LinkedIn Learning, formerly known as Lynda, is an online learning platform that offers thousands of courses on business, technology, and creative skills. With a LinkedIn Learning subscription, you get unlimited access to their entire course library. This leads many people to wonder – can someone else use my LinkedIn Learning access? Let’s take a quick look at the options.
Sharing Your LinkedIn Learning Account
LinkedIn Learning is designed for individual use. Their Terms of Service state that you may not share your account credentials or give others access to LinkedIn Learning through your account. This means letting someone else log into your LinkedIn Learning account to take courses is against their rules.
However, their Terms of Service do permit reasonable personal and family use of your account. So occasionally letting your spouse, child, or other family member watch a course on your account would likely be fine. But you shouldn’t share your login information with extended family, friends, colleagues, or anyone outside your household.
Having Multiple Users on One Account
While LinkedIn Learning doesn’t allow account sharing, you can add multiple users to a single LinkedIn Learning account. With a Teams or Enterprise subscription, you can add up to 50 or even 500 learners.
This is designed for organizations to manage employee training and development. All users can access the account simultaneously and track their own progress and learning history.
So if you have a Teams or Enterprise account, you can legally add others to your subscription. But with an individual subscription, you can only add other learners if they are family members in your household.
Using Your Account at Work
Many learners access LinkedIn Learning through their employer. If your workplace provides all employees with LinkedIn Learning access, you can only use that subscription for reasonable personal learning. You can’t share your work login with others outside the company.
Some companies have department or team LinkedIn Learning accounts that are meant for group use. In that case, you can share the login credentials with your direct teammates as permitted by your employer.
But you should not share a work LinkedIn Learning account with friends, family, or the general public – that is still prohibited. Only use a workplace account as intended by your employer.
Getting Your Own Subscription
Rather than using someone else’s LinkedIn Learning access, the best option is simply to get your own subscription. They offer:
- Individual subscriptions – $19.99/month billed annually
- Teams subscriptions – for groups and small businesses
- Enterprise subscriptions – for large organizations
With an individual plan, you can only add other family members in your household. But having your own subscription avoids any improper account sharing and gives you full access on your own terms.
If you’re looking to take a course with a friend or colleague, you can get an Individual subscription and share your screen over Zoom or another video platform while taking a course together. This allows you to learn together without sharing credentials.
Splitting the Cost of a Subscription
If you want to share access to LinkedIn Learning with someone outside your household, the best legal option is to split the cost of an Individual subscription. For example:
- You and a friend could each pay 50% of a subscription to share credentials.
- A group like a book club or small business mastermind group could split the cost evenly across members.
As long as you’re sharing both the access and costs, this wouldn’t violate LinkedIn Learning’s Terms of Service. But you need to ensure all users are actively utilizing the subscription and contributing financially.
Using Trial Accounts
LinkedIn Learning offers a free 1-month trial for Individual subscriptions. If you want someone to be able to sample LinkedIn Learning before committing to a subscription, you could share a trial account.
The free trial still prohibits actual account sharing. But temporarily letting someone access courses on a trial account you control is likely fine, as long as they don’t misuse the trial. Be sure to monitor activity and cancel the trial before the month ends to avoid being charged.
Account Security Concerns
Aside from LinkedIn Learning’s rules, there are good security reasons to avoid sharing your account credentials. Any time you give others access to a personal account, you risk issues like:
- Account lockouts if multiple users access it simultaneously
- Difficulty tracking your own learning progress and history
- Failure to logout leading to access by unauthorized users
- Inability to reset credentials if you lose access
- Possible Terms of Service violations if account is misused
So even if you want to share access with close family or friends, it’s smarter for each person to have their own individual login for security reasons.
Monitoring Account Activity
If you do end up sharing access to your LinkedIn Learning account, be sure to monitor account activity closely. Watch for any unexpected or inappropriate use, like:
- Courses accessed at odd hours
- Unusual volume of courses consumed
- Topics inconsistent with the authorized user’s interests
- Inappropriate use of messaging or other features
- Any other red flag activities
Check your account history frequently and ask the other user about anything suspicious. React quickly to terminate account access if issues arise.
Violating the Terms of Service
If LinkedIn Learning discovers you are sharing your account with unauthorized users, they may take actions such as:
- Restricting or terminating your access
- Requiring you to upgrade to a Teams or Enterprise subscription
- Banning you from creating a new account
- Pursuing legal action if there is fraud or abuse
So be very cautious about sharing access outside of LinkedIn Learning’s rules. It’s not worth the risk of losing your learning privileges.
Conclusion
While it may be tempting to give family, friends, or colleagues access to your LinkedIn Learning account, their Terms of Service strictly prohibit sharing credentials. The only authorized way to add other learners is through a Teams or Enterprise subscription.
To avoid account sharing while still learning together, it’s best for each person to have their own individual subscription. You can also legally split the cost of one subscription across multiple interested people. But sharing logins outside your household is an unacceptable violation of LinkedIn Learning’s rules and poses security risks.
The safest approach is for each learner to have their own dedicated LinkedIn Learning account. This provides the best learning experience while adhering to the platform’s Terms of Service. With reasonable subscription rates, there are easy options that allow anyone to gain affordable access to LinkedIn Learning’s library without improper account sharing.