LinkedIn Recruiter Lite vs Recruiter vs Basic: What do you really need?

LinkedIn Recruiter costs EUR 150 per month. Recruiter Lite EUR 80. Basic is free.

Which do you need?

The answer depends on how many InMails you send and how many searches you run. But here’s the spoiler: none of them give you the employer context you need to truly evaluate candidates.

That context costs less than the difference between Lite and Recruiter.

The 3 LinkedIn tiers compared

LinkedIn gives you filters and InMails. But not the context to evaluate where candidates work.

A Marketing Manager at TechFlow BV. B2B or B2C? Enterprise or SMB? SaaS or product?

You don’t know. LinkedIn doesn’t tell you.

What all tiers miss: Employer context

You know this scenario.

You run a search for an Account Manager in the Amsterdam area. 800 profiles.

LinkedIn shows:

• Name
• Job title
• Employer
• Location
• Years of experience

You know maybe 10-15% of those employers. For the remaining 85% you have to guess.

Is this B2B or B2C sales? Enterprise or SMB deals? Inside sales or field sales? Consultative or transactional?

LinkedIn Recruiter (EUR 150/month) doesn’t give you more context than Basic (free).

Both show you the same information:

• Job title: “Account Manager”
• Company: “TechFlow BV”
• Location: “Amsterdam”

Not a word about what TechFlow does, what type of clients they have, or what their sales process looks like.

You filter because you lack context.

The 4 scenarios: Which tier do you need?

Scenario 1: Independent recruiter, tight budget

You’re a freelance recruiter. Every euro counts.

You have:

• 2-4 vacancies per month
• Limited InMail budget needed
• No team to collaborate with

Advice: LinkedIn Basic (free) + SourceLens (EUR 89/month)

You save EUR 80/month on LinkedIn, and do get the employer context that LinkedIn Recruiter doesn’t offer.

SourceLens works with Basic. You export profiles via the Chrome extension, SourceLens analyzes the last 8 employers across 18 dimensions.

From 800 profiles to 80 relevant candidates. InMails you send via your own LinkedIn account or email.

Total cost: EUR 89/month (vs EUR 80/month for Lite without context or EUR 150/month for Recruiter without context).

Scenario 2: Interim recruiter, client has Recruiter

You’re working as an interim recruiter at a client. They have a LinkedIn Recruiter license for you.

You have:

• Access to Recruiter through your client
• 150 InMails per month
• Projects and tracking within their environment

Problem: You land at a new client in an unfamiliar market.

Week 1: You run your first search. 600 profiles. You know maybe 5% of the employers.

The client expects a shortlist within 2 weeks.

Advice: LinkedIn Recruiter (via client) + SourceLens (EUR 89/month from your own pocket)

You use Recruiter for InMails and tracking. SourceLens gives you instant market knowledge.

From guessing to knowing, from day 1.

Total cost: EUR 89/month (Recruiter is paid by your client).

Scenario 3: Corporate recruiter, company pays

You work in-house for an organization with 500+ employees.

You recruit for:

• Sales (this week: Account Manager)
• IT (next week: Software Developer)
• Finance (after that: Financial Controller)
• Operations (later: Supply Chain Manager)

Every vacancy is a different domain. You can’t know the market for all of them.

You have:

• LinkedIn Recruiter (company license, HR pays)
• ATS (Greenhouse, Workday, Recruitee)
• Budget through procurement

Advice: LinkedIn Recruiter (company pays) + SourceLens Professional (EUR 249/month via procurement)

You use Recruiter for filters and InMails. SourceLens gives you the employer context you don’t have per role.

From generalist to specialist for every vacancy.

Total cost: EUR 249/month via HR budget (Recruiter is paid by your employer).

Business case for your manager:

• Time-to-fill decreases (faster screening)
• Quality-of-hire increases (better shortlists)
• Less dependent on hiring managers for domain knowledge

Scenario 4: Recruitment agency, multiple seats

You have a recruitment agency with 5 recruiters.

Your team:

• 2 seniors (know the market)
• 2 mid-levels (inconsistent quality)
• 1 junior (delivers inconsistent shortlists)

Each recruiter has LinkedIn Recruiter Lite (EUR 80/month per seat).

Total LinkedIn cost: EUR 400/month for 5 seats.

Problem: Your junior delivers shortlists with 40% irrelevant candidates. Your senior delivers perfect shortlists.

The difference? Employer context.

Advice: LinkedIn Recruiter Lite (EUR 80/month per seat) + SourceLens Professional (EUR 249/month for entire team)

Total cost: EUR 400 (LinkedIn) + EUR 249 (SourceLens) = EUR 649/month for 5 recruiters.

What you get:

• Junior performs at senior level (because of employer context)
• Consistent shortlist quality across the entire team
• Less review overhead for the recruitment agency
• New hires immediately productive

ROI: 1 extra placement per month = EUR 5,000-15,000 fee. SourceLens costs EUR 249.

The decision tree

How many InMails do you send per month?

-- 0-10 InMails
   -- LinkedIn Basic (free) + SourceLens (EUR 89)

-- 10-30 InMails
   -- LinkedIn Recruiter Lite (EUR 80) + SourceLens (EUR 89)

-- 30-150 InMails + team collaboration
   -- LinkedIn Recruiter (EUR 150) + SourceLens (EUR 89-249)

-- Multiple recruiters (agency/corporate)
   -- LinkedIn Recruiter Lite per seat + SourceLens Professional (EUR 249 for entire team)

What LinkedIn does and doesn’t give you

LinkedIn gives you:

• InMails to reach candidates
• Filters to search (location, job title, years of experience)
• Profile data (work experience, skills, education)
• Saved searches and projects (Recruiter tier)

LinkedIn does NOT give you:

• Context about employers (B2B/B2C, enterprise/SMB, sales model)
• Insight into career patterns (growth path, pivots)
• Matching based on employer background
• Justification for why a candidate is relevant

You scroll through 800 profiles and don’t know 90% of the employers.

For the 10% you do know, you immediately know if it’s relevant.

For the 90% you don’t know, you guess. Or you google. Or you skip.

The employer context gap

Example: You’re looking for a Marketing Manager for a B2B SaaS scale-up.

LinkedIn gives you:

Candidate A:

• Job title: Marketing Manager
• Employer: BrightRetail
• Location: Amsterdam
• Years: 4 years of experience

Candidate B:

• Job title: Marketing Manager
• Employer: Syntrix
• Location: Amsterdam
• Years: 4 years of experience

Both have the same title. Both 4 years of experience. Both in Amsterdam.

Which one fits a B2B SaaS scale-up?

You don’t know. LinkedIn doesn’t tell you.

SourceLens analyzes:

BrightRetail:

• Sector: Retail/Consumer
• Customer segment: B2C
• Company size: 200+ employees, established player
• Marketing focus: Brand awareness, consumer campaigns, social media

Syntrix:

• Sector: SaaS/Technology
• Customer segment: B2B Enterprise
• Company size: 50 employees, scale-up phase
• Marketing focus: Demand generation, lead nurturing, product marketing

Candidate B fits. Candidate A doesn’t.

Without that context you would have called both. Or skipped both. Or gotten lucky.

With context you know it in 8 seconds.

Conclusion: LinkedIn tier vs employer context

The choice between Basic, Recruiter Lite, and Recruiter comes down to InMails and filters.

But no tier gives you the context to evaluate work experience.

LinkedIn tier = InMails + search functionality. Employer context = separate tool.

That costs less than the upgrade from Lite to Recruiter.

LinkedIn Recruiter costs EUR 150/month. Recruiter Lite costs EUR 80/month. The difference: EUR 70/month.

SourceLens costs EUR 89/month (launch, standard EUR 149/month). And gives you the employer context LinkedIn doesn’t offer.

You can choose:

• EUR 150/month for Recruiter without context
• EUR 80/month for Lite without context
• EUR 0/month for Basic + EUR 89/month for SourceLens with context

LinkedIn gives you the InMails. SourceLens gives you the context.

Try SourceLens with your current LinkedIn tier. 14 days free, no credit card.

Go to sourcelens.ai

About the author: Arthur Balabrega has 20 years of experience in recruitment and has interviewed thousands of candidates. He built SourceLens because he saw how much time recruiters waste guessing about unknown employers. SourceLens automatically analyzes the last 8 employers across 18 dimensions and matches candidates against your selection criteria — so you only need to review the best 80 of 800 profiles.