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Bright Data offers three ways to collect LinkedIn data. Each serves a different use case: real-time scraping by URL, bulk pre-collected datasets, or AI-powered entity search. This guide helps you choose the right one.

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Quick comparison

LinkedIn Scraper APIDataset MarketplaceDeep Lookup
What you provideLinkedIn URLsFilter criteria (job title, location, industry)Natural language query (“Find all CTOs in fintech”)
What you get backStructured data per URL (JSON, NDJSON, JSONL, CSV)Bulk dataset (CSV, JSON)Structured results with source attribution
Data freshnessReal-time (scraped on demand)Pre-collected, refreshed periodicallyReal-time search across 1,000+ sources
Data typesProfiles, Companies, Jobs, PostsPeople profiles, Company info, PostsPeople, Companies, Products, News, Events
Volume1-5,000 URLs per requestMillions of records availableVaries by query complexity
Email/phone enrichmentNoYes (via RevenueBase partnership)Yes (built-in)
Best forScraping specific URLs you already haveLarge-scale research with demographic filtersFinding entities that match specific criteria
Pricing modelPer successful recordPer record (volume discounts)Per matched result

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LinkedIn Scraper API

The LinkedIn Scraper API is the best option when you already have LinkedIn URLs and need fresh, structured data for each one. You send a POST request with one or more URLs, and the API returns structured JSON with 50+ fields per profile. Bright Data handles proxy rotation, anti-bot bypassing, and HTML parsing. Supported endpoints:
  • Profiles - work history, education, skills, connections
  • Companies - employee counts, funding, specialties
  • Jobs - salary, requirements, application links
  • Posts - content, engagement metrics, hashtags
Example: 
curl -X POST \
  "https://api.brightdata.com/datasets/v3/scrape?dataset_id=gd_l1viktl72bvl7bjuj0&format=json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[{"url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella"}]'
When to use it:
  • You have a list of LinkedIn profile, company, job, or post URLs
  • You need real-time, fresh data (not cached or pre-collected)
  • You want to integrate LinkedIn data into an automated pipeline
  • You need data for a specific, known set of entities

Get started

Scrape your first LinkedIn profile in 5 minutes.

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Dataset Marketplace

The Dataset Marketplace offers pre-collected LinkedIn datasets that you can filter and purchase in bulk. This is ideal when you need large volumes of data but don’t have specific URLs. Available LinkedIn datasets:
  • LinkedIn People Profiles - 669M+ records with professional details
  • LinkedIn Company Information - company profiles with firmographic data
  • LinkedIn Posts - post content and engagement metrics
You browse the marketplace, apply filters (job title, location, industry, company size), preview a sample, and purchase the matching records. Email and phone enrichment: Standard LinkedIn profiles do not include email addresses or phone numbers. However, the marketplace offers an enriched business contact option (via RevenueBase partnership) that adds GDPR-compliant business emails and phone numbers where available. Use the Contact filters button in the Dataset Marketplace view to enable this. When to use it:
  • You need thousands or millions of records matching demographic criteria
  • You don’t have specific URLs, just filter criteria (e.g., “marketing directors in Germany”)
  • You need enriched contact information (business email, phone)
  • You want a one-time data purchase or recurring delivery

Browse LinkedIn datasets

Filter, preview, and purchase pre-collected LinkedIn data.

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Deep Lookup

Deep Lookup is an AI-powered research tool that searches 1,000+ public sources to find entities matching your criteria. Unlike the Scraper API (which requires URLs) or the Marketplace (which uses predefined filters), Deep Lookup accepts natural language queries. Example queries:
  • “Find all VP of Engineering at Series B+ startups in Austin, TX”
  • “Find all SaaS companies with 50-200 employees that raised funding in 2025”
Deep Lookup validates results across multiple sources for 95%+ accuracy, and can enrich results with contact information, technology stacks, funding data, and social profiles. When to use it:
  • You need to discover entities matching complex, specific criteria
  • You want AI-validated results with source attribution
  • You need enrichment columns added dynamically (email, revenue, tech stack)
  • Your research question doesn’t map to simple URL scraping or marketplace filters

Try Deep Lookup

Search the public web like a database using natural language.

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Which option should I use?

ScenarioRecommended option
”I have 500 LinkedIn profile URLs and need their work history”LinkedIn Scraper API - send URLs, get structured JSON
”I need 10,000 marketing directors in the US with email addresses”Dataset Marketplace - filter by job title and location, enable contact enrichment
”Find all CTOs at AI startups in Europe who previously worked at Google”Deep Lookup - complex criteria best suited for AI-powered search
”I want to monitor job postings from 50 companies weekly”LinkedIn Scraper API (async) - schedule recurring scrapes using the Jobs endpoint
”I need a one-time export of all LinkedIn company profiles in healthcare”Dataset Marketplace - filter by industry, purchase in bulk

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Data access limitations

All three options collect publicly available data only. Bright Data does not access data behind LinkedIn’s login wall. This means:
  • Available: Public profile details (name, headline, current position, education, skills, follower count), public company pages, public job listings, public posts
  • Not available: Private profiles, connection lists, direct messages, InMail content, data visible only to logged-in users or 1st/2nd-degree connections
If a LinkedIn profile is set to private or restricted, the Scraper API returns only the publicly visible fields.

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Common questions

The LinkedIn Scraper API does not return email addresses because they are not publicly displayed on LinkedIn. For business contact enrichment, use the Dataset Marketplace with the Contact filters option enabled (via RevenueBase partnership), or use Deep Lookup which can search for contact information across multiple public sources.
Marketplace datasets are pre-collected and refreshed periodically. If you need guaranteed real-time data, use the LinkedIn Scraper API, which scrapes on demand with every request.
Yes. A common workflow is to use Deep Lookup or the Dataset Marketplace to discover relevant LinkedIn URLs, then feed those URLs into the LinkedIn Scraper API for real-time, detailed scraping.
  • LinkedIn Scraper API: JSON, NDJSON, JSONL, CSV (delivered via API, webhook, S3, or other storage)
  • Dataset Marketplace: CSV, JSON (downloaded or delivered to your storage)
  • Deep Lookup: Structured results viewable in the control panel or exported
New Bright Data accounts receive $2 in free credit, which can be used with any of the three options. The Dataset Marketplace and Deep Lookup also offer free sample previews before purchase.