LinkedIn Recruiter pricing: Lite vs Corporate, real numbers
One of these two tiers has a list price and the other does not, which is why every search for “how much does LinkedIn Recruiter cost” returns a demo form. Here are the published Recruiter Lite numbers, the reported Corporate range, and the limit differences that decide which one a hiring team actually needs.
✓ LinkedIn's plan pages re-checked
How much does LinkedIn Recruiter Lite cost?
Recruiter Lite costs $170 a month, or $1,680 for a year prepaid — $140 a month. Recruiter Corporate has no published list price: LinkedIn quotes it per seat on an annual contract. US list prices in US dollars, excluding tax, last checked on .
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (prepaid) | Effective / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recruiter Lite | $170 | $1,680 | $140 |
| Recruiter Corporate | Quote only | Quote only | — |
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Recruiter Lite vs Recruiter Corporate
US list prices in USD, excluding tax, verified 10 September 2026. Corporate figures are the ranges buyers report, not a LinkedIn rate card — LinkedIn does not publish one.
| Feature | Recruiter Lite | Recruiter Corporate |
|---|---|---|
| List price | $170 / month, or $1,680 / year prepaid | Quote only — sold by seat block |
| Effective monthly on annual | $140 | Reported from roughly $900 per seat |
| InMail credits / month | 30 | 150, poolable across seats |
| Search reach | Your own network only — 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree | The entire LinkedIn network, including out-of-network candidates |
| Recruiting search filters | 20+ | 40+, including spotlights and Open To Work signals |
| Projects and pipelines | Personal projects | Shared pipelines, notes and activity visible across the team |
| ATS integration | Not included | Included with the supported ATS connectors |
| Seat management | Single seat, self-serve | Seat transfers, admin console, contract-level reporting |
| Bulk actions | One-to-one messaging | Bulk InMail and templates with response tracking |
| Contract | Monthly or annual, self-serve | Annual contract via a LinkedIn rep |
When Lite stops being enough
The upgrade is rarely about credits. It is about whether the people you need to hire are inside your own network or outside it.
You hire in a market where your team already has reach, you run one or two roles at a time, and 30 InMails a month covers your outbound. $170/month, cancel when the role closes.
Your candidates sit outside your network, several recruiters work the same pipeline, or your ATS has to hold the record. Out-of-network search alone is usually the whole argument.
Sourcing-heavy teams that do not need a hiring pipeline often do better on Sales Navigator at $119.99 — more InMail credits than Lite, deeper search, $70 a month cheaper.
Corporate is priced per seat on an annual contract. Three recruiters is three seats — the cost of adding a sourcer is the same as the cost of adding a closer.
Same searching, different job
| For sourcing you care about | Recruiter Lite — $170/mo | Sales Navigator Core — $119.99/mo |
|---|---|---|
| InMail credits / month | 30 | 50 |
| Search result cap | Up to 2,500 | Up to 2,500 |
| Candidate-specific filters | Years of experience, skills, Open To Work spotlights | Sales filters — seniority, function, company growth |
| Pipeline and hiring workflow | Projects, candidate stages, notes | Lead lists and alerts only |
| Best for | Running a requisition end to end | Building and messaging large sourcing lists |
Full Sales Navigator tier table and monthly-versus-annual math on Sales Navigator pricing; the InMail and search ceilings that apply to both are on LinkedIn limits by plan.
Three routes that actually reduce the invoice
$1,680 against $2,040 paid month by month — $360 saved, provided you will still be hiring in month twelve.
Corporate is contract-negotiated. Seat count, term length and quarter-end timing all move the per-seat number; ask for the seat-block break. If Hiring Assistant is on the same quote, Hiring Assistant pricing sets out what LinkedIn publishes about it and what it leaves to the rep.
If the pressure is on outbound volume rather than pipeline features, a second sourcing identity costs less than a second Recruiter seat.
One more sourcer: seat, subscription, or account?
Recruiter is priced per seat, and a seat only ever attaches to one profile. Here is what each way of adding sourcing capacity costs for a month.
| Route | What it costs | What you get | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add a Recruiter Lite seat | $170 / month | 30 InMails and recruiting filters on one more profile you already own | Network-limited search, and you still have to supply and warm up the profile it sits on. |
| Add a Sales Navigator Core seat instead | $119.99 / month | 50 InMails — 20 more than Recruiter Lite — and a deeper search cap, for $50 a month less | No recruiting pipeline layer, no candidate-specific filters. Sourcing and messaging only. |
| Add a rented verified account | from $75 / month | A separate sourcing identity with its own full invitation and InMail allowance | Rented rather than owned; subscription seats are added on top when the role needs them. |
The comparison recruiters usually get wrong: LinkedIn charges $170 a month for Recruiter Lite and still expects you to bring the profile. When the bottleneck is how many candidates one recruiter can touch in a week — the invitation ceiling is per account, not per plan — a second sourcing identity is the cheaper unit of capacity — and it is the one thing no Recruiter tier includes. A sourcing profile with Sales Navigator attached is our hiring setup, priced on its own page.
What hiring teams ask before the demo call
How much does LinkedIn Recruiter cost per month?
Recruiter Lite is $170 per month on the monthly plan, or $1,680 for a year prepaid, which works out to $140 a month. Recruiter Corporate is not self-serve and has no list price — it is quoted per seat on an annual contract, and buyers typically report figures starting around $900 per seat per month.
How much is LinkedIn Recruiter Lite?
$170 a month billed monthly, or $1,680 for the year if you prepay — a saving of $360 over twelve months. It is the only Recruiter tier you can buy without talking to a salesperson, and it can be started and cancelled from your own billing settings. That is LinkedIn’s US list price in USD, excluding tax, last checked on 10 September 2026.
Why does LinkedIn not publish Recruiter Corporate pricing?
Corporate is sold as an annual contract by seat block, and the per-seat figure moves with seat count, term length and whether other LinkedIn Talent products are on the same contract. That is why every published Corporate number is a report from a buyer rather than a list price — treat quoted ranges as a negotiating baseline, not a rate card.
What is the real difference between Recruiter Lite and Corporate?
Network reach and teamwork. Lite searches only your own first, second and third degree network and keeps projects personal; Corporate searches all of LinkedIn, gives 150 InMail credits instead of 30, adds 40+ filters, shared pipelines, ATS integration and bulk InMail. If your candidates are outside your network, Lite will not show them at any price.
Is Sales Navigator a cheaper alternative to Recruiter?
For sourcing, sometimes. Sales Navigator Core is $119.99 a month against Recruiter Lite at $170, and it gives 50 InMail credits instead of 30 with a deeper search cap. What it does not give you is the recruiting-specific layer: candidate spotlights, Open To Work signals, projects, ATS sync and hiring-intent filters. Teams that source but do not run a hiring pipeline often find Sales Navigator is the better buy.
Does Recruiter Lite have a free trial?
LinkedIn offers a one-month trial on Recruiter Lite for accounts that have not trialled it before, with a payment method required up front. It converts to a paid month automatically unless you cancel before the trial ends.
Can Recruiter seats be shared between recruiters?
Not on Lite — one seat, one person, and sharing credentials is a terms violation that risks the account. Corporate contracts allow a seat to be reassigned between named users through the admin console, which is the legitimate way to handle a recruiter leaving mid-contract.
Want the result, not just the answer?
Each setup is assembled for one result — on your own account, on a ready profile, or run for you by an operator from our team.
Reach candidates without paying for LinkedIn Recruiter
Sales Navigator search and InMail on a sourcing profile — most of what a small team uses Recruiter Lite for, at a fraction of the seat price.
Sales NavigatorReady profileYour accountPromptsOperatorSee what is inside →Hiringfrom $490/moGet a shortlist of interested candidates every week
An operator sources and messages candidates for your roles and hands you only the people who want to talk.
Ready profileSales NavigatorPromptsOperatorSee what is inside →Hiringfrom $605/moGive every recruiter on your team their own sourcing profile
One profile per recruiter with Sales Navigator and a shared workflow, so sourcing volume is not capped by one account.
Ready profileSales NavigatorPromptsSee what is inside →Pricing Recruiter Corporate?
LinkedIn quotes it per seat block and publishes nothing, so the useful preparation is knowing your Recruiter Lite baseline and your renewal date before the call. Send your seat count and we will work the baseline out with you.
- A reply within 4 business hours, from a person
- On the channel you pick — Telegram, WhatsApp, a call or email
- LinkedIn's prices here are LinkedIn's own; our setups are priced on their own pages
Price the whole hiring stack, not just the seat
Recruiter, Sales Navigator and Premium side by side, with the annual math and the limits each one leaves in place.