LinkedIn Sales Navigator is LinkedIn’s paid prospecting tool. It gives you far more detailed search filters than standard LinkedIn, lets you save leads and companies into lists, alerts you when those people change jobs or post, and includes 50 InMail credits a month so you can message people you are not connected with. In the UK, the Core plan is listed at £94.99 a month, or £959.88 a year paid annually.

For a small business that sells to other businesses, it can be a very good investment, but only if you use it to build relationships rather than fire out cold messages. Below we cover what it is, the plans and current UK pricing, the features worth knowing, a sensible way to use it and how it compares with LinkedIn Premium.

Sales Navigator is a search engine for your ideal customers

Standard LinkedIn search is fine for finding someone you already know. Sales Navigator is built for finding people you do not know yet who match your ideal customer: the operations director at a logistics firm with 50 to 200 staff in Hampshire, for example.

It sits alongside your normal LinkedIn account as a separate interface. Your connections, messages and profile stay the same, but you get a dedicated workspace for searching, saving and tracking prospects. LinkedIn also says Sales Navigator includes the features of Premium Business, so you do not need both.

The plans and UK pricing for 2026

There are three plans. These are the prices shown on LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator pricing page for the UK at the time of writing, per user:

Plan	Best for	Monthly billing	Annual billing
Core	Individual sellers, owners and freelancers	£94.99 a month	£959.88 a year (about £80 a month)
Advanced	Sales teams who want to share lists and collaborate	£130.00 a month	£1,499.88 a year (about £125 a month)
Advanced Plus	Larger teams connecting LinkedIn to a CRM such as Salesforce or HubSpot	Custom quote	Custom quote

A few things to know about cost:

• Prices can change. LinkedIn describes them as estimates that may exclude VAT and do not include any promotional discounts. Always check the live price before you budget.
• Paying annually saves money but locks you in for a year. Paying monthly first is a sensible way to test whether you will actually use it.
• Free trials are often available. LinkedIn regularly offers a free trial on Core for eligible accounts. Put a reminder in your diary before it ends.

For most SMEs, Core is the right starting point. Advanced only earns its extra cost when several people are prospecting and need to share lists, or when you want features such as Buyer Intent signals and seeing who viewed your company page.

The features that do the heavy lifting

Advanced search filters

Sales Navigator has more than 50 filters. For leads (people) you can filter by job title, function, seniority, location, years in current role, company size, industry and more. You can also filter for people who changed jobs recently or who posted on LinkedIn in the last 30 days, which helps you focus on people who are active and open to conversation.

Lead and account lists

You can save individual people as leads and companies as accounts, then group them into custom lists, such as “Surrey manufacturers” or “Event invite list”. Saved searches can also run in the background and show you new people who match your criteria.

Alerts

Once someone is saved, Sales Navigator shows you useful updates: job changes, promotions, posts they share and news about their company. These give you a natural, timely reason to get in touch.

InMail

InMail lets you message people you are not connected to. Sales Navigator includes 50 InMail credits a month, compared with 15 on Premium Business. Treat them as precious. A short, relevant message to the right person works far better than 50 generic ones.

Account and lead insights

Account pages pull together company growth, recent hires, news and who you know there. LinkedIn has also added AI generated summaries of accounts and leads (which it calls Account IQ and Lead IQ) to help you prepare before reaching out.

TeamLink and shared lists

On Advanced, TeamLink shows when a colleague is connected to a prospect, so you can ask for a warm introduction instead of a cold approach. Teams can also share lists and notes.

How a small business can use it without being spammy

The fastest way to waste Sales Navigator is to treat it like a mailing list. People can spot a copy and paste pitch from the first line, and pushy outreach damages your reputation. Here is a more effective approach:

1. Define your ideal customer properly. Industry, size, location and the job titles of the people who make the decision. Be narrow. A list of 150 good fits beats 5,000 maybes.
2. Build a saved search and a lead list. Save the best matches and switch on alerts.
3. Warm up before you reach out. Follow their company page, read their posts and leave thoughtful comments over a couple of weeks. Let them see your name in a helpful context first.
4. Connect with a reason. Send a connection request that mentions something specific: a post they wrote, a shared event or a mutual connection. No pitch in the request.
5. Offer value before asking. Share a useful article, an invite to a local event or a genuinely relevant insight. Ask a question rather than pushing a call.
6. Use InMail sparingly. Save it for well researched messages to senior people you cannot reach any other way.
7. Keep your own profile and company page strong. Prospects will check you out. A complete profile and an active company page make every message more credible.

Sales Navigator works best when it supports good content. If your posts and page give people a reason to trust you, your outreach lands far better. Our social media management service can keep your LinkedIn presence active while you focus on conversations.

Sales Navigator or Premium: pick the tool for the job

LinkedIn Premium Business is the cheaper option. It gives you extra profile features, more insight into who viewed your profile, some additional search and 15 InMail credits a month. LinkedIn does not list one fixed UK price for every account, so check the current figure in your own account settings.

As a rule of thumb:

• Choose Premium Business if you mainly want a stronger profile, occasional InMail and a bit more visibility, and you are not running structured prospecting.
• Choose Sales Navigator Core if you or a salesperson will spend time every week finding and following up with new B2B prospects. The filters, lists and alerts are where the value is.
• Choose Advanced if you have a sales team who need to share lists and see warm introduction paths.

The honest test is time. If nobody will log in at least a few times a week, neither plan will pay for itself. If one new client covers a year’s subscription for your business, Core is usually worth trialling.

Getting the most from your subscription

• Block out time. Twenty minutes a day working your lists beats a monthly blitz.
• Keep lists tidy. Remove people who are not a fit so alerts stay useful.
• Track results. Note which searches and message styles lead to replies and meetings, then do more of what works.
• Train the team. Sales Navigator has a lot of features most users never touch. A few hours of proper training pays back quickly, and our training and workshops can cover LinkedIn prospecting for your team.

Related reading: LinkedIn Premium: What You Get, Costs, and When It’s Worth It and Top 3 LinkedIn Lead Generation Tools for IT Companies in 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How much does LinkedIn Sales Navigator cost in the UK?

At the time of writing, Core is £94.99 a month or £959.88 a year, and Advanced is £130.00 a month or £1,499.88 a year, per user. Advanced Plus is quoted individually. Prices may exclude VAT and can change, so check LinkedIn before buying.

Is there a free trial of Sales Navigator?

LinkedIn often offers a free trial on the Core plan to eligible members. Availability and length vary, so check the offer shown in your account.

Can I cancel Sales Navigator at any time?

Monthly plans can usually be cancelled and will run to the end of the billing period. Annual plans are paid up front for the year, so only choose annual once you are sure you will use it.

Does Sales Navigator replace LinkedIn Premium?

Yes. LinkedIn says Sales Navigator includes Premium Business features, so you do not need to pay for both.

Want help turning LinkedIn into new business?

Sales Navigator finds the right people, but your content and profile are what convince them. Delivered Social can run your LinkedIn presence through our social media management and train your team to prospect confidently with our training and workshops. Get in touch for a chat about what would work for you.