LinkedIn Premium is LinkedIn’s paid subscription service that provides users with additional features beyond the free basic account. With over 800 million members, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform and having a premium account can provide several advantages for career-minded professionals looking to maximize their LinkedIn presence. However, what exactly do you get with a premium subscription and how much does it cost? Let’s take a closer look at the pricing and benefits of LinkedIn Premium.
LinkedIn Premium Pricing Plans
LinkedIn offers four premium subscription options: Premium Career, Premium Business, Sales Navigator Professional, and Recruiter Lite. The prices vary based on the plan:
Plan | Price (per month) |
---|---|
Premium Career | $29.99 |
Premium Business | $59.99 |
Sales Navigator Professional | $79.99 |
Recruiter Lite | $99.95 |
The Premium Career and Premium Business plans are geared towards individual professionals looking to boost their personal brand and network. The Sales Navigator and Recruiter plans target sales professionals and recruiters/HR staffing needs specifically.
All premium plans are billed on a monthly basis but offer discounts for annual subscriptions. For example, Premium Career drops to $239.88/year if paying annually rather than $29.99 month-to-month. There are also options for 2-year subscriptions with additional savings.
Some companies choose to purchase enterprise-level plans for their entire organization starting at $1800/month. Volume discounts are available.
Benefits of LinkedIn Premium
So what do you actually get as a LinkedIn Premium subscriber? Here are some of the key benefits across the different plans:
Messaging
One of the biggest advantages of premium is gaining access to LinkedIn’s messaging system. This allows you to connect with any member via private 1-to-1 messages without needing to be directly connected first. You can also send InMail messages to those you’re not connected with.
Profile Branding
Premium unlock additional profile options to better highlight your skills, experience, and interests. You can display up to 15 skill endorsements on your profile with Premium Career. With Premium Business, you can showcase up to 50 endorsements.
You also gain access to premium templates and branding options for your profile background photo. This allows you to stand out and look more professional.
Search
LinkedIn Premium includes advanced search filters and preferences so you can really drill down to find the right people and jobs. For example, you can search for 2nd degree connections, filter by company, title, location, and more.
Insights
Premium accounts provide more data and analytics about your LinkedIn activity and engagement. You can see more profile views, search appearances, and breakdowns of your network.
Learning and Development
Premium Business unlocks LinkedIn Learning with over 15,000+ expert-led video courses. This can help you pick up new skills for career or personal development.
Salary Insights
With a premium account, you can access salary data for specific job titles and companies so you can benchmark pay during your job search and negotiations.
Premium Networking
Certain geographic areas provide access to exclusive LinkedIn Premium networking events. These are opportunities for high-quality in-person interactions.
Recruiting (Sales Navigator and Recruiter accounts)
For sales professionals, Sales Navigator provides lead recommendations, TeamLink collaboration, and custom sales pipelines.
With Recruiter Lite, recruiters and hiring managers can post jobs, search the database, and manage candidates.
Who Can Benefit from LinkedIn Premium?
Given the variety of additional features, LinkedIn Premium can benefit several groups:
Job Seekers
Premium allows job seekers to unlock LinkedIn’s capabilities for finding the right people and opportunities. Messaging, profile visibility, and salary data help job hunters network and assess options.
Business Owners / Freelancers
Entrepreneurs and freelancers can use Premium to build their personal brand, connect with prospects, showcase their expertise, and generate leads.
Recruiters and HR Professionals
Premium recruiting plans provide sourcing and coordination tools for finding and engaging candidates more efficiently. Useful for corporate recruiters or staffing agencies.
Sales Professionals
The Sales Navigator plan helps sales connect with the right prospects and accounts. Lead recommendations and workflow features help manage deals.
Students
Students and recent graduates can leverage Premium to network, find mentors, research companies, and prepare for career fairs or internship/job searches.
Anyone Seeking Career Growth
From networking to skills training, Premium provides tools to help working professionals at any stage advance their career development and opportunities.
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It?
Whether LinkedIn Premium offers a worthwhile investment depends greatly on your individual needs and career goals.
For some professionals, the free account provides what they need for basic networking and profile visibility. But Premium can certainly fast-track networking, job searching, and branding goals.
The expanded search options alone can radically expand opportunities and connections that may be harder to find in the basic free account. Plus, the ability to message anyone greatly enhances relationship-building.
Here are some key questions to consider when assessing the value of upgrading to premium:
– How actively are you networking and looking to connect to new people?
– Is your current public profile helping you stand out and attract the right opportunities?
– Are you reaching out cold to hiring managers, recruiters, sales prospects?
– Are you struggling to find the right openings or qualified candidates?
– Do you want access to practical learning content beyond your current expertise?
– How critical is it to gain data-driven insights on salary comps and profile engagement?
For those answering “yes” to several of these questions, the premium features can justify the monthly or yearly fees, especially when divided across 12 months.
You can also choose to upgrade to Premium temporarily for a specific need, such as job searching or reaching out to sales prospects, and then downgrade later. This provides maximum value during the most critical periods.
Conclusion
LinkedIn Premium provides four paid subscription options ranging from $29.99/month for Premium Career up to $99.95/month for Recruiter Lite.
The plans unlock additional features for messaging, branding, insights, and recruiting. This expands LinkedIn’s capabilities for networking, brand-building, job searching, client outreach, and talent management.
While not always essential, Premium can provide substantial value and ROI for various professionals at different career stages who actively leverage LinkedIn for advancement.
The investment proves most worthwhile for those needing to maximize search options, build connections, promote their expertise, and uncover data insights — especially when strategically used during pivotal career moments.
By thoughtfully assessing your needs and goals, you can determine if one of the Premium plans is a prudent investment to boost your LinkedIn presence and unlock its full professional networking potential.