LinkedIn is a social media platform for business networking, recruiting, and lead generation. The best LinkedIn customer relationship management (CRM) software lets users easily manage social ads, sync connection data as lead records, and access the LinkedIn Sales Navigator tool in the CRM for prospect recommendations and automated outreach—all at an affordable cost.
Based on price, user experience, and integrated features, the seven best LinkedIn CRMs include:
- Best CRM for LinkedIn Ads: HubSpot CRM
- Most affordable LinkedIn CRM: EngageBay
- Top pick for broadest LinkedIn capabilities: Zoho CRM
- Easiest LinkedIn CRM to use: monday Sales CRM
- Solid option for managing LinkedIn audiences: ClickUp
- Best CRM integration with LinkedIn that’s free: Agile CRM
- Great for managing LinkedIn leads: Salesforce Essentials
Best LinkedIn CRM Integrations Compared
Provider | Starting Monthly Price per User* | Free Plan? | Our CRM Rating Out of 5 |
---|---|---|---|
$30 (up to two users) | ✓ | 4.60 | |
$13.79 | ✓ | 4.59 | |
$14 | ✓ | 4.58 | |
$10 (three-user minimum) | ✕ | 4.30 | |
$5 | ✓ | 4.23 | |
$8.99 | ✓ | 4.20 | |
$25 | ✕ | 4.19 | |
*Based on annual billing; monthly billing is also available for slightly higher rates.
HubSpot CRM Suite: Best for Ads Management
Pros
- Excellent marketing features for deploying and tracking LinkedIn ad campaigns
- Robust free plan with modules for sales, marketing, service, and content management
- Highly intuitive CRM interface that requires a minimal learning curve
Cons
- Paid plans get expensive
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator interaction requires Professional plan
- Users can’t post and manage LinkedIn posts until the expensive Professional plan
- You want to manage LinkedIn ads from your CRM: HubSpot is a highly robust LinkedIn CRM that lets you manage nearly all social functions from the platform. These include access to LinkedIn Sales Navigator, content posting, and form-to-lead generation. However, the most notable feature is ads management, which starts on the Starter plan, where users can create, deploy, and track LinkedIn ads from the CRM.
- You need a free and simple LinkedIn CRM: HubSpot CRM Suite, which includes sales, marketing, service, and content management tools in one platform, is well-touted for its free CRM product and intuitive design. It includes easy-to-use contact management, quote generation, deal tracking, email marketing, blog hosting, ticketing, and third-party integrations with LinkedIn to create new leads from form submissions.
- You need affordable connections to LinkedIn Sales Navigator: The HubSpot and LinkedIn Sales Navigator connection allows you to send InMails from the CRM directly or as automated sequences. It also allows you to get deeper insights into company and contact records using social profiles. Unfortunately, the HubSpot Sales Navigator tool requires the Professional plan, which starts at $1,600 per month.
- Alternative: Zoho CRM lets you connect with Sales Navigator at just $23 per user, monthly.
- You want to post LinkedIn content at a lower cost: While HubSpot offers a solid content management system (CMS) that includes publishing posts on LinkedIn, this capability is expensive and requires the Professional plan.
- Alternative: EngageBay offers content management capabilities on LinkedIn for free using Zapier. You can also use monday Sales CRM for $14 per user, monthly, to publish content if you prefer a direct integration.
HubSpot CRM Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Each plan offers a 14-day free trial. Pricing reflects info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing here.
**Pricing uses the monthly CRM Suite costs for individuals and small teams. The provider also offers Enterprise-level products for larger teams for a higher cost. The CRM Suite includes sales, marketing, customer service, content management system (CMS), and operations software in one product. Individual modules can be purchased for lower prices.
HubSpot creating LinkedIn ad (Source: HubSpot)
Our Expert Opinion
HubSpot CRM is renowned for its marketing and content management capabilities. These are well expressed in its LinkedIn integration, where users can design ad content, deploy campaigns, and track their performance—all in the CRM interface. Like the CRM, this feature, along with the other LinkedIn functions, is highly intuitive for any user to quickly pick up, regardless of prior CRM experience.
EngageBay: Best for Integration Affordability
Pros
- LinkedIn connection available on Free plan to create automations for content posts
- Includes sales, marketing, and service management tools in one platform
- Robust free plan and highly affordable paid plans
Cons
- No integration with LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- LinkedIn integration requires third-party tools like Zapier
- Limited LinkedIn capabilities; only allows you to create and share company status updates and post content through Zapier flows
- You need a low-cost LinkedIn CRM: EngageBay is an all-around affordable CRM with a free plan for up to 15 users and paid plans starting at just $13.79 per user, monthly. Additionally, the integration with Zapier, which offers LinkedIn connections, is available on the free-forever plan for users to publish content using automations.
- You want to automate content posts on LinkedIn: EngageBay and its integration with LinkedIn allows users to create and publish content automatically on the social site. Through Zapier, you can create if/then data flows between the two apps where if a certain amount of time has passed, there’s a new event added to the CRM, or there’s a status update for a deal or contact, then the system triggers a post on LinkedIn.
- You need a LinkedIn Navigator connection: EngageBay is relatively limited in its LinkedIn capabilities to just content publishing through Zapier data flows. Users cannot, for example, access LinkedIn Sales Navigator tools from the CRM.
- Alternative: We recommend using Zoho CRM for its cost-friendly Sales Navigator integration.
- You want direct integration with LinkedIn: One key issue with EngageBay is the Zapier requirements. Some users may not like the idea of using Zapier for the LinkedIn integration as it adds a new tool to the technology stack and could require an additional subscription cost if you need a lot of data flows.
- Alternative: HubSpot, Zoho, and monday Sales CRM all have direct integration options with LinkedIn in addition to connecting through Zapier.
EngageBay Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing based on annual billing on a per user, per month breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost, and biennial billing is available for a lower cost. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing here.
EngageBay Zap for LinkedIn (Source: Zapier)
Our Expert Opinion
EngageBay offers the most affordable LinkedIn integration of all the CRM providers. Specifically with regard to the marketing module, users can customize automations to schedule and trigger LinkedIn content posts—a feature that’s available for free using Zapier. Overall, we like the value offered by EngageBay, where it’s not only affordable, but comes with all-in-one tools for sales, marketing, and service functions.
Zoho CRM: Best for Broad LinkedIn Functions
Pros
- Free and affordable plans available
- Relatively low-cost integration with LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Broad LinkedIn functions like content planning and publishing, ads tracking, lead generation, and data enrichment through LinkedIn profiles
Cons
- Poor product usability ratings
- Data enrichment through LinkedIn not available until Enterprise plan
- Users can only monitor LinkedIn ads performance in the CRM; no option to create and deploy the ads
- You want a broad range of LinkedIn functions: Zoho is a popular product that offers a wide range of LinkedIn capabilities through CRM integration. Once connected, users can generate CRM leads from LinkedIn forms, track ads performance, manage a content calendar, create and publish LinkedIn posts, and auto-enrich lead and contact records using LinkedIn profiles.
- You need an affordable Sales Navigator connection: The Zoho LinkedIn Sales Navigator integration is relatively affordable compared to other CRM systems on this list. Once connected, users can get LinkedIn prospect recommendations, receive updates on career and company changes, and get TeamLink suggestions that show who in your network can make an introduction to a lead. InMail messages can also be viewed in the Zoho SalesInbox module through the Sales Navigator plugin.
- You need a simpler LinkedIn CRM: Usability is a problem with Zoho because of its advanced capabilities and many modules, which make the product difficult to navigate and operate.
- Alternative: monday Sales CRM, HubSpot, and Agile CRM are all great simple CRM options that integrate with LinkedIn.
- You want to manage ads in the CRM: While users can connect to LinkedIn Ads from Zoho and track ad performance and engagement, no tools are available to create the ad from the CRM.
- Alternative: We recommend HubSpot CRM Suite as the best option for LinkedIn Ads management, which lets you design, schedule, and manage ad campaigns.
Zoho CRM Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Zoho CRM comes with a 15-day free trial for the paid plans. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing here.
Zoho CRM LinkedIn Sales Navigator (Source: Zoho)
Our Expert Opinion
Zoho is the best solution if you are a hardcore LinkedIn user with plenty of experience operating a CRM system. It has, by far, the broadest range of capabilities for sales teams to prospect, enrich their lead data, and engage contacts directly using LinkedIn. Marketing teams can also benefit from integrating ad-tracking capabilities and social tools to publish LinkedIn content.
monday Sales CRM: Best LinkedIn CRM for Product Usability
Pros
- Familiar spreadsheet format for data management and intuitive automation tools to create LinkedIn posts
- Robust tools for account management and client project management
- All-around affordable CRM for all plans with direct LinkedIn integration available on Standard plan
Cons
- No free plan, plus misleading pricing; paid plans require a minimum of three users
- Does not integrate with Sales Navigator
- Users can’t use the integration to manage ad campaigns from the CRM
- You prioritize usability for your CRM: monday Sales CRM prides itself on product usability. It uses a spreadsheet-style format, which most users are familiar with, for CRM customization and data management. The interface also makes it easy for teams to access their sales data on boards like Kanban, calendar, timeline, and map views. Finally, the automation design features offer premade trigger and action recommendations—making it easy to create workflows between the CRM and LinkedIn.
- You want to manage LinkedIn content posts: The monday Sales CRM and LinkedIn integration primarily focuses on publishing content through automations. Users can do a direct integration or connect the apps through Zapier. Regardless, you can set workflows where if a certain date arrives, time has passed, or the status of a record changes in the CRM, then Zapier will tell LinkedIn to post and share social content.
- You need a Sales Navigator integration: Unfortunately for monday Sales CRM, there is no option to connect to LinkedIn Sales Navigator for access to its advanced prospecting tools.
- Alternative: Zoho CRM is our favorite alternative, with low-cost connections to Sales Navigator starting at just $23 per user, per month.
- You want to manage LinkedIn ads from your CRM: While you can manage LinkedIn content from the CRM, monday Sales CRM does not let you create and track ad campaigns.
- Alternative: HubSpot CRM Suite is the best option on this list for LinkedIn Ads management.
monday Sales CRM Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a monthly per-user breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. There is a 14-day free trial for the paid plans. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing here.
monday Sales CRM creating LinkedIn automations (Source: monday.com)
Our Expert Opinion
monday Sales CRM is a great option for neophyte CRM system users. It offers a highly intuitive navigation system and is easy to use for customizing modules and managing data records. For LinkedIn capabilities, users can access the integration directly by incorporating LinkedIn in the CRM’s workflow automation design. From there, you can schedule content posts using simple workflow design tools.
ClickUp: Best for LinkedIn Audience Management
Pros
- Excellent automation through the LinkedIn integration for managing ad audiences and contact lists
- A complete work management system that can be tailored to any business function
- Solid free-forever plan with integration to Zapier to create flows between LinkedIn and the CRM
Cons
- Not designed as a traditional CRM system; users must design their boards from scratch or through premade templates
- LinkedIn integration only available through Zapier
- No integration available with Sales Navigator
- You want to manage LinkedIn audiences: ClickUp offers a robust LinkedIn integration through Zapier for handling contact lists and ad audiences. Users can create if/then flows where if there’s an event registration or form submission in LinkedIn, then a new item, such as a contact or tasks, is created in ClickUp. Alternatively, you can add contacts or companies to LinkedIn ad audiences based on record updates in the CRM.
- You need a free CRM to publish content: Third-party integrations such as Zapier are free in ClickUp. As part of the free integration, users can create flows between the CRM and LinkedIn apps for content management. For instance, you can create and share updates or posts based on time triggers or activity happening in the CRM, like added or changed tasks.
- You need to integrate with Sales Navigator: ClickUp is limited to LinkedIn content and audience management from the Zapier-powered integrations. Users cannot connect directly to Sales Navigator for the advanced prospecting and InMail outreach tools.
- Alternative: We recommend using Zoho CRM as it has low-cost connections to LinkedIn Sales Navigator for just $23 per user, per month.
- You prefer a traditional CRM: ClickUp is a CRM alternative in that it’s a work management tool in which users can tailor boards, data items, and processes to meet any need, including sales, marketing, service, projects, finance, and supply chain management. The downside of this solution is that you need to customize your modules from scratch or through templates, which may not be preferred by certain users.
ClickUp Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-user monthly breakdown. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. ClickUp comes with a 14-day free trial. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing here.
ClickUp LinkedIn automation through Zapier (Source: Zapier)
Our Expert Opinion
ClickUp provides a versatile work management platform that will let you monitor processes and store data for any business functions, including sales, marketing, and special projects. The automation tools through Zapier are especially useful for managing LinkedIn ad audiences. After form submissions or event registrations, users can stay up to date with new leads by auto-generating items in the CRM and creating tasks to engage those leads.
Agile CRM: Best Free LinkedIn CRM
Pros
- Free plan available with connection to LinkedIn or Zapier
- All-in-one sales, marketing, and service system
- Broad capabilities on LinkedIn like content management, audience customization, lead generation, prospecting, and engagement through LinkedIn messaging
Cons
- Only one integration and plugin allowed on Free plan
- Content management and audience customization tools require Zapier connection
- Does not offer an integration with Sales Navigator
- You want a solid free LinkedIn CRM: Agile CRM has the best free LinkedIn integration as it allows up to 10 users and includes all the LinkedIn capabilities on that plan. With one integration or plugin allowed, you can either directly integrate with LinkedIn for the prospecting and social messaging tools, or connect to Zapier and create flows for content publishing and ad audience management features.
- You need CRM prospecting tools for LinkedIn: The direct Agile CRM and LinkedIn integration includes its main prospecting capabilities. Users can view and track social profiles, make LinkedIn connections, and get career or location updates all from the CRM. There’s even the option to send direct LinkedIn messages to prospects or leads in Agile.
- You want to integrate with plenty of third-party tools: Agile CRM’s primary limitation is the number of different integrations you can have at once. The free plan limits you to just one, and the Starter plan only allows up to three.
- Alternative: HubSpot CRM Suite allows multiple active integrations on its Free plan.
- You need a Sales Navigator CRM integration: While it offers broad LinkedIn functions, users cannot use Agile CRM to connect with LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
- Alternative: Zoho CRM is our favorite option for Sales Navigator integration.
Agile CRM Monthly Pricing Plans*
*Pricing based on annual billing on a per user, per month breakdown. Monthly billing is also available for a higher cost. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing here.
Agile CRM finding contacts in LinkedIn (Source: Agile CRM)
Our Expert Opinion
Agile CRM is an excellent solution for getting risk-free access to LinkedIn. It has a solid free plan that allows you to connect with the social media platform, in which all the LinkedIn integration functions are included in the free plan. These include content posting, contact search, LinkedIn profile updates, and LinkedIn direct messaging through the CRM.
Salesforce Essentials: Best Generating LinkedIn Leads
Pros
- LinkedIn integration allows you to generate CRM leads and auto-route them to users for form submissions
- Offers robust case management features with knowledge base resources to help agents provide excellent service
- LinkedIn content publishing and sharing using Zapier automation is available
Cons
- No free plan
- Requires Zapier; direct LinkedIn integrations require higher level Sales Cloud plans
- Users can’t connect to Sales Navigator without upgrading to the Professional Sales Cloud
- You want to efficiently generate and manage LinkedIn leads: One of the notable features for Salesforce Essentials is the web-to-lead capture tools with automated routing. Teams can use this to auto-generate CRM leads or contacts based on form submissions on LinkedIn. From there, they can quickly route any new lead to a sales rep to quickly connect.
- You need content publishing tools from your CRM: Some of the LinkedIn and Salesforce Essentials features are powered by Zapier flows. One of the key ones is creating and sharing company posts based on CRM triggers. Users can plan and publish LinkedIn content based on record updates, time passed, new leads, and whenever an inbound message is received in Salesforce.
- You want broader LinkedIn capabilities: Salesforce Essentials is a small business CRM product designed by the provider. That said, many of the broader LinkedIn functions, such as the Sales Navigator Salesforce integration, InMail logging, and advanced prospect and account insights from LinkedIn profiles, require higher-priced sales cloud products.
- Alternative: Zoho CRM, HubSpot CRM Suite, and Agile CRM are the best alternatives with broad LinkedIn functionality, including on their primary CRM plans.
- You need a free LinkedIn CRM: Because Salesforce Essentials is its own paid subscription option, there’s no freemium plan you can access through it.
Salesforce Essentials Monthly Pricing Plans*
Salesforce Essentials is the small business-specific starter plan offered by the provider—costing $25 per user, per month. The main web application and mobile CRM features include:
- Account, contact, and lead management
- Integration with Zapier to create workflows between LinkedIn and Salesforce Essentials for automatically updating or creating CRM records, publishing LinkedIn posts, or adding a lead to a contact list based on triggers
- Web-to-lead capture, including from LinkedIn forms with automated lead assignment and routing
- Email integration with Gmail and Outlook for sending and receiving emails and creating mass email campaigns from the CRM
- Task management
- Opportunity management on custom sales processes
- Custom reports and dashboards
- Case management for customer support with knowledge base resources for users to improve quality of service
- Custom apps and process automations in the CRM
- Data duplicate blocking
- File storage and sharing
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown. Salesforce offers a 14-day free trial. Pricing reflects pricing info available at the time of publishing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing here.
Zapier creating automation for new lead records in Salesforce (Source: Zapier)
Our Expert Opinion
Salesforce Essentials empowers sales teams to put early-stage lead generation through LinkedIn on autopilot. In addition to being able to design Zapier automations that create new lead records based on LinkedIn form submissions, users can also auto-route those leads to the proper users based on criteria like geography, potential deal size, industry, and any other data criteria they map out in Salesforce.
How We Evaluated the Best CRM Integration With LinkedIn
To determine the best LinkedIn CRM integration, we evaluated the capabilities available in the CRM once it’s connected to LinkedIn. Access to LinkedIn Sales Navigator, for example, gives users advanced prospecting tools and the ability to engage leads through InMail in their CRM. We also looked at other critical product attributes, including price, ease of use, customer service availability, and whether the integration can be done directly or requires a Zapier connection.
The tabs below offer insight into our evaluation process of the best LinkedIn CRMs:
25% of Overall Score
General features held our most heavily weighted criteria. This looked at product capabilities that are relevant in a CRM system, regardless of the use case or primary integrated product. Robust system customization, for example, lets a business tailor their product to meet its operational needs. We also looked at mobile capabilities for on-the-go activity, reporting and analytics tools, and the range of third-party integration options outside of LinkedIn.
20% of Overall Score
Pricing considered the overall affordability of each LinkedIn CRM. We looked at free-plan availability, the cost and scalability of the paid plans, and the subscription price specifically for accessing the LinkedIn integration. We also evaluated flexibility and whether the provider offered annual and monthly billing.
20% of Overall Score
We evaluated niche features specifically for the LinkedIn integration. The accessibility of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, for example, is an advanced capability for users to prospect from their CRM. We also looked at whether the product can connect to LinkedIn Ads to manage campaigns from the CRM, allow users to publish content, and maintain auto-enriched CRM records using LinkedIn profile data.
20% of Overall Score
Extensive support and service help prevent poor user experiences users may encounter while integrating with LinkedIn or using its features. This was evaluated in terms of hours of support availability and whether there was 24/7 access for subscribers. We also looked at channel availability via phone, email, live chat, and self-service resources like a knowledge base or community forum.
15% of Overall Score
In addition to firsthand experience with these LinkedIn CRM systems, we evaluated what actual users say about each product according to reviews from online sites. These criteria consider how customers feel to gain insight into how users feel about the LinkedIn-CRM features and whether it’s worth the cost. We also wanted to better understand the user experience in terms of product ease of use.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
LinkedIn is a social media platform that lets you publish content, deploy ad campaigns, and generate leads through web form submissions. While it does not have its own CRM system, users can access a CRM integration with LinkedIn to manage some of its functions from a CRM interface and synchronize lead data. There’s also a LinkedIn Sales Navigator tool that lets you handle CRM functions like prospecting, lead storage, and engagement via InMail.
A LinkedIn CRM is a product that can integrate with the social media platform. It is beneficial as it allows teams to complete LinkedIn activity, such as ads deployment, content publishing, and prospecting, all from the CRM interface. Additionally, you can generate CRM leads from LinkedIn form submissions and synchronize data between LinkedIn Sales Navigator and the CRM.
Bottom Line
LinkedIn CRM software lets you integrate your sales and marketing tools with the social media platform to manage ads, content, and lead generation from the CRM. Depending on your budget, LinkedIn feature needs, and whether or not you prefer a direct connection, certain CRMs will be better suited for you than others. HubSpot, for example, is great for LinkedIn ads management, while Zoho CRM has low-cost accessibility to Sales Navigator.