LinkedIn Open Profile: what it is and how outreach teams use it

What Open Profile is

Open Profile is a setting that only LinkedIn Premium subscribers can switch on. When it is on, anyone on LinkedIn can message that member for free, even if they are not connected and not in the sender's network, and the message does not use an InMail credit. LinkedIn's help centre describes it as a Premium feature and puts the switch in the member's settings, where it can be turned on or off at any time.

Two details from LinkedIn's pages are easy to miss. Showing the Premium badge and accepting Open Profile messages are separate settings, so a member can display Premium without being open to messages. And free members can send Open Profile messages too, but only a limited number each month; LinkedIn also says, more generally, that it limits how many Open Profile messages you can send in a given time period, without publishing the number.

Two directions: your seat and your prospects

For an outreach team, Open Profile works in two directions, and each needs its own decision.

The first direction lowers the cost of starting a conversation with you. The second reaches part of your list without spending the two scarce things on a seat: invitations and InMail credits.

Switching it on for your own seat

For a seat that exists to start conversations, there is a reasonable case for leaving Open Profile on. Prospects who see a post, notice a profile view or hear about you from a colleague can message the seat directly, without waiting for a connection request to be accepted. People who would never accept a request from a stranger will sometimes send a message when nothing is being asked of them first.

The cost is noise. An open seat also receives pitches, recruiter messages and requests you do not want, and someone has to triage them without letting a real prospect sit unanswered. If nobody reads the seat's inbox daily, switching Open Profile on creates one more place for good leads to go stale. Who answers replies on a rented account, and how covers the inbox routine.

Messaging prospects who have Open Profile on

On the other side, a Premium prospect with Open Profile on is someone you can reach without an invitation. That matters because LinkedIn applies invitation limits on every plan and does not sell more, and because InMail credits are finite. Routing part of the list through Open Profile preserves both.

1. Check at the time you send. LinkedIn's instruction for sending an Open Profile message is to open the Premium member's profile and use the Message button in their introduction section on desktop, or the InMail button on mobile. LinkedIn does not publish a list, and members can switch the setting off at any time, so treat it as something you check per prospect, not a permanent tag on a list.
2. Give it its own step in the sequence. Decide in advance which prospects get an Open Profile message instead of a connection request, so the same person does not receive both on the same day. Spacing a LinkedIn sequence and avoiding overlap across accounts cover the coordination.
3. Write it like an InMail. It arrives as a message from a stranger, with nothing to accept first. It needs a clear reason for writing, one specific point and an easy way to say yes or no.
4. Keep InMail for the people who are not open. A credit comes back when the recipient responds within 90 days, so InMail is best spent on the people Open Profile cannot reach. Members can also switch InMail off entirely, and then InMail cannot reach them at all. See how InMail credits work.
5. Track the route separately. Record which conversations started through Open Profile, through connection requests and through InMail. Whether Open Profile outperforms the other routes in your market is something only your own numbers can show.

Limits and misconceptions

• It is not unlimited. LinkedIn limits the number of Open Profile messages you can send in a given period and does not publish the figure. A team that treats it as a volume channel will find the limit the hard way.
• It is not a way around invitation limits. It is a separate route to a subset of your list: Premium members who have chosen to leave it on. Everyone else still needs an invitation or an InMail.
• It does not make a message welcome. Free to send is not the same as free of consequences. A recipient can ignore or report it, and a careless one reflects on the seat like any other cold message.
• You do not need Premium to send one, but it helps. Free members can send a limited number each month, and in Sales Navigator, messages to Open Profile members go as free InMail. LinkedIn also notes that a Premium subscriber whose card on file has expired must update payment details before sending an Open Profile message.
• It does not decide who sees your Premium badge. LinkedIn controls the badge and Open Profile with separate settings.

Open Profile on a rented seat

Open Profile needs a Premium subscription on the seat, so a seat without one can only use the other direction: messaging prospects who have it on, within the monthly allowance for free members.

On our side, Premium Business is the tier we point to when a client wants Open Profile on the seat that does their outreach. It and the three other tiers on our LinkedIn Premium and Sales Navigator page (Sales Navigator Core, Sales Navigator Advanced and Recruiter Lite) 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 whether or not it carries Premium.

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. Open Profile; Manage your Open Profile settings as a Premium subscriber; Send an Open Profile message on LinkedIn; Types of messages in Sales Navigator; InMail messages; InMail message credits and renewal process; Types of restrictions for sending invitations; LinkedIn User Agreement (effective 3 November 2025), sections 2.2 and 8.2.

Key takeaways

• Open Profile is a Premium-only setting that lets anyone message that member free, without connecting or spending InMail.
• In Sales Navigator, a message to an Open Profile member goes as a free InMail and does not use a credit.
• LinkedIn limits how many Open Profile messages you can send in a period and does not publish the number. Free members get a small monthly allowance.
• On your own seat it lowers the barrier to starting a conversation, at the cost of inbox noise someone has to triage.
• Toward prospects it saves invitations and InMail for the people who are not open. Check per prospect and track the route separately.

Frequently asked questions

Does sending an Open Profile message use an InMail credit?

No. LinkedIn describes Open Profile messages as free, and its Sales Navigator help says a message to a prospect with Open Profile is sent as a free InMail that does not use a credit. LinkedIn does limit how many Open Profile messages you can send in a given period.

Can I turn on Open Profile with a free LinkedIn account?

No. LinkedIn says Open Profile is available only to Premium subscribers. Free members can send Open Profile messages to Premium members who have it on, but only a limited number each month.

How many Open Profile messages can I send?

LinkedIn does not publish a number. Its help pages say it limits the number of Open Profile messages you can send in a given time period, and that free members can send only a limited number each month.

If I turn off Open Profile, will people still see that I have Premium?

Yes, if you want them to. LinkedIn controls showing your Premium membership and accepting Open Profile messages with separate settings.

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