LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 700 million members. Having a strong LinkedIn presence can be invaluable for networking, building your personal brand, promoting your business, and finding new career opportunities.
While you can use LinkedIn for free, LinkedIn Premium unlocks additional features that allow you to get more out of the platform. With three paid subscription options to choose from, picking the right LinkedIn Premium plan for your needs can be tricky.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll compare LinkedIn’s three premium plans — Premium Career, Premium Business, and Sales Navigator — on price, ideal users, and key features to help you determine the best premium plan for you or your business.
LinkedIn Premium Plans Overview
Here’s a quick overview of LinkedIn’s premium offerings:
LinkedIn Premium Career
– Ideal for: Job seekers and individual professionals
– Cost: $29.99/month or $239.88/year
LinkedIn Premium Business
– Ideal for: Small business owners, recruiters, marketing professionals
– Cost: $49.99/month or $499.88/year
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
– Ideal for: Sales professionals
– Cost: $79.99/month or $779.88/year for the Professional plan, $119.95/month or $1,199.50/year for the Team plan
Now let’s take a deeper look at what each plan offers.
Comparing Key Features
Here’s an overview of the key features included in each LinkedIn premium subscription:
Messaging
Feature | Premium Career | Premium Business | Sales Navigator |
---|---|---|---|
Send InMail messages | 15 per month | 25 per month | 50 per month (Pro), 100 per month (Team) |
See full profiles of anyone who views your profile | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
The ability to send InMail messages to anyone on LinkedIn, even if you’re not connected, is a key differentiator of the paid plans. This allows you to directly reach top talent, prospective clients, and decision-makers.
Sales Navigator has the highest InMail allowance, enabling sales professionals to efficiently contact more prospects.
Profile Views & Networking
Feature | Premium Career | Premium Business | Sales Navigator |
---|---|---|---|
See who viewed your profile | Last 90 days | Last 90 days | Last 90 days |
Expanded network recommendations | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Advanced profile filters | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
All paid plans let you see who has viewed your profile in the last 90 days, a feature that’s not available with a free account.
You also get advanced filters to target networking outreach and expanded recommendations to grow your network faster.
Job Seeking
Feature | Premium Career | Premium Business | Sales Navigator |
---|---|---|---|
Apply with 1-click | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
See salary ranges | ✔️ | ||
Get interview preparation | ✔️ |
Premium Career is specifically designed for job seekers, with unique tools to simplify the application process, view salary ranges, and get interview prep assistance.
The other plans focus more on recruiting, branding, and sales rather than job seeking.
Content Publishing & Distribution
Feature | Premium Career | Premium Business | Sales Navigator |
---|---|---|---|
Create professional posts | ✔️ | ||
Publish long-form articles | ✔️ | ||
Schedule and promote posts | ✔️ |
Premium Business unlocks LinkedIn’s content marketing features, allowing you to publish long-form articles, schedule posts, and promote content to a targeted audience.
This makes it the ideal choice for building brand awareness and driving website traffic. The other plans do not include these publishing and distribution tools.
Analytics & Insights
Feature | Premium Career | Premium Business | Sales Navigator |
---|---|---|---|
See post analytics | ✔️ | ||
Talent pool and lead recommendations | ✔️ | ||
Account statistics and notifications | ✔️ |
Premium Business provides metrics on your posts and content performance.
Sales Navigator takes insights a step further by recommending leads and accounts to target as well as tracking notifications and statistics on outreach activity.
Recruiting Tools
Feature | Premium Career | Premium Business | Sales Navigator |
---|---|---|---|
Post jobs | ✔️ | ||
Search extended profiles | ✔️ | ✔️ | |
Send recruiter InMail | ✔️ |
Premium Business and Sales Navigator allow searching extended profiles outside your network to find the right people to hire.
Only Premium Business enables posting jobs and sending InMail specifically designed for recruiters.
Conclusion
So which LinkedIn premium plan is best? Here’s a quick recap:
– Premium Career is ideal for job seekers wanting to accelerate their job search and career advancement.
– Premium Business is designed for small businesses, HR professionals, and marketers to post jobs, publish content, and promote their brand.
– Sales Navigator provides sales-specific tools for finding new leads, tracking prospecting activity, and engaging accounts.
Overall, Premium Career offers the best value for individual subscribers focused on their career.
Premium Business is great for small companies wanting to tap into LinkedIn for recruiting and marketing.
Sales Navigator is worth the higher price for sales teams wanting to maximize their LinkedIn presence and results.
The best LinkedIn premium plan depends on your specific goals and which features are most important to you or your business. Evaluate your needs and compare the key benefits above to choose the right LinkedIn paid subscription.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a free LinkedIn account?
Yes, you can use LinkedIn for free, but you’ll be limited in your ability to connect with others and access LinkedIn’s full features. Free accounts can only send InMail to 1st-degree connections and don’t include insights on profile views or advanced networking and job search tools.
What’s the difference between Premium Career and Premium Business?
Premium Career focuses on individual job seekers with features like 1-click apply, interview prep, and salary info. Premium Business is designed for businesses, with capabilities for posting jobs, publishing long-form posts, promoting content, and tracking post analytics.
Is Sales Navigator worth the higher price?
For sales professionals, Sales Navigator is likely worth the investment. It includes the highest InMail allowance so salespeople can contact more prospects. The plan also provides lead recommendations, statistics on outreach, and tracking prospecting activity.
Can I purchase an annual LinkedIn premium subscription?
Yes, annual subscriptions are available for Premium Career, Premium Business, and Sales Navigator, which can save you about 30% compared to paying month-to-month. Just select the annual billing option when signing up to pay for the full year upfront.
Can I try a free trial first?
LinkedIn offers 30-day free trials for Premium Career, Premium Business, and Sales Navigator. Trying before you buy is a great way to experience the benefits firsthand. Just be sure to cancel before the trial ends to avoid being charged.