What is an Open Profile on LinkedIn?
An Open Profile is a setting a LinkedIn Premium subscriber can switch on that lets any other member send them a message for free, without being connected and without spending an InMail credit. LinkedIn describes it as a feature that "allows members to contact a Premium member for free". It is one of the few genuinely free ways to reach someone you have no connection to.
Who can turn it on?
Premium subscribers. It is a Premium setting, so a free account can neither enable it nor be an Open Profile. LinkedIn documents it under Premium subscriber settings, and it is off by default for many plans, which is why the share of profiles that have it on is much smaller than people assume.
Does messaging an Open Profile cost an InMail credit?
No. That is the whole point of the feature and the reason it is worth knowing about. LinkedIn states that the feature allows members to contact a Premium member for free.
What LinkedIn does NOT publish is a number. Its own help page says only that it limits how many Open Profile messages you can send in a given period, without saying what that limit is. Anyone quoting a precise figure is quoting a guess.
How do you tell whether someone has it on?
Open the profile and look at the message button. If you can message the person directly despite not being connected, and LinkedIn does not warn you that it will spend a credit, the profile is open. If the option offered is InMail, and the screen tells you a credit will be used, it is not.
There is no badge and no filter for it in ordinary search, which is why most people never notice the feature exists.
Why it matters if you are doing outreach
It changes the arithmetic. An InMail costs a credit and credits are rationed, so the usual play is to send a connection request and wait to see whether it is accepted. An Open Profile can be messaged now, at no cost, with no invite and no wait.
The catch is that you cannot tell from a list. Whether a profile is open is not in a search export, so the only way to use this at any scale is to check each profile before you send.
Where Gelee fits
Gelee checks whether a profile is open before it decides how to reach them, and sends the free message where it can rather than spending a credit or waiting on an invite. On a list where a meaningful share of buyers are Premium, that is the difference between reaching them this week and next month.
Common questions
Can a free LinkedIn account message an Open Profile?
Yes. The feature is about the recipient being Premium, not the sender. LinkedIn does note that it limits how many Open Profile messages can be sent in a given period, without publishing the number.
How do I turn on Open Profile?
It is a Premium setting on your own profile. If you are not a Premium subscriber the option is not available to you at all.
Is an Open Profile message the same as an InMail?
It arrives the same way, but it does not consume an InMail credit. That is the difference that matters.
Sources
- LinkedIn Help: Send an Open Profile message
- LinkedIn Help: Manage your Open Profile settings as a Premium subscriber
- LinkedIn Help: InMail message credits and renewal process
LinkedIn changes these without announcing it. This page was last checked on 1 September 2026. If something here no longer matches what you see, the source above is the one that decides.
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Gelee finds the buyers, paces the sending under these limits, and drafts the replies.
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