Updated October 2024
If you are using a basic (free) LinkedIn account, then you can only message people that you are already connected with.
If you want to message people that you aren’t already connected to, then you need to upgrade to a paid plan.
LinkedIn offers two types of paid plans: LinkedIn Sales Navigator and LinkedIn Premium.
In this article, I will compare LinkedIn Sales Navigator to LinkedIn Premium, and I’ll tell you which plan you should choose.
- What’s the difference between Sales Navigator and Premium?
- Which is better for salespeople?
- What type of person should use LinkedIn Sales Navigator?
- What type of person should use LinkedIn Premium?
There are three main differences between LinkedIn Sales Navigator and LinkedIn Premium:
Price:
LinkedIn Sales Navigator costs $97 USD per month.
LinkedIn Premium Business costs $60 USD per month.
As you can see, there isn’t much of a difference in price between the two options. However, Sales Navigator gives you a lot more, so I recommend that you pay the extra amount to get access to Sales Navigator.
Lead searching:
Only LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows you to search for leads in their lead searching platform.
Sales Navigator has over 25 search filters that you can use to narrow your search.
This is perfect for salespeople that are doing outbound B2B sales.
If you use LinkedIn Premium, then you can’t search for leads in this same lead searching platform, which is a major disadvantage if you are doing outbound sales.
InMail credits:
LinkedIn Sales Navigator gives you 50 InMail credits per month.
LinkedIn Premium Business only gives you 15 InMail credits per month.
As mentioned earlier in this article, LinkedIn only allows you to send messages to people if you are already connected with them.
The only way to message someone that you aren’t already connected with is to send an “InMail” message from a paid LinkedIn account.
If you use LinkedIn Sales Navigator, then you can message up to 50 people each month that you aren’t connected to. LinkedIn Premium only allows you to message 15 people per month.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the better option for salespeople.
It has more features, and also allows you to search for leads with over 25 search filters.
One of the most important parts of a salesperson’s job is to find relevant leads to reach out to. If you use LinkedIn Premium, then you won’t be able to find these leads. You need to use Sales Navigator to find leads for your outbound campaigns.
If you’re a salesperson, then I recommend that you check out my article How To Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator To Generate Leads. In this article, I show you how to maximize your results with Sales Navigator.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is ideal for salespeople.
If you are a SDR or entrepreneur doing outbound B2B sales, then Sales Navigator is a good solution.
Additionally, you can use Emailchaser’s LinkedIn Email Finder extension to export your leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator with their email addresses as a .csv file.
You can then upload these exported leads to your sales CRM or cold email sending tool (like Emailchaser) and send them personalized cold emails.
LinkedIn Premium is for people that want to reach out to prospects occasionally, but not in a full time capacity.
You might be looking for a new job or trying to hire someone; these would be good reasons to use LinkedIn Premium.
If you are doing outbound sales, then I highly recommend that you use Sales Navigator (not Premium).
If you are a salesperson or entrepreneur doing outbound B2B sales, then I recommend that you use LinkedIn Sales Navigator (not Premium).
If you are interested in learning more about the intricacies of LinkedIn, then check out my article Linkedin InMail vs Message: What is the Difference?
Also, check out my other article How To Get Verified Emails From LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
Article by
George Wauchope
Founder of Emailchaser.
I have been working in the sales & marketing industry for nearly a decade.
When I’m not working on my business, I enjoy eating sushi & doing jiu-jitsu.
Address: 151 Calle de San Francisco San Juan, Puerto Rico
Email: [email protected]
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