Ultimate InMail Credits for LinkedIn Sales Navigator Support: The 2025 Guide 

 ”Still confused about how InMail credits work in LinkedIn Sales Navigator? You just found the perfect decision-maker… and boom: “⚠️ You’re out of InMail credits.”

Frustrating? Stick with me—we’ll turn that constraint into an advantage.

In this guide, I unpack every rule on the pro network, layer on copywriting tips (so your InMails actually land), and show you how to recycle InMail credits instead of wasting them.  If you ever get stuck, linkedin support articles can help you confirm policy details and edge cases.

1) What is a LinkedIn Sales Navigator InMail credit?

This is inmail in sales navigator in a nutshell—how it lets you message outside your network without a connection request. Imagine whispering directly to a prospect without even shaking hands. That’s what an InMail credit buys you: a VIP ticket 🎟️ to drop a message in any member’s inbox outside your network—no connection request required.

Understand LinkedIn InMail message credits: your VIP pass to any recipient

An InMail credit acts like a pass: when you hit send, the credit is deducted. If the recipient replies—even if they decline—the credit is instantly returned. 😍

How do LinkedIn Sales Navigator InMail credits work?

Here’s the deal: with a monthly quota, Sales Navigator Core gives you 50 InMails each month, and they roll over up to 3× (max 150). Once you hit that cap, new credits overwrite the excess. So keep them moving! 👌

💥 Also, to message at scale, you can send free InMails to Open Profile members.

How to get more credits on Recruiter Lite?

➡️ If you’re on Recruiter Lite or Recruiter and want extra credits, each pack comes at a steep price. It’s smarter to automate with Waalaxy instead. Also watch the lifespan: each credit expires after 90 days if unused or unanswered—don’t waste them!

For a refund, all you need is an accept, a decline, or a simple “Thanks but no”—and boom, the credit is returned. Radio silence, however, consumes the credit for good.

👉 Pro move
Target Open Profile members, because those sends are free and don’t touch your stock—pretty slick, right? And leverage the help page to optimize your total number of credits.

Need examples? Check out our LinkedIn InMail guide: Top 5 best practices and learn to send InMails that earn more replies.

How much do extra InMail credits cost (and how to save them)?

There’s no a-la-carte purchase for Sales Navigator, but recruiters can buy packs of 10 on Recruiter Lite, up to 70 additional InMail credits per seat. That bill stacks up fast… whereas with Waalaxy, the same budget unlocks up to 800 messages + 10,000 business emails/month, with AI follow-ups and CRM integration included 🚀.

💡Sales Navigator Help reminds you that your message credits depend on your plan: 50 InMails/month on Core, 15 on Premium Business, etc. With rollover, your total pool can triple, but each send deducts one. Watch your inbox—you can see remaining InMail credits and decide whether to send an InMail or switch to cold email.

⚡Key takeaway
Use InMail credits for strategic contacts, then trigger a reply (even a no) within 90 days to get the credit back, and automate everything else with a multichannel tool. In short: reserve Inmail credits for diamond targets (CEOs, VCs, rare talent) and let Waalaxy handle the rest with message volume. Check out the Waalaxy plans!

2) How many InMail credits do you get?

Plans define your quota, and knowing exactly how many InMail Credits you get prevents running out mid-campaign.

Plan	Monthly credits	Max rollover	Reset timing
Sales Navigator Core / Advanced / Plus	50	150	On your monthly bill date
Premium Career	5	15	Same
Premium Business	15	45	Same
Recruiter Lite	30	120	Same

🏴‍☠️Sneaky hack

On a Sales Nav free trial (home page → see your credits), you retain the 50 InMail credits even if you cancel before billing (yep, really). Use them to test your sequences. If each InMail costs a credit, remember InMail is a premium feature—Waalaxy lets you contact any decision-maker without draining your limited stock. 😍

5 InMails/month: why so few?

Premium Career is built for job seekers. Those 5 credits suit ultra-targeted outreach—CHROs, headhunters, mentors—not mass outreach. The algorithm caps rollover at 15. Anything above that is lost.

🖋️Copywriting tip
If you’ve only got 5 shots, add: “Worth your time: a quick insight on  [problem]” in the subject. It frames value from line one.

The 50 InMails/month on Sales Nav Core

LinkedIn’s pricing page clearly shows “50 InMails.” In plain English: 50 off-network tickets, said to triple response rates vs. a cold email. In practice, these 50 InMail Credits are the backbone of Sales Navigator outreach. And, short-form videos and influencer collaborations are among the content formats delivering the highest ROI—proof that the effectiveness of your outreach depends as much on the channel and format as on the message itself. Explore our take on influencer marketing strategies on the blog.

Renewal & refund rules: the real balancing act

LinkedIn gives you a tidy counter that resets on your bill date. But it’s a high-wire act: if you don’t master the choreography—reset, rollover, refunds, expiration—credits fall into the void. Learn how to master this flow in our complete guide to channel marketing.

Recap 👇

The reset & rollover equation

👀 Reset hits every billing date: your counter goes to zero, then your monthly quota is re-credited.

👉Unused credits roll for 3 months and can stack up to 3× your allowance. Anything beyond that is auto-purged. Any reply instantly refunds the credit. No activity and a credit expires on day 91, taking any chance of reuse with it.

✅ Each new InMail is delivered within seconds. As soon as the recipient replies within the 90-day window, the credit comes back. If they don’t, it disappears. ⏰ That’s why LinkedIn pushes for replies and the “within 90 days” rule.

To explore all the possibilities of Sales Navigator, check out our Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Mini “zero-waste” checklist

😎 Never lose ammo again. Schedule a nudge 48 hours before a credit’s expiration—one short ping often triggers the reply that saves the credit. Prioritize Open Profile targets: sends are free, so you preserve stock.

Also set a day-75 reminder: if there’s still no movement, drop an empathetic follow-up or archive the thread to keep your inbox clean.

Little tips: an excellent LinkedIn profile boosts reply rates—polish it! 😉 Then archive or translate stale conversations. Finally, keeping your Recruiter home page and tools tidy improves productivity.

👇Team-wide recap to pin! You can save it by right-clicking: “Save image 

as…”

3) How to check your InMail balance in 3 clicks

You should never wonder, “How many rounds do I have left?” In under 10 seconds you can see your stock of InMail Credits and decide whether to fire up Waalaxy instead of your credit card.

Step 1: Open Sales Navigator → Messages

From any page, click the envelope icon 📬 in the top bar. You’ll land in the built-in messenger—the HQ of your premium conversations.

Step 2: Select the InMail tab

Above the thread list, you’ll see three tabs: All, Connections, and InMail. Click on InMail to filter all off-network conversations inside LinkedIn messaging. This view also highlights who still hasn’t replied, giving you a clear snapshot of your outreach performance.

Step 3: Read the meter at top right

LinkedIn shows “You have X InMail credits.” That’s your live counter; it updates after every send or reply 🔄.

Bonus: hover it to see your reset date and the 3× rollover cap.

• ⚡Productivity hack: pin the link!
• Open a new Sales Nav window, go straight to https://www.linkedin.com/sales/inbox/inmail, and bookmark it ⭐.
• Rename it “InMail Balance ⚡” for one-click access.
• Pair it with a monthly reminder: on the 28th, check your remaining InMail Credits and decide whether to switch to Waalaxy to finish strong 🚀.

👉 For more tips on boosting your outreach, read our LinkedIn InMail Tips & Best Practices.

Why is my counter dropping for “no reason”?

🙈 Three common causes:

1. You messaged an Open Profile: it’s free, but the credit may take time to be restored.
2. You exceeded the rollover cap: excess credits expired.
3. You’re using bulk templates; each personalized send still consumes a credit, even in a bulk send.

4) Should you buy InMail credits? Spoiler: nope!

Some teams think buying extra InMail Credits is the way to scale fast. But costs rise quickly—packs are pricey compared to automation. (Also relevant here: writing better Linkedin inmails improves replies and refunds, lowering effective cost per touch.) Before you whip out your card, ask three simple questions 👇

What do LinkedIn InMail credits really cost?

On Recruiter Lite, a 10-credit pack is about €100 (~$), so €10 per touchpoint. Add the subscription, and suddenly each InMail Credit feels like gold. By contrast, a Waalaxy touchpoint costs ~€0.20. That’s why buying InMail Credits rarely scales profitably.

Instead, treat InMail Credits as premium ammo for top-tier prospects—CEOs, investors, rare hires. Automate the rest with multichannel outreach, so every InMail Credit you spend has a measurable ROI.

👉 According to Zippia’s LinkedIn Advertising Statistics, the average cost-per-send for LinkedIn InMails and ads is among the highest in B2B marketing, reinforcing why many teams look to automation tools for ROI.

Is it scalable?

One InMail = one credit. So 100 prospects = 100 credits. Your 50–150 monthly pool drains fast. Then you either stop or pay again. Not great for growth 📉.

What’s the return on effort?

LinkedIn reports an average 18–25% reply rate for InMail (2025 source). Solid—but shy of the 40–50% our users get with LinkedIn + email sequences in Waalaxy, 3 AI follow-ups, A/B testing, dynamic personalization, native CRM. More chances to turn every touch into an opportunity 💥.

❌ Buy packs	✅ Automate with Waalaxy
€10/InMail + subscription	~€0.20/touchpoint
0 automated follow-ups	3 AI follow-ups
No A/B testing	multivariate testing included
No scoring	real-time AI scoring

🚀Plan B: switch to a Waalaxy campaign. Send up to 800 LinkedIn invites plus 10,000 pro emails/month, with AI follow-ups and auto-scoring—for about the price of a coffee a day. See ya, credits.

For more: LinkedIn InMail: Top 5 best practices to boost results when you spend remaining credits!

I want a Waalaxy campaign.

5) How to maximize (and recover) your InMail credits

Truth is, multiplying InMails without draining your InMail Credits comes down to four simple habits and a bit of boldness 😉. Use the Sales Navigator free trial to test risk-free.

Laser targeting & bespoke personalization

🏹 Aim surgically: Sales Navigator is packed with filters (function, seniority, team size, headcount growth…) so you can align messages with the 2% who truly matter—every unqualified contact is a credit in the trash!

🥊Once locked, deliver a tailored note. Stats show a personalized InMail averages 18–25% replies—10× better than a generic cold email, but ~2× lower than an automated mixed channel without the “InMail” label. Whether the reply is “yes” or a polite “no thanks,” any reaction refunds your credit immediately, as LinkedIn clearly states in its renewal rules.

Smart follow-ups & refund-triggering CTAs

⌛Don’t watch the hourglass run out—follow up before day 90. A short, empathetic nudge often triggers the missing reply. Do it manually if you love marathons—or go full-auto with Waalaxy to boost reply rates; it schedules reminders and detects read receipts for you 🏎️.

Open Profile members are your secret ally: messaging them is free, so your reserves stay intact while keeping the thread warm.

Always end with a crystal-clear CTA:

• “Point me to the right person on your team?”
• “A simple 👍/👎 works.”
  

A short, frictionless CTA maximizes replies. Even an explicit no triggers a credit refund, so you’re back in the game without spending more—a mechanism designed to reward engagement of any kind. Waalaxy can automate the whole flow, but the strategy stays yours 🚀.

6) Real-world cases: credits & Sales teams

Solo, small team, or leading a big crew—you’ll learn to turn each monthly quota into a XXL pipeline without losing a single credit. If your team still doubts it, show them why LinkedIn is a gold mine.

Sales team (5 Sales Navigator Advanced Plus seats)

💰Five seats × 50 credits = 250 InMails/month, 750 max with rollover. If your reps go three months without sending, LinkedIn purges 250 credits every billing cycle. Solution: pace at least 50 sends/month (or automate via Waalaxy) to keep the meter moving.

Solopreneur / Freelancer (Premium Career)

📍With 5 credits/month (cap 15), you play sniper mode: investors, speakers, journalists… Personalize deeply; any reply refunds your round. Between shots, let Waalaxy run volume prospecting without touching your premium stock.

Recruiter Lite & extra packs

The base plan gives you 30 credits. Spike in activity? The +70 pack gets you to 100 InMails/mo. Beyond that, the unit cost balloons. Better to move up to LinkedIn Recruiter (team pooling) or shift high volume to Waalaxy—for the price of a single InMail pack.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator InMail credits are powerful, if you manage them smartly. Between rollover, refunds, and copy tactics, every message can open a door to a qualified relationship. But remember: your credits are limited.

👉To scale your prospecting without limits and multiply opportunities, combine your InMails with an automated multichannel strategy.

7) How to write LinkedIn InMails that get replies

These copy tips apply to linkedin inmails across plans and roles, from SDRs to recruiters. A full section with copywriting tips and message structure:

• Subject line formula
• Hook and value-driven opening
• CTAs that drive replies (even declines = refunds)

8) How to scale beyond InMail: email extraction & hybrid outreach 

Show how to combine LinkedIn + email for multichannel outreach:

• Tools to extract business emails (like Waalaxy or Skrapp)
• Send cold emails without touching InMail credits
• Message sequencing: LinkedIn 1st, email 2nd, reply trigger

📌 Insert note: “No need to buy credits when Waalaxy gets you 800 messages + 10,000 emails/month.”

📮Bottom line: InMail credits in Sales Navigator are ideal for opening strategic doors—key investors, closed Enterprise accounts, rare talent. But for scalable prospecting, their cost and caps quickly become a bottleneck.

✅ Best approach?

• Use credits for “diamond” targets.
• Automate the rest with Waalaxy to get 800 LinkedIn messages, email finder, AI copywriting, and auto follow-ups.
• Track results in the Waalaxy Inbox and pick up refunds from the extra replies. 😉

LinkedIn Sales Navigator InMail credits have no more secrets for you! Ready to level up? Test Waalaxy for free and turn your LinkedIn into an opportunity machine—without torching your credit budget! 🚀

FAQ: InMail credits in Sales Navigator

How do I get my InMail credits back?

If your recipient replies within 90 days—even with a “no thanks”—your InMail credit is instantly refunded. No reply = no refund.

How many InMails can I send each month?

It depends on your LinkedIn plan:

• Sales Navigator: 50 credits/month (up to 150 with rollover)
• Premium Business: 15/month
• Recruiter Lite: 30 + optional packs

This answer already clarifies how many credits by plan, so readers can quickly compare options before they buy credits.

Can I message people without InMail credits?

Yes. You can:

• Message 1st-degree connections for free
• Target Open Profiles (free InMails)
  Use email outreach tools (like Waalaxy) to contact anyone via email

What are the limitations of InMail credits?

• Each message = 1 credit
• Credits expire after 90 days
• You can’t transfer credits between users
  Bulk messages = bulk credit usage

What’s the best way to write InMails that convert?

Use this formula:

1. Subject = value promise (e.g. “Quick idea to cut churn 20%”)
2. Personalized hook
3. Clear offer
4. CTA that triggers reply: “Even a thumbs up/down helps!”

Primary Sources

• LinkedIn Help – InMail credits & renewal (a101030) (linkedin.com)
• LinkedIn Help – Allotment & accumulation (a543695) (linkedin.com)
• LinkedIn Pricing (Sales Nav Core) (business.linkedin.com)
• Recruiter Lite additional credits (a414231) (linkedin.com)
• SalesRobot blog – Response rate 18–25% (salesrobot.co)
• LinkedIn post – Average InMail response rate 18–25% (linkedin.com)
• HubSpot State of Marketing Report
• 35+ Key LinkedIn Statistics [2023]: Users, Businesses, And Must-Know Recruiter Facts – Zippia 
• LinkedIn Help – InMail pooling seats (linkedin.com)
• Lifewire – What is LinkedIn InMail (lifewire.com)