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LinkedIn InMail credits: how many you get, when they reset and when they come back
How many InMail credits each plan gives you
InMail is a paid feature. LinkedIn's help centre says a free account can only message people it is connected to, and that no plan comes with unlimited InMail. Each paid plan gets a monthly allotment instead, which can build up to a cap. These are the figures LinkedIn lists as of September 2026:
| Plan | Credits a month | Most you can hold | New credits arrive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium Career | 5 | 15 | First day of your billing cycle |
| Premium Business | 15 | 45 | First day of your billing cycle |
| Premium All-in-One | 30 | 90 | Not stated on LinkedIn's renewal page |
| Sales Navigator Core, Advanced and Advanced Plus | 50 per user | 150 | First day of each calendar month, in UTC |
| Recruiter Lite | 30 | 120 | First day of your billing cycle, under LinkedIn's general rule |
LinkedIn changes these numbers from time to time, and its own pages are the reference. The recruiting plans above Recruiter Lite carry larger allotments: LinkedIn's comparison lists 100 a seat on Recruiter Professional Services, 140 on RPS+ and 150 on Recruiter.
When InMail credits reset
The reset date depends on the product, and it is the most common source of confusion.
- Premium plans add the new allotment on the first day of your billing cycle. If your billing cycle starts on the 17th, your credits land on the 17th of each month, not on the 1st.
- Sales Navigator is the exception LinkedIn names: credits renew on the first day of every month regardless of your billing cycle, and Sales Navigator's own help page specifies UTC.
UTC matters more than it sounds for US and UK teams. Midnight UTC on the 1st is 8pm Eastern on the last evening of the previous month during daylight saving time, and 7pm outside it; on the West Coast it is 5pm or 4pm. In the UK it is 1am on the 1st during British Summer Time and midnight in winter. A US SDR planning a month-end InMail push can find next month's credits already there before dinner.
Do not confuse this with the commercial use limit, the cap on profile searches for free accounts. That resets on a different clock: midnight Pacific time on the 1st of each calendar month, according to LinkedIn's page on it.
Rollover: the cap and the 90-day clock
Unused credits carry forward, but not indefinitely. Two limits apply.
- A ceiling. Each plan can hold only so many credits: 45 on Premium Business, 150 on Sales Navigator and 120 on Recruiter Lite, per LinkedIn's credits page. A seat that sits at its ceiling wastes part of every new allotment.
- A use-by window. LinkedIn's Sales Navigator page says unused credits transfer to the following month and must be used within 90 days, and its InMail FAQ says credits expire after 90 days. In practice, treat a credit as something to spend within a quarter.
The planning consequence: a steady monthly rhythm beats saving up for a big campaign. A seat that hoards credits runs into the ceiling and the 90-day window at the same time, so saving buys less than it seems.
When a spent credit comes back
A credit you spend can be returned, and LinkedIn words the rule slightly differently for Premium and for Sales Navigator.
| Rule | Premium (LinkedIn's credits page) | Sales Navigator (its own help page) |
|---|---|---|
| Credit returned when | The InMail is accepted, declined or responded to directly within 90 days of sending | The InMail receives a response within 90 days of the date sent |
| What also counts as a response | Quick Replies | Auto replies |
| Pending InMail | Counts as neither accepted nor declined, so no credit back yet | Not addressed on that page |
The difference over declines is worth planning around. On Premium, LinkedIn counts a decline as a result that returns the credit. On Sales Navigator, its wording ties the credit to a response. The conservative reading for both: silence always costs the credit, an answer brings it back, and on Premium so does a decline. Write InMails that are easy to answer either way.
Two further rules shape how you use them. You cannot send a second InMail to someone until they respond to the first, so a follow-up has to wait for an answer or go by another route. And members can switch InMail off in their message settings, in which case you cannot InMail them at all. LinkedIn's InMail FAQ also sets the length: up to 200 characters in the optional subject line and up to 2,000 in the body.
What never carries over
- Between products. Premium InMail credits cannot be used to send InMail in Sales Navigator or LinkedIn Recruiter. Each tool has its own pool.
- On cancellation. A Premium InMail balance becomes zero when the subscription is cancelled.
- On upgrade or plan change. LinkedIn says credits are not transferable when you upgrade, and its Sales Navigator page says credits are not transferred if you cancel or change subscription type.
- By purchase, on Sales Navigator. Its help page says you cannot currently buy additional credits. LinkedIn's Recruiter Lite overview, by contrast, mentions an option to purchase more.
So time plan changes for just after you have used the month's credits, never in the middle of a sequence. If a seat is being reassigned between people, what you lose when a seat moves covers the rest.
Planning a month of InMail on one seat
- Note the renewal date and the balance. On Sales Navigator that is the 1st, in UTC; on Premium, your billing date. Write the balance down so you know what the month can support.
- Split the list by route. Connection requests for people likely to accept, Open Profile messages for Premium members who have it switched on (free, within a limit LinkedIn sets; see how Open Profile works), and InMail for the people who matter most among the rest.
- Write for an answer. A short, specific message with an easy yes or no protects your credit either way. InMail vs connection requests covers when InMail is the right channel at all.
- Log the send date. Credits come back only within 90 days of sending, so a dated log tells you which credits could still return and which threads are dead.
- Review at month end. Credits spent, credits returned, conversations started. That is your real InMail capacity, and it depends far more on targeting than on the plan.
Each of the four tiers on our LinkedIn Premium and Sales Navigator page comes with its own InMail allotment and can be bundled on a rented seat at one monthly price, quoted per engagement. That figure is our price for the profile plus the subscription on it; it is not a discount on LinkedIn's pricing, and TechInRent is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, LinkedIn. Renting a LinkedIn account sits outside LinkedIn's User Agreement: section 8.2 lists renting or leasing access among its don'ts, and a rented seat can be restricted whatever plan it carries.
Sources: LinkedIn's own help, product and legal pages, read on 30 September 2026. LinkedIn changes its plans; where its pages and this post differ, its pages are right. InMail message credits and renewal process; InMail messages; Understand InMail credits in Sales Navigator; InMail messages FAQ; Types of messages in Sales Navigator; Commercial use limit; Differences between Recruiter, RPS+, RPS and Recruiter Lite; Recruiter Lite overview; LinkedIn User Agreement (effective 3 November 2025), sections 2.2 and 8.2.
Key takeaways
- Premium credits arrive on your billing date. Sales Navigator credits arrive on the 1st of each calendar month, UTC, whatever you pay on.
- Monthly allotments: 5 on Premium Career, 15 on Premium Business, 50 per user on Sales Navigator, 30 on Recruiter Lite. No plan is unlimited.
- Unused credits roll over only to a cap, and LinkedIn says Sales Navigator credits must be used within 90 days.
- A reply within 90 days returns the credit. On Premium, so does a decline. Silence never does.
- Credits do not move between products, survive cancellation or carry across a plan change. Change plans after spending them.
Frequently asked questions
When do LinkedIn InMail credits reset?
On Premium plans, on the first day of your billing cycle. On Sales Navigator, on the first day of every calendar month in UTC, regardless of when you are billed. In US time zones that falls on the evening of the last day of the previous month.
Do unused InMail credits roll over?
Yes, up to a cap: 15 on Premium Career, 45 on Premium Business, 150 on Sales Navigator and 120 on Recruiter Lite. LinkedIn also says Sales Navigator credits must be used within 90 days, so rolling over is not the same as saving up.
Do I get an InMail credit back if the person declines?
On Premium, LinkedIn's credits page says an InMail that is accepted or declined within 90 days is credited back. Sales Navigator's own page ties the credit to a response within 90 days. Either way, silence costs the credit.
Can I use my Premium InMail credits in Sales Navigator?
No. LinkedIn says Premium InMail credits cannot be used to send InMail in Sales Navigator or LinkedIn Recruiter. Each product has its own allotment.
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