LinkedIn Premium LinkedIn (free account) vs Premium Career
Premium Career costs $39.99 more a month ($479.88 a year) than LinkedIn (free account). Here is exactly what that extra money buys.
LinkedIn (free account)
$0 a month
Best for: Most people – you can build a profile, connect with people you know and apply for jobs without paying anything.
Premium Career
$39.99 a month
Best for: Someone actively looking for a job over the next few months.
What you get by choosing Premium Career
- Messages you can send to people you don't know: 5 (instead of 0)LinkedIn calls these InMail messages. Normally you can only message people you are already connected to; these let you write to a stranger, such as someone hiring for a job.
- Seeing who looked at your profile: Everyone who looked, going back a full year (instead of Only a small number of recent viewers)Without paying, LinkedIn only shows you a few of your most recent visitors. Paid plans show the full list for the past 365 days.
- Seeing how you compare with other job applicants: Included (instead of Not included)Shows you how many people have applied and whether your background lines up with what the job asks for.
- Online courses included: Included (instead of Not included)Both paid plans include more than 25,000 LinkedIn Learning courses at no extra charge.
Same on both
information about companies (not included).
Which one should you pick?
It depends on what you actually use. If you don't need messages you can send to people you don't know or seeing who looked at your profile or seeing how you compare with other job applicants or online courses included, LinkedIn (free account) does the same job for less. Answer a few questions and we'll tell you which plan fits.
Prices and features verified September 21, 2026 from LinkedIn Premium's official pages (source ↗). Prices are before tax and can change. See all LinkedIn Premium plans.