LinkedIn Sales Navigator vs Premium: what each one is for

We make a Chrome extension that works on regular LinkedIn profiles and on Sales Navigator pages, so we see both every day. Every price and allowance below is from LinkedIn’s own pages, opened on 18 September 2026 and linked under the table.

What is the difference between Sales Navigator and Premium?

Premium upgrades the LinkedIn you already use. The same feed, the same profile, the same search, with more InMail credits, the full list of who viewed your profile, and the learning library. Nothing about how you work changes.

Sales Navigator is a different product with its own home page. It has its own search with filters Premium does not have, saved lead and account lists, alerts when someone changes job or a company posts news, and notes that live in the tool rather than in your messages. You go there to prospect, then you leave.

That is why the comparison is not really about price. It is about whether prospecting is something you do on purpose, most days, or something that happens while you use LinkedIn normally.

What does LinkedIn Sales Navigator do?

It finds people and keeps track of them. The search takes filters like seniority, headcount, department changes and recent activity. Lists hold the leads and accounts you care about. Alerts tell you when something worth a message happens. On the paid tiers there is also TeamLink for warm introductions through colleagues, Smart Links for tracking whether your attachment was opened, and Buyer Intent signals. What it does not do is put anyone in your CRM.

Sales Navigator Core vs Advanced

Advanced costs US$40 more each month than Core, and both tiers carry 50 InMail credits. The team-shaped features sit on the Advanced side: TeamLink, Smart Links, the relationship map, team reporting and Buyer Intent. LinkedIn’s own comparison page does not draw a clean line between the two tiers on the page itself, so if the exact split decides your purchase, check it there before you buy rather than against anyone’s blog, including this one. What is certain is that CRM sync is neither tier: it belongs to Advanced Plus, which has no published price.

Neither one puts a contact in your CRM

This catches people out. Premium has no CRM connection at all. Sales Navigator only syncs on Advanced Plus, and only with HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle Sales and Salesforce. If you are on Pipedrive, Zoho, Capsule, Close, Attio or a spreadsheet, no LinkedIn subscription connects them, at any price. So the contact still gets there by someone typing it, or by a browser tool that saves it for you. That is what we make, and it works on a regular LinkedIn account as well as on Sales Navigator pages.

Which should you buy

If you prospect most days and live in lists and alerts, Sales Navigator earns its price. If you mostly use LinkedIn normally and want more InMails and better visibility, Premium Business is half the price and enough. Nobody outside your week can make that call for you, which is why this page gives you the numbers rather than a verdict.

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