LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 800 million members worldwide. It allows professionals to connect, share content, and find opportunities. LinkedIn offers several premium packages that provide additional features beyond the basic free account.
LinkedIn Free Account
The LinkedIn free account allows you to create a profile, connect with other professionals, join groups, follow companies, and search jobs. With a free account you can:
- Create a profile with your resume, skills, experiences, and accomplishments
- Connect with professionals in your network and beyond
- Join industry groups to connect with professionals in your field
- Follow companies to get updates on new jobs and content
- Search and apply for jobs posted on LinkedIn
- View profiles of 3rd degree connections
- Send connection requests to 1st degree connections
The LinkedIn free account has some limitations. You cannot:
- Send messages to people outside your 1st degree network
- See full profiles and contact info of 2nd & 3rd degree connections
- Use advanced search filters to target your search
- See who viewed your profile
- Use Premium insights like salary data
The LinkedIn free account works well for establishing an online professional presence and making connections within your existing network. However, to maximize the benefits of LinkedIn for networking, recruiting, and branding, you may need one of the paid packages.
LinkedIn Premium Career
LinkedIn Premium Career is the basic paid package designed for professionals and job seekers. It costs $29.99 per month with an annual subscription. Here are the key features of Premium Career:
- InMail Credits: Send messages to anyone on LinkedIn, even if you’re not connected.
- Profile Badges: Display badges like “Open to Work” to stand out.
- Expanded Network: See unlimited 3rd degree connections and full profiles.
- Advanced Search: Use filters like location, company size, and experience level to target your search.
- Salary Insights: See estimated salary ranges for jobs.
- Interview Preparation: Get tips on preparing for interviews.
- Profile Customization: Add customizable modules and multimedia to your profile.
Premium Career empowers job seekers to reach recruiters, showcase skills, get salary insights, and find the right opportunities. It’s ideal for those actively looking for a new position.
LinkedIn Premium Business
LinkedIn Premium Business is designed for sales & marketing professionals to generate leads, advertise, and build relationships. It costs $64.99 per month with an annual subscription. Here are the key features of Premium Business:
- InMail Credits: Reach decision makers that you’re not connected to.
- Lead Recommendations: Discover new leads based on demographic filters.
- Search within Company Pages: Identify the right people within target companies.
- Advanced Company Filters: Target companies by industry, size, location and more.
- Message Ads: Send messages to your target audience to generate leads.
- Expanded Network: Unlock unlimited 3rd degree connections and full profiles.
Premium Business provides sales professionals with tools to identify, connect with, and convert prospects on LinkedIn. It’s ideal for B2B companies using LinkedIn for lead generation.
LinkedIn Premium Sales
LinkedIn Premium Sales has all the Premium Business features plus additional sales-focused capabilities. It costs $99.99 per month with an annual subscription. Added features include:
- Lead Recommendations: Get recommendations for members likely to convert to opportunities based on engagement metrics and interactions.
- Automatic Lead Capture: Save leads automatically when prospects meet certain criteria to focus on hot leads.
- TeamLink: Share saved leads and search alerts with your sales team.
- Sales Directory: Get contact info like email addresses for leads when available through integrations with sales tools.
- Team Accounts & Admin Tools: Add managers, track usage, customize roles and permissions.
Premium Sales supercharges prospecting and streamlines the lead conversion process for sales teams. It adds automation and collaboration capabilities on top of Premium Business.
LinkedIn Premium Hiring
LinkedIn Premium Hiring is designed for recruiters and talent acquisition teams. It costs $99.95 per month with an annual subscription. Key features include:
- InMail Credits: Contact passive candidates not actively job searching.
- Candidate Insights: See assessment scores for critical soft skills like collaboration, drive, and adaptability.
- Starred Candidate Profiles: Easily save candidates to review later.
- Interview Preparation: Get tips on preparing for interviews.
- Pipeline Manager: Organize candidates into process stages like “screening” and “final interview.”
- Team Accounts & Admin Tools: Add recruiting managers, customize roles and permissions.
Premium Hiring provides specialized tools to source, assess, and manage candidates throughout the hiring process. It’s designed for corporate recruiters and staffing agencies.
LinkedIn Premium Learning
LinkedIn Premium Learning provides access to over 16,000 expert-led courses covering business, technology, and creative skills. It costs $29.99 per month with an annual subscription. Key features include:
- Unlimited access to curated courses for personal and professional development.
- New courses added every week across a diverse range of topics.
- Download courses to learn offline, on your schedule.
- Earn certifications by completing project-based assessments.
- Get customized course recommendations based on your goals and interests.
- Share and discuss learning progress with other learners.
Premium Learning is ideal for anyone looking to gain new skills and knowledge for their career or personal growth.
LinkedIn Premium Comparison
Here is a comparison of the key features across the different LinkedIn Premium packages:
Feature | Career | Business | Sales | Hiring | Learning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
InMail Credits | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Expanded Network | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Advanced Search Filters | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Message Ads | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Leads & Recommendations | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Salary Insights | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Candidate Management & Insights | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Team Accounts & Admin Tools | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Learning Courses | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Which LinkedIn Premium is Right for Me?
Choosing the right LinkedIn Premium package depends on your goals and needs:
- Premium Career – Best for active job seekers looking to expand reach and uncover opportunities.
- Premium Business – Ideal for sales & marketing focused on generating leads with LinkedIn.
- Premium Sales – Provides automation for high-volume B2B sales prospecting and conversions.
- Premium Hiring – Made for corporate and agency recruiters to source and manage talent.
- Premium Learning – Best for anyone looking to build skills and get career-boosting certifications.
Evaluate your specific objectives and team size to determine which premium offering delivers the capabilities with maximum impact.
Do I need a Premium Account?
Here are some signs it may be time to upgrade to a Premium package:
- You’re spending more time networking and connecting with new people.
- You want to contact people outside your 1st degree network.
- You need advanced search filters to find the right job or hire.
- You want to advertise or do targeted outreach at scale.
- You need pipeline management and collaboration tools.
- You want certification for professional development.
The expanded reach, insights, and tools provided by LinkedIn Premium empower professionals to achieve their career and business goals faster. Evaluate the features that would create the most value for you.
Conclusion
LinkedIn provides a range of premium packages tailored to common use cases – from job seeking, to sales, recruiting, and learning. Choose the plan that aligns with your objectives and provides the capabilities that will maximize your impact. With the expanded reach and tools of premium, you can accomplish more on the world’s largest professional network.