Choose Sales Navigator if your job is finding and working a target list of buyers, and Premium if your job is your own network, profile and learning. LinkedIn sells them as different products: Sales Navigator is "LinkedIn's B2B sales tool tailored for individual sellers and sales teams," while Premium is positioned around getting more from the network (LinkedIn (opens in a new tab), LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)). The deciding question is what you do with the subscription each week.
What each subscription unlocks
The two plans overlap less than the similar prices suggest.
Sales Navigator is a prospecting workspace. Its Core tier includes advanced search filters, Lead Profiles and Account Pages, saved leads and accounts, custom lists, alerts and relationship mapping, and the higher tiers add shared lists, Buyer Intent, Smart Links, CRM sync and embedded profiles (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). Every Sales Navigator tier also includes several "Premium account features" (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)); LinkedIn's own comparison page puts it more strongly, stating that "Sales Navigator and Premium All-in-One get full access to Premium Business features" (LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)).
LinkedIn Premium is built around your own presence and activity rather than a target list. LinkedIn describes Premium as enabling "job seekers and other professionals to get more out of LinkedIn" (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). Its tiers differ in InMail allowance and in the tools bundled with them, and LinkedIn's comparison page also notes that Premium All-in-One adds marketing and hiring extras such as post boost credits and job promotion credits (LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)).
InMail allowances in each
The allowance gap is the headline difference, and it favours Sales Navigator.
| Subscription | InMail credits per month |
|---|---|
| Premium Career | 5 |
| Premium Business | 15 |
| Premium All-in-One | 30 per month, up to 90 total |
| Sales Navigator Core / Advanced / Advanced Plus | 50 per user |
The Premium figures come from LinkedIn's InMail FAQ (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)), and the Sales Navigator figure from the account-types page (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). LinkedIn's own comparison page states that the Sales Navigator plans provide 50 InMail credits per month, described as "the most of any LinkedIn subscription plan," with Premium All-in-One at 30 and Premium Business at 15 (LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)).
Two qualifying details matter. Those credits do not cross products: LinkedIn states that Premium InMail credits cannot be used to send InMail on Sales Navigator or Recruiter (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). And the sales pitch behind that "most of any plan" line is LinkedIn's own, since the company sells both products being compared (LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)).
Which is better for side-by-side selling
For selling, Sales Navigator is the closer fit, and not because of the credit count alone. The features that matter for outbound — advanced search, saved leads and accounts, custom lists, alerts and relationship mapping — are Sales Navigator features (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). Premium is not organised around building and working a target list.
That does not make Premium the wrong buy for a seller. If one person only needs a stronger profile, a bigger network and a handful of InMails a month, the cheaper Premium tiers can be enough, and the Sales Navigator search depth is wasted on them.
A decision rule by role
Match the plan to the job, not to the sticker price.
- You build and work target account lists. Sales Navigator, and pick the tier by team size and CRM needs (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).
- You are hiring at scale. LinkedIn sells Recruiter separately as a dedicated hiring platform (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)). Premium All-in-One does add limited hiring extras such as monthly job promotion credits alongside marketing credits (LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)), but Recruiter remains the product for dedicated recruiting requirements.
- You are growing your own network, profile or skills. Premium, and match the tier to the InMail volume you actually use.
- You need both a presence and a prospecting list. The two overlap more than the names suggest: a Sales Navigator seat already includes several Premium account features, and Premium All-in-One is built for owners who manage sales, marketing and hiring together (LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)). Decide which side you will use most, because the deeper prospecting search still sits on Sales Navigator.
Where the price lands
LinkedIn's comparison page lays out four columns — LinkedIn (free), Premium Business, Premium All-in-One and Sales Navigator — and its price row reads from US$69.99 per month under Premium Business and from US$89.99 per month under Premium All-in-One, with the Sales Navigator column showing from US$119.99 per month (LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)). That last figure is Sales Navigator's own starting price, not a Premium tier. The Sales Navigator compare-plans page puts Core at US$119.99 per month and Advanced at US$159.99 per month, per license (LinkedIn Sales Navigator (opens in a new tab)). The full per-currency and per-tier breakdown is in Sales Navigator pricing rather than repeated here.
The limit to keep in mind
LinkedIn authors both pages that compare these products, and it sells both subscriptions (LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)). The feature and allowance lists are useful because they are first-party, but the framing is not independent. Cross-check the tier you are about to buy against the product's own plan page before checkout.
If you have already decided on Sales Navigator, start with what Sales Navigator is and then decide the tier in Sales Navigator pricing. If you are comparing outreach tools, Visit Clapa.
FAQ
Do I need both LinkedIn Premium and Sales Navigator?
Usually not. Sales Navigator subscriptions already include several Premium account features, and its tiers are built around prospecting (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)). Buy Premium only if you want its specific extras, such as the marketing and hiring tools on All-in-One.
Is LinkedIn Premium the same as Navigator?
No. Premium is a general LinkedIn subscription; Sales Navigator is a separate B2B sales product with its own tiers and features (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab)).
Does Sales Navigator give you Premium?
Sales Navigator subscriptions include "Premium account features," per LinkedIn's plan table (Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).
Which has more InMail credits?
Sales Navigator, at 50 per user per month, against 30 on Premium All-in-One and 15 on Premium Business (LinkedIn Help (opens in a new tab), Sales Navigator Help (opens in a new tab)).
Sources
- LinkedIn, "LinkedIn Sales Navigator vs. Premium": https://business.linkedin.com/sell/sales-navigator/premium-versus-sales-navigator (opens in a new tab)
- LinkedIn, "Sales Tool | LinkedIn Sales Navigator": https://business.linkedin.com/sell/sales-navigator (opens in a new tab)
- Sales Navigator Help, "Sales Navigator account types and features": https://www.linkedin.com/help/sales-navigator/answer/a104003 (opens in a new tab)
- LinkedIn Help, "InMail Messages FAQ": https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a554514 (opens in a new tab)
- LinkedIn Help, "InMail Messages": https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a543895 (opens in a new tab)
- LinkedIn Help, "Send messages on LinkedIn": https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a554575 (opens in a new tab)
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator, "Compare Plans and Pricing": https://business.linkedin.com/sell/sales-navigator/compare-plans (opens in a new tab)