Compare/Head to head

LinkedIn Recruiter vs Prog.ai

Same facts, side by side: starting price, free tier, MCP, API and what each one is actually built for.

Starting price

LinkedIn Recruiter

Quote-based

The default sourced candidate database, with InMail and projects. LinkedIn does not publish a price: Recruiter Lite is priced at checkout and full Recruiter by quote.

Where LinkedIn Recruiter fits

  • Almost every in-house talent team
  • Agency desks running InMail projects
  • Sourcers who work the graph daily
  • Buyers weighing Recruiter against job ads alone

Prog.ai

Sales-quoted

Prog.ai is a developer graph built from GitHub contributions, covering 60M+ engineers scored across tens of thousands of skills. Platform access is sales-quoted. The Chrome extension is free.

Where Prog.ai fits

  • Technical recruiters who hire from GitHub more than from job boards
  • Desks that want Likely-to-Move and scored skills while browsing LinkedIn
  • Teams building bulk engineer lists to export into an outreach tool
  • Companies competing with LinkedIn Recruiter on developers who barely keep a LinkedIn

At a glance

DetailLinkedIn RecruiterProg.ai
Starting priceQuote-basedSales-quoted
Free tier–No–No
MCP server–No–No
Public API–No–No
Listed underJob boards, LinkedIn, SourcingSourcing, AI sourcing
Capterra4.5 from 150 reviewsNot enough reviews

Where they pull apart

LinkedIn Recruiter

Stands out: It is the graph every other sourcing tool enriches from.

Watch out: It is supply, not a system of record, so you still need an ATS.

Not the right fit for

  • Teams that only need to post a job
  • Buyers unwilling to pay per seat

Prog.ai

Stands out: Likely-to-Move and skill scores come from actual code, not self-reported LinkedIn bullets. The Chrome extension (updated June 2026) overlays those insights on LinkedIn, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and Kaggle.

Watch out: The vendor does not publish a self-serve plan table on getprog.ai. Contact and bulk-list access sit behind a sales conversation. This is software-engineer sourcing, not a general talent graph.

Not the right fit for

  • Non-engineering recruiting
  • Buyers who need a published monthly SKU before a demo

Pros and cons

LinkedIn Recruiter

  • The default graph for most talent teams
  • InMail and projects included
  • Connects to the major enterprise trackers
  • Per-seat cost across a team
  • Not an ATS
  • No API or MCP

Prog.ai

  • 60M+ engineers ranked from GitHub code, not resume keywords
  • Free Chrome extension on LinkedIn, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and Kaggle
  • Likely-to-Move plus skill scores from real contributions
  • Full platform is sales-quoted. No homepage plan table
  • Engineer-only graph
  • Native outreach connectors to sequencers are still rolling out

What each one costs

LinkedIn Recruiter

Quote-based

LinkedIn does not publish Recruiter prices. Recruiter Lite shows its price at checkout, and Recruiter (the full product) is sold through LinkedIn sales on an annual contract. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 4 Nov 2026

Prog.ai

Sales-quoted

Prog.ai does not publish a plan table on getprog.ai. The Chrome extension is free. Full database, contacts, and bulk list access are quoted. Request a conversation from the site. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 4 Nov 2026

Common questions

Can you try LinkedIn Recruiter or Prog.ai for free?
Neither carries a free tier on our listing.

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Editorial listings, never paid rankings. Prices checked 4 Nov 2026. Confirm current terms on the vendor site. Spot an error?