Can You Message Someone On LinkedIn Without Premium? (2024)

The short answer is no.

You cannot message someone on LinkedIn without a Premium (paid) account.

However, LinkedIn does allow you to message people on their Basic (free) account in certain circumstances.

In this article, I’ll help you understand the following:

- Do you need LinkedIn Premium to message people?
- Can you send a message to someone on LinkedIn if you are not connected?
- Can you message someone on LinkedIn without needing to connect?
- What is the best way to message someone on LinkedIn?

Do you need LinkedIn Premium to message people?

Yes, you need to upgrade to a paid LinkedIn Premium account to message people who you have not already connected with.

If you are using a Basic (free) LinkedIn account, then you can only message people that you are already connected with.

The problem with LinkedIn Premium is that you can only message 15 people per month.

Even with LinkedIn Sales Navigator (higher tier plan), you are limited to 50 messages per month.

If you plan to send lots of connection requests, and then message people for free after they have accepted your connection request, then I have some bad news: LinkedIn limits the number of connection requests that you can send.

You can learn more about LinkedIn’s limitations in my article LinkedIn Limits: How Many Connection Requests & Messages?

If you want to learn how to bypass these limitations and message an unlimited number of people on LinkedIn, then check out my article How To Reach Out To People On LinkedIn.

Can you send a message to someone on LinkedIn if you are not connected?

If you are using a Basic (free) LinkedIn account, then you cannot send a message to someone if you are not already connected.

The only way to send messages to people on LinkedIn without first being connected is by upgrading to a paid account.

LinkedIn has different types of paid accounts, such as Premium and Sales Navigator.

Using a paid account, you can send direct messages (InMail) to almost anyone on LinkedIn, without needing to connect first.

If you are confused about the difference between an InMail message and a regular message, then check out my article Linkedin Inmail vs Message: What Is the Difference?

Can you message someone on LinkedIn without needing to connect?

Yes, it is possible to send a message to someone on LinkedIn without needing to connect.

However, you need to upgrade to a paid account to do this (Premium or Sales Navigator).

If you are wondering which method is better for sales (message or connect), then check out my article InMail vs Connection Request: Which Gets More Replies?

What is the best way to message someone on LinkedIn?

The best way to message someone directly on LinkedIn is by upgrading to a paid account (Premium or Sales Navigator), and sending an InMail message.

I also recommend that you send a connection request.

I discuss whether you should include a note (message) in your connection request in my article Should You Add A Note When Sending A LinkedIn Connection Request?

A sales secret that most people aren’t aware of is that the best way to contact leads on LinkedIn is by email.

LinkedIn limits the number of messages that you can send directly through their platform.

If you want to reach out to a higher volume of people, and bypass LinkedIn’s limitations, then you need to find the email address of each person, and email them directly.

I teach you how to do this in my article How To Export Leads From LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Final thoughts

You cannot message someone on LinkedIn without a Premium (paid) account.

If you are using a Basic (free) LinkedIn account, then you can only message people that you are already connected with.

The only way to message someone on LinkedIn without first being connected with them is to upgrade to a paid account (Premium or Sales Navigator).

If you want to learn how you can message an unlimited number of people on LinkedIn via cold email, then check out my article How To Reach Out To People On LinkedIn.

You may also enjoy my article How To Find Emails For Cold Emailing.