You may have been wondering what the difference is between a basic LinkedIn account and a Premium one.

Hovering over your photo thumbnail in the upper right corner of your profile will reveal a drop down menu where you can click to try Premium for 1 month free.

You will be brought to LinkedIn’s Premium Services Page, where you will then have the option to select a Premium upgrade tailored to whether you are in job search, looking to promote your business, makes sales or hire talent. The cost for each varies and as of January 2017, is as follows:

  • Career: $29.99/mo
  • Business (Business Plus): $47.99/mo
  • Sales (Sales Navigator Professional): $64.99/mo
  • Hiring (Recruiter Lite): $99.95/mo

According to LinkedIn Help, a basic account is for “anyone who wants to create and maintain a professional profile online.” Premium accounts are for those will specific goals, who want to get more out of LinkedIn. My unscientific observation is that more and more people are subscribing to LinkedIn® Premium.

Although I still believe that for most users, a free account will get you most of the value you need, I feel it’s only fair to mention that there are advantages to LinkedIn® Premium. With LinkedIn® Premium, you get a “Premium” label in the upper right of your heading that draws attention to your profile. And you have a greater ability to view other people’s profiles, see who has viewed you so you can reach out to them, and write to whomever you want on LinkedIn®. With Sales Navigator, you’ll have the capability of adding notes and tags for all your connections, a feature that was eliminated from the free account in March 2017.

For more about the special features available to Premium users, see LinkedIn Help’s Premium Account FAQs under Specific Features & Account Types.

If these features are important to you, you might choose to subscribe to a paid package and see if you get value that equals or exceeds the investment. I’m holding out for now.

Categories: LinkedIn, Social Media

5 Comments

  1. Thanks so much for sharing this valuable information, Brenda. I think LinkedIn’s design changes are exciting and look forward to seeing them rolled out.

  3. Thanks for the great tip, Brenda! I applied. I had a premium page for a year — I got it for free via one of their promos — and I didn’t find any value in it. I understand that recruiters find the extra functionality useful, but job seekers and career consultants? I’m not seeing it.

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