LinkedIn Sales Navigator alternatives for finding warm leads
There are two ways to find buyers on LinkedIn: search for people who fit, or be handed people already showing need. Seven tools for the second, with dated prices, and three that work alongside Sales Navigator.
On this page 10 sections
If you are looking past Sales Navigator, you probably want one of two things: leads for less, or less time spent searching for them. This guide is about the second. It sets out the two ways to find buyers on LinkedIn, then seven tools that do the finding for you, each with its price as shown on 18 Oct 2026 and the job it suits best.
Three more tools work alongside Sales Navigator rather than replacing it. They have their own section, so you can keep the search you like and change what happens after it.
The short answer
If you use Sales Navigator to search for people who fit, the alternative is a tool that hands you people already showing need: posting about the problem you solve, engaging with a competitor's company page, new in a role, or at a company that just raised money or is hiring. FOUND does that on the LinkedIn account you already have, with no Sales Navigator seat. It checks each person against your buyer and writes the first message, for $69 a month.
Would you rather keep searching a large list yourself? Then pick a tool built on a contact database. The table below shows which ones are.
What Sales Navigator is for
Salesforce's guide to Sales Navigator describes it as LinkedIn's platform for sales teams: search filters for industry, region, function and seniority, lead and account recommendations, InMail messaging, alerts when a lead you follow posts or changes jobs, and syncing with CRMs such as Salesforce.
A search, however good its filters, answers one question: who fits? Buying signals answer a second one: who is paying attention right now? If the second question is the one you want answered, the tools below start there.
Search or signals: two ways to find buyers
Search
- You pick the filters: role, company size, region, industry.
- You get a list of people who fit, most of them busy with something else this week.
- You decide who to write to, and the first line starts from their profile.
Signals
- A tool watches for actions that make this week a good time: a post about the problem, a competitor's page, a new role, a raise, a hiring push.
- Each person is checked against your buyer before they become a lead.
- The first line starts from why they were found, never from the click.
You can run both: search to map your market, signals to know who to write to this week. On a Premium or Sales Navigator account, FOUND also reads who viewed your profile, covered further down.
The alternatives at a glance
Prices as shown on each vendor's own pricing page on 18 Oct 2026, in the currency and billing period shown there.
| Tool | How it finds people | Lowest price shown | Pick it if you mainly want |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOUND | Seven kinds of buying signal on LinkedIn, each person checked against your buyer | $69 a month | People already showing need, written to from your own LinkedIn and inbox |
| Apollo | Searching its database of 240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts | Basic: $49 per seat a month, billed annually | A large contact database, email sequences and a dialer |
| lemlist | Its lead database of more than 600 million, plus a buying intent signals add-on | Multichannel, with LinkedIn: $87 per user a month, billed yearly | Email-first outreach across email, LinkedIn, calls, SMS and WhatsApp |
| Skylead | Its B2B database, and post signals on the topics people talk about | $100 per seat a month | LinkedIn and cold email at volume, with unlimited email accounts |
| Clay | Tables you build from its data sources, with signals such as job changes and company news | As shown on its pricing page, by actions and data credits | Deep enrichment from many data sources, kept in sync with your CRM |
| Teamfluence | Engagement on your posts, your team's, competitors', influencers', keywords and ads | €449 a month, billed monthly, unlimited seats | Signals pooled across a whole team, with native HubSpot or Salesforce |
| Valley | Signals such as job changes, funding rounds, post engagers, profile viewers and hiring | Starter: $199 per seat a month, or $149 billed quarterly | LinkedIn signals with a HubSpot connection, or a done-for-you service |
| Sales Navigator | Search filters and lead recommendations, per Salesforce's guide | Not covered here: see LinkedIn's own pricing page | LinkedIn's own search filters and alerts |
FOUND
FOUND is an AI agent that finds people on LinkedIn who are already showing need, checks each one against your buyer, writes to them from your own LinkedIn and inbox, and handles the replies. It runs in the cloud on the account you already have, with its own residential IP in the country you choose, and needs no Sales Navigator seat.
It watches seven kinds of signal: people engaging with posts on your topics, with the experts your market follows, or with a competitor's company page; people reacting to your posts or following you; people like your best customers; buying events such as fresh funding, a new role or a hiring push; and companies using a tool you pick. Each lead carries the reason it is there, in plain words.
- Writes
- Each message from the profile, the signal and your positioning, in your tone. Switch on review mode and everything waits for your approval.
- Replies
- One inbox for LinkedIn and email, AI draft replies when you switch them on, and an agent that answers by your reply rules and sends your meeting link.
- Price
- $69 a month for two agents, one LinkedIn account and one mailbox. A teammate is $59 a month and an extra agent $39. Leads before you pay.
- Pick it if
- You mainly want people already showing need, found and written to for you, from the account you already have.
All seven, with the line the first message builds on for each, are in LinkedIn buying signals. How often each one runs is in how signals work.
Apollo
Apollo is a contact database with email sequences, a dialer and AI features. Its site says you can search 240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts. Its plans include intent topics (6 on Basic), and its paid plans add CRM integrations.
- Finds people by
- Searching its database with filters, plus intent topics.
- Price shown
- A Free plan at $0. Basic at $49 per seat a month billed annually, or $65 billed monthly. Professional at $79 billed annually, or $99 monthly.
- Pick it if
- You mainly want a large contact database, email sequences at scale and a dialer.
More on this route in Apollo alternatives for outbound that starts on LinkedIn, and every tool here grouped by the job it does in the best LinkedIn prospecting tools.
lemlist
lemlist is email-first outreach across email, LinkedIn, calls, SMS and WhatsApp, with a lead database of more than 600 million and AI agents for signals, enrichment and messaging. LinkedIn automation comes with its Multichannel plan, with 5 senders per user.
- Finds people by
- Its lead database, plus a buying intent signals add-on: 100 signals a month for $21 a month billed yearly, or $29 monthly.
- Price shown
- Multichannel at $87 per user a month billed yearly, $99 quarterly or $109 monthly.
- Pick it if
- You mainly want email at volume, with warm-up and a deliverability hub, and many channels in one sequence.
Skylead
Skylead describes itself as an agency-ready LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software. Its All-in-one seat includes a B2B database, post signals that find prospects by the topics, keywords and problems they talk about, unlimited email accounts and 100,000 emails a month. Its AI SDR generates outbound messages and suggested replies; in semi-automatic mode you review each suggested reply before it goes out.
- Finds people by
- Its B2B database, and post signals.
- Price shown
- All-in-one at $100 per seat a month, with agency plans for many seats.
- Pick it if
- You mainly want LinkedIn and cold email together at high email volume, or one plan for many client seats.
Clay
Clay is a data workspace: many data sources and AI research agents (Claygent) in one place. Its Launch plan adds signals on job changes, company news and social listening, and Growth adds web intent. Its pricing page names email sending, through Clay or its integrations; LinkedIn messaging is not stated on it.
- Finds people by
- Tables you build, enriched from its data sources, plus its signals.
- Price shown
- By actions and data credits, as shown on its pricing page.
- Pick it if
- You mainly want deep enrichment and custom research, kept in sync with your CRM.
Teamfluence
Teamfluence tracks LinkedIn engagement across a whole team: engagement on your posts, your team's posts, competitors, influencers, keywords and ads. HubSpot and Salesforce connect natively. There is no self-serve sign-up: every customer starts with a call.
- Finds people by
- Engagement signals across every teammate's LinkedIn.
- Price shown
- One plan at €449 a month, billed monthly, with unlimited seats, 1,000 qualified leads a month and 20,000 credits.
- Pick it if
- You mainly want signals pooled across a whole team, with native HubSpot or Salesforce.
Valley
Valley is LinkedIn outbound built on signals: job changes, funding rounds, post engagers, profile viewers, competitor post engagers, hiring and keyword engagement. It writes messages in your voice, and you review, edit and approve drafts before they go out. It connects to HubSpot, and to Claude and ChatGPT through MCP.
- Finds people by
- Its signals, with Sales Navigator listed for list building.
- Price shown
- Starter at $199 per seat a month billed monthly, or $149 billed quarterly, LinkedIn only. Done-for-you at $1,499 a month.
- Pick it if
- You mainly want LinkedIn signals with a native HubSpot connection, or a service that runs it for you.
Tools that work with Sales Navigator rather than replacing it
If you keep Sales Navigator for searching, these send to the lists you build there.
| Tool | With Sales Navigator | Price shown |
|---|---|---|
| Waalaxy | Finds prospects through LinkedIn search, Sales Navigator or Recruiter Lite, and targets by post reactions, groups and events | Per user a month, from 300 invitations a month on Pro; the figure depends on the billing period and currency, as shown on its pricing page |
| HeyReach | Imports contacts from Sales Navigator, Clay, RB2B, HubSpot or other tools, and sends across many LinkedIn accounts with rotation | Growth: $79 a month per sender, or $64 a seat a month billed yearly |
| Dripify | Its FAQ calls Sales Navigator a separate LinkedIn subscription, not a requirement; both paid plans include up to 30 Sales Navigator InMails a day | Pro: $79 per user a month, or $59 billed annually; each seat connects one LinkedIn account |
Keep Sales Navigator if
You mainly want LinkedIn's own search filters, for industry, region, function and seniority, with lead recommendations and alerts on the people you follow, as Salesforce's guide describes them.
You can keep it for exactly that and add a signal tool for who to write to this week. The two answer different questions.
Using FOUND with Sales Navigator: profile viewers
On a Premium or Sales Navigator account, the people who viewed your profile get their own row on FOUND's Sources tab, read once a day. Each viewer goes through the same check against your buyer as anyone a signal finds, so the ones who fit become leads with the reason they are there, and the rest are set aside.
What to say to a profile viewer, and what never to say, is in how to see who viewed your LinkedIn profile.
How we checked
Every vendor fact above comes from the vendor's own website on 18 Oct 2026: its pricing page, and its home page where a feature is described there. Where a page shows prices for several billing periods, we give the period with each price. Where a vendor's page does not mention something, we say "not stated" and never "no".
- Apollo: its pricing page and home page.
- lemlist: its pricing page, with each billing period selected in turn.
- Skylead: its pricing page, home page and AI SDR page.
- Clay: its pricing page and home page.
- Teamfluence: its pricing page.
- Valley: its pricing page and home page.
- Waalaxy: its pricing page and home page.
- HeyReach: its pricing page and home page.
- Dripify: its pricing page and FAQ.
- Sales Navigator: Salesforce's guide, "What is LinkedIn Sales Navigator".
For FOUND we used our own product and its help pages. We ran none of these tools side by side, so nothing here claims a reply rate or a lead count for any of them.
Questions
Is there a cheaper alternative to Sales Navigator?
It depends on the plan you would buy, so check its price on LinkedIn's own page. For comparison, FOUND is $69 a month on the LinkedIn account you already have, with no Sales Navigator seat, and the table above gives the price each other tool showed on 18 Oct 2026.
Do I need Sales Navigator for LinkedIn outreach?
Not for FOUND: it runs on the LinkedIn account you already have. A Premium or Sales Navigator account adds the profile viewers row, read once a day. Dripify's FAQ says the same of itself: Sales Navigator is a separate LinkedIn subscription, not a Dripify requirement.
Can I use FOUND with Sales Navigator?
Yes. Connect the LinkedIn account that has it, and the people who viewed your profile get their own row on Sources, read once a day and checked against your buyer like anyone a signal finds.
What is the best Sales Navigator alternative for warm leads?
A tool that starts from buying signals rather than a search. FOUND watches seven kinds of signal, checks each person against your buyer, and writes the first message from why they were found, for $69 a month.