If you're active on LinkedIn, you need to understand the platform's limits to avoid getting restricted or blocked. LinkedIn doesn't publish official numbers, so this guide is based on what the community has learned through experience.
Your limits depend mainly on two things: whether you have a free or paid account (and which paid plan), and how established your account is.
How LinkedIn Views Your Account
LinkedIn treats accounts differently based on their history and activity. Here's how we can break it down:
Three Account Levels:
New Accounts - Recently created with little activity or connections
Established Accounts - Active for 3-12 months with a growing network
Trusted Accounts - Long history with strong, consistent activity
Think of this more as a sliding scale than strict categories. Your Social Selling Index (SSI) score can give you a sense of where you stand.
Sending Connection Requests
LinkedIn counts your connection requests on a rolling weekly basis.
How Many Can You Send?
New Accounts:
Per day: 10-15 requests
Per week: 50-75 requests
Tip: Start with just 5-10 per day and slowly increase
Established Accounts:
Per day: 20-25 requests
Per week: about 100 requests
Trusted Accounts:
Per day: 30-40 requests
Per week: up to 200 requests (but you need a high acceptance rate)
Important Things to Know
Keep your pending requests under 500 (the hard limit is 700)
Withdraw old requests that haven't been accepted
Adding a personal message doesn't let you send more requests
Free accounts can only send about 10 personalized connection requests per month (any paid plan removes this limit)
Your acceptance rate matters - if more people accept, LinkedIn may let you send more
Direct Messages
LinkedIn doesn't set hard limits on direct messages, but they watch for spam patterns.
Safe Daily Limits
New Accounts: 50 messages (be careful)
Established Accounts: 100 messages (keep it steady)
Trusted Accounts: 100-150 messages (only if people engage with your messages)
Tips for Staying Safe
Personalize your messages
Track how many people respond
Send messages consistently rather than in big bursts
If people ignore your messages, LinkedIn may lower your limit
InMail Messages
InMail lets you message people you're not connected with. Your subscription determines how many you get, not your account age.
Monthly InMail Credits
Plan | Monthly Credits | Daily Limit |
Free | 0 | 0 |
Premium Career | 5 | ~5 |
Premium Business | 15 | ~15 |
Sales Navigator (all levels) | 50 | ~25 |
Recruiter Lite | 30 (can buy more) | Up to 1000 |
Recruiter | 150 (can buy more) | Up to 1000 |
Recruiter Professional Services | 100 (can buy more) | Up to 1000 |
How to Use InMail Wisely
Spread your InMails out over several days instead of using them all at once
Most paid plans let you roll over unused credits to the next month
You can buy extra credits if you run out
Open Profile Messages
Some LinkedIn users with Premium accounts can enable "Open Profile" which lets anyone on LinkedIn message them for free (no InMail credits needed) - even people with free accounts.
Weekly Limits
New Accounts: about 100 messages
Established Accounts: about 150 messages
Trusted Accounts: about 200 messages
Important: You don't need a paid account to send messages to Open Profile users. However, only Premium members can enable Open Profile on their own accounts.
Strategy: When you hit your limit, switch to using InMail credits instead (if you have a paid plan).
Viewing Profiles
How Many People's Profiles Can You View?
Account Type | Per Day | Per Week |
Free | ~80 | ~560 |
Premium (all types) | ~150 | ~1050 |
Sales Navigator/Recruiter* | ~150 or ~1000 | ~1050 or ~7000 |
*The higher numbers only apply when you're using Sales Navigator or Recruiter directly (not regular LinkedIn).
Safety Note for Free Accounts: The 80 profiles per day is the upper limit. To be safe, especially if your account is new or you haven't been very active, start with 20-30 profiles per day and gradually increase. Viewing too many profiles too quickly can trigger LinkedIn's spam detection.
How Many Company Pages Can You View?
Account Type | Per Day | Per Week |
Free | ~100 | ~700 |
Premium (all types) | ~200 | ~1400 |
Sales Navigator/Recruiter* | ~200 or ~1000 | ~1400 or ~7000 |
*Again, higher limits only work in the Sales Navigator or Recruiter interface.
Note: Your account's reputation can slightly affect these numbers too.
Searching on LinkedIn
LinkedIn has two types of search limits you need to know about:
1. Commercial Use Limit (CUL) - How Many Searches You Can Do
This limits how many searches you can perform per month:
Subscription | Searches Per Month | Per Day (Recommended) |
Free | 300 | ~10 |
Premium Career | 300 | ~10 |
Premium Business | Unlimited | No limit |
Sales Navigator (all levels) | Unlimited | No limit |
Recruiter (all levels) | Unlimited | No limit |
Good to Know
The limit resets on the 1st of each month
Only business plans (Premium Business, Sales Navigator, Recruiter) give you unlimited searches
Some searches don't count toward your limit, like viewing your own connections, searching for jobs, or searching for someone by their exact name
2. Search Results Display Limit - How Many Results You Can See Per Search
This is a separate limit that controls how many results you can view in a single search:
Platform | People Search Results | Company Search Results |
Regular LinkedIn | 1,000 (100 pages of 10) | 1,000 (100 pages of 10) |
Sales Navigator | 2,500 (100 pages of 25) | 1,000 (40 pages of 25) |
Recruiter | 1,000 (40 pages of 25) | 1,000 (40 pages of 25) |
Important: Free accounts can view all 100 pages of results per search. However, viewing many pages (especially profiles outside your network) contributes to LinkedIn detecting commercial use, which counts toward your 300 monthly search limit.
Tip: If you're hitting the 1,000 result limit, break your search into smaller pieces (like by location or industry) so each search shows fewer results.
Likes and Comments
LinkedIn watches your likes and comments to make sure you're not spamming. Here are safe daily numbers:
Account Age | Likes Per Day | Comments Per Day |
New | 20-30 | 10-15 |
Established | 40-60 | 20 |
Trusted | ~100 | ~30 |
Important: No matter where you are, start small and gradually increase over time. Don't jump straight to your maximum.
Posting Content
LinkedIn doesn't have strict posting limits, but posting too much can hurt your reach or look like spam.
Recommended Posts Per Day
New Accounts: 1-2 posts
Established Accounts: 3-5 posts
Trusted Accounts: 5-7 posts
Golden Rule: One great post beats five mediocre ones every time. Focus on quality, not quantity.
Other LinkedIn Limits
Feature | Limit |
Total connections (maximum) | 30,000 |
Pending connection requests | 700 |
Groups you can join | 100 |
Connection request message (Free/Premium) | 200 / 300 characters |
Regular message length | 8,000 characters |
InMail subject line | 200 characters |
InMail message | 2,000 characters |
Job applications per day | 50 |
Final Tips
Start Small: Always begin well below your estimated limit
Watch Your Stats: Pay attention to acceptance rates, response rates, and how people engage
Grow Slowly: Increase your activity over weeks, not days
Quality Over Quantity: Real engagement beats high volume every time
Stay Flexible: LinkedIn changes things regularly, so be ready to adjust
Please note: The limits and numbers in this guide are based on community observations and real-world experience, but they're not official LinkedIn figures. LinkedIn doesn't publish exact limits, and these numbers can vary based on:
Your account's age and history
Your activity patterns and behavior
LinkedIn's ongoing algorithm changes
Your geographic location
Other factors LinkedIn monitors
These limits may change at any time as LinkedIn updates its platform and policies.
If you notice any numbers that seem different from what you're experiencing, or if you find conflicting information, please let us know! We actively research and update this guide to keep it as accurate as possible. Your feedback helps us maintain the quality and reliability of this resource for everyone.
Remember: Start carefully, monitor your account's response, and adjust based on what works for your specific situation.