LinkedIn Premium vs. LinkedIn Sales Navigator: What's the Best for You?
LinkedIn Premium vs. LinkedIn Sales Navigator: What's the Best for You?

LinkedIn Premium VS LinkedIn Sales Navigator: What's the Best for You?

On LinkedIn, you have the free plan, or you can pay to access the paid features of LinkedIn.

You have two options:

  1. LinkedIn Premium 

  2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

(and Recruiter, but I will not cover this plan in this article)

But which one is the BEST for you?

In this guide, you will learn:

  • What is LinkedIn Premium?

  • What is LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

  • Premium vs Sales Navigator: Feature Comparison

  • Which Plan Should You Pick?

What is LinkedIn Premium?

LinkedIn Premium is a paid LinkedIn subscription.

You have 2 plans in Premium:

  1. Premium Career

  2. Premium Business

With Premium, you can see your profile viewers, send InMails, send way more connection requests to 2nd and 3rd degree connections and have access to LinkedIn ressources like LinkedIn Training.

📺 If you want to check if LinkedIn Premium is worth it for you, or not, you can check this video:

What is LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a LinkedIn paid plan.

You have 3 plans:

  1. Sales Navigator Core

  2. Sales Navigator Advanced

  3. Sales Navigator Advanced Plus

It's one of the best tool on the market to find leads, because of the search filters.

It's mostly used by CEOs, sales and marketing teams to source leads.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator search filters

📺 If you want to learn how to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can check this in-depth tutorial:

Now it's time to see the differences between LinkedIn Premium and LinkedIn Sales Navigator:

LinkedIn Premium VS LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Features comparaison

Let's compare the feature of these 2 plans.

LinkedIn Premium features

  1. See your profile viewers

With a LinkedIn paid plan, you have access to the page "Profile viewers".

With this feature, you can see who saw your profile recently.

You can even apply some filters to better find leads that match your ideal customers. Then, you can leverage this information when you send a message to the leads.

For example:

"Hi Vincent, I noticed you saw my profile."

  1. Send InMail messages

InMail credits allow you to message LinkedIn members you're not connected with. Unlike standard messages, which require a connection, InMails lets you reach out directly.

They are useful if you want to send a message to someone in your 2nd or 3rd degree connections without sending a connection request.

Here's how it looks like on LinkedIn if I send a connection request:

What Are LinkedIn InMail Credits?

Sending InMail is useful when you want to reach decision-makers or potential clients who are not directly connected to you.

💡 Pro tip: you can send an InMail to people who haven't accepted your connection request yet.

Pending connection request

Here are the number of InMail credits you get depending of your Premium plan:

LinkedIn Plan

Monthly InMail Credits

Premium Career

5

Premium Business

15

📺 If you want to learn more about how InMail messages work, you can check this video:

  1. Unlimited searches

With a LinkedIn Premium plan, you can do the number of LinkedIn searches you want.

You won't be capped by LinkedIn, saying "You've done too many searches".

It's useful if you want to find specific leads.

Pro tip: Check LinkedIn’s limits to see what actions are allowed based on your plan (Free, Premium, or Sales Navigator).

LinkedIn Sales Navigator features

With LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you have more features compared to a Premium plan.

  1. See your profile viewers

You have access to the page "Profile viewers".

But you also have the same information on Sales Navigator. It's the best way to check your profile viewers, because you can add more filters.

For example, people who are CEO, in New Work… and who saw your profile recently.

📺 If you want to learn how to see your profile viewers, you can check this tutorial:

  1. Send (more) InMail messages

With Sales Navigator, you have 50 InMail credits per month.

You can use these credits to reach out to ideal clients without sending a connection request.

LinkedIn Plan

Monthly InMail Credits

Sales Navigator Core

50

Sales Navigator Advanced

50

Sales Navigator Enterprise

50

  1. Use Boolean Search

On Sales Navigator, you can narrow down your search by using booleans operators.

It helps you to get very specific search query to find your ideal customers.

You can use 5 boolean operators:

  1. OR

  2. AND

  3. NOT

  4. (Bracket)

  5. "Quotes"

Here’s a quick breakdown:

Operator

What It Does

Example

"Quotes"

Search for exact phrases

"Head of Growth" → only profiles with this full title

OR

Include one OR the other

Marketing OR Sales → either word works

AND

Include both terms

Founder AND CEO → both terms must appear

NOT

Exclude specific words

Sales NOT Assistant → removes Assistant profiles

(Parentheses)

Combine logic in complex queries

(VP OR Head) AND Marketing

For example, if you want to reach out to a decision maker in marketing, you can write this in the "Current Job Title" filter:

("VP" OR "Head") AND "Marketing" NOT "Assistant"

How to use boolean operators in LinkedIn Sales Navigator

📺 If you want to check how to use the boolean operators in LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can check this video:

  1. Advanced search filters

This is the most useful and powerful feature of LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

It allows you to build qualified list of leads with various filters.

If you want to check the lead filters, you can go on the homepage of Sales Navigator:

Sales Navigator lead filters

Then, you will find all the filters from Sales Navigator.

For example, you can filter your leads by:

All the lead filters from Sales Navigator

The only thing you can't do with LinkedIn Sales Navigator is to export your leads into a CSV or Excel file.

To export your leads you can use a tool like GiveMeLeads.

Here is step by step guide on how to export leads:

Step 1: Create a GiveMeLeads account

Go on GiveMeLeads. Then click on "Get first 10 leads for free".

Then, you have to write your:

  1. First Name

  2. Last Name

  3. Email

  4. Password

And click on "Create account".

Create a GiveMeLeads account

Step 2: Download the Chrome Extension

The GiveMeLeads Chrome extension allows you to export your LinkedIn Sales Navigator leads with one click.

It's not mandatory to use it — you can also copy and paste the Sales Navigator search URL directly into the platform.

However, using the extension makes the process faster and easier, especially if you're just getting started.

How to install GiveMeLeads chrome extension

Step 3: Select your target on LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Go to LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Use filters to find your ideal leads (like job title, company size, or location).

Then click “Extract leads” using the GiveMeLeads extension or paste the search URL on the platform.

Extract leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator with GiveMeLeads

Step 4: Add Intent Data (Optional)

Depending on your GiveMeLeads plan, you can add intent data to your searches.

It’s a great way to find warm leads — people who are more likely to reply or book a call.

Let’s say your LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters are:

  • Company size: 51–200 employees

  • Job title: “Head of Sales”

  • Location: San Francisco Bay Area

On top of that, GiveMeLeads will look for people who match these filters and show intent, such as:

  • 1st-degree connections

  • People in your competitors’ network

  • People who follow your company page

  • People who viewed your LinkedIn profile

Once you’ve selected your intent data sources, click “Save Changes”

Choose your sources of LinkedIn data from GiveMeLeads

💡 Pro tip: You can set priorities for each source. For example, you can give more weight to 1st-degree connections than profile viewers.

💡Pro tip #2: If you work with multiple sales reps (or co-founders), you can use all of their LinkedIn accounts to get more and better leads. Each account brings its own network, 1st-degree connections, and profile viewers — which means more warm leads for your team.

Step 5: Launch your export

You target is set up. Now it's time to export your leads.

For that, click on "New Leads Export".

Start to export leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator with GiveMeLeads

You will get a pop-up where you can select:

  • The number of leads you want to export

  • If you want to schedule this export on a weekly basis.

Then click on "Export Leads".

Choose how many leads you want to export on GiveMeLeads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Step 6: Schedule Your Leads Export (Optional)

GiveMeLeads lets you schedule lead exports. Pick the day you want, and you’ll receive fresh leads weekly.

Once set up, you'll get a fresh list of leads every week — automatically.

Each lead is unique, and the system ensures there are no duplicates. This saves you time and keeps your CRM clean, so you can focus on outreach, not data cleaning.

Schedule a lead export on GiveMeLeads

Then, you’ll automatically receive new leads every week — no manual work needed.

You can focus 100% on what really matters: sending emails, starting LinkedIn conversations, and booking meetings.

Schedule feature of GiveMeLeads to export leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator

💡 Pro tip: With scheduled exports, you can easily build lead files with more than 2,500 fresh, qualified contacts delivered straight to your inbox every week.

Step 7: Download your leads file

When your export is finished, you’ll receive an email with a download link.

Get leads from GiveMeLeads in your email inbox

You can also download your file directly by clicking the "Download" button in your dashboard. You’ll see two options.

How to download your lead list on GiveMeLeads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator
  1. "Open in Sheets"

This gives you a simple version of your lead list.

You have:

  • Source (Sales Navigator, 1st-degree, profile viewers…)

  • First Name

  • Last Name

  • Profile picture

  • Company name

  • Job title

  • Headline

  • LinkedIn URL

  • Email

It doesn’t include all the data, but it’s perfect if you just want to import leads into your CRM or outreach tool like Lemlist or Expandi.

Exemple of lead export from GiveMeLeads
  1. "Download CSV"

This gives you the full file with all available data. For each lead, you’ll see extra info like:

  • Whether they have LinkedIn Premium

  • Their total years of experience

  • Company details like size, industry, and location

  • Etc

Here's all the informations you can have:

filters

source

source_info

first_name

last_name

linkedin_url

linkedin_id

email

email_status

job_title

location

profile_picture_url

recent_posts_count

connection_degree

is_premium

is_open

headline

summary

current_companies_count

company_name

company_linkedin_id

company_website

company_location

company_industry

company_employee_count

company_employee_count_range

company_type

company_year_founded

company_specialties

company_description

duration_in_company

duration_in_role

VALID

Sales Navigator


John

Smith

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsmith

ACwAAAEXAMPLE1

john.smith@example.com

Verified

CEO

New York, United States

https://example.com/photo1.jpg

2

FIRST_DEGREE

TRUE

TRUE

Helping SaaS startups scale faster | CEO at NovaTech

Experienced CEO passionate about B2B SaaS, growth marketing, and building winning sales teams.

1

NovaTech

123456

https://www.novatech.com

New York, United States

Information Technology

45

11-50

PRIVATELY_HELD

2015

B2B SaaS;Sales Automation;CRM Tools

NovaTech builds modern tools to help sales teams close more deals, faster.

36 months

36 months

VALID

Sales Navigator


Emily

Johnson

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyjohnson

ACwAAAEXAMPLE2

emily.johnson@example.com

Verified

CMO

Chicago, Illinois, United States

https://example.com/photo2.jpg

3

SECOND_DEGREE

TRUE

FALSE

Marketing Leader at BrightWave | Helping brands grow with storytelling

I lead the marketing team at BrightWave, combining creative storytelling with strategy.

1

BrightWave

654321

https://www.brightwave.io

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Marketing and Advertising

85

51-100

PRIVATELY_HELD

2012

Brand Strategy;Content Marketing;Digital Ads

BrightWave helps businesses shine with strategic marketing and bold storytelling.

60 months

48 months

💡 Pro tip: Don’t forget to scroll horizontally — there's a lot of valuable data in your lead file, including job titles, company size, verified emails, and even intent signals.

On top of that, GiveMeLeads automatically cleans your data:

  • Fixes capital letters in names and job titles

  • Removes emojis from job titles

  • Removes legal suffixes in company names (like LLC, GmbH, etc.)

Field

Before

After

First Name

john

John

Job Title

🚀 CEO & Founder

CEO & Founder

Company Name

Stripe GmbH

Stripe

Clean data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator with GiveMeLeads

GiveMeLeads also checks if each lead matches your LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters.

If a lead doesn’t fit — for example, they have:

  • An invalid job title

  • Invalid location

  • Wrong company size work

  • Etc

We tag them in the column "filters" with the reason they’re invalid (like “Invalid job title” or “Wrong company size”).

That way, you keep full control of your data and don’t waste time guessing why a lead doesn’t match your targeting.

Check filters on GiveMeLeads

With GiveMeLeads, you get the verified professional email of every lead — even if they’re in your 2nd or 3rd-degree connections.

How to get verified emails from LinkedIn Sales Navigator

💡 Pro tip: No need to use separate tools to find or verify emails. Everything’s already cleaned, verified, and ready to go.

👉 Try GiveMeLeads today and turn LinkedIn into a lead machine.

📺 If you want to check if LinkedIn Sales Navigator is worth it for you, or not, you can check this video:

LinkedIn Premium VS LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Pricing comparaison

It's time to talk about the cost of these paid plans!

LinkedIn Premium pricing

Here are the details of the LinkedIn Premium pricing:

Monthly Pricing

  • Career: $29.99/month

  • Business: $59.99/month

Annual Pricing

  • Career: $239/year

  • Business: $575.88/year

💡 Comparison Table

Plan

Monthly

Annual

Career

$29.99

$239

Business

$59.99

$575.88

LinkedIn Sales Navigator pricing

Here are the details of the LinkedIn Sales Navigator pricing.

You will see that the Sales Navigator plans are more expensive than the Premium plans. But if you want to build qualified lists of leads, it's a no-brainer.

Sales Navigator Pricing

Monthly Pricing

  • Core: $99.99/month

  • Advanced: $149.99/month

  • Advanced Plus: Custom pricing

Annual Pricing

  • Core: $959.88/year ($79.99/month)

  • Advanced: $1,679.88/year ($139.99/month)

💡 Comparison Table

Plan

Monthly

Annual

Core

$99.99

$959.88

Advanced

$169.99

$1679.88

Advanced Plus



Custom

Custom

Pro tip: For 99% of people, the Sales Navigator Core is the best plan to use. You don't need more.

LinkedIn Premium VS LinkedIn Sales Navigator: What's the best for YOU

All right! It's time to breakdown what LinkedIn paid plans is the best for you:

Feature

Premium Career

Premium Business

Sales Navigator Core

Sales Navigator Advanced

Sales Navigator Advanced Plus

InMail Credits / month

5

15

50

50

50

See who viewed your profile

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Advanced Search Filters

Basic only

Basic only

45+ filters

45+ filters

45+ filters

Boolean Search Support

Limited

Limited

Full support

Full support

Full support

Lead Recommendations

CRM Integration

✅ (with CRM sync)

✅ (advanced features)

LinkedIn Learning Access

Team Collaboration Tools

Best for

Job seekers

Networkers, freelancers

99% of people

Big Sales teams

Enterprise sales teams

Price Range (per month)

$29.99

$59.99

$99.99

$149

~$1600

Conclusion

It's hard to tell "this plan is better than this one" because the best plan for YOU depends of your situation, and your use cases.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is by far the best choice if you're doing sales and outreach.

If you only want to grow your network, build credibility and check who are your profile viewers, it's better to stay on a LinkedIn Premium plan.

The easiest way to get qualified lists of leads from Sales Navigator

Export Clean Lists

Find Verified Emails

Get LinkedIn Intent Data

© 2025 GiveMeLeads • Terms and Conditions • Privacy Policy

© 2025 GiveMeLeads • Terms and Conditions • Privacy Policy

© 2025 GiveMeLeads • Terms and Conditions • Privacy Policy