--- title: "How to Send Free InMails on LinkedIn Recruiter (2026)" description: "Send InMails on LinkedIn Recruiter without spending credits: the official send-as-email option explained step by step, plus how to automate it." url: "https://www.leonar.app/blog/free-inmails-linkedin-recruiter/" lang: "en" alternates: fr: "https://www.leonar.app/fr/blog/free-inmails-linkedin-recruiter/" de: "https://www.leonar.app/de/blog/free-inmails-linkedin-recruiter/" image: "https://www.leonar.app/og/blog/free-inmails-linkedin-recruiter-en.png" tokens: 4314 --- 1. [Home](https://www.leonar.app/) 2. [Blog](https://www.leonar.app/blog/) 3. [LinkedIn Recruiter](https://www.leonar.app/blog/category/linkedin-recruiter/) 4. How to Send Free InMails on LinkedIn Recruiter (2026) LinkedIn Recruiter July 17, 2026 9 min read # How to Send Free InMails on LinkedIn Recruiter (2026) Send InMails on LinkedIn Recruiter without spending credits: the official send-as-email option explained step by step, plus how to automate it. [![Pierre-Alexis Ardon](https://www.leonar.app/_astro/pierre-alexis-ardon.ByBiMn-t_1eJ10c.webp)](https://www.leonar.app/authors/pierre-alexis-ardon/) [Pierre-Alexis Ardon](https://www.leonar.app/authors/pierre-alexis-ardon/) Co-founder ![LinkedIn Recruiter compose window showing the free send-as-email option](https://www.leonar.app/_astro/free-inmails-linkedin-recruiter.DceGgJbC_Z2u7rLm.webp) Ready to take action? Discover Leonar in a few minutes. Summarize with AI Choose an AI [ChatGPT](https://chat.openai.com/?q=Summarize%20this%20article%20about%20recruiting%20from%20Leonar%3A%20) [Perplexity](https://www.perplexity.ai/search/new?q=Summarize%20this%20article%20about%20recruiting%20from%20Leonar%3A%20) [Claude](https://claude.ai/new?q=Summarize%20this%20article%20about%20recruiting%20from%20Leonar%3A%20) [Mistral](https://chat.mistral.ai/chat?q=Summarize%20this%20article%20about%20recruiting%20from%20Leonar%3A%20) Table of contents - [Why your InMail credits disappear so fast](#why-your-inmail-credits-disappear-so-fast) - [The free InMail option hiding in the Recruiter compose window](#the-free-inmail-option-hiding-in-the-recruiter-compose-window) - [Send your first free InMail in four steps](#send-your-first-free-inmail-in-four-steps) - [Step 1: find the candidate’s email address](#step-1-find-the-candidates-email-address) - [Step 2: add the email to the profile in Recruiter](#step-2-add-the-email-to-the-profile-in-recruiter) - [Step 3: pick E-mail in the Send as selector](#step-3-pick-e-mail-in-the-send-as-selector) - [Step 4: check the counter and send](#step-4-check-the-counter-and-send) - [What the email option saves a team that sources every week](#what-the-email-option-saves-a-team-that-sources-every-week) - [The other ways to message candidates free on LinkedIn](#the-other-ways-to-message-candidates-free-on-linkedin) - [Automate it: enrichment plus InMail in one sequence](#automate-it-enrichment-plus-inmail-in-one-sequence) - [The honest limits of the send-as-email option](#the-honest-limits-of-the-send-as-email-option) - [Stop rationing your outreach to 30 credits](#stop-rationing-your-outreach-to-30-credits) Every recruiter with a LinkedIn Recruiter seat knows the feeling: it is the 20th of the month and your InMail credits are already gone. Recruiter Lite gives you 30 per month. Corporate gives you 100 to 150 per seat. Extra credits cost around $10 each. Here is what most sourcing teams miss: Recruiter has an official option that lets you message candidates for free. It sits inside the compose window, one radio button away from the InMail everyone clicks by default. You just need the candidate’s email address. This guide shows you exactly how it works, with the one gotcha nobody documents, the math on what it saves, and how to run the whole thing on autopilot. ## Why your InMail credits disappear so fast InMail is the default way to contact anyone outside your network in Recruiter, so every cold outreach eats a credit. A sourcer working two or three roles easily contacts 100 to 300 new candidates a month. With 30 credits on [Recruiter Lite](https://www.leonar.app/blog/linkedin-recruiter-corporate-recruiter-lite/), the math breaks in the first week. LinkedIn refunds a credit when the candidate replies within 90 days, which helps good writers recycle part of their allowance. But typical InMail response rates sit between 10 and 25 percent, so most credits never come back. For the full price breakdown per plan, see our [LinkedIn InMail cost guide](https://www.leonar.app/blog/linkedin-inmail-cost/). The result: teams either slow their outreach mid-month or pay for extra credits. There is a third option. ## The free InMail option hiding in the Recruiter compose window When you open the message window in Recruiter, look at the line under “Initial message”. By default it reads “Send immediately via InMail”. Click it, and a “Send as” selector appears with two choices: InMail or E-mail. Pick E-mail and something interesting happens: LinkedIn delivers your message to the candidate’s email address, through your Recruiter seat, and charges you nothing. The credits counter next to the Send button confirms it, zero credits used. ![LinkedIn Recruiter compose window with the Send as E-mail option selected and the InMail credits counter showing zero credits used](https://www.leonar.app/_astro/free-inmails-linkedin-recruiter-de-1.BZZiDHru_ZBKmlD.webp) This is not a gray-area hack. The option is documented in LinkedIn’s own Recruiter help center, and it works on both Recruiter Lite and Recruiter Corporate. The only related feature reserved for full Recruiter plans is Email Connect, the deeper Outlook and Gmail sync. The condition is simple: the candidate’s email address must be saved on their profile in Recruiter. Replies stay attached to the candidate too. LinkedIn shows the response on the candidate’s profile in Recruiter, and the thread can continue in your email client. ## Send your first free InMail in four steps ### Step 1: find the candidate’s email address For candidates outside your network, the profile usually shows no address. You need to find it elsewhere. [Email finder tools for recruiters](https://www.leonar.app/blog/email-finder-for-recruiters/) check public data, company patterns, and verification services to return a deliverable address. Quality matters more than price here: a wrong address means a silent bounce, not a delivered message. ### Step 2: add the email to the profile in Recruiter Open the candidate in Recruiter and add the address to their contact info (the small @ line under their headline, or directly while composing). LinkedIn saves it to the profile for your whole team. Now the detail that trips everyone up: refresh the page after saving the address. In our tests, the E-mail option only appears in the compose window once the profile has been reloaded. If you skip the refresh, you will stare at an InMail-only window and conclude the trick does not work. ### Step 3: pick E-mail in the Send as selector Open the compose window, click the “Send immediately via InMail” line, and select E-mail. Write your message as usual: subject, body, template variables if you use them. Scheduling works too. ### Step 4: check the counter and send Before you click Send, glance at the credits indicator at the bottom of the window. It shows zero credits for this message. Send it, and your monthly allowance is untouched. A message template that works well on this channel, because it reads like a normal email rather than a LinkedIn blast: > Subject: Your work on \[specific project/team\] at \[Company\] > > Hi \[First name\], I came across your profile while researching \[specialty\] people at \[Company\]. I am hiring a \[Role\] for \[Client or Team\], and your experience with \[specific skill\] is exactly the profile the team is missing. Would you be open to a 15-minute call this week? Happy to share the full brief by reply either way. ## What the email option saves a team that sources every week Take a concrete scenario: an agency recruiter contacts 200 new candidates a month on a Recruiter Lite seat. | Approach | Monthly cost for 200 contacts | What limits you | | --- | --- | --- | | InMail only | 30 included + 170 extra credits at ~$10 = ~$1,700 | Budget | | InMail + reply refunds | Still 100+ extra credits in practice | Response rate | | Send as email (enriched addresses) | ~200 enrichment lookups, a few dozen dollars | Email find rate | Enrichment does not find every address. Depending on the market, expect a verified email for 50 to 70 percent of profiles. But every found address converts a $10 credit into a lookup that costs cents, and your 30 real credits are saved for the candidates you could not enrich. There is a response-rate bonus too. A recruiter email with a clear subject line competes in a calmer inbox than the InMail folder, where LinkedIn batches recruiter messages candidates often ignore. ## The other ways to message candidates free on LinkedIn The email option is the most scalable lever, but four others are worth knowing. Candidates with an Open Profile can be InMailed free on any plan, and you can surface them with the right [Recruiter search filters and Spotlights](https://www.leonar.app/blog/linkedin-recruiter-search-filters/). Your 1st-degree connections can always be messaged directly. People who applied to one of your jobs are free to contact as past applicants. And every InMail answered within 90 days refunds its credit, so better targeting and better copy literally pay you back. Group members and event attendees can also be messaged without credits on a Premium account. It works, but it is slower to operationalize for recruiting than the email option, and it depends on candidates being in the right groups. ## Automate it: enrichment plus InMail in one sequence Doing this manually for every candidate gets old fast: find the email, paste it into Recruiter, refresh, compose. The good news is that the whole loop can run as an automated sequence. In [Leonar](https://www.leonar.app/features/linkedin-recruiter-integration/), you connect your LinkedIn Recruiter account and build a two-step sequence. Step one enriches the candidate’s email through a waterfall of 10+ data providers, and you only pay when a verified address is found. Step two sends your Recruiter message. If the enrichment found an address, the message goes out through the email option and costs zero InMail credits. If not, the sequence branches: classic InMail, connection request, or a later retry. ![Leonar sequence that finds a verified candidate email then sends a LinkedIn Recruiter InMail as a free email, with a fallback branch when no address is found](https://www.leonar.app/_astro/free-inmails-linkedin-recruiter-de-2.UgDeTFi-_Cx0v3.webp) Replies land in a unified inbox next to your LinkedIn and WhatsApp threads, so follow-ups do not scatter across tools. The same sequence can then chain [automated follow-up steps](https://www.leonar.app/blog/how-automate-linkedin-inmail/) on whichever channel the candidate answered. Turn your Recruiter seat into a free InMail machine Connect LinkedIn Recruiter to Leonar and run enrichment plus outreach in one automated sequence. Free 7-day trial, no credit card required. [See how Leonar automates LinkedIn and email outreach](https://www.leonar.app/features/linkedin-email-automation/) ## The honest limits of the send-as-email option Be clear-eyed about the trade-offs before you move your whole outreach to this channel. The method depends entirely on email quality. A guessed or stale address bounces silently, and unlike an undelivered InMail, nobody warns the candidate. Stick to verified addresses and keep your bounce rate under control, both for reach and for your sending reputation. Volume discipline still applies. This option removes the credit cost, not the spam risk. Two hundred thoughtful, targeted messages a month will outperform two thousand generic ones on any channel, and sloppy volume can hurt the very [deliverability](https://www.leonar.app/blog/email-finder-for-recruiters/) the method relies on. For European sourcing, remember that a candidate’s professional email is personal data. Legitimate interest covers targeted recruiting outreach in most cases, but honor opt-outs immediately and say who you are and why you are writing. ## Stop rationing your outreach to 30 credits The send-as-email option is the rare trick that is official, free, and better for the candidate experience at the same time. Find the email, save it to the profile, refresh the page, and pick E-mail in the Send as selector. Your credits stay for the profiles you cannot enrich. If you want the loop to run itself, plug your Recruiter seat into a sequence that enriches first and messages second. That is exactly what Leonar was built for. Send your next 200 InMails without touching your credits Enrichment waterfall, free InMail delivery, and follow-ups in one sequence, on your own Recruiter seat. Free 7-day trial, no credit card required. [Compare InMail costs by LinkedIn plan first](https://www.leonar.app/blog/linkedin-inmail-cost/) To go deeper on the workflow around this trick, learn [how to export candidates from LinkedIn Recruiter](https://www.leonar.app/blog/how-to-export-candidates-from-linkedin-recruiter/) into your own database, or compare full [InMail costs per plan](https://www.leonar.app/blog/linkedin-inmail-cost/) to size how much the email option saves your team. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does the send-as-email option use InMail credits? No. When you pick E-mail in the Send as selector of the Recruiter compose window, the message is delivered to the candidate's email address and your InMail credit counter does not move. You can verify it yourself: the credits indicator next to the Send button stays at zero used. ### Does sending free InMails work on Recruiter Lite? Yes. The send-as-email option is available on both Recruiter Lite and Recruiter Corporate, as long as the candidate's email address is saved on their profile. Only Email Connect, the deeper Outlook and Gmail integration, is reserved for full Recruiter plans. It is not available on Sales Navigator or regular Premium. ### Is sending InMails as emails allowed by LinkedIn? Yes. This is a built-in option of the Recruiter compose window, documented in LinkedIn's own Recruiter help center. You are not bypassing anything: LinkedIn simply does not charge a credit when the message is delivered by email instead of the InMail system. ### How do I find a candidate's email address? Use an email finder or enrichment tool. Dedicated tools check dozens of data sources and verify addresses before returning them. In Leonar, an enrichment waterfall queries 10+ providers and you only pay when a verified address is actually found, which costs a fraction of an InMail credit. ### Where do replies arrive when I send an InMail as an email? LinkedIn shows the reply on the candidate's profile in Recruiter, and the conversation can also continue in your email client. You keep the history attached to the candidate record either way. ### What happens if the email address is invalid? The message bounces like any normal email, and the candidate never sees it. That is the main risk of the method, and the reason to use verified addresses from a serious enrichment source rather than guessed patterns. Not sure which plan fits your team? Answer 3 quick questions and we will recommend the best option for your hiring workflow. How large is your recruiting team? What is your main challenge? Are you an agency or an in-house team? Your recommended plan [See pricing details](https://www.leonar.app/pricing/) linkedin-recruiter inmail outreach ![Pierre-Alexis Ardon](https://www.leonar.app/_astro/pierre-alexis-ardon.ByBiMn-t_2wY0oT.webp) Author [Pierre-Alexis Ardon](https://www.leonar.app/authors/pierre-alexis-ardon/) Co-founder Pierre-Alexis Ardon is co-founder of Leonar, where he focuses on building AI-powered recruiting systems, sourcing automation, and search optimization. With a background in engineering and over 7 years working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and talent acquisition, he designs the algorithms that power Leonar's candidate matching and outreach automation. Pierre-Alexis advises recruitment agencies on their digital transformation and regularly publishes analyses on how AI agents are reshaping HR workflows. He is passionate about making advanced technology accessible to recruiters who are not engineers. AI recruiting systems Sourcing automation Recruiting analytics AI agents for HR [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ardonpa/) ## Related articles - ![LinkedIn InMail credits cost breakdown by plan for recruiters](https://www.leonar.app/_astro/linkedin-inmail-cost.D9wRy5yy_Z1DHTfN.webp) LinkedIn Recruiter ### [LinkedIn InMail Cost in 2026: Real Price per Credit by Plan](https://www.leonar.app/blog/linkedin-inmail-cost/) - ![Downgrade LinkedIn Recruiter Corporate to Lite migration playbook](https://www.leonar.app/_astro/downgrade-linkedin-recruiter-corporate-to-lite.DsW0Lp1Z_ZUSBB3.webp) LinkedIn Recruiter ### [How to Downgrade LinkedIn Recruiter Corporate to Lite (2026)](https://www.leonar.app/blog/downgrade-linkedin-recruiter-corporate-to-lite/) - ![LinkedIn Recruiter price increase 2026 response options](https://www.leonar.app/_astro/linkedin-recruiter-price-increase-2026.Da7HPgcz_BVLaM.webp) LinkedIn Recruiter ### [LinkedIn Recruiter Price Increase 2026: What to Do About It](https://www.leonar.app/blog/linkedin-recruiter-price-increase-2026/)