11 Solid LinkedIn Alternatives for Networking & Job Hunting

11 LinkedIn Alternatives for Networking and Job Hunting

#1. MeetUp 

Registration: Free

Perfect for: 

• Anyone looking to meet like-minded people locally
• Recruiters looking for local talent
• Businesspeople looking for B2B networking opportunities

MeetUp is a 20-year-old platform that has collected over 49 million members in 190 countries worldwide. 

After signing up, the platform lets you select your interests, join groups with other members who have the same interests, and find networking events happening on just about any topic you can think of - outdoors, indoors, and virtually. And, in case you can’t find an existing group to meet your interests, you can create one yourself.

Not to mention, if you’re not the type that logs in to the platform to actively look for events, MeetUp will automatically send you notifications if an event that matches your interests is happening locally. 

#2. Xing

Registration: Free

Premium Membership: €7,95/monthly  

Perfect for: 

• Europeans looking for LinkedIn alternatives
• Anyone looking to work for or network with European companies

Xing is a networking platform that’s mainly popular in Europe, although it has about 20 million members in over 200 countries worldwide. 

This German-based networking platform is quite similar to LinkedIn. You can create your user profile and connect with other industry professionals, stay updated on industry trends and news, and, most importantly, job hunt virtually by looking for jobs and checking out different companies. On recruiters’ end, Xing lets you post job openings as well as ads and events. 

And here’s one thing that really sets Xing apart from other platforms: the Culture Compass.

This feature shows you what life is like working for your ideal employers. You can discover whether they’re more traditional or modern, what the work-life balance is, and what the employees are like. Pretty awesome, right?

With over 250,000 jobs, 1,7 million events, and daily industry news, Xing is especially perfect for people living in Europe looking for LinkedIn alternatives for networking.  

#3. Bark

Registration: Free for customers, while professionals looking to contact customers need to pay

Perfect for: 

• Professionals looking to find customers and grow their business
• People looking to compare service providers and choose the best ones for their needs

Are you looking for professional help for your house cleaning, gym workouts, web design, or anything else imaginable? Bark can come to your rescue! 

The platform is perfect for connecting professionals with customers looking for their services, including business services, weddings and events, health and wellbeing, and many more! After registering as a customer, you can look up services and let Bark do the rest, including searching among thousands of service providers to find the ones that match your needs. You can then compare their profiles, choose your favorite, and even leave a review if you’re happy with their work.

Service providers, on the other hand, can register as professionals, let customers find them, and grow their business through the platform. Bark sends them leads free of charge and only charges them for contacting the customers they want to work with.  

#4. Opportunity 

Registration: Free

My Opportunity PRO: $29/monthly 

Perfect for: 

• Companies looking to hire untapped talent
• Job-seekers looking to get hired in a less competitive platform than LinkedIn
• Businesses looking to improve their sales lead generation

Opportunity is a networking community that seeks to connect job seekers and business professionals.

With a sign-up process that takes less than two minutes, Opportunity lets you build your network and business relationships, find jobs and career opportunities, network professionally and personally, improve your sales lead generation, and hire the best talent out there. 

The platform has over 1 million members in over 190 countries worldwide and it has created over 85 million professional referrals and connections—all of which make it an awesome LinkedIn alternative for networking if you ask us! 

#5. Jobcase

Registration: Free for community members, paid for employers looking to advertise jobs

Perfect for: 

• Users looking for a more casual version of LinkedIn.
• Businesses looking for blue-collar employees

Starting out as a job board, Jobcase transitioned to a social media platform dedicated to empowering the world’s workers back in 2015. Since then, Jobsack has become a more-than-legit LinkedIn alternative for networking, with over 100 million users go to easily find job postings, join communities of like-minded people, and build their careers faster due to all the benefits of networking. 

Specifically, Jobcase lets you find jobs faster by listing any job posting that’s relevant to you, it lets you apply for jobs from anywhere, build a worker’s profile to let employers find you faster, and join communities! 

With plenty of jobs, resources, and communities to go around, Jobcase is definitely one of our favorite LinkedIn alternatives, especially when it comes to job hunting. 

#6. Twitter Threads

Registration: Free

Perfect for:

• Twitter lovers and people who are already used to the platform
• People who are looking to exchange ideas more than finding a job

Yes, you already know Twitter as one of the most prominent social media platforms. What you probably don’t know, though, is how you can use Twitter to network online and develop professionally.

Twitter - and, particularly, Twitter threads - is actually a great place to network. And the best part about those threads? They’re free, they’re active, and they’re full of members who are willing to discuss and exchange ideas on all kinds of topics. 

That said, Twitter is more popular in some fields than others. For example, you’re more likely to find marketers, crypto experts, and finance professionals on Twitter than, say, healthcare professionals.

#7. Reddit

Registration: Free

Perfect for: 

• People looking for more informal networking alternatives
• People who have some time to spare to participate in online discussions

Although this may come as a surprise, Reddit is actually an awesome LinkedIn alternative for networking. The platform has so many industry-related subreddits, that you can basically find an answer to most of your questions, just like you can find professionals to offer you advice or help you with your career in a heartbeat. 

That said, Reddit is also anonymous and Reddit users are famous for being brutally honest and unforgiving when it comes to interacting with other users. 

Does that mean that you should be afraid to participate in conversations or try to network? On the contrary–just make sure not to result in self-promotion (as that might get you banned) or other scorned upon practices, like asking other Redditors for favors, upvotes, and the sorts. 

If there’s one place where you truly need to deserve every bit of networking connection, that’s Reddit! If you do, though, you can rest assured you’ll never want to network anywhere else. So, just make sure to bring something of value to the community and find the perfect subreddit for you, and you’ll wonder why you didn’t use the platform for its networking benefits faster. 

Some subreddits you can check out for different fields are:

• /r/marketing
• /r/Startups
• /r/Entrepreneur
• /r/Sales
• /r/SEO
• /r/Freelance
• /r/eCommerce

#8. Gust

Registration: Free trial; $300 per user/annually 

Perfect for: 

• Startups looking for investors and personalized tools to grow their business

Solely focusing on startups, Gust claims to be the world’s largest startup network, with over 800,000 founders and 85,000 investment professionals who can help anyone who’s interested connect with the startup “ecosystem.” 

In addition to several tools created to help startups succeed, Gust is perfect for people looking to start a company, grow their startups, and find investors. At the same time, the platform serves both investors and accelerators and assists both sides connect with each other. 

#9. Angel List

Registration: 

• Free for starter pack
• $250 user/month for unlimited access to all features and candidates

Perfect for:

• Early-stage companies looking to grow
• Investors looking for startups and vice versa
• Job-seekers looking to work for fast-growing companies

AngelList is another great platform that aims to connect investors and people looking for jobs with startups. In this regard, AngelList doesn’t just help startups connect with investors, but it also helps them find talented job-seekers who are looking for non-corporate opportunities.

For a niche platform, AngelList is actually quite popular; it has over 8 million active users and has connected even 5 million investors and candidates with promising startups. 

Not to mention, the platform features a helpful blog with news, data, and insights from the site’s editorial team, as well as an education center with everything you need to know about raising funding. 

#10. Zerply

Registration: Free for job-seekers, paid for by employers

Perfect for: 

• Creatives looking to network with professionals in the field.
• Creatives looking to showcase their portfolio and find relevant job opportunities.
• Employers looking to find talent in the creative industries.

And now for the artsy version of LinkedIn - Zerply. 

Specifically, Zerply is a network that aims to connect professionals in creative industries like music, film, animation, and programming, with companies in TV, film, video game, and other entertainment industries. 

Artists can post their work and portfolios on their Zerply profile, while entertainment companies can post their job openings and network with job-seekers on the network. That’s not all, though—Zerply also comes with in-built tools employers can use to organize creative productions. 

#11. Letslunch

Registration: Free

Perfect for:

• People who don’t have a lot of time to attend networking events
• People looking for a more casual LinkedIn alternative for networking

People are happier when they’re eating, so why not apply that to networking? 

This was the idea behind Let’s Lunch, an alternative for people who don’t have too much time to dedicate to networking, so they choose to do it over lunch instead - be it virtual or physical. 

On top of creating your account from scratch, you can log in to Let’s Lunch through LinkedIn and Facebook too. After you find your interests and like-minded people, you can request lunch with them by choosing the type (e.g. one on one lunch), time, and location (virtual or physical). 

This platform’s casual approach to networking is perfect for some non-traditional networking that can lead to long-lasting relationships down the line.

Conclusion 

There are dozen of LinkedIn alternatives out there and they meet all niches, needs, and networking preferences. 

This article has sure given you all the information you need to explore the best of them, so you can get started with your job search or networking ASAP!