The two ways
A browser extension (or a desktop app) runs on your own computer, inside your own browser or next to it, using your normal LinkedIn login. A cloud tool runs on the vendor's servers, in a browser that belongs to you there, signed in with a session you hand over, usually a cookie.
Everything else follows from that one difference.
Side by side
| Extension or desktop app | Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Your computer | The vendor's server |
| Computer must be on | Yes, with the browser open | No |
| Address LinkedIn sees | Your own connection | The server's, or an IP assigned to you |
| Runs while you sleep | Only if the machine stays awake | Yes |
| Setup | Install and sign in | Paste a session cookie |
| Updates | You install them | The vendor deploys them |
| Typical price | Lower | Higher |
Which tools take which approach
From the vendors' own pages, checked for our comparison pages:
- Linked Helper is desktop software for your computer or a VPS you run, with proxies bought separately.
- Dux-Soup sells a desktop app for Mac and Windows, and a managed cloud version at a higher price.
- Octopus CRM is a Chrome extension; its trial links straight to the Chrome Web Store.
- Dripify, Expandi, Skylead and We-Connect run in the cloud.
- Waalaxy runs in the cloud on its Advanced and Business plans.
- Connected Outreach runs in the cloud: your own persistent browser on our server, with your own static IP address in your country.
The risk question
Neither approach makes automation allowed. LinkedIn's terms rule it out either way. What differs is the shape of the risk. An extension works from the address you browse from, inside the page LinkedIn served you, so what the tool does and what you do are mixed together on one connection. A cloud tool works from somewhere else; done badly, that somewhere else is an address shared by many accounts, which is its own problem. Done carefully, it is an address of your own that only your account uses.
What matters more than where it runs: how many actions, how fast, to how good a list, and whether the tool stops at the first sign of a check.
Cost
Extensions and desktop apps are usually cheaper: Octopus CRM lists plans from $9.99 a month and Linked Helper from $15, before any proxy or VPS you add. Cloud tools start higher: Connected Outreach is $29 a month, and the cloud tools on our comparison pages run from $49 to $100 a month per seat. What LinkedIn automation costs has the table.
Tools that do both
Some tools sit between the two. Taplio is a web app with a Chrome extension alongside; Kanbox runs campaigns in the cloud and offers an extension too; Waalaxy is cloud only from its Advanced plan up. When a vendor says cloud, ask which actions happen on the server and which still need your browser open.
Questions to ask any vendor
- Where does my session run, and whose browser is it in?
- Whose IP address does LinkedIn see, and does anyone else use it?
- What are the daily and weekly caps, in numbers, before I pay?
- Does a run stop when LinkedIn shows a security check, or does it keep trying?
- How is my cookie stored, and can I delete it myself?
Our answers are on the safety page and in daily limits and pacing. A vendor who can't answer the second and fourth questions plainly is telling you something.
Why we built the cloud version
Three reasons: your computer shouldn't have to stay on for a sequence to run; the session should come from an address that is yours alone; and nothing should need installing or updating on your side. If those three don't matter to you, an extension may be the better deal.