LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 800 million members worldwide. LinkedIn allows professionals to connect with each other, find jobs, follow companies, publish content, and learn new skills. LinkedIn offers several premium subscription options that provide additional features and benefits beyond the free basic account.
LinkedIn Premium Career
LinkedIn Premium Career is the core premium offering for individual professionals. It provides the following key benefits:
- See who’s viewed your profile – You can see the full list of who has viewed your profile in the past 90 days, so you know who’s noticed you.
- InMail messages – Send unlimited emails directly to anyone on LinkedIn, even if you’re not connected.
- Salary insights – View salary ranges for similar positions to inform negotiations or switch jobs.
- Interview preparation – Get tips on what to expect, who you’ll be meeting, and how to stand out.
- Resume review – Get expert feedback on your resume from LinkedIn to highlight skills and stand out.
- Learning paths – Access over 15,000 expert-led courses to help advance your skills.
LinkedIn Premium Career costs $29.99 per month when paying monthly or $239.88 per year ($19.99 per month) when paying annually. It is designed for job seekers and working professionals who want to maximize their career opportunities.
LinkedIn Premium Business
LinkedIn Premium Business is tailored for sales and recruiting professionals, providing:
- Unlimited InMail messages
- See who’s viewed your profile
- Salary insights
- Interview preparation
- Up to 50 search filters to find prospects
- Contact search by company, title, location and more
- Unlimited profile visits so prospects don’t know you viewed them
LinkedIn Premium Business costs $64.99 per month when paying monthly or $519.88 per year ($43.32 per month) when paying annually. It’s designed for salespeople, recruiters, and marketers who want to find and engage with clients or prospects.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is LinkedIn’s flagship sales tool. Key features include:
- Lead recommendations – AI-driven recommendations for your best potential prospects.
- Lead insights – Research prospect companies, contacts, and recent news.
- Custom lead lists – Save and export customized lead lists.
- TeamLink – Share saved leads and accounts with your sales team.
- InMail messages
- Who’s Viewed Your Profile
- Interview preparation
LinkedIn Sales Navigator pricing starts at $64.99 per month for the Professional plan when paying monthly. There are also Team and Enterprise options. It’s purpose-built for sales prospecting and pipeline management.
LinkedIn Recruiter
LinkedIn Recruiter empowers talent acquisition professionals to find and engage candidates. Main features include:
- InMail messages
- Unlimited candidate profile views
- Advanced search filters and Boolean search
- Pipeline management and candidate tracking
- Customizable talent pools
- Team collaboration features
LinkedIn Recruiter starts at $119.95 per month for the Professional plan based on annual billing. There are also Corporate and Enterprise options tailored for larger hiring needs. It’s the industry-leading recruiting platform.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda) provides access to over 16,000 professional online courses in business, technology, and creative skills. Key features include:
- Expert-led courses in 7 languages
- New courses added daily
- Offline viewing on mobile app
- Course certificates
- Learning paths to recommend courses
- Skill assessments to showcase strengths
LinkedIn Learning starts at $19.99 per month for individuals when paying monthly or $14.99 per month with annual billing. There are team and enterprise plans available as well. It’s a cost-effective way to develop in-demand skills.
Who can benefit from LinkedIn premium services?
Here are the types of professionals who can benefit most from LinkedIn’s premium offerings:
| Premium Service | Best For |
|---|---|
| LinkedIn Premium Career | Job seekers, working professionals |
| LinkedIn Premium Business | Sales professionals, recruiters, marketers |
| LinkedIn Sales Navigator | Sales teams and individuals |
| LinkedIn Recruiter | Talent acquisition teams and recruiters |
| LinkedIn Learning | Anyone looking to develop professional skills |
What are the advantages of LinkedIn Premium?
Here are some of the main advantages and benefits of LinkedIn’s paid services:
- Expanded reach – Send InMail messages to anyone, opening up new connections
- Deeper insights – See who’s viewed your profile and access salary data to negotiate better
- Saved time – Advanced filters and searches help find prospects and candidates faster
- Personalized guidance – Interview prep, resume reviews, and learning paths tailored to you
- Team collaboration – Share leads, accounts, and candidates cross-team
- More productivity – Unlimited profile views and InMail avoids constant limits
The premium services enhance and accelerate nearly every common activity on LinkedIn, from networking to recruiting to selling. The expanded reach and data-driven insights justify the subscription costs for serious business professionals.
What are the payment options for LinkedIn Premium?
LinkedIn offers flexibility in how you pay for their premium services:
- Monthly billing – Pay month-to-month with no long-term commitment. However, monthly rates are higher than annual rates.
- Annual billing – Prepay for a full year at a discounted annual rate, saving 16-20% compared to monthly billing.
- Credit card – Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover cards accepted.
- Invoice – Request annual invoicing paid by check for Sales Navigator Enterprise and Recruiter Corporate.
Monthly billing offers maximum flexibility while annual billing offers the best rates. Credit card is the most convenient payment method for individuals and small teams. Large enterprises may prefer consolidated annual invoicing.
What are LinkedIn’s premium refund and cancellation policies?
LinkedIn offers different refund and cancellation policies depending on the premium product:
- Premium Career – Monthly plan can be canceled anytime online. Annual plan refunds are prorated if canceling within first 30 days and none thereafter.
- Premium Business – Monthly and annual plans can be canceled anytime online. No refunds are provided on any prepaid amounts.
- Sales Navigator – Monthly plans can be canceled anytime online. Annual plans can be canceled within 3 days for a full refund, after 30 days refunds are prorated, and after 60 days refunds are not provided.
- Recruiter – Monthly plans can be canceled anytime online. Annual plans cannot be canceled but a prorated credit can be requested in limited circumstances.
- Learning – Monthly plan can be canceled online anytime. Annual plan refunds are prorated.
In summary, monthly subscriptions offer the most flexibility to cancel at any time. Annual subscriptions offer bigger discounts but are less flexible on refunds once the initial cancellation period has passed.
Conclusion
LinkedIn premium services provide enhanced tools and insights for professionals to manage their brand, find new opportunities, connect with clients, and recruit talent. While the free LinkedIn experience provides basic networking and profile features, upgrading to premium unlocks more powerful capabilities.
For serious business users, the premium offerings can provide outsized value and ROI compared to their subscription costs. The additional reach, data intelligence, and platform efficiency empower professionals to achieve more LinkedIn results with less effort.
Overall, LinkedIn’s premium tiers are designed to solve core business needs around networking, prospecting, selling, marketing, and hiring. For professionals and organizations that rely heavily on LinkedIn for business outcomes, the premium features likely justify the reasonable price based on expanded capabilities and productivity.
