerings.
Contact Insights
The ability to see recent job changes, mentioned skills, shared content, and news mentions of your saved leads helps personalize your outreach.
For sales professionals, Premium provides several features to boost prospecting efforts and increase qualified leads. At $64.99 per month, the sales-focused plan can deliver strong ROI by driving more pipeline revenue.
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It for Companies and Branding?
Here’s an analysis of Premium’s business branding capabilities worth the $49.99 monthly price:
Employee Spotlights
Showcase your team by sharing employee spotlights on your company page. This puts faces to your brand so visitors can connect.
Lead Generation Forms
Collect contact information from interested visitors through customizable lead gen forms on your company page. You can then export these leads to reach out.
Content Metrics
Gain insights into the performance of your posts. Analytics include impressions, clicks, reactions, comments, shares, and top followers.
Talent Pool Matching
Easily source potential candidates by matching open roles to members who fit your criteria. This makes it simpler to narrow down applicants.
For established companies invested in managing their brand and recruiting on LinkedIn, the Premium Business tier provides useful tools. The $49.99 fee may provide positive ROI if it helps capture more leads and top talent.
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It for Recruiters?
Here’s a look at whether investing in Premium’s Hiring plan makes sense for recruiters and HR professionals:
InMail Messages
InMails help make initial outreach during candidate sourcing. You can grab attention even without existing connections.
Candidate Insights
Gain additional context on prospects through verified skills, personalized salary insights, interview prep questions, and more.
Talent Pool Search
Find candidates matching desired job criteria and add them to organized talent pools for current and future openings.
Unlimited Searches
No search limits enable comprehensive research across LinkedIn to surface quality candidates.
With a robust toolset designed specifically for recruiting, the Premium Hiring plan delivers substantial value worth the $99.95 monthly fee for active recruiters making dozens of placements.
Conclusion
Is LinkedIn Premium worth the money? It depends on your specific needs and goals on LinkedIn. Casual users may not find enough value from Premium to justify the cost. But for professionals actively searching for jobs, prospecting leads, promoting a brand, or recruiting talent, the premium features can provide a strong return on investment.
The most utility comes from the ability to directly contact people outside your network with InMail messages. Easy job application, lead gen forms, advanced profile analytics, and customized talent sourcing tools also add value for certain use cases.
Given the premium features tailored to job hunting, sales, branding, and recruiting, LinkedIn Premium can be worth the price. But the free version may still meet basic needs for more casual usage. Consider testing Premium with a free trial first to determine if the expanded capabilities prove worthwhile for achieving your LinkedIn objectives.