If you’re new to LinkedIn outreach, InMail is probably the first thing that confused you. It looks like a normal message, but it costs something called a “credit,” and nothing on the send screen explains where that credit came from or what happens once you run out. That gap trips up more beginners than almost any other LinkedIn feature.
This guide breaks down what InMail actually is, how the credit system works behind the scenes, what it costs once your plan’s allowance runs out, and how to send your first one without wasting a credit on the wrong person.
What Is LinkedIn InMail, Exactly?
InMail is LinkedIn’s paid messaging feature for reaching people outside your network, no connection, no shared group, and no prior interaction required. A regular LinkedIn message only works once a relationship already exists, whether that’s an accepted connection or something like a shared group or event. InMail exists specifically to skip that requirement.
It comes bundled with a paid subscription rather than being sold on its own. Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter plans each include a set number of InMail credits every month, and you spend one credit each time you send a message to someone outside your network this way.
If you want the fuller picture of how InMail actually compares to a regular message, including response rate data and exactly when to reach for each one, this comparison covers that in more depth. This guide stays focused on InMail itself.
How the InMail Credit System Actually Works
Every plan that includes InMail allocates a fixed number of credits per month, and the amount varies a lot depending on which subscription you’re on:
| Plan | Credits per month | Rollover cap |
|---|---|---|
| Premium Career | 5 | Up to 15 |
| Premium Business | 15 | Up to 45 |
| Sales Navigator Core / Advanced | 50 | Up to 150 |
| Recruiter Lite | 30 | Up to 120 |
| Recruiter Pro | 100 | No stated cap |
| Recruiter Corporate | 150 | No stated cap |
Credits reset every month, so unused ones don’t just disappear immediately. They roll over up to your plan’s cap instead. As a result, a beginner who doesn’t send many InMails in month one still has a decent balance to work with once they’re ready to use them.
What Happens to Unused Credits?
Rollover credits still expire eventually. LinkedIn removes any credit that’s gone unused for 90 days, so banking them indefinitely isn’t really an option. If you’re not going to use a credit within that window, it’s effectively gone, whether you spent it or not.
Do You Get Your Credit Back If Nobody Replies?
Yes, but only under one condition: the recipient has to reply within 90 days of you sending the InMail. Any reply counts toward the refund, including a flat “not interested,” so a refund isn’t a signal that your message worked. It’s a signal that someone responded at all.
No reply within that window means the credit is gone for good, spent whether or not the message landed.
The Free Exception: Open Profile
Before spending a credit on someone, it’s worth checking one thing first: whether they have “Open Profile” turned on.
Open Profile is a setting some members enable that lets anyone message them for free, without an InMail credit, even without a connection. It’s an easy detail to miss as a beginner, and skipping the check is one of the fastest ways to burn a credit on someone you could have reached at no cost.
What Does LinkedIn InMail Actually Cost?
InMail itself isn’t sold as a standalone purchase. Its cost is built into whichever subscription you’re already paying for, Premium, Sales Navigator, or Recruiter, and your monthly credit allowance comes with that plan.
Once you’ve used your monthly credits and any rollover balance, extra credits are typically available to purchase separately, at roughly $10 each.
Because of that, the real cost of InMail depends less on a price tag and more on how carefully you spend the credits you already have. Sending InMails to people who’d have replied to a free connection request anyway is where most of that cost gets wasted.
How to Send Your First InMail the Right Way
A few habits make a real difference for a beginner sending InMail for the first time:
- Check Open Profile before you check anything else. It takes a few seconds and can save you a credit outright.
- Keep it short. InMail gives you roughly a 200-character subject line and about 1,900 to 2,000 characters for the body, but shorter messages consistently perform better than ones that use all of that space.
- Personalize it around something specific. A generic pitch reads the same whether it costs a credit or not, and a recipient outside your network has even less reason to respond to something that feels templated.
- Send it to people you couldn’t reach another way. If a connection request would likely get accepted anyway, that’s a free path worth trying first. Save InMail for prospects who are genuinely out of reach otherwise, like someone senior or a 3rd-degree contact unlikely to accept a cold request quickly.
Common Mistakes Beginners Make With InMail
- Spending a credit before checking for Open Profile
- Writing a long, formal pitch instead of a short, specific message
- Sending InMail to someone who’d likely accept a free connection request instead
- Never following up after one InMail goes unanswered, then assuming InMail “doesn’t work”
- Losing track of credits until they expire unused at the 90-day mark
How Linkyfy Makes Every InMail Credit Count
Manually checking Open Profile status and deciding who actually needs a credit doesn’t scale much past a handful of prospects a day. Linkyfy starts every outreach sequence with a personalized, free connection request generated from the prospect’s actual profile, and only escalates to other channels when that doesn’t get a response.
That way, your InMail credits go toward the prospects who genuinely needed them, not the ones a free message would have reached anyway.
FAQs on LinkedIn InMail for Beginners
Do I need a paid LinkedIn plan to send InMail?
Yes. InMail comes bundled with Premium, Sales Navigator, or Recruiter subscriptions rather than being available on a free account. Each plan includes a set number of credits per month.
How many InMail credits do I get each month?
It depends on your plan, ranging from 5 a month on Premium Career up to 150 a month on Recruiter Corporate. Unused credits roll over up to a cap that varies by plan.
Do InMail credits expire?
Yes. Any credit that goes unused for 90 days expires, whether it came from this month’s allowance or rolled over from a previous one.
Can I get an InMail credit back if I don’t get a reply?
No. LinkedIn only refunds a credit if the recipient replies within 90 days, and any reply counts, including a decline. No reply within that window means the credit isn’t refunded.
Is there a way to message someone without using an InMail credit?
Yes, if they have Open Profile enabled. That setting lets anyone message them for free, regardless of connection status, so it’s worth checking before you spend a credit.
