How to Know if Someone Has LinkedIn Premium (and Find Premium Members)

You can tell someone has LinkedIn Premium by the gold LinkedIn icon (the Premium badge) next to their name, both on their profile and in LinkedIn search results. The badge is optional: Premium members can switch it off, so a missing badge doesn't prove someone is on a free account. LinkedIn never shows which plan a member pays for, and it has no search filter for Premium members.

That's the short answer. Below: where the badge appears, why it can be missing, how to hide yours, and how to build a list of Premium members when you prospect.

How to tell if someone has LinkedIn Premium from their profile

1. Open the person's LinkedIn profile.
2. Look right next to their name, at the top of the profile (the introduction section).
3. A small gold LinkedIn icon there is the Premium badge: the member has a paid subscription and chooses to display it.

LinkedIn describes it as a "gold LinkedIn Premium profile badge" that indicates your Premium membership (LinkedIn Help). It looks the same whatever the plan: Premium Career, Premium Business, Premium All-in-One, or a Sales Navigator or Recruiter subscription bought online, which upgrades the profile to Premium by default.

How to spot Premium members in LinkedIn search results

The badge also appears next to the member's name in search results. Run a people search, and every member who displays Premium has the gold icon beside their name. That's the fastest way to check many people at once, but you have to scan each page by eye.

How to see if someone has Premium in Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator search results show the same gold Premium icon next to lead names. The principle is identical: run a lead search and look for the icon. (If you need a refresher on access, here's how to log in to Sales Navigator.)

Can you tell which Premium plan someone has?

No. The badge is the same for every plan, and LinkedIn doesn't display the plan anywhere on a profile. Someone with the badge could pay $39.99 a month for Premium Career or much more for Sales Navigator. Our overview of LinkedIn account types explains what each plan includes.

Why someone with Premium may not show the badge

• They turned it off. Premium members control the badge with the Profile Premium Badge toggle in their profile settings.
• Their Sales Navigator or Recruiter seat comes from their employer. When the subscription is bought through a LinkedIn sales contract, the member's profile stays "Basic" by default unless they turn on Premium profile visibility (LinkedIn Help).

So treat the badge as a reliable "yes" and its absence as "don't know".

Other signs that someone has LinkedIn Premium

• They sent you an InMail. Messages labelled InMail from people you're not connected to can only be sent with a paid subscription (Premium, Sales Navigator or Recruiter). See what is InMail on LinkedIn.
• You can message them for free without being connected. Premium members can turn on Open Profile, which lets anyone message them without an InMail credit; free accounts can send a limited number of these messages each month (LinkedIn Help).

What doesn't work: your own "Who viewed your profile" list doesn't tell you whether viewers have Premium, and members browsing in private mode stay anonymous even if you pay for Premium.

How to show or hide your own Premium badge

On desktop (LinkedIn Help):

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage, then View Profile.
2. Click the Edit icon in your introduction section.
3. In the Edit intro window, under Premium Settings, click the dropdown next to Profile Premium Badge.
4. Switch the toggle On to display the badge on your profile and in search results, or Off to hide it.
5. Click Save.

On mobile, tap your profile picture, open your profile, tap the Edit icon in the introduction section and use the same Profile Premium Badge toggle. Hiding the badge doesn't change your subscription. Note that displaying your Premium membership gives you the option to receive Open Profile messages, which you can manage separately.

Can you search LinkedIn for Premium members only?

No. Neither LinkedIn search nor Sales Navigator offers a "Premium members" filter as of October 2026. You have two options:

1. Scan the badges manually, page by page. Fine for a dozen profiles, painful for hundreds.
2. Export the search with a tool that records the badge for each result, then filter the list.

Why target LinkedIn Premium members when you prospect?

• They're usually active on LinkedIn. Someone who pays for LinkedIn tends to check it, which matters when your first touch is a connection request or a message.
• Many can be messaged for free. Premium members with Open Profile turned on accept messages from anyone, with no connection and no InMail credit needed.
• It's a small budget signal. A paid subscription suggests LinkedIn matters to their work, which is useful if you sell B2B tools or services.

Don't over-filter, though: hidden badges mean you'll miss some Premium members, and many Premium Career subscribers are job seekers rather than buyers.

How to export a list of LinkedIn Premium members with useArtemis

useArtemis records the Premium badge of every lead it exports, along with the Open Profile and Open to Work signals.

1. Run your search on LinkedIn or Sales Navigator with your usual filters (job title, industry, location, company size).
2. Click Import in the useArtemis Chrome extension. Pick a list and the number of pages to import: up to 100 pages per import, or up to 2,500 leads per Sales Navigator search. The export runs in the cloud, so you can close the tab.
3. Open your list. Every lead comes with name, job title, company, location, LinkedIn URL and LinkedIn signals (Premium, Open profile, Open to work). Filter or sort on Premium to keep only those members.
4. Click Find emails to add verified professional emails with the email finder.
5. Start a campaign on the list. Add a Filter step on the isPremium field so your sequence only goes to Premium members, then combine profile visits, invitations, messages and emails.

The LinkedIn scraper works with regular LinkedIn search as well as with Sales Navigator; no Premium subscription is needed on your side. If you'd rather export a whole Sales Navigator list, our guide to exporting leads from Sales Navigator walks through it.

FAQ

Can you see if someone has LinkedIn Premium?

Yes, if they display it: a gold LinkedIn icon next to their name on their profile and in search results means they have Premium. Members can hide the badge, so its absence doesn't prove they're on a free account.

What does the gold LinkedIn icon on a profile mean?

It's the LinkedIn Premium badge. It shows that the member has a paid subscription, such as Premium Career, Premium Business or Sales Navigator, and has chosen to display it. It doesn't say which plan.

Why can't I see someone's LinkedIn Premium badge?

Either they don't have Premium, they've turned off the Profile Premium Badge in their settings, or their Sales Navigator or Recruiter seat comes from a company contract and their profile stays Basic by default.

Can I search LinkedIn for Premium members only?

No. LinkedIn and Sales Navigator have no filter for Premium members. You can scan the gold badges in search results, or export the results with a tool such as useArtemis that records the Premium badge for each lead and lets you filter on it.

Does LinkedIn Premium show who viewed your profile in private mode?

No. Members who browse in private mode appear as anonymous "LinkedIn Member" viewers, even to Premium subscribers. Premium shows the full list of viewers who browse with their name visible, for up to 365 days.