Is there a limit on LinkedIn connection requests?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 722 million members across the globe as of January 2022. Making connections is a key part of using LinkedIn to build your professional brand, network, and opportunities. However, LinkedIn does limit how many connection requests you can send in a certain period of time. Let’s explore the specifics around LinkedIn’s connection request limits and best practices for making connections.

What is the limit for LinkedIn connection requests?

LinkedIn limits the number of connection requests you can send in a rolling 24-hour period based on your account status:

• Basic accounts: 30 requests per day
• Premium Business accounts: 90 requests per day
• Sales Navigator accounts: 150 requests per day

These limits reset at midnight Pacific Time each day. So if you have a Basic account and send 30 requests on Monday morning, you’ll have to wait until Tuesday morning to send more requests.

The purpose of these limits is to prevent spamming and abusive behavior on LinkedIn. They want to maintain the professional nature of connections and prevent users from blindly mass sending connection invites.

What happens if you exceed the limit?

If you go over the limit for your account type, LinkedIn will prevent you from sending further requests until the 24 hour period resets. You may see an error message that states “LinkedIn Connection Request Limit Exceeded” or “You’ve reached the daily limit for connection requests.”

Some users have reported being completely blocked from sending requests for a period of time after significantly exceeding the limits. However, in most cases you just have to wait until the next day to continue making more connections.

Does LinkedIn notify you when you reach the limit?

Unfortunately LinkedIn does not actively notify users when they have reached their connection request limit. There is no warning message or indicator that pops up when you hit your daily cap.

The only way to know is if you try to send another request and receive an error message that you have reached the limit. It can be frustrating to spend time clicking through profiles to connect only to find out you already hit your quota for the day.

Tips for staying under the limit

Here are some tips to avoid hitting LinkedIn’s connection request limit:

• Track your requests – Manually count the number of requests you send each day so you know when you’re getting close to the cap.
• Spread out requests – Rather than mass sending requests, space them out consistently over the course of each day and week.
• Use premium tools – Upgrade to a premium account like Sales Navigator to get a higher daily request limit.
• Connect strategically – Be selective in who you choose to connect with so you don’t waste requests.

Strategies for making the most of your daily requests

Since the daily request limit is fairly low, it’s important to be strategic with how you use your connections. Here are some best practices:

• Personalize invitations – Send customized messages so you stand out and are more likely to get accepted.
• Focus on quality over quantity – Connect only with people you truly want to build a relationship with.
• Leverage common connections – You’re more likely to get accepted when asking for an introduction through a shared connection.
• Follow up if needed – If you don’t hear back after a week, politely follow up to nudge them about your request.

How to tell if you have pending connection requests?

Since LinkedIn doesn’t notify you when you’ve reached the request limit, how do you know if you have pending requests awaiting the reset? There are a couple ways to check:

• Request notifications – Look for the notifications icon at the top of your LinkedIn page. If you have pending requests, you’ll see a notification for each one.
• Connection page – Go to your connections page and look for the “Invitations Sent” section. This will display any requests still awaiting a response.

Does LinkedIn limit how many total connections you can have?

Beyond the daily request limit, is there also a cap on the total number of connections a LinkedIn member can have? The short answer is no, there is no absolute limit.

However, accounts with an extremely high number of connections (in the tens of thousands) may trigger spam detection algorithms. So in practice it’s wise to keep your total connections under 10,000 to avoid any issues.

Focus on making genuine connections who add value, rather than trying to have the most connections. Quality is far more important than quantity when building your network.

Connection Request Limits for Different LinkedIn Account Types

Here is a summary of the daily connection request limits for each LinkedIn account type:

Can you increase your daily connection request limit?

The easiest way to increase your daily connection request limit is to upgrade to a premium LinkedIn account like Premium Business or Sales Navigator. Here is an overview of the options:

• Premium Business – Gives you 90 daily requests for $29.99/month. Best for promoting yourself or your company.
• Sales Navigator – Gives you 150 daily requests starting at $79.99/month. Ideal for sales prospecting and recruiting.
• Open Networkers – A free way to get up to 500 daily requests. Requires reciprocal connections and following LinkedIn’s etiquette guidelines.
• Account limit resets – Occasionally LinkedIn may reset your account, giving you 30 requests even if you already sent some for that day.

If upgrading your account is not an option, focus on using your available requests strategically each day. Target members who are more likely to accept your requests rather than sending invites en masse.

Is there a way to automate LinkedIn connection requests?

While you can manually send up to 30-150 requests per day depending on your account type, is there any way to automate this process? There are some potential options:

• LinkedIn Recruiter – Paid recruiting tool that lets you automatically connect with prospects who meet certain criteria.
• Third-party tools – Services like Dux-Soup, LinkedHelper, and Seamless.ai can automate sending invites but may violate LinkedIn’s terms.
• Bots – Illegitimate bots can automate requests but put your account at risk of being banned.
• Hiring a virtual assistant – Have a VA manually send requests and track limits each day.

The safest approach is to stick to manual invites or use legitimate premium tools like Recruiter. Automating invites often backfires with mass rejections and low-quality connections.

Should you automate connection requests?

In general, it’s not recommended to try automating your connection requests on LinkedIn. Here are some risks to keep in mind:

• Low acceptance rate – Automated invites seem spammy and are more likely to be ignored or rejected.
• Poor quality connections – You end up with a network of people you have no genuine relationship or engagement with.
• Account penalized – Violating LinkedIn’s terms can get your account restricted or banned.
• Wasted daily limit – Botched automation can use up your daily request limit on the wrong people.

Personalized, strategic manual invites tend to be much more effective at building your LinkedIn network. Take the time to selectively choose who to connect with each day.

Tips for personalizing your requests

Here are some tips to make your daily connection requests feel more personal and improve your acceptance rate:

• Use a custom message – Write a unique note highlighting a shared connection, interest, or reason for connecting.
• Mention specifics – Reference their work history, education, interests, or groups to show you viewed their profile.
• Follow up – If they don’t respond after a week, follow up asking if they received your original invite.
• Add a note – If resending a request, apologize for bothering them again and explain why you want to connect.

Taking just a minute or two to personalize your requests makes a huge difference. Generic invites are easy to ignore while customized messages show you made an effort.

Key Takeaways

Here are some key tips to remember about LinkedIn’s connection request limits:

• Stay under your daily request limit based on account type – 30 for Basic, 90 for Premium Business, 150 for Sales Navigator.
• Track your requests manually since LinkedIn doesn’t notify you when you hit the limit.
• Be selective and only connect with those who will add value to your network.
• Personalize requests with custom messages to improve your acceptance rate.
• Avoid botting or automating invites which often backfires.

Leveraging your daily requests strategically helps build genuine, mutually beneficial connections on LinkedIn. Patience and personalization are key to getting the most from your network growth.

Conclusion

LinkedIn does limit the number of connection requests you can send each day as an anti-spam measure. The limits vary based on your account type, with Basic at 30 requests, Premium Business at 90 requests, and Sales Navigator at 150 requests per day. Manually tracking your daily usage, personalizing invites, and following up respectfully are the best practices for making quality connections and avoiding issues. While automating the process may seem tempting, it is risky and often ineffective. If you need to send more invites, upgrading your account is the safest approach. Building meaningful connections within LinkedIn’s guidelines takes more work, but pays off with an engaged professional network.