LinkedIn is the leading B2B and professional networking site, especially for social media marketers.
Itâs an invaluable platform when it comes to personal branding, whether youâre working as an employee or want to start your own social media marketing business.
If you want to find a new employer, start a business, find new clients, or even find employees, LinkedIn is a great place to be.
And as more users are flocking to the platform, many are asking the same question: What is LinkedIn Premium, and is it worth the cost?
Weâre here to answer that today so you can decide whether you want to stick with the free plan or consider upgrading to a paid one.
What is LinkedIn Premium?
LinkedIn Premium is the platformâs paid subscription service that grants access to additional features that can make it easier to accomplish some of your on-platform goals.
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They have tools specific for job seekers (like getting free InMail credits) and for business owners (like see who's viewed your profile).
At the core of these features, job seekers can be found more quickly and have some new options for outreach, and businesses can find potential employees or contractors more easily. Both can develop new skills with LinkedIn Learning.
Youâre also going to get access to more in-depth analytics, get job search results tailored to you, and more.
How Much Does LinkedIn Premium Cost?
LinkedIn Premium has a free one-month trial for all users.
After that, you can choose from the following plans, which start at the listed costs:
- Premium Career is $39.99 USD per month
- Premium Business is $59.99 USD per month when billed annually
- Sales Navigator plans start at $99.99 USD per user per month when billed annually
- Recruiter Lite is $2,399 USD per year (effectively, $199.92 per month)
What LinkedIn Premium Offers Subscribers
LinkedIn Premiumâs features will vary depending on the specific plans that you choose.
Letâs take a look at each, the features offered, and who they each may be best suited for. Â
Career
The Premium Career plan is what many freelancers and job seekers (and some ultra small business owners) choose to use.
It gives you the following benefits:
- 5 InMail credits per month (which allows you to send direct messages to users even if you arenât connected)
- See everyone who has viewed your profile within the past 90 days
- Open Profile (which tells recruiters if youâre open to work)
- Job and applicant insights (showing you how you measure up in search and applicant performance)
- Top applicant job recommendations, giving you better recommendations to find jobs suited for you
- Company insights
- Resume insights
- Access to 16,000 LinkedIn Learning Courses
- Access to interview preparation tools
These benefits are pretty significant if youâre actively using the platform to grow your network and find new, valuable work opportunities.
The Top Applicant job recommendation section is a favorite; it shows which jobs you would make a top applicant for, making it easier for you to find potential positions or contracts that would be a great fit (and more likely to hire you).
The courses are also greatâ whether you need help practicing interview skills, updating a resume, or finding new opportunities, these will help.
Business
Now onto the Business Plan! Youâre going to get everything the Career plan offers, with a little more.
Unlike the Career plan, youâll get:
- 15 InMail credits per month (up from 5 in the Career Plan)
- See who's viewed your profile in the last 365 days (up from 90)
- Unlimited people browsing
For businesses who want to find new connections (employees, contractors, or potential clients), this is a slight step up at an affordable price jump. The extra InMail credits can be worth it if youâll use them.
Sales Navigator Core
The Sales Navigator is in a league of its own. Instead of being used to make a few connections here or there, this is focused almost entirely on lead generation and sales efforts.
There are things in the Career and Business plans that you wonât get at all.
Hereâs what is included in the Sales Navigator Plan:
- Access to the Sales Navigator platform, which is designed around lead generation
- 50 InMail credits per month (up from 15 in the Business Plan)
- See who has viewed your profile in the past 365 days
- Unlimited people browsing
- Custom lead and account lists
- Advanced lead search and account search
- 10,000 saved leads
- Lead recommendations and saved leads
- Open profile
- Real time alerts on leads and accounts
- Company and resume insights
- Access to the 16,000+ learning courses and interview prep tools
For sales teams, this is a great way to go, but this plan likely wonât be a great fit for most of our students who are social media marketers focusing on attracting clients or employers.
Recruiter Lite
Recruiter Lite is another plan that likely wonât be a fit for most of our readers, but for the sake of being thorough, we had to include it.
This plan is, as you may have guessed, perfect for recruiters who are looking to pair businesses up with ideal candidates.
This plan comes with the following features:
- A specialized Recruiter Lite platform
- 30 InMails per month
- Access to 2nd- and 3rd-degree networks
- 20+ advanced search filters
- Candidate search alerts
- Candidate recommendations daily
- Search with smart suggestions
- Personalized outreach with saved templates
- Post a free job
- Projects for organization and tracking
- InMail performance insights
- Jobs analytics
- Company insights
- Access to the LinkedIn learning courses and interview prep tools
If youâre a recruiter, this is obviously an outstanding platform to consider and well worth the cost. For everyone else, the plan likely wonât be a good fit.
How to Sign Up for LinkedIn Premium
You can sign up for LinkedIn premium through your account, or you can click here.
When you do, youâll see this chart:
Weâve covered everything in this post, but you can click on the option youâre interested in to learn more and get started.
You can then start your free trial, which is currently 30 days. LinkedIn lets you know that theyâll reach out a week before your free trial ends so you can cancel if you wish.
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It?
LinkedIn Premium may not be right for everyone, but thereâs a good chance that one or more of their plans will be an great fit for many different business owners and marketers.
It's definitely worth it, but only if you have the need for it. Iâve personally used it myself since 2016, and itâs helped me learn a lot, gain more visibility, and get a competitive edge.
If youâre going all in on the platform, even their lowest-cost Career Plan can give you a ton of insights, useful features, and resources that can help advance your career.
There are a few specific scenarios where Linkedin Premium may be particularly beneficial. Letâs take a look at each.
When Youâre Looking for a New Job
Social media marketing jobs are everywhere, but you have to know where to look if you want to snag one. LinkedIn can help with that.
Plenty of companies make sure their jobs show up on LinkedIn, and the Top Applicant search can help you find jobs that are a good fit for what youâre looking for and that you have a solid chance of at least getting an interview for.
Their interview practice and resume resources are also invaluable when youâre looking for a conventional job. You can make sure that youâll be able to put the best foot forward to really give yourself a fighting chance, even if you know you already have the skills needed for the position.
Keep in mind that you can choose between a monthly and annual plan. We recommend choosing the monthly Career plan while youâre actively looking and then cancel your subscription when youâre not. Even if you only need it short-term, it can help.
When Youâre a Freelancer Trying to Find Clients
Many of the Social Media College members go on to become freelance social media marketing practitioners.
When you do work as a freelancer, itâs important to always have a steady stream of clients coming through the door. You never want to put all your eggs in one basket because thereâs little to no job security, even with a contract.
The Career plan can be incredibly helpful for this. InMail credits allow you to reach out to prospective clients; the insights showing you how you stack up against other competitors in search is exceptional, and the Top Applicant feature can even help identify relevant freelance positions.
You can also use the âWhoâs viewed your profileâ to see what industries your profile seems to be connecting with, and who is seeing your profile. You can use this data to tweak your profileâs keywords and see how it influences results.
Freelancers can take advantage of these benefits on a month-to-month basis, especially when youâre actively working on building up a client base or building a brand.
When Youâre a Business Owner or Agency Owner
Do you have or want to start your own business or social media marketing agency? LinkedIn Premium may be a great option.
It helps with your own visibility but comes with strong features to speed up the process of finding and reaching out to clients, opening the door for more cold-calling on-platform.
And when youâre ready to scale, you can use the Premium features to find strong, qualified candidates to work alongside you, either as employees or contractors.
If you are planning on using LinkedIn Premium to grow your business or agency, either the Career or the Business plans could be a fit for you. Our recommendation would be to start with the Career plan, see how often youâre using it and how youâre using it.
If youâre consistently using your InMail credits early on in the month, for example, consider upgrading to the Business Plan.
When Youâre Establishing a Personal Brand
Are you primarily using the LinkedIn platform to build your personal brand?
Whether youâre happily employed and just want to be a stand-out name in the industry, LinkedIn is a great choice. Everyone can benefit from building a personal brand long-term, regardless of their immediate employment status or goals.
The enhanced analytics features are fantastic when you want to work on branding on-platform. You can see how your profile is measuring up in search, as well as how much activity your profile is getting.
The ability to see how many people are viewing your profile (and who!) over an extended period of time can also make it easier to assess performance, potential reach, and visibility.
If this is a goal youâre actively pursuing, itâs worth testing the Career Plan. It's a relatively low investment for some extra insights that may make your efforts more effective.
Final Thoughts
LinkedIn Premium is not a necessityâ with the free version of LinkedIn you can still apply for jobs, build a brand and get basic insights on who has viewed your profile in the past few days.
However, the Premium plans offer a great return on investment in the situations we discussed above. It comes down to how youâre using the platform, what features you need, and how you can benefit.
Looking for more ways to improve your LinkedIn marketing efforts and strategy, either for your own brand or your clients? Check out our social media marketing plans here.
