LinkedIn InMail: credits, limits and when to use it
What InMail is, how many credits each plan gets, how credits come back, and when a free connection request is the better move.
By Burhan, Founder of Quillreach. Published October 2026·Last updated: October 17, 2026
InMail is LinkedIn's paid message to someone you are not connected to. You get a set number of credits each month with a paid plan: 5 on Premium Career, 15 on Premium Business, 30 on Recruiter Lite and 50 on every Sales Navigator plan. Unused credits carry over up to a cap, and an InMail that gets a reply within 90 days gives its credit back. You cannot buy extra credits, and there is no unlimited plan.
What is InMail on LinkedIn?
InMail lets you send a private message to a LinkedIn member you are not connected to, without an introduction or their contact details. It is a paid feature: you need Premium, Sales Navigator or Recruiter to get InMail credits, and each InMail you send uses one. It lands in the recipient's LinkedIn inbox, and LinkedIn sends them an automatic reminder within three days of it being sent.
How many InMail credits do you get?
Each paid plan gets a monthly allowance and a cap on how many unused credits it can hold. These are LinkedIn's own figures.
| Plan | Credits per month | Most you can hold |
|---|---|---|
| Premium Career | 5 | 15 |
| Premium Business | 15 | 45 |
| Recruiter Lite | 30 | 120 |
| Sales Navigator (Core, Advanced, Advanced Plus) | 50 | 150 |
A free LinkedIn account gets no InMail credits.
How do InMail credits come back?
An InMail that is answered within 90 days of being sent gives its credit back. On Premium, accepting or declining counts as an answer, and so do quick replies. In Sales Navigator, the automatic replies count as well: Interested and Maybe later are accepted, Not interested is declined, and all three refund the credit immediately. An InMail with no answer after 90 days, or one you delete before anyone replies, does not come back.
When do InMail credits renew, and do they expire?
On Premium, new credits arrive on the first day of your billing cycle, which follows the date you first signed up. On Sales Navigator, they arrive on the first day of every month in UTC, whatever your billing date. Unused credits carry over until you reach your plan's cap; Sales Navigator adds that carried credits must be used within 90 days. Cancel or change your plan and the balance goes to zero, and Premium credits cannot be spent in Sales Navigator or Recruiter.
How long can an InMail be?
LinkedIn allows up to 200 characters in the optional subject line and up to 2,000 characters in the body. That is a ceiling, not a target: the InMails that get answered are short enough to read on a phone without scrolling.
InMail, connection request or message?
InMail is one of four ways to reach someone on LinkedIn, and usually not the cheapest. The connection request limits are covered in our guide to LinkedIn connection request limits.
| Method | Who you can reach | Cost | Limit | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connection request | Anyone you can invite | Free | Weekly invitation limit, about 100 | Building a lasting connection with someone likely to accept |
| Message to a connection | First-degree connections | Free | No published cap | Everything after they accept |
| InMail | Anyone, including people outside your network | One credit, refunded on a reply within 90 days | Your monthly credits and the accumulation cap | A senior or hard-to-reach person you have one strong reason to contact |
| Message to an Open Profile | Premium members who turned on Open Profile | Free, no credit | LinkedIn limits these too, without publishing the number | Reaching Premium members without spending credits |
How to write an InMail that gets answered
Lead with why them
The first line should show you know who they are and why you chose them: a post they wrote, a role they just started, a problem their team is visibly working on.
Make one small ask
Ask for a reply, not a meeting. A yes-or-no question is easy to answer, and any answer, even a no, gives the credit back.
Keep it phone-sized
Three or four short sentences. The 2,000-character limit is not a target, and a wall of text is the quickest way to an unanswered InMail.
Use the subject line
It is optional, but a specific subject that names their world, not your product, is what gets the InMail opened.
In Quillreach, InMail is a step in a sequence like any other: AI drafts each message, and by default you approve it before it sends. More on that in human-in-the-loop LinkedIn outreach.
Common questions
Sales Navigator says you cannot purchase additional InMail credits, and LinkedIn does not offer a plan with unlimited credits. The ways to send more are a plan with a bigger allowance, and getting replies, since every answered InMail refunds its credit.
Sources
- LinkedIn Help: InMail credits and renewal
- LinkedIn Help: InMail messages FAQ
- LinkedIn Help: InMail credits in Sales Navigator
Read on October 17, 2026. LinkedIn changes these figures from time to time; its Help Center is the final word.
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