If you’ve ever tried to grow your network or land leads on LinkedIn, you’ve likely hit the dreaded wall: limited InMail credits. For professionals relying on LinkedIn outreach, this is a real pain point. In fact, according to LinkedIn’s own data, InMail response rates are 3x higher than cold email, making them a powerful but costly tool. Yet, the biggest frustration for recruiters, salespeople, and job seekers is the cap on InMails—even with LinkedIn Premium.
In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about LinkedIn InMails: how many you can send, what InMail credits are, ways to maximize your outreach, and hacks to send more InMails without a premium. Whether you’re a recruiter searching for top candidates or a salesperson trying to build a pipeline, you’ll learn how to use LinkedIn messaging strategically to get more replies and close more opportunities.
LinkedIn InMail limit depends on your plan: Premium Career (5/month), Business (15/month), Sales Navigator (50/month), and Recruiter (30–150+). You can send more by earning credits back from replies, targeting open profiles, or using automation tools.
What Are LinkedIn InMails and Why Do They Matter?
LinkedIn InMails are direct messages you can send to 2nd and 3rd-degree connections without needing to send a connection request first. Unlike regular LinkedIn messaging, InMails allow you to reach hiring managers, recruiters, and decision-makers directly.
The real advantage is that LinkedIn allows you to send direct messages to people who aren’t already in your network, which gives job seekers and sales teams a way to bypass traditional gatekeepers. Every InMail message carries weight: a strong subject line, a clear sales pitch, and a professional tone can help you get a reply from users with open profiles.
However, LinkedIn limits how many InMails you can send each month—unless you know how to hack to send more.
How Many InMails Can You Send on LinkedIn?
This is one of the most asked questions: How many InMails can you send on LinkedIn per month?
The answer depends on your plan:
- LinkedIn Premium Career: 5 InMails per month
- Business Premium: 15 InMails per month
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: 50 InMails per month (plus rollover if unused)
- Recruiter Lite: 30 InMails per month
- LinkedIn Recruiter: 150+ InMails per month
If you’re trying to send up to 800 InMails in a month, you’ll need to look beyond standard premium plans. That’s where hacks, LinkedIn automation, and tools like LinkedFusion can make a huge difference.
Reddit users explain that LinkedIn Premium gives 5 InMail credits monthly, but they can roll over or be earned back if recipients respond.
What Are InMail Credits?
InMail credits are essentially tokens LinkedIn gives you under a premium subscription that allow you to send InMails. Each time you send an InMail, you spend one credit.
But here’s the catch: LinkedIn also has a refund policy. If your InMail gets a response within 90 days, you get that InMail credit back. This makes crafting your subject line and outreach message even more important—you don’t just want to send, you want to get a response.
So if you maximize your response rate, you can technically stretch your credits further.
How Much Do InMail Credits Cost?
While LinkedIn doesn’t directly sell standalone credits, the cost of InMail credits is baked into LinkedIn Premium subscription pricing. For example:
- A Business Premium account at roughly $59.99/month gives you 15 InMails. That’s effectively $4 per InMail.
- Sales Navigator at $99.99/month provides 50 InMails, which averages $2 per InMail.
- Recruiter Lite at $170/month with 30 InMails comes to about $5.60 per InMail.
This means that unless you’re on a high-tier premium account, sending large volumes of InMails can become very expensive. That’s why many professionals are trying to hack the system to send InMails without a premium.
How Do You Get LinkedIn InMail Credits?
There are multiple ways to get InMail credits:
- Premium Plans: Subscribing to a premium account like LinkedIn Premium Career, Business Premium, or Sales Navigator.
- Free Trial: If you start a free trial of Sales Navigator or Premium Career, LinkedIn gives you complimentary InMail credits.
- Refunds from Replies: Every time someone replies to your InMail, you get that credit back.
- Open Profiles: Premium users with open profiles allow you to message them directly without using an InMail credit.
Knowing these InMail strategies helps you extend your outreach capacity, especially when you’re trying to maximize your LinkedIn outreach.
Reddit users suggest treating InMail credits as a scarce resource—using them only for high-value prospects while relying on connection requests, email, and calls for broader outreach.
What Is the InMail Limit Per Day?
LinkedIn does not set a strict daily limit; instead, it allocates monthly InMail credits. For example, if you have 50 InMails per month, you can technically send them all in one day.
However, LinkedIn’s algorithms track unusual behavior. If you suddenly try to send 800 InMails in a single day, your LinkedIn account may face restrictions. The safest way is to spread messages over time, combine InMails with connection requests, and mix in LinkedIn messaging to avoid suspicion.
Hacks to Send InMails Without Premium
Here’s the truth: you don’t always need a premium subscription to reach people on LinkedIn. With the right strategies, you can send InMails without a premium.
- Target Open Profiles – Many premium users have open profiles, meaning you can message them without using credits. Searching for premium users can save you tons of credits.
- Send a Connection Request First – A personalized connection request often gets accepted, and then you can message without spending credits.
- Use LinkedIn Groups – If you and your prospect are in the same group, you can send direct messages without InMails.
- Leverage LinkedIn Events – Attendees of events often allow messaging access without needing InMails.
- LinkedIn + Email Automation Tools – A LinkedIn and email automation tool can help you automate the LinkedIn process and reach 2nd and 3rd-degree connections without paying for every single InMail.
This way, you can continue outreach campaigns even without a premium subscription.
Reddit users say LinkedIn Premium is often misunderstood—InMail credits are limited, and the real value lies more in visibility features like seeing who viewed your profile and expanded search filters, not unlimited messaging.
Level Up Your LinkedIn Outreach with Smart Messaging
Sending InMails is just one part of the game. To level up your LinkedIn outreach, you need to focus on messaging quality, not just quantity. Here’s how to improve your response rate:
- Craft strong subject lines – The subject line is the first thing people see. Keep it short, personalized, and relevant.
- Personalize your sales pitch – Avoid generic copy-paste messages. Reference the person’s LinkedIn profile or work.
- Test different outreach strategies – A/B test different subject lines, call-to-actions, and tones to see what gets the most replies.
- Follow up without being pushy – A simple reminder after a few days can double your chances of getting a reply.
Every InMail message is a chance to make an impression. Treat it like a conversation starter, not a hard pitch.
Using Automation to Send LinkedIn Mass Messaging
If you’re serious about outreach, you’ll eventually need to scale through mass messaging. That’s where automation comes in. Tools can help you:
- Automate the LinkedIn process of sending connection requests and follow-ups.
- Send direct messages to people at scale while staying within LinkedIn’s safety limits.
- Integrate LinkedIn messaging with email to create multi-channel campaigns.
For recruiters and sales teams, automation means you don’t have to manually spend hours on outreach. Instead, you can focus on engaging with people who actually respond.
Why LinkedFusion Is the Smarter Way to Build a Prospecting Pipeline?
Here’s the big challenge: LinkedIn limits, premium plans, and InMail credits can slow you down when you’re trying to grow fast. That’s where LinkedFusion comes in.
LinkedFusion is a LinkedIn and email automation tool designed to help you maximize your LinkedIn outreach without hitting frustrating limits. With LinkedFusion, you can:
- Send automated connection requests and follow-ups
- Reach 2nd and 3rd-degree connections without using credits
- Combine LinkedIn and email outreach in one dashboard
- Scale campaigns safely without risking your LinkedIn account
Want to send 100+ LinkedIn messages daily without hitting limits?
Try LinkedFusion and scale your outreach without paying per InMail.
Conclusion
LinkedIn InMails remain one of the most powerful ways to reach decision-makers, recruiters, and prospects directly. But they come with limitations: credits, costs, and daily caps. Understanding what InMail credits are, how much they cost, how to get them, and the InMail limits per day gives you an edge.
For recruiters, job seekers, and sales professionals, the key is to maximize your LinkedIn outreach using a mix of smart messaging, targeting open profiles, and automation. And if you truly want to scale—sending hundreds of messages safely—tools like LinkedFusion are the ultimate hack to send more InMails without premium restrictions.
LinkedIn may limit your messages, but with the right LinkedIn strategy, you can break through the noise, get noticed, and build real opportunities.
