Key takeaways
- Sales Navigator searches LinkedIn's own network and reaches people outside it with InMail.
- Pebbles Ai finds people at named companies and saves them as CRM contacts with a work email where one is found.
- Pebbles Ai drafts LinkedIn messages for you to send; it has no Sales Navigator search or InMail.
- Socialbox brings LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram chats into the same workspace.
- Teams that rely on InMail usually keep Sales Navigator and add Pebbles Ai around it.
What is each product built for
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is built for finding and following people on LinkedIn, while Pebbles Ai is built for the work that happens around a prospect once you know who they are. Sales Navigator is LinkedIn's paid layer on top of its own network: filtered lead and account search, saved searches, alerts and a messaging allowance for people you are not connected to.
Pebbles Ai is a go-to-market operating system: one workspace where AI assistants research companies, find leads, keep contacts and deals in a CRM and draft outreach from your company knowledge. LinkedIn is one of several channels it touches, not the place it lives.
Where is Sales Navigator stronger
Sales Navigator is stronger whenever the answer depends on LinkedIn's own data. Its search runs directly on the network, with the 50+ filters its site lists, and its alerts tell you when a lead changes job or role. Socialbox in Pebbles Ai includes LinkedIn search for people, companies, jobs and posts, but not Sales Navigator search or its filters.
It also lets you message people outside your network through InMail, and TeamLink shows shared connections across your sales team. For a team that sells through warm introductions on LinkedIn, those are real advantages.
- Lead and account search on LinkedIn's own network, with saved searches.
- Alerts when a saved lead or account changes.
- InMail to people you are not yet connected to.
- TeamLink for spotting shared connections across the team.
Where does Pebbles Ai work differently
Pebbles Ai works from a list of target companies rather than from a social network. You name 1 to 10 companies with at least one role and one location, and Find fresh leads returns 1 to 100 people a run. Each lands as a CRM contact with a work email where one is found, a confidence score and a catch-all flag, and personalisation angles come from public LinkedIn posts, falling back to role and company.
From there the assistants write email and LinkedIn outreach, up to seven touches, from the business knowledge and brand voice in Company Intel. Emails are saved as drafts in your connected Gmail or Outlook; LinkedIn messages are drafted for you to send. Socialbox then brings your LinkedIn chats, network, posts and search into the same workspace, beside WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram.
Which team should pick which
Pick Sales Navigator when LinkedIn is where your buyers are and where you start every conversation; pick Pebbles Ai when you need emails, records and written outreach as much as the LinkedIn view. A team can need both, because they answer different questions.
Take an illustrative six-person consultancy selling to operations leaders. The founder uses Sales Navigator to watch a few hundred target accounts and send InMail to new heads of operations. Pebbles Ai holds the same accounts in its CRM, finds the people with a work email where one is found, drafts the follow-up email in the firm's voice and keeps LinkedIn replies in Socialbox next to the email thread in Smartbox.
- Sales Navigator: social sellers, account executives working named accounts on LinkedIn, teams that depend on InMail.
- Pebbles Ai: small teams that want research, leads, a CRM, outreach drafts and inboxes in one place.
- Both: teams that find people on LinkedIn but write, record and follow up elsewhere.
What should you check before changing your setup
Check which Sales Navigator features you actually use before you treat this as a swap, because these tools are usually used together rather than replaced. If InMail, TeamLink or saved-search alerts drive your pipeline, keep Sales Navigator and add Pebbles Ai for the work around it.
Then check the CRM side. Sales Navigator's advanced CRM integrations sit on Advanced Plus, while the Pebbles Ai CRM is built in, labelled Beta and has no native sync with another CRM, though through MCP the assistants can update Attio or Pipedrive, each write following your execution mode (in Manual it waits for your approval). Run one target account list through both and compare what each gives your team to act on.
Pebbles Ai and LinkedIn Sales Navigator side by side
How each product approaches the same jobs, from Pebbles Ai's product records and LinkedIn's own public pages.
| Pebbles Ai | LinkedIn Sales Navigator | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | A workspace of AI assistants for research, leads, outreach drafting, CRM and inboxes | LinkedIn's paid prospecting tool for searching leads and accounts on its network |
| Finding prospects | Describe your ideal customer to find companies, then people by role and location at 1 to 10 named companies, up to 100 a run | Lead and account search with 50+ filters, saved searches and alerts on job or role changes |
| Contact details returned | A CRM contact with a work email where one is found, a confidence score and a catch-all flag; no phone numbers | See their site |
| Outreach | Drafts email and LinkedIn outreach up to seven touches; emails saved as drafts in Gmail or Outlook; no LinkedIn sending | InMail to people outside your network, with a monthly allowance listed on each plan |
| Relationship view | Socialbox shows your LinkedIn network, connections and requests beside your chats | TeamLink shows shared connections across a sales team |
| CRM | Built-in CRM, labelled Beta: deals, Kanban, saved views, ICPs, tasks and notes; Attio and Pipedrive through MCP, each write following your execution mode | Advanced CRM integrations and lead or contact creation in the CRM on Advanced Plus |
| AI | Marketing and Strategy assistants in Auto, Plan and Manual modes; the web app starts in Manual | AI features named Account IQ, Lead IQ and Message Assist |
Checked 2 November 2026 on each vendor's public pages. Where a cell says See their site, their pages did not state it when we checked, so confirm it with them.
About LinkedIn Sales Navigator
LinkedIn prospecting and social selling tool
LinkedIn's paid prospecting tool for searching leads and accounts with advanced filters, tracking changes, messaging people outside your network with InMail and syncing to a CRM on its top plan.
Best for: Sellers whose prospecting happens on LinkedIn and who want advanced search, alerts and InMail on LinkedIn's own network.
What its own pages say
- Lead and account search with 50+ filters, which can be saved. Source: LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Lead and account alerts for job or role changes. Source: LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- InMail messages to people outside your network, with a monthly InMail allowance listed on each plan. Source: LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- AI features named Account IQ, Lead IQ and Message Assist. Source: LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- TeamLink shows shared connections across a sales team, and Smart Links show who engages with shared content. Source: LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Advanced CRM integrations and lead or contact creation in the CRM on Advanced Plus. Source: LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Core, Advanced and Advanced Plus, priced per licence with monthly or annual billing; Advanced Plus is custom-priced by team size and CRM needs. Source: LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Where LinkedIn Sales Navigator is stronger
- Search runs directly on LinkedIn's own network, with 50+ filters and saved searches.
- InMail reaches people outside your network.
- TeamLink and alerts on job and role changes use LinkedIn's own relationship and profile data.
Where Pebbles Ai differs
- Finds fresh leads inside 1 to 10 named target companies by role and location, 1 to 100 per run, landing as CRM contacts with a work email where one is found, a confidence score and a catch-all flag.
- Socialbox brings LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram chats into the same workspace, with LinkedIn network tools, LinkedIn and Instagram posts, LinkedIn search and pacing guards.
- Writes email and LinkedIn outreach, up to seven touches, from your company knowledge and brand voice; emails are saved as drafts in your connected Gmail or Outlook, and LinkedIn messages are drafted for you to send.
- A built-in CRM, labelled Beta, with deals, Kanban, saved views, ICPs, tasks and notes, in the same workspace as the assistants.
Before you switch
- These tools are usually used together rather than swapped.
- Pebbles Ai does not offer Sales Navigator search or InMail; teams that rely on them keep Sales Navigator and use Pebbles Ai for leads with work emails, CRM, drafting and inboxes.
We make Pebbles Ai. Facts about other products come from their own public pages, checked on .
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsFind fresh leads at 1 to 10 named companies by role and location; each one lands in the CRM with a work email where one is found, a confidence score and a catch-all flag.
- CapabilitySocialboxSocialbox brings your LinkedIn chats, network, posts and search into the workspace beside WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram. You write every message yourself.
- CapabilityOutreach contentThe assistants draft email and LinkedIn outreach of up to seven touches from your company knowledge; LinkedIn messages are drafted for you to send.
Common questions
Does Pebbles Ai include Sales Navigator search or InMail?
No. Pebbles Ai does not offer Sales Navigator search or InMail. Socialbox includes LinkedIn search, chats, network and posts for the LinkedIn account you connect.
Can Pebbles Ai send LinkedIn messages for me?
No. The assistants draft LinkedIn messages for you to send, and in Socialbox you write and send chat messages yourself, with pacing guards to keep your account safe.
Can Pebbles Ai add a phone number to someone I found on Sales Navigator?
No. Pebbles Ai finds people at the companies you name and adds a work email where one is found, with a confidence score and a catch-all flag. It returns no phone numbers, so InMail and your own calling stay where they are.
Can I use Pebbles Ai and Sales Navigator together?
Yes, and that is the usual setup. Sales Navigator finds and watches people on LinkedIn, while Pebbles Ai keeps the records, finds work emails and drafts the outreach around them.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
