Top 12 LinkedIn Alternatives for Professional Networking

For making professional connections that well might send your career rocketing to the sky, LinkedIn is peerless. When you need to get a job, hire someone who knows just how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or need to remain in contact with people in your profession, LinkedIn does it best. Presently boasting over 300 million users from over 200 countries, LinkedIn is a top and immensely popular professional networking tool you just have to look at and shake your head in admiration over.

How to know that you need a LinkedIn alternative?

Let us start by acknowledging that LinkedIn is, indeed, the world’s largest professional network, with almost 930 million registered users across 200 countries. Surely, it isn’t easy to beat such numbers. But there are times when you might find yourself looking for an alternative. There is even a saying that you should not put all your eggs in one basket, which is kind of apt, given the whole LinkedIn situation. 

But there are other reasons as well that might demotivate someone from using the platform and seeking something else. An alternative becomes even more important if you have a niche audience.

• The biggest complaint people have regarding LinkedIn is that it is too noisy. It becomes hard for people to find relevant information.
• Sometimes, people also have concerns regarding how much they have to share on the platform.
• If you are a recruiter, then yeah, LinkedIn can be costly.
• You also get unwarranted solicitation on the platform, which has recently become a lot to handle.
• While it gets the job done, it is by far not the most innovative platform on the web.
• It is also not suitable for someone with a niche audience.
• And finally, it is a social media website with a job listing feature, which is not what everyone wants.

Comparison of the LinkedIn Alternatives

Service	Pricing	User Base Size	Industry Focus	Best for
AngelList	Free	Smaller	Startup and entrepreneurship	Job seekers and entrepreneurs
Xing	Free & Paid	Smaller	Europe	European professionals and job seekers
Plaxo	Free & Paid	Smaller	General	Individuals seeking contact management
Meetup	Free	Large	General	People interested in organizing meetings
Beyond.com	Free & Paid	Smaller	Industry-specific	People looking for industry-specific jobs
Slack	Free & Paid	Large	Business and professional	Businesses and like-minded professionals
Data.com Connect	Free & Paid	Smaller	Business and professional	Individuals looking for professional contacts
Opportunity	Free & Paid	Potential for limited user base	Unique networking approach	Individuals looking for unique networking approach
Sumry	Free & Paid	Smaller	General	Job seekers looking for impressive portfolios
Bark	Free & Paid	Smaller	Service-related	Individuals seeking professional services
NetParty	Free	Smaller	Youth and professional	Young professionals looking for networking opportunities
Jobcase	Free	Smaller	General	Job seekers with detailed portfolios and preferences

The Top LinkedIn Alternatives

But all is not rosy in paradise. Irksome issues like the spamming of a user’s email account, privacy concerns, and the requirement that you shell out before you can access its more advanced features all conspire to make some present and potential users frantically start searching for viable alternatives. These are 12 of the best LinkedIn alternatives –

1. AngelList

When you are looking for a top LinkedIn alternative, you can’t get any better than AngelList. It’s very simple, foolproof and fabulous. And just the thing you need if you are looking for a job with myriads of organizations and businesses.

Using the site, you can also hire needed professionals, search for people to invest in your promising startup, and do pretty much anything LinkedIn might be capable of. Best of all, it’s free, so get it and rock it like a boss! The next time you need an alternative job search engine, use AngelList.

Visit AngelList

2. Xing

Immensely popular in the EU and deservedly so, Xing lets you find work, your missing rib, and post any openings your firm might have. Think of it as a social media or a professional networking site. At present, it’s available in more than 200 countries and has around 14 million users.

While most of its grand features are free, having more advanced features means you have to pay a membership fee for the privilege. Which is worth it anyway, considering the considerable zing the site splashes on your professional and personal life.

Visit Xing

3. Plaxo

Plaxo can be likened to your own personal assistant who tirelessly works to make your life as easy and stress-free as possible. It’s cloud-based and works at automatically updating your address books and contact list. Anytime your numerous contacts update their personal info, Plaxo will also update, sync, and merge it to your address book.

Apart from that, it will additionally remind you of important events and occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, and the like. And really lets you enjoy life to the full, unencumbered by the need for the constant recall of important info.

Most of its features are free to use. But advanced options have to be paid for.

Visit Plaxo

4. Meetup

Aptly named, Meetup lets you arrange meetings with like-minded people, both offline at the local coffee café and online on a discussion board. With it, you can intimately interact with people from any part of the globe and yak away endlessly on topics you all are really passionate about.

To get talking, just join an already existing Meetup group or form a brand new one of your own and start the mother-of-all talkathons! At present, the site hosts around 16 million users drawn from nearly 200 countries. Free to use as it is, there’s no excuse not to join today.

Visit Meetup

5. Beyond.com

Looking for work, are you? Then try Beyond.Com. Dubbed the “Career Network” the site seamlessly connects millions of jobseekers with matching employees looking to hire top talent.

People looking for work get a particularly sweet deal in that they are offered more than 500 industry-specific talent groups to pick and choose from. Which ensures that you apply for the exact position in the exact industry you wish to.

Also, you get access to career-specific content that polishes your work skills and keeps you up-to-date on the latest happenings in your chosen career. So, you can delete your LinkedIn account today and sign up for Beyond.

Visit Beyond.com

6. Slack

Slack is an office collaboration tool that has recently gained immense popularity. It has over 10 million daily active users. While Slack is primarily designed for businesses and companies, it can also be used for personal networking and online communication.

Many groups on Slack are based around specific interests, making it an excellent platform for like-minded individuals to connect with each other and share their ideas or even seek jobs. For example, the Slack channel Online Geniuses has a community of 35,000+ marketers, SEO experts, and digital marketing specialists. Definitely a good place to be if your primary focus is networking with like-minded people.

Visit Slack

7. Data.com Connect

Unlike the majority of other professional networking sites, Data.Com Connect gives you access to the phone no and email ID of individuals listed in its rather extensive business directory. Thus equipped, you can call and email them about jobs in their company or pester them till they have to put a restraining order on you.

Also, you can search out specific individuals, companies, and industry types and locations you wish to be networked with. It’s largely free to use, but for more premium and class-leading features, expect to cough up nearly $300 yearly.

Visit Data.com Connect

8. Opportunity

This is a top networking platform that provides excellent opportunities for you to grow your career, circle of friendly professionals, get a job, and other tasks networking sites are seemingly enjoying doing.

It’s rather unique in utilizing a scientific method to discover individuals you best match and finicky companies that are looking for the exact skills you evidently possess. However, to sign in, you have to go through LinkedIn. Which can be a mighty turn-off just when you are looking to wean yourself off it.

Visit Opportunity

9. Sumry

For really sublime online work portfolios and resumes, do visit Sumry. It’s a web application that apart from polishing your resume till it’s glittering like a 40-carat diamond also relentlessly makes you better educated, expands your work experience, and expertise, and displays past recommendations from previous employers and other people you might have worked with. This serves to let your future employers gauge how suitable for employment you might be.

The basic version is free, but the more advanced one like the good things of life will set you back a few dollars monthly.

Visit Sumry

10. Bark

Bark is a website that allows you to find professionals in different fields. Its primary objective is to help those who need professional services connect with the right professionals in their area quickly and easily. If you’re looking for a particular service, Bark can reach out to professionals near you and get estimates, saving you time and effort.

Alternatively, if you offer professional services, Bark can pair you with people searching for precisely what you have to offer. So, it goes both ways, whether you need someone or have something to offer.

Bark

11. NetParty

This is currently a small but frantically growing social networking site focused on the youth. It lets users have all the fun they care about while they seek to advance their professional careers.

Users also get access to exclusive parties full of the young and upwardly mobile looking to raise hell and live life to the max. Joining up is free, so go ahead and join the party!

NetParty

12. Jobcase

On Jobcase you get to build a thorough portfolio that lists in the most minute detail your educational qualifications, your work experiences, the salary you would be most comfortable with, whether you’re ready to pack up and move to another place the company might have better need of you and your unassailable virtues that make you an excellent pick for the job.

Thus, potential employers can speedily view your profile and know if you might be suitable for what they have in mind. At present, Jobcase features job details compiled from over 100 job listing domains, which is far more than the likes of LinkedIn. With such a diverse list, you getting a job in no time is assured. And did I mention that it’s free to use?

Jobcase

What do I suggest instead of LinkedIn?

I have seen many people looking for a LinkedIn alternative solely because of the social media aspect. So if that is what you want, then AngelList might suit you best. Another option is Xing, which is basically LinkedIn for Europe, but with much more advanced features. Slack might also suit you if you are looking for a specific group of professionals to join. And lastly, I have to recommend Sublime, which is more about preparing you for a job than looking for one.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is a marvelous professional networking site with few peers. However, due to some identified failings, more than a few individuals seek alternatives to it that don’t involve selling their souls to the devil. The available alternatives to LinkedIn are as many and varied as beer cans at a frat party. The best are featured above. Be sure to check them all out and come thank us later when they send your career and life to the top.